as we come through a bitter cold. Thank you for your protection and your care for us and our lives. Lord, we thank you as we begin tonight that you are the rewarder of those who diligently seek you. And so, Lord, I come on behalf of those here tonight and with them to seek your face, to ask for your help and for your blessing.

Lord, even as we've just gotten started here in this new year, 2025, Lord, we do pray for our plans, for our hopes, even for our dreams as a city, as citizens of Freeport, of Stevenson County, Lord, as those who are directors and chiefs for the mayor, for city manager, Lord, not to leave anyone out, but for each one sitting here tonight, that you would assist them in their work, that you would give them wisdom, that you would help them to seek you as, again, you are the rewarder of those who do so. And Father, we pray that you would bless beyond even what we request of you, that you would surprise us with your blessing. And Lord, we pray for wisdom tonight for the things on the agenda here this evening that you would give us your help and wisdom and Lord we ask these things even as you've invited us to come and ask of you in Jesus name amen. Thank you Justin. I will officially call this meeting to order. Madam Clerk would you please take the role. Madam Mayor Miller. Here. Alderpersons Clem. Here. Monroe. Here. Simmons is absent. Parker.

Here. Stacy? Here. Shadle? Here. Sanders? Here. And Sellers? Here. And if you could please stand for the Pledge of Allegiance led by Alderman Clem.

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

Okay, we had a request that if council members could please remember to speak into their microphones.

It's difficult sometimes for the audience to hear. So we will move on to item number one, which is the approval of the agenda. Staff has requested the removal of 8 and 23 for a later date, and there is also nothing to discuss on item number 30, so we will remove that. With that, is there a motion to approve. So moved. Second. Second. A motion made by Alderman Clem, seconded by Alderman Sellers. All those in favor? I have a question. Why are we removing 8 and 23? Staff requests not ready. Do you want manager Boyer? Staff just needs a little, we need more time to consider the media, social media policy and also the The transfer of properties, we're in a holding pattern until we receive some documentation back from the county on those Alderman Monroe Thank you, Madam Mayor. Why did we bring this up previously, then, if we weren't ready to move forward?

I think the last conversation we had at the last council meeting highlighted some things that need more review All those in favor, signify by saying aye Aye Opposed?

No No That's seven to one. That passes. Six. Two. Two nays. Okay. Sorry. Six to two. Five to two. Okay. Five to two. Did he also say 30? I did. Yes. You said 30. 30 because there wasn't anything that was brought up for discussion. We normally have the executive session just as a standing in case something comes up, but there wasn't anything that was discussed, so I just put that out there for removal of just to keep things clean. Item number two is the approval of the minutes from the regular meeting on January 6, 2025. Is there a motion to approve? So moved. Second. We have a motion made by Alderman Sellers, seconded by Alderman Parker. All those in favor, signify by saying aye. Aye. Opposed? That motion passes.

I don't believe there's any. Darren, can we take a look quick? Is there any public comments? Nope. Okay. Thank you. Item number four is the presentation of the year in review. Director Bridge.

Good evening, Council. As I shuffle my papers around, I just want to start off by saying that the numbers we are going to see tonight, the accomplishments that are put forward on these slides are, number one, only a portion of what gets done on a daily basis by our amazing staff, and number two, these are simply numbers and, again, simply words on a screen, whereas the things that go on on a daily basis take a lot of time, a lot of effort, and I know certainly on behalf of all of our staff, a lot of pride goes into what is presented here.

So we'll start There we go We'll start with the Street Department of Public Works In a record setting 2024 crews laid 15,221 tons of hot mix asphalt paving over seven and a half miles of streets These streets completed by city crews included Oak Avenue State Street Chicago Avenue Iroquois Street Quail Ridge Drive, Sioux Drive, Dirk Drive, Coates Street, Yellowstone Court, Clinton Place and Street, and Salem Court.

One of the strategic goals for Public Works is to implement the Street Improvement Plan by paving eight miles of street per year using data including traffic count and condition of the street, curb, approaches, water, sewer, and storm mains to plan each replacement project.

crews also plowed 10,471 miles of roads in 2024 319 lots were mowed around the city 43 city-owned lots were mowed weekly over 100 service cut repairs were managed and 4566 calls from residents were fielded by public works the street department is in charge of many aspects of this city crews were able to remove a total of two 261 dead and dangerous trees and plant 108 healthy trees with the help of the yield program. 150 stumps were ground throughout the year. The department handled a total of 78 dog-related calls through animal control, which, important detail, our animal control officer was on medical leave for a portion of last year.

Crews also fixed 15 overhead lights around the downtown area, put up flags in a timely manner for all necessary holidays, and put up and took down 61 Christmas decorations. One more thing before I ask Darren if he has anything else to add. One of the other strategic goals was to improve public works wage structure to increase recruitment and retention, and I believe that was done in 2024.

for. Darren, is there anything else you'd like to add for that section? Is there anything from counsel?

Yeah. I'm sorry. Are you conducting? Yeah. Okay. I have a question maybe too. In secession, in secession, that means I don't have to omit my My follow through Your name is Director Bridges, right? Bridge, yes, sir Yes, sir I must not have been here when you were appointed As Director Bridge And with that appointment Don't do that And with that appointment That you've been appointed to I never Understood your job description Exactly what is the full scope of your job description? Okay, Alderman Sanders, this isn't on topic? No, it isn't. It's just I'm looking for the qualification for the annual report that is being made.

I am on track. I know that I'm on track. And the thing is, if I don't know who you are, I don't know if you're eligible or legally eligible to be making any kind of annual report because I had not seen your personnel file nor your job description.

And so you're standing here giving us analytics and reports about what is going on throughout the city. That is what I'm understanding as I listen to you. So until I do, I'm just trying to find out whether or not what you're saying is relevant at this point and who gave you, what department are you in?

First of all, who is your supervisor, manager, or you're just a director?

Okay.

Director Bridge.

I'm part of the communications department communications director, and this is off topic, so you and I No, it's not off topic, because if it's communication director, it will state that you're a director of communication.

It does not state that.

It just says director Bridges.

That's all it says.

Okay.

so the agenda item that we're talking about right now is the year in review it's being presented by director bridge certainly alderman so that's the topic there if alderman sanders if you have questions about how director bridge was hired his qualifications all that sort of stuff that is something that should be handled offline you know or at a separate meeting you know when we can put it on as an agenda topic uh there but the the topic for right now is the presentation of the year in review that is the the topic that's on. Yeah, but it still doesn't say that he's qualified or eligible to do such a reporting. And that's not what we're, that's not what the agenda topic is about. So I can get any Joe blow off the street to give an annual report. Well, he is an employee of the city that is serving in the role of communications director. That's vague, very vague. And certainly if you want his qualifications, that is something that we can, but that is a different topic.

So how many positions does he, that he holds within the city? He holds one, one position. He's the communications director. Okay. Okay. Okay. Would you like to proceed with your presentation, please? Alderman Monroe, did you have? Actually, she had her hand up first. I'll let. I'm sorry, I didn't say that. Stacey. The 15,221 tons of HMA laid, did that include the program with Avery Harrell.

Darren?

No, it did not.

That was only what the Public Works crew themselves laid on the street reconditions.

The material they're talking about is hot patch asphalt that we make, we don't buy.

This is purchased hot mix that goes on new streets only, so Avery's numbers are not in there, and I would have to consult with Pat Ingram to get the tons that we had from them. I know we had it calculated. I just don't believe it's in the presentation. And correct me if I'm wrong, Darren, but this also talks about just city crew stuff, not Adams Avenue, so to speak. Correct. This is just city numbers that were derived from the projects that we did and all the numbers that you'll see in this presentation were provided by the departments themselves to Bryan for the for the annual report. Thank you. I withdraw. Okay. Go ahead, director. All right. Thank you. There we go. Okay. The water and sewer department still with public works. Phase one of the wastewater treatment plant upgrades continues to expedite the entire project. Lead service line replacement Phase 3 is wrapping up and Phase 4 is in the planning stage. Freeport was presented the Gold Water Ambassador Award in 2024. The treatment plant team has maintained water chemistry to EPA standards, helping to provide a safe source of drinking water. In 2024, water and sewer crews responded to 35 water main breaks. The team also installed 10 new fire hydrants around the city and assisted with 400

390 lead service line replacements, 12 miles of sewer main were cleaned, and 10 sewer main slash lateral repairs were executed throughout the year. On average, these crews received 20 Julie's requests per day. Once again, Darren, if there's anything you'd like to add.

Yeah, I would just like to point out here, the average number of Julie's per day is a lot, and it takes up a lot of crew time to do the Julie's, to do the research, and to go out and actually mark them. That's a very high number, which shows the amount of construction that's going on in Freeport between repairs, and you know, Julie's are called in for various items, but that is a big number.

A lot of that has to do with the surf internet project that is providing low cost internet around the city of Freeport that's being built out. That's a $15 million infrastructure project. Let's not spend that. It's not. Okay. Alderman Sanders. I'm sorry. Yeah. To mention Julie's and how the personnel or is tied up with all of these Julie's.

The jewelies is just water and sewer. Is that what it is? How many people needs to be on that task to do those particular jewelies? Do you need a construction crew to go out and do jewelies? Do you need that to even do waters or water or sewer? You need a crew to do that?

With the amount of Julie's that we've been getting, it usually takes two to three of our staff members to be able to go out and locate and mark Julie's out. It's not every day. We try to concentrate it into segments, but it does eclipse a lot of time because you actually have to do the research on each street and get the measurements and the calculations to be able to set those points based on the way the city system is.

Okay, well, I understand that part, but my point, my thing is, does it require many personnel staff to go out and do Julie's?

Two to three.

Go ahead, Director.

All right.

I'm sorry.

Madam Mayor, is it possible to get the IT department to display the board?

The people at home are texting, asking for it to be displayed.

They can't see it for whatever reason.

Okay, keep going, Director.

In case you couldn't hear, he said it shows it's displaying. I will continue for the time being, but Mayor, stop me if you need. Before I move on from water and sewer, a couple highlights from their strategic goals was to secure funding for well number 12. That happened. Implement phase one of the wastewater treatment plan improvements and plan for future phases of the wastewater treatment plan improvements. That is happening as we speak.

We will move on to community and economic development. The improvements made throughout 2024 to the rental registration process highlighted a busy year for community and economic development. The team implemented new software in the form of Ptolemy rental registration to give both landlords and the city access to more features to help make renting a more successful endeavor in Freeport.

To keep all parties accountable, fees were also increased for non-compliant landlords.

In addition, staff made it possible for contractors to now complete registration or license renewal online, a process that previously required a trip to City Hall.

Another exciting development has been the ability to incorporate low-income homes into the land bank for the first time since 2020.

This process ends with dilapidated homes being refurbished and getting a facelift in order to avoid demolition The team also distributed $19,251 through the Facade Improvement Grant including $15,000 to the Freeport Art Museum for their move downtown 765 building permits were issued in 2024 before. 5,144 code enforcement activities were completed, as well as 23 new chronic nuisance cases and 51 total demolitions. Before I open it up, Director Duckman spoke on this not too long ago, the strategic goals. Expanding enforcement time for the code enforcement team, over 5,000 activities related to code enforcement.

activities related to code enforcement, whether it be meetings, whether it be out on the street, increasing penalties and streamlining injunctive release process for issues like tree removal and trash cleanup. Maybe, Director Duckman, is there anything happening on that end, or was it just increasing penalties for landlords? Excuse me, are we speaking on specifically the tree removal? It says for tree removal and trash cleanup. And I do know that trash cleanup has been a hot topic. Yes. So we've worked on a couple of different ways. One major way we've accomplished that is working with our public works team. You know, once we're getting chronic nuisance activities or getting a property into chronic nuisance or through proper notice, we're working better to clean up properties that have have been habitual dumping grounds, et cetera. To continue, continue funding and implementation of the demolition and blight reduction program. Facilitate art museum transition to new location. All these things were worked on in 2024. Before I move on, I'll take a pause.

Elements, Stacy? Yes, I would like to know if all letters have been sent out or if letters have been sent out to all landlords pertaining to registering their property.

They have not been sent out yet. We had a, I met with them or talked to them last week and we're using a company that's, basically we send them the addresses to send out these mailers and they had some issues on their end, technical issues on getting the letter out. So we've been working with them for the better part of a month working through those technical issues. We usually have good success working with that company.

They do our water bills and other billing or other mailers that we have. It's just for some reason, I know that our IT departments worked tirelessly with them to try to get that resolved. So it should be sent out soon. And, you know, obviously InfoSend sends the regrets, but we've been working really hard with them to try to get through it. But we're right there. So that's possible for the council to get an update. Yeah, absolutely. I can give an update next at our next council meeting. That'd be that'd be perfect. What's the estimation of how many people are registered versus who are not? My estimate is there's 1100 registered and it's rounding off and that there should be right around 3000 properties registered. That's and that's typical We've typically had right around 1,100 properties register in the last three years and using Ptolemy which was a major success and breakthrough for us to not only you know for the city to kind of put all the data in one place but it also kind of helps it's also completely helped us identify who's out there that hasn't registered so my estimation is there's 1,900 properties that need to register that are not registered. Go ahead, Derek. Oh, sorry. Another one? Follow up. Sure. And how many fines have been sent out since you took office? We've not sent. I can't give you that number. I will get you that number. I can email it to you. And it's just the registration. Nothing. No other fines. Correct. I'm 100% to be honest with you. I can get you that number next week. But in my opinion, it's low, if any. And coming into it,

our biggest concern when I came into this process and was talking with first I was talking to city manager Bukas then talking with city manager Boyer our biggest concern was if we're sending out fines for not registering how do you know somebody's not a registered rental you know if you were to drive down one block in Freeport and you say is that person registered is that should that person be registering you know if we're going to be fair and I said this to manager Bukas and I'm saying this just continue to counsel as as well as Manager Boyer is saying, well, before we really start, you know, enforcing our rental registry with these fines, to be fair, we should really know who should be registering. And we call that, and we worked with Ptolemy, and when we selected Ptolemy in April of 24, one of the major things I said to them was, I really want to identify who should be registered so I can know who to actually find. Because otherwise, you know, you're, and when I told you, we identified 1,900 properties we think should Register. Without that software, how do we know who should be fined? I'm asking, you know, that's a legitimate point. How do we know? You know, we're going off of an old list and it's saying, hey, we need to take care of this. And I'm like, well, we need some technology to help us along to say who should be registered, who should we be holding accountable? Alderman Stacy? Are you secure now in knowing who who should be registered and who isn't? Yes, yes, we have a much better picture of that, yes, and that's where I said that there's roughly 3,000 properties that should be registered, we have 1,100 that are currently registered, and there's 1,900 properties that should be registered, so, yes, I feel like we have a much better picture.

Alderman Sanders?

How effective are we collecting data on these particular registries? What kind of mechanism do we have in place that we total up registered and non-registered? What do we have in place right now without going out to survey the community or whatever the case, because this is not the first time that this subject comes up?

So what kind of mechanism or data that we have retrieved to make these determinations? Because right now, from what I'm hearing, we're not trying to be competent enough to go and find out these kinds of things. In other words, the data is there. What measures are we using to implement this or retrieve it?

that's my question. So it's a good question a couple things there um that question was posed to me and uh I had the fun job of solving it and so what we did my team and I and also the help of um IT department so I want to make sure I include them we got together uh started looking into this and trying to answer that question how do we know who who who is not registered and should be how do we like you your rental property because when you drive by a house you can't always you can't tell if it's a rental property you just it's you can't it looks like a house so the answer so we came and we did research on different different software different companies that were specializing in this data because you're asking about data and so the key here is we came up with we started we ended up selecting Ptolemy and that was approved by council in April of 24 but what Ptolemy does is it mines the data from different sources and is for example one excellent item that it does is it's going to take essentially let's just say from a tax assessor it's going to look through all the properties in the city of Freeport and then it's going to say okay where is the site address you know different than the property address so if you're sending your tax bill if the tax bill doesn't go to the same as the house that flags it as a potential rental so that's that's one that's one of many flags that are being used it also can work through water bills and it can flag suspect the data calls it a suspected rental so that software when we ended up having that that is how we said okay to answer your second part of the question is okay well now we know who we need to go after or how you know we first we have to identify and then we need to know how to go after and then go after part all the person Stacy is correct correctly asking me hey when

are these letters going out? So we know that these letters have to go out to say the deadline for registration is April 1st of 2025. And at that point, after due notice, if a property owner doesn't say, hey, you know what, that's not a rental property. My son lives there or it's a second house. If they could prove some sort of, you know, sending a utility bill, others prove that it's not a rental. Okay, fine.

it's not a rental but the majority of these people are rentals and they will need to register or be subject to a fine so the letter is already written all the addresses have been compiled we're just working with the we're working with a consultant a company that actually does the mailing actually stuffs the letters actually mails out the letters and that's when I was telling all the person Stacy that it's taken them long much longer than usual to actually get the letters mailed out so okay all right Go ahead, Director. Thank you. Our next section is Human Resources. And I know Kim isn't here tonight physically, but if you have any questions, she's happy to answer them through email. In 2024, the city had 196 employees throughout many departments. City Hall, 24, Police Department, 65, Fire Department, 49, Public Works Street Department, 17, Water and Sewer Department, 24, and the Library, 17.

and the Library, Seventeen. Over the course of the year, 53 new hires were managed with 37 separations and four retirements. I move on. The Clerk's Office. The Clerk's Office managed 136 resolutions in 2024, a 37% increase from 2023 and a 68% increase from 2022.

102. 164 FOIA requests were received, a 43% increase from 2023. Licenses for the following were processed, 36 video gaming licenses, 64 liquor licenses, 39 tobacco and vape licenses, and 11 food truck licenses. In 2024, the clerk's office processed 41 special event permits and attended and managed the agenda for 64 meetings.

I move on the police department I want to start with their strategic goals increase police force census and implement proven strategies for reducing crime including a three prong staffing approach that includes community service officers law enforcement and social workers to reduce crime hire and retain a diverse team to reflect the community we serve deploy more technology to reduce gun violence and improve the efficiency of the police force 24 saw the Freeport Police Department continue to hire new officers, which allowed for the reestablishment of positions like the K-9 officer, general case detective, school resource officer, telecommunications supervisor, and administrative lieutenant. In total, 82 firearms were recovered as a result of police investigations. 4,457 police 911 calls were received.

1,533 arrests were made and 1,884 traffic citations were written. 485 pounds of prescription drugs were collected and taken in for disposal. Just last month in December, 17 kids were taken on a shopping spree for Shop with a Cop and the FOP Lodge sponsored a family of four children who lost their father to gun violence.

56 neighborhood watch meetings were hosted and the department continues to offer a civilian police academy if there's anything you'd like to add chief you're more than welcome to no thank you I move on the fire department with six new firefighters joining the department crews had a busy and successful 2024 they responded to and investigated an estimated 95 fires where flames More than 400 fire inspections were conducted to ensure safety in commercial and residential buildings. 19 fire drills were held at schools and multi-unit apartment buildings. 288 fire alarms were installed in 115 homes in the city, a service that is free to all residents. Department highlights include the revival of National Night Out in collaboration with the police to bring the community together.

A new fire engine was delivered and is now stationed near Adams Avenue And the Emergency Telephone Systems Board approved the purchase of a complete VHF radio network replacement This project would have a total cost of more than $120,000 but is being completed at no cost to the city Once again, Chief, if you need to add anything, feel free So yes, thank you. So when we talk about 288 fire alarms installed, it's actually smoke detectors that are received from Red Cross and then they're installed by the firefighters in 215 homes. Thank you. We move on to the Freeport Public Library. Their goals to launch the Arts and Culture Commission, which I believe happened, support cultural festival and events sorry support cultural and cultural festival events to engage and build connections among diverse groups a major highlight of the library every year continues to be the intent the attendance of the summer reading program in 2024 498 children and teens registered with 274 completing the program's goals such as reading 60 books and more the program doesn't just get Children to Read, however, from June 3rd to August 10th, the library offered 141 programs as part of summer reading.

6,048 children, teens, and adults attended, an increase of 25% from 2023. This number sets a new mark for one of the library's most popular programs. Throughout the year, 107,508 books were circulated along with 21,531 digital materials, a total of 344 youth programs tallied in attendance of 17,026, a total of 109 adult programs tallied in attendance of 1,271. There are 4,568 active library cards, 27 public computers occupy both floors of the library. 9,506 computer sessions were logged in 2024. 43,728 visits were paid to freeboardpubliclibrary.org. The meeting rooms were used 450 times, while the study rooms were used 456 times, and in 2024, 165 notarizations were completed. Once again, I forget your last name, Director Huffines? Okay. I will continue. Hold it, hold it. Alderman Sanders? Yeah. Question about, you know, yeah, okay, she's sitting here, and she probably can give me more insight on how books are

acquired and do we make requests, recommendations on books, categories and classifications and things of this nature? How do we proceed to put more books in our library than what we have? Because I don't know if they're selected or chosen or they're made by request from the citizens of the community.

It's both. Anybody can make a recommendation for adding books to the collection. And we often do add the books when they're requested. We just don't get that many of them. But we do have a collection development policy that we follow that's implemented by the Board of Trustees. And then we have two main staff members that pick all of the items.

in the collection. And then we do have rules and policies in place for where they go in the collection. And a lot of that is based on cataloging rules, which are associated with our library consortium. And we have 138 libraries that are in the same consortium following the same rules of where to put things, but we also have flexibility to create our own section, like this year we created an urban fiction section with grant money, and we were able to purchase about 250 books for that, specifically for that collection, and that, you know, did that help answer your question?

Yes, it did, it absolutely did, because I will look into the exploration of looking at those catalogs again.

Okay. Thank you. You're welcome. Thank you. We move on to the Department of Finance. The Finance Department prepared and assisted auditors during the 2023 financial audit process, resulting in a clean opinion from the auditors. The 2025 balanced spending plan was approved by council. The team also participated in the Career Tech Job Shadow Program.

In 2024, 3,916 vendor payments were processed, 5,203 paychecks for an average of 200 employees for the year, 140 new water and sewer accounts per month, 155 disconnects per month, and they issued an average of 11,490 water bills per month. Good? Okay. We'll move on.

Hold it.

I just wanted to understand the 140 new accounts and what are those accounts and what are the purpose of 140 some accounts like that.

I know you probably accounts like that. I know you probably have an answer for that already, but the thing is, I'm not aware of what the purpose of all of those accounts are for.

So, that pertains to water and sewer accounts. So, new renters moving in, people moving around town. So, we consider that, or moving into town, they have a new account set up for water, Pursuer. So that could be either they moved within town. That's still a new account at a new address. So they could be either locally moving around in Freeport or coming out of town, moving into town. Thank you. I'll move on. IT, information technology. 254 total work tickets were processed in 2024. The department also replaced 18 computer computer workstations. They worked extensively on cleaning data for the new Ptolemy rental registration and planned a 2025 migration to Office 365. Throughout the year, 3,700 network level attacks were prevented and 595,882 emails were scanned and archived.

Who's protecting our system? Who's protecting our system throughout the city when the city is responsible for all technology that is acquired by the city? Who's responsible for those kinds of tasks?

Director Suttman can come up here if he wants, but the simple answer to your question is our information technology team protects city staff. They do not protect residents, so to speak. I don't know if that answered your question. No, it doesn't. Okay. Yeah. I was looking for another angle. Okay. Okay. I wasn't looking for for that particular information? Sure. I misunderstood the question. Well, no, no, you assume that I may have said something that triggered that. But, yeah, but when we're talking about attacks on this, the attacks that the Internet or the technology softwares and things like that is being attacked throughout the city, who is responsible for those kinds of attacks?

of things when we have a hiccup in our system that violates all of the, I don't know if we had any successful attacks because there are always someone out there attacking the system. Have we been able to divert any of those kinds of attacks from being placed in our system and corrupting our system? Have we been able to do that?

To my knowledge, we haven't had any network malware attacks since we've had an IT department. All the attacks are sent back either by IT staff or our software and hardware appliances. They're built for that.

Okay. Yeah. Okay. That sounds good. I just wanted to see who was attacking, who was covering for all of these attacks that we're getting, you know, throughout the city.

so it's good to know that we have someone or some technical specialist that is taking care of those issues. All right, thank you.

And we will finish with communications. The strategic goals for communications include making bilingual communications available for all key documents and outreach efforts. I can speak directly on that.

as far as the website goes we continue to find ways to be more ADA compliant and part of ADA compliance includes making things on the website bilingual. We are still putting effort into that. We have seen a success in creating bilingual communications as far as newsletters and a few graphics. It does take time. However, being a One-Person Department, I can say that I am getting better at it, and it will only get better from here.

Expand city participation in community events to increase visibility.

Hold it.

Are you finished?

No.

I pass it back to mayor.

Can he finish his presentation on that?

Yeah, I thought he was done.

Go ahead.

Sorry about that.

Expand city participation in community events to increase visibility and improve connections with residents. I got here in April, and since that point, we have attended, if not all, most large community events with the goal of speaking to residents and hearing their concerns face-to-face in an environment where it's not as formal.

and I believe that the numbers which I don't have in front of me but the numbers that we got from these different events just shows that being at those events is very important and then finally improve storytelling and data sharing efforts to better highlight the progress being made in Freeport. I believe that one speaks for itself. The city posted 371 times on Facebook in 2024. The city's page reached 7400 Facebook followers.

which is a 23% increase from 2023. 384,300 accounts viewed city posts throughout the year, a 114% increase in visibility. 68 press releases were sent, a 467% increase from 2023, and a major step taken in 2024 was beginning to produce highlights after each city council meeting.

Alderman Sanders Are we set up for comments from the general public and not only the general public but the city staff and people of that nature? Are we set up to make comments so we can respond to whatever it is that is injected into our media accounts and things of that nature? Are we on the verge of doing all of those things?

So, I believe you're speaking about Facebook, because all the other media accounts that we have don't allow for comments.

For Facebook, the topic was brought up in December and then two weeks ago, and at this time we are choosing to review what we have put forth and review it until we come up with a better solution.

at this time, at this time, comments are not allowed. Okay. And are we going to increase the staff in that department area to help in the process of mitigating all kinds of communications, media information, and anything like that that's going to help you to improve your work status there?

At this time, the goal is not to increase staff. We do have options for internships here and there. We have not pursued them yet. This position was created, I believe, back in 2021. It's still a fairly new department. The numbers speak for itself.

I do believe that the communication that we have put forth improves our transparency at every level and whether or not we choose to pursue more staff members for the communications team, that is not our goal at this time.

Okay. Well, I'm looking at that chart, not the chart, but that information chart you have up there. Who's doing the analytical and where is that information that's coming from that I'm looking at at this current time? And we talk about transparencies and press releases and things like that. Who's handling all of these objectives that I see, especially the analytical chart?

I'm looking at this chart, and I'm like, where are you getting that information from? Because I like to know. Yeah, I like to know where it's coming from.

That is all done in my office by looking at a screen and seeing the stuff that we have done. I counted those numbers by hand. It's not a big enough number to where I have to use any software. The Facebook followers, it counts it for me. The accounts viewed, that counts it for me.

The press releases, I counted that myself. We had 12 in 2023. And then the numbers in the chart, I counted those by hand. Those were simple, right off of Facebook.

Coleman, Stacy, did you have something?

No.

Do you have something? No. I would like to ask Attorney Zito to look into the actual blocking of any and all comments on government platforms. I believe the Supreme Court as well as several other federal courts have ruled very clearly on this. And if this is our position, you know, I think it's behoo of us to double check that this is okay.

clearly the director doesn't understand what the rules are the city manager doesn't but that's something that's it's very clear there's a couple of cases and this is just quick search on Google it's no by no means legal you know but it's very clear several people have filed lawsuits against public officials and municipalities and it is has generally been ruled that you cannot block opinions just because you feel like it. If it is vulgar, if it's offensive, it's threatening, then that makes sense, but that line is pretty well laid out by the Supreme Court.

Okay, so are you making a motion to task him to do this?

Yes.

Is there a second to do that?

Second.

Okay, so if it be the will of the council for Alderman Monroe's motion seconded by Alderman Stacy to task the attorney to look into that, is there any discussion concerning that topic itself?

Madam Clerk, yeah, Director?

I'll discuss it.

This topic was brought up, as you are very well aware.

My view on it is that we need to open it. It needs to be reviewed further as to whether or not that's the best option based on the discussion we had on this floor among these individuals here. So we were involved, all of us, in that decision to discuss it further, which led to a, hey, let's review it further.

As far as the legality that does fall under Aaron or Attorney Zito, as far as the knowledge on my end, I have seen many communities put forth guidelines to where no comments at all are allowed, and I have reached out to them specifically, and they have permission from their attorney.

So we have a motion on the floor.

If there's no further discussion on that. Madam Mayor, I'll withdraw that motion on the grounds that I'll seek other means to address it. Alderman Stacy? I withdraw. Okay, is there any further discussion concerning the year-end review? I appreciate your time. Thank you. We have the lights back on. We'll move on to item number five, which is the consent agenda. The consent agenda is considered to be routine in nature.

enacted as one motion unless a member of council would like to have something removed for further discussion. I don't know. The consent agenda consists of approving to receive and place on file the minutes of boards and commission meetings from the liquor commission meeting December 12, 2024. The building permit reports, the police department reports, the fire department reports dated December 2024. Also is a semi-annual report to the city manager from July to December 2024 approval of the finance bills payable in the total of $4,995,298.61 and the approval of payroll for pay period ending July 11th, 2025 in the total of $706,602.71.

Also is the finance report, the cash and investment reports for November 2024 and the adoption of resolution 2025 11 for resolution requesting temporary closure of streets for the annual Memorial Day Parade. Is there a motion to approve the consent agenda? So moved. Second.

We have a motion made by Alderman Sellers, seconded by Alderman Shadle. Madam Clerk, could you please take the roll?

That should probably be a roll, shouldn't it? Sorry. Clem? Aye. Monroe? Aye. Simmons? Aye. Parker? Aye. Stacey? Aye. Shadle? Aye.

Sanders, Aye, and Sellers, Aye. The consent agenda is approved, 8-0. Thank you. Item number six is a reappointment. Could you please read this? Reappointment of Steve Cox to the board of the Northwest Illinois Enterprise Zone for a three-year term effective through December 31st, 2027. Mr. Cox has asked that his name be pulled for consideration. Madam Clerk, could you please read for the record his statement?

Mayor Miller, I am requesting that you please withdraw my name for consideration for the city's appointed enterprise zone seat.

I understand that this appointment has been the source of some disagreement, and I do not want to be the source of any further division on the council.

I would, however, ask that you please make clear to council that the apparent origin of the discussion, a courtroom photograph indicating that I was somehow a participant in the petition controversy, is, in that respect, a complete misrepresentation.

My purpose in attending court that morning, as I do quite regularly, was to cover some routine probate matters I actually had no idea the petition hearing, which was scheduled for the following day, was set for consideration Being pulled into a political controversy was certainly not on my agenda when I went to the office that morning Thank you for the original consideration for the position It has been an honor to serve on the E-Zone Committee for the last eight years and I will continue to support those efforts in any capacity that I can This is exactly the kind of thing which will continue to happen if we create an issue out of every unsupported accusation that comes along. Now we have a subject matter expert, Steve Cox, who has donated his time as this is not a paid position in an effort to help this community who does not want to be pulled into another baseless argument just because someone tagged him on a Facebook post.

this will continue to happen as long as every unfounded accusation is allowed to disrupt disrupt the business of our city we are going to lose more and more people who have historically been willing to participate on our boards and commissions who do not want to be pulled into the chaos that now surrounds this council and when we all and when all we have left to choose from our people who want to pull us down to their level where does this leave the city with empty seats Thank you, Steve, for your eight years. We'll move on to item number seven, which is the second reading of Ordinance 20-2502. Could you please read this for the record?

Ordinance authorizing Northern Illinois Gas Company doing business as NICOR Gas Company to construct, operate, and maintain a gas distributing system in and through the city of Freeport.

Manager Boyer. Thank you, Madam Chair. As discussed at the Committee of the Whole in the last meeting, NICOR has brought forth a request to renew the agreement with the City of Freeport. In past years, we have pretty much covered the cost of all city buildings, but we have included the library in this particular agreement to move forward that will provide us with decades of gas for heat.

at no cost to the city. So staff requests council move forward with this agreement. Thank you. Is there any further discussion? Madam Clerk, please take the roll. Clem. Aye. Monroe. Aye. Simmons. Aye. Parker. Aye. Stacey. Aye. Shadle. Aye. Sanders. Aye. And Sellers. Aye. The ordinance passes 8-0. Item number 9 is the first reading of ordinance 20-2504. Could you please read this. Ordinance regarding Part 14, Building and Housing Code, Chapter 1442.14, increasing plumbing permit fees and adding Chapter 1477.14, solar interconnection types. Thank you. Director Duckman? Last cow that we had, the Committee of the Whole meeting in January, we talked about part of this ordinance and that part of the ordinance discussed the plumbing permit fees, So just to kind of for a refresher here, we talked about how water and sewer service installs would be go from $50 to 150. So from 50 to 150, which is $100 increase. And then we also talked about how installing a fixture requiring a new water line would go from $30 to $100. And for a refresher here, again, we talked about how when we're doing our water

sewer service installs. It's requiring time from our public works team, our water superintendent actually having to inspect these services, and also for the water services not requiring an actual service line that's going to our asset, which service line that's going to our asset, which is the water main. Those are going from $30 to $100 for the fact that our consultants, B&F, Building Code Services, they've upped their prices to $100 an hour. So the idea is that staff is just trying to be more responsible and recuperate some of these fees and some of the time included there. So that's the one part of it.

And where this comes from, and I talk about in my memo, but it's also written in the ordinance is that this goes in front of our building commission. And in our last building commission meeting, this portion was voted in favor by a vote of six to zero. The other part of it is a little more technical, and it deals with interconnection types for solar. So I'll try not to get too technical or in the weeds here.

but essentially what was talked about at our building commission was how are we connecting how are we requiring solar panel installer solar installation companies to connect actually into the comm ed meter and there's been some issues or and it's been some contention and how they're actually doing it and in one of the one of the methodologies or one of the issues that we're having is we're requiring you know UL approved connections. And main reason there is that we have some older wiring and we want to make sure that when people are installing the transition from the solar power back into the ComEd meter, we want to ensure that there's not actually damage being caused to the property owner. We want to make sure that our contractors are not cutting any corners with there as well. And then they're also talking about there's an adapter that they're putting on for the interconnection that actually connects to the existing meter and another issue there is it can impede certain driveways. We know that in Freeport we're an older city and we have some smaller tighter lots and that if people are if we're allowing our solar contractors to just simply put on these meter adapters we want to make sure that the the person can now still park their cars, et cetera, and that it would actually not impede access into their property.

So that's what's before you. This went to our building commission. It was recommended for approval by a vote of six to zero, and staff is recommending moving this forward.

Thank you. Is there a motion to move this forward?

So moved.

Second.

We have a motion made by Alderman Shadle, seconded by Alderman Sellers. Discussion? Alderman Monroe.

Thank you, Madam Mayor. Director Duckman, so I know that negotiations have been kind of going back and forth with some other city officials. Is this going to cover the cost that once the pay raises go in that have been promised to them by city manager?

Is that going to cover the cost of having the superintendents and others go out there?

I don't believe that was the intent here is to help cover the cost for their time to inspect that connection.

We're trying to be more responsible.

One thing, one initiative that I've been working on with the Public Works Department is, hey, we've, especially with sewer connections, but it's also water connections, is saying like, for example, in sewer connections, and I worked for a sanitary district of Rockford for seven years so I have a lot of a large body of experience in these sewer service connections is if you don't have the fern coat connected correctly you could have issues of infiltration in the system of stormwater and then that goes into the system and then you're actually essentially training stormwater so you have a better system when you are there inspecting so I've worked with our acting director Steakl to say hey we got to do a better job of scheduling these inspections and making sure they're there.

I will tell you that in any time we're talking about permitting, because it's a public service, I don't think we're intending to recuperate all of our costs, because I think that would be too, I think that would be injurious to our people to, you know, to truly try to recuperate every cost that's involved with an inspection.

You know, $100, going to $150, I couldn't say that in a straight face that that would cover, you know, all the administrative time and, you know, a superintendent's time to go check it, the pictures that are taken, the documentation, et cetera. So I think it's just helping to incorporate some of that cost.

Okay, thank you.

Alderman Sanders?

Yeah, I'm listening to that report that Alderman Monroe was giving. In addition to that, are we, the city, absorbing any of the costs for inspections? And not only that, who come up with the notion that these things need to be applied?

who makes who's making that decision for the increases for the inspection for these homes when there's new water or sewer services who's putting this in place and how do we come up with the fees and the cost and why is it put in place because you got to remember before you came on board these kinds of things were already in place.

inspections of anything was already in space and place, but it didn't suffer the homeowners or whoever that's doing the work. I'm just trying to get an understanding to when was this put in place to make these types of decisions, to take fees up, to charge folks and things of this nature, additional fees to what they're already getting.

they're paying for their water bills, their utility bills already and I thought the city was part of the ordinance of making sure that all homes and owners had the proper hookups. I'm trying to understand this. How did we get into the business of charging folks for hooking up water services and inspections and things of this nature?

You are correct. This was here well before my time, and more than likely since the city was incorporated, that if you have a water service or a sewer service, you need to get a permit and then pay for the permit, and then ultimately there's an inspection.

what I'm presenting to council what I presented in the committee the whole last week and what I'm also now putting for first reading is the reasoning behind why the reasoning behind why staff presented to our building commission raising our sewer water and sewer service installation when you get a permit so if your sewer collapses and you have to call a company in Freeport and say I would I need to fix my sewer.

service, it's collapsed. There's currently a fee of $50. And in working with public works, saying, look, there's, we're spending more time improving our system, making sure that people aren't doing this under the table. You know, we're stepping it up, making sure that we're there. We're making sure people pay the appropriate fees. In working with the other, you know, with our public works department, it was saying hey this this fee seems to be seems to be low we should be incorporating some more of our fees and I said well the proper way to ask for a larger permit fee is to present it to council and a committee of the whole explain our reasoning and then ultimately now this is the first reading of the ordinance and now it's up to you I mean certainly you could you may have the position and I know other other people have had the position that you know we need to keep permit fees low that's an understandable position.

I'm just trying to present that staff has worked on this and we we think it's reasonable to move it from 50 to 150 $150. The building commission has a licensed plumber on, you know, we have a licensed plumber on the building commission that reviewed this, they thought it was reasonable. So there is some support for it other than just staff. And that's really their program. It's in place where it helps the homeowners to offset to let these types of increases in bills that's going to be due coming to them is their program to help those individuals who are struggling as already struggling to be able to go to some kind of office or place to try to get a lower adjustment price on these kinds of things because these fees, people just don't have these kinds of fees.

of dollars in this current time, in day and age. We don't have, folks don't have that. And so what I'm getting at is that I feel that we're nickel and diming homeowners, pinching them for everything that we are doing. And as far as I'm concerned, as I hear what I'm hearing, as I hear what I'm hearing, what is the city doing for the homeowners who are paying their enormous amount of taxes each year to make sure that they are in compliance with the city and that they need stress level mitigation as well? What are we doing for the citizens here in Freeport?

because you guys, what you're saying to me, the staff, the staff or public works or whoever thought that was a great deal to increase or something to increase the cost for all the work that they're doing. There was a time we just did it to secure the fact that we did the work or the plumbers did the work that they don't have to come back 10, 15, 20 years from now to repeat the same task and that's what I feel that should happen when a homeowner takes his dollars and pay it out to these utility companies and plumbers and water and sewer and all these other kind of stuff. People just don't have that kind of budget to do that.

A water and sewer service is an expensive, horrible event that you don't want to have happen to you.

Exactly.

Nobody wants to have a water line break from the service side because now you have a house without water.

And nobody wants a sewer service to break because you're going to have your basement full of raw sewage.

It's horrible.

many people hopefully have insurance to cover that I know it's something that is covered by some insurance companies some aren't so some of these horrible experiences are going to be covered by insurance and when they're not it's regardless of how it's handled it's nobody wants to deal with it right nobody wants to have a water or sewer service go down absolutely now but city staff is saying here in the benefit we're talking about right now the benefit costs $50 to the homeowner and what staff is saying is we believe the price should be increased to 150. Again you're voting on that and you may certainly say you do have a strong standpoint to say look we're holding the line at 50 but the benefit is that when you do go through this and you have raw sewage in your basement you have a house without water is that you have a public works employee who's coming to look at that connection and is going to say the connection was done correctly so that now when before before they fill the hole or backfill the hole where the sewer connection was made, the inspection had to be done, and that homeowner can rest assured that at the time the hole was backfilled, the work was done correctly because the city said it was done.

Now, I'm not accusing anybody, but I'm not going to accuse any contractor, but if a contractor doesn't have that inspector there, it's essentially a check.

Absolutely.

That's a benefit. That is a benefit to a homeowner. I have seen jobs repeated because of poor construction work to homeowners when they have to pay double to make sure that they get the right plumber and the right inspection in there. They have to pay double duty to make these corrections that comes from the homeowner. I have seen poor inspections, even with our own city's inspectors.

I have seen those kinds of things. I'm talking about my experience. And so these things happen. And God forbid any homeowner runs into this kind of situation and have no recovery. They can't recover. That's the reason why I'm asking. Is there a program that will allow homeowners to offset these types of costs? Because they can amount to thousands of dollars.

If we're not careful about how we're going about trying to raise increases for any kind of utility, it can be enormous.

Okay, so you've had three times now that you've spoken. Darren, you want to finish that?

I just wanted to state that the public works fees, water and sewer enterprise funds, we need to capture at least our cost on these items in order to make sure that we're not running these departments at a loss. We are only going by the codes and ordinances and, for instance, a sewer lateral is owned by the homeowner from the house to the main. That is our code, right? And EPA is requiring documentation to show that we are, per our CMOM reporting, that we are inspecting those connections and making sure we're not getting water infiltration into a sewer. That's just on that.

we have always had cost in place to do these works the costs that are there now are not covering the cost and per our enterprise zone to make sure that water and sewer doesn't get in the shape that it was years ago we have to cover the cost of the work that's taken we do have multiple trips and I will say just in the last month we've had two sewer repairs that had to be redone because the inspection on the inspections they were wrong so the inspections are important to happen. Holderman Stacy, you had your hand up. Yes. Last week we spoke about $100 going from $50 to $100 fee. Was that even considered? It's considered now. I mean, 100% considered now. If that's the motion you'd like to make, you know, staff, staff's recommending $150, but certainly you could recommend $100.

Okay, these duties that we're saying we need more money for, it's nothing that's been added to this job title. It is what it is, correct? It's their duties. It's what they're hired to do.

You want me to answer? Go ahead.

Yes. I believe what you're asking here is the inspector that goes out and looks at the sewer connection, has their job duties changed? No, they are required. That specific job duty has not changed.

So if we feel like they deserve more money for doing their duties, then should that be coming from an increase in wages from the city and not on the homeowners?

To clarify, the money doesn't go to the employee, the money goes to the utility company, the sewer or water department, whichever one it is, it goes as a fee, just like everything else that goes back into our general fund and our accounts. It's a permitting fee is what it is.

To recoup some cost.

It has nothing to do with any payment to any water and sewer employee whatsoever.

Attorney Zito, did you want to add to it as well?

No, well, I was just going to try to give another example of the fact that, you know, I think the permit fee increase that's being requested or being proposed, it's just like with anything else, you know, over time, this fee hasn't changed probably for over a decade, if not more, it's been $50 for the inspection permit fee, right?

Well, over the course of time, inflation, this, that, the cost of everything, whether, you know, people get raises over time, you know, cost of paper costs more, cost of ink costs more, whatever it is, cost more, right, 10 years later now, and so every so often, whether it's, you know, permit fees or the cost of a hamburger when you go to the store, things get more expensive because, you know, inflation, so I think that's all they're looking to do is to try to recoup some costs because it's, you know, it hasn't been, the fees been the same for the last God knows how many years.

I understand that, but to go from $50 to $150, I feel it's a bit much.

And certainly, as Director Duckman said, this is before the council right now for your guys' consideration, so certainly if you guys want to change it from, deviate from staff's recommendation and take it to a different number, you guys can make a motion to amend it to $100 or whatever the number you guys want, and if the consensus of the council is to say yeah we we think 100 is better than 150 then that's how the ordinance will be amended and we'll draft it up that way and go from there but they didn't just pull a number out of the hat this was an evaluation of expense and at the recommendation of the building commission so if you want to change it it's just that's the recommendation that's coming forward Alderman Monroe did you have yes thank you madam mayor a couple of questions then I'd like to comment on your response How many of these do you do per year, and what's the average hourly rate of the people that are going out to do these inspections?

Excuse me, we had 40 of these last year, and I can get...

A rough estimate.

Well, the only reason I'm saying I'm going to go to our public works team on this one is, and to give you some background, is we will get a plumbing permit for a sewer service.

My department will. And we'll say, okay, that's $50. And then what Attorney Stiegel is saying is, hey, you know, we have by our EPA permit, we've got to check that connection to our sewer system. So then he has to, we have to coordinate with him to say.

has to, we have to coordinate with him to say, okay, there's a, we have a plumbing permit for a sewer, you need to send your people out and inspect it, and the reason why I would say the hourly rate, a little bit out of my department is, when I'm calling Public Works, I'm saying, hey, we're, we're getting this, you have to, in conjunction with my department, you also have to be there.

so it's I guess I guess so he could tell me what it would I don't know what are your what are your guys paying or what's the rate for inspector? He's looking it up now. I just don't know what the ultimate sellers. So well, I'd like to make my comment, you know, $150. And you just hit where I was going with my comment. We've already charged for a lot of this because they've gotten a permit that we're now increased at the 1% of the cost.

So the permit, anything, any works done, driveway, any home improvement, all of that. We just voted on that within the last, what, two, three months? That's 1%. And I don't know any time that somebody goes and starts digging in your yard, working on water and sewer, that it's less than a few hundred dollars that's probably coming back to the city.

and because those types of breaks at that point where it goes back into the system cause substantial damage to the interior of the house they cause damage to the there's damage into the lines going back and forth the water and sewer and they've already paid probably a few hundred bucks is my guess because I had a backup in my basement it was easily would have exceeded the 10 grand that I had coverage.

so when you get into this these numbers get big and it's just like another 150 bucks water bills already 200 I mean at what point that's where Alderman Sanders was going at what point does it make sense to say okay we're getting to that breaking point for a lot of the citizens in the city of Freeport and and once again I'll come back to it there's a lot the average salary or the average income per family in this city is is less than $50,000 a year, so right around $44,000, $45,000, I think, last time I checked, and these are going to be substantial costs to them, and that's why we end up with these houses that we have these discussions about that we're tearing down because people can't afford to fix them. They can't afford to live, and just throwing a number out, see, these are things that should be known. If I'm doing this 40 times per year, I should know what the cost is, and this is the difference between government and business.

business. Business would know every single piece of this. I guarantee you Alderman Shadle goes out and does an electric job. They know how many hours, they know how many miles they drove, they know everything about it. They've estimated every piece of that. We're not leaving the city limits. So the estimation of the mileage, that's pretty minimal. But how long does it take to do the permit? How long does it take to do the inspection? Do I need to go back out a second time? Those are the things that we need to kind of have a basis. And you should have a better idea before you come to council and say, oh, we're just going to take it from 50 to 150. That's $100.

You know, that's a significant increase, and we need to know those costs, and we can't just keep going back to the well and taxing the hell out of the citizens of Freeport just because we haven't done our jobs.

We haven't sat down and thought this through and thought of it as it's our money, and that's where where we're at right now, and I'll leave it at that.

Alderman Sellers?

In the memo, it says $100, so it was already.

I think it was an increase of $100.

Yeah.

It was an increase.

So it wasn't the $150.

So it's $150.

It's to increase it to $150.

It's to increase it to $150.

So instead of the $150, they did do the $100.

No.

No.

No, it's an increase.

What's being proposed is $150.

Oh, so the whole thing, so you want to do it a hundred to make it a hundred and fifty?

Correct, correct.

Not just the hundred.

And again, the idea here is to recuperate the Public Works Department's time that they have to go out and do the inspection.

But it's their job.

Alderman Clem?

Oh, yeah.

Yeah, I'd just like to, as long as you're taking all this math into it that makes no sense, Let's take and add the price of the employee, the price of workman's comm, the price of the truck, the price of diesel, the price of tools, and the price of him going there and back and going there and back. So that enters into it, too. I mean, and how many years has it been since there's been an increase into it? So everybody sounds like they're willing to talk about something here. They've talked about it. This is only first reading. It's going to come back again. So we've got plenty of time to work with it.

Darren? Yeah, so we didn't willy-nilly throw this together. Andy Leverton and I did sit down and calculate his time and staff's time in doing this, fuel, benefits, the whole package to the utility. So yes, 150 is a little bit more than we need, but also this hasn't been changed forever and we didn't want to come back. This is not something that is annually looked at for a price.

so if the council wants to change it we're more than apt to that but as directors and staff members we are here to make sure that the city is covering our cost and doing the right thing for the city and that's what we're trying to do so if you guys want to change it to a hundred so be it we can make that work the the issue is is that we do get called out to most of these places at least two times if not three times right anywhere in the city to travel, 15, 20 minutes here and there, fuel, gas, extra trips, it all adds up to the utility and this is how we got in the situation of not being able to replace our infrastructure is the utility is actually nickel and dimed and then we don't have expenses to cover our sewer main breaks and those types of items which end up going to utility increases for everyone.

So we're trying to do the responsible thing And we did put the math to it And this is our recommendation You guys set policy So if you want to set it lower So be it We'll accept it I would like to make a motion Well, actually Alderman Sanders You've already exceeded your limit Of how many times you can speak So Alderman Stacy, did you have something more?

I would just like to make a motion That we take this to to a flat $100, a $50 increase, and not the $150 that was recommended. I'll second it. So you want to make a motion to make the increase? $50 increase, taking it to $100. To make it a flat $100. Mm-hmm. Okay, so that motion was made by Alderman Stacy, seconded by Alderman Simmons? No. No? Alderman Sellers. Alderman Sellers? I'm sorry.

Is there more discussion on that amendment only?

On that amendment?

On that amendment, just to increase it to a flat 100.

Alderman Simpson.

Yeah.

So I would support that.

I know it needs to be increased and I understand that.

But when it came to recouping costs on that system to hunt down these landlords that won't register, that wouldn't be heard when we talked about raising that price.

So the citizens deserve that same respect and we raise it just a little bit so you can get some of your money back but some of that should be and I hope was included in the budget for the year that the cost of going out and inspecting for a permit. So I'm totally for the $100. Do you have something different, right? On this motion? Yeah. Yeah. Who's liable to, with this I know you said public works, but who's losing? Does the city lose anything? Because these kinds of things usually the city has budgets for. They are budgeted at the first of the year to offset homeowners. We're not doing anything.

to help homeowners. What we're doing is throwing them under the bus by saying, well, we're going to charge you this, this, but what are we doing for the citizens of Freeport? Because what I'm hearing is that we're throwing fees out there to increase something that has been going on for decades, and now all of a sudden they're looking at this. This is a surprise to a lot of the homeowners to give that.

Sanders, attorney Zito wants to. So, so, so the motion that's on the floor right now is just about changing from 150 to 100. And I say no, period. And I was trying to give an explanation to why I was saying no for any increase because this has not.

increase, because this has not been a complete study, and that's my position on that subject, and I just wanted to make it clear that just to throw that out there like that, there has not been a study for the council to even make that distinction of what we used to have and what we're trying to do today, or whenever we ask people.

Okay, so we've talked about this at a cow, we've got this, and it's Alderman Stacy and Alderman Sellers that have put this forward to change it to be a flat rate of 100.

So unless there's any more discussion on that particular piece of it, Madam Clerk, would you please take the roll on the motion made by Alderman Stacy?

Clem?

No.

Monroe?

No.

Simmons?

Aye.

Parker?

Aye.

Stacey?

Aye.

Shadle?

No.

Sanders?

No.

And Sellers?

Aye.

We are tied at four to four. Mayor? No. That motion fails four to five. Okay. So we're back to the original of moving this forward. So are we ready to move this on to the next city council meeting? No. We have that motion. So I mean, is the discussion done is what I mean. Darren? Yeah. You know, sitting back. So if it's went to a hundred, We're talking about 40 inspections. So it's a $50 increase. We're talking about $2,000. If it went to 150, what are we talking about? An increase of $100. It's $3,700, right? So again, we did the math and the study of what it costs. The city at the $50 rate currently on the inspections, we don't break even on what the employee, the equipment, the inspection time that it costs.

We're just trying to make the city whole so we don't lose ground and end up in the same boat that the utility was in seven or eight years ago when we had to do massive increases for utility rates for every person in town. This is how you get behind in your utility and you can't afford it. So we are just trying to do the right thing for the utility and the city that owns the utility.

that's what we're trying to do is make sure that we at least cover costs of the goods and services we provide that is our responsibility as the enterprise zone so we will you've already exceeded your again you have exceeded you've already spoken how many times does he get to speak as many times as I let him oh that's my point you gotta yes I got a problem with just what you said and that should and that's just trying to bring clarity that should not bring clarity to If you speak more than three times, then I should be able to speak just as many times.

We are, unless there is more discussion, you have not exceeded your time.

Yes, there is, because I'm not accepting his explanation.

I should be able to reply back to his explanation.

Alderman, Stacy, I believe you've already spoken twice.

I just need some clarity.

Okay, so this is going to move to the next.

The next city council meeting, the way it stands.

Okay, so what if the ones that said yes to the hundred now say no to no change at all, then we're right back where we started No, we're not We are right where we started Mayor Miller's gonna, she's gonna raise it Who's gonna do that?

You know Alderman Sellers, did you have something else?

You haven't spoken twice We'll go to second reading You done?

So we'll go to second reading All right then we're gonna we're gonna move this to second reading okay all right item number 10 is the first ring of ordinance 2025 05 could you please read this ordinance approving special use permit application at 219 East Stevenson Street submitted by Michelle Davies and Jeff Schultz to examine the special use of a b2 to limited service business district zone property to allow restaurants taverns package liquor stores and any other establishment selling alcoholic beverages for consumption on or off the premises, section B11.

Director Duckman.

Thank you, Madam Mayor.

Staff received a special use application from Michelle Davies and Jeff Schultz for their restaurant, and it was an application to sell alcoholic beverages at 2190 Stevenson Street.

Excuse me.

And staff brought this petition to the Zoning Board of Appeals on January 2nd, and it was recommended for approval of a vote of five to zero with zero abstentions on January 9th staff brought this to the Planning Commission and it was also recommended for approval by a vote of five to zero with zero abstentions and staff in line with the Zoning Board of Appeals and Planning Commission is recommending approval but also wanted to state that per the request of the new proprietors of the business they are requesting a suspension of the rules so they can get moving on their liquor license.

Is there a motion to move this forward? So moved. Second. Okay, motion made by Alderman Sellers, seconded by Alderman Shadle. Discussion on this ordinance? Move on to item number 11, which is- We wanted to do this, right? Yeah. And who made that motion? I did. Second. Alderman Clem, seconded by Alderman Sellers, to suspend the rules. Suspension of the rules is non-debatable and must pass by two-thirds majority. Madam Clerk, please take the rule on the suspension only. Clemm? Aye. Monroe? Aye. Simmons? Aye. Parker? Aye. Stacy? Aye. Shadle? Aye. Sanders? Aye. And Sellers? Aye. The suspension of the rules passes eight to zero. So then now before you, Council is for the final passage of this ordinance. Any further discussion? Madam Clerk, please take the roll. Clem? Aye. Monroe? Aye. Simmons? Aye. Parker? Aye. Stacy? Aye. Shadle? Aye. Sanders? Aye. And Sellers? Aye. The ordinance passes 8-0. And item number 11 is the first reading of ordinance 2025-06. Could you please read this? Ordinance approving special use permit application at 219 East Stevenson Street submitted by Michelle Davies and Jeff Scholz to examine the special use of a B-2-2 limited service business

District Zone property to allow restaurants with outdoor serving areas, Section B10.

Director Duckman.

Thank you, Madam Mayor.

So staff received a special use application from Michelle Davies and Jeff Schultz, same proprietors of the business at 219 East Stevenson Street, and what this special use was for was to allow them to have a restaurant with an outdoor serving area, and I'll put up on the screen, the prior owners also had an outdoor serving area at their establishment.

So this was brought to the Zoning Board of Appeals on January 2nd, and it was recommended for approval with a vote of five to zero with zero abstentions.

And on January 9th, it was brought before the Planning Commission, and it was recommended for approval by a vote of five to zero with zero abstentions.

and the proprietors of this business are not looking to suspend the rules it's fairly cold outside I don't think that they plan on having any outdoor dining for a few months so they did not recommend they had not sought a suspension of the rules here so in line with the Zoning Board of Appeals and Planning Commission we are recommending moving this forward motion moving forward so moved second we have a motion made by Alderman Clem seconded by Alderman Sellers, move this ordinance forward. Any discussion? Did you want this, you said you did not care about this being moved for the suspension? There's no, there's not been a request for suspension of the rules. Madam Mayor? Yes. This would affect me in issuing their liquor license, however, if we did the outdoor later, I'd have to issue it twice and redo it. Motion to suspend the rules, Mayor. Second. We have a motion to suspend the rules by Alderman Monroe, seconded by Alderman Sellers? Stacy. Stacy? Alderman Stacy? Again, suspension of the rules is non-debatable and must pass by two-thirds. Madam Clerk, could you please take the roll on the suspension only?

Clem? Aye. Monroe? Aye. Simmons? Absent. Oh, I am so sorry. Parker? Aye. Stacy? Aye. Shadle? Aye. Sanders? Aye. And Sellers? Aye. The suspension passes 7-0.

So then now before you, Council, is the final passage of Ordinance 2025-06. If there's no further discussion, Madam Clerk, please take the roll.

Clem? Aye. Monroe? Aye. Simmons? Well, she's still absent. Parker? Aye. Stacy? Aye. Shadle? Aye. Sanders? Aye. And Sellers? Aye. And the ordinance passes 7-0. Thank you for making my load a little easier. Thank you. Item number 12 is the first reading of Ordinance 2025-07.

could you please read this ordinance approving variance application at 207 West Empire Street submitted by Tim and Vicki Rowe to seek relief from 1252.05 F1 to allow a front yard of less than 25 feet. Thank you. Director Duckman. Thank you.

Thank you. Director Duckman. Thank you, Madam Mayor. And I'm going to be putting up on the screen here just some images so we can see it a little better what's going on here. So staff received a permit application on December 13th for 207 West Empire for a front yard setback of less than they require 25 feet. And if we scroll down here, I can show you an image of what we're talking about here. The setback that they're requesting is a two foot setback.

so right off the cuff it sounds to be a little extreme but the reasoning for this front yard setback is it's for an accessibility ramp so staff is recommend is put this forward on January 2nd to the Zoning Board of Appeals it was recommended for approval by a vote of five to zero zero abstentions and at that at that hearing there was one neighbor who gave support for the variation.

It was also wanted to mention that this property owner has been at the same address for 30 years and now needs accessibility into their property.

So that was recommended for approval on January 2nd.

It was also recommended for approval by Planning Commission on January 9th.

And it was recommended approval with a vote of five yays, zero nays, and zero abstentions.

and in line with these recommendations staff is recommending moving this forward. Is there a motion? Second. Second by Alderman Sellers. Discussion Alderman Stacy. Are my eyes deceiving me or is it already done? Yes and I'll give a little background that it's already built and the son was helping the father bring his father back home and started construction so that he could help his father, who was having mobility issues, into the house. So started the work without the permit, came to the city, and based on the fact that it was practically, and you can see it's practically touching the sidewalk, said, look, we're going to need a variation. We'll work with you on the permit. We want to help the situation. We don't want to be difficult. But at the same time, we also want to make sure that you went through the proper channels with the permit and also to have council approve this variation.

So that's that's why we're here.

I OK, I understand all that, but it just seemed like we're already past that.

So why aren't we just asking council to accept what needs to be accepted so that the father have access to the house and move forward?

I mean that's what we're what we're asking here is saying that this happened this was constructed they should have gotten a permit they should have in theory done this before you know their father the patriarch of the family fell ill or lost mobility I should say however that didn't happen they built it without a permit so they came to my department we reviewed the permit and said by the way you also are going to need a variation because of how close you've built to the front yard setback so totally agree this was built. The son had this built in haste prior to getting a permit. Right.

Attorney Zito. I was just going to Wayne summed it up basically. They put the cart before the horse, but in this case you still make them apply for the variance so that it's illegal that they are that close to the sidewalk then. Yes, that's why this is before you now because they were told, hey, you got the cart before the horse, apply for the variance, we'll run it through the council, and that's what's before you guys now. Okay, if there's no further discussion, and we'll move on to the next item, which is item number 13, the first reading of ordinance 20-25-08. Would you please read this?

Ordinance amending chapters 608 and 806 of the Liquor Code.

Alderman Parker, would you mind flipping the lights back on? Thanks. Manager Boyer.

Thank you, Your Honor. Periodically, the Liquor Commission, Legal Counsel, and the City Clerk review Chapters 608 and 806 of the Liquor Codes to ensure the verbiage is current and reflects current practices and trends. Modifications to Chapters 608 and 806 of the Liquor Code have been identified as portions for the code that are out of date, such as requiring landline phone numbers or the need for further clarifications.

for example the requirement for a certificate of insurance has been listed in the codes for some time in the language all such certificates shall list the city of Freeport as a certificate holder has been added to clarify that the city does not need to be named as an additional insured other outdated sections of the code have been adjusted or removed to match observed needs of the license holder and actual circumstances throughout the city and staff Request you to move this forward to second reading.

Is there such a motion?

So moved.

Second.

We have a motion made by Alderman Sellers, seconded by Alderman Clem.

Discussion on this ordinance?

Move on to item number 14, which is the first reading of ordinance 20-2509.

Could you please read this?

Ordinance approving airport hangar M2 lease with Kelsey excavating.

Thank you.

Manager Boyer?

Thank you, Your Honor.

By the way, staff is requesting suspension of the rules on this one. Kelsey Excavating is interested in leasing Hangar M4 at Albertus Airport. The agreement generates $165 per month in revenue to the city and staff recommends approval of the lease. Is there a motion to approve? So moved. Second. Moving motion made by Alderman Sellers, seconded by Alderman Parker. Any discussion on the ordinance? Alderman Chadel. I just want to point out that I believe the memo said it was Hangar M4.

4. I'm sorry, correction M2. Thank you. Make a motion for suspension. Second. We have a motion to suspend the rules made by Alderman Clem, seconded by Alderman Sellers. Again, must pass by a two-thirds majority. Madam Clerk, would you please take the roll on the suspension only? Clem. Aye. Monroe. Aye. Simmons. Aye. Parker. Aye. Stacey. Aye. Shadle. Aye. Sanders. Aye. And Sellers. Aye. The suspension of of the rules passes 8-0. Okay, then now before you, council is the final passage for ordinance 2025-09. Any further discussion? Madam Clerk, please take the roll. Clem? Aye. Monroe? Aye. Simmons? Aye. Parker? Aye. Stacey? Aye. Shadle? Aye. Sanders? Aye. And Sellers? Aye. And the hangar lease under the new format is approved 8-0.

We'll move on to item number 15, which is the adoption of Resolution 20-2501. Could you please read this?

Resolution approving memorandum of agreement between the city and AFSCME to create the position of instrument and control technician slash electrician one.

Manager Boyer.

Thank you, Your Honor. As previously discussed at the Committee of the Whole, staff has identified the need for a stair-step grade 15 to allow individuals from within the city utility to be able to apply for a future position within the maintenance department ultimately ending at a grade 17. So staff requests approval from city council to move forward in creating the interim grade 15 step so that we can allow qualified applicants to begin the process to move to grade 17. So moved. Is there a motion to adopt? Alderman Sellers? Second. Motion made by Alderman Sellers. Second.

seconded by Alderman Parker for the adoption of Resolution 20-2501. Discussion? Alderman Sanders?

Yeah. Manager Jaboria, we did talk about this from about the grade, the pay grade. We talked about that and then I wanted to ask you, this is a new position, am I correct?

Yes, this would be the creation of a new position Okay, is that the going classification rate for that position? Is that across? Since it's new, who created the pay grade? Who did that?

So, in consultation with the utility superintendent, we were looking for a solution in line with some of our other pay grades, similar to a street trainee is hired on at the city, and there's an interim, so that first step, they hire in at a lower grade, I believe it's a 13, and then they move into a grade 14 when they become a street maintenance worker.

This is a similar thing, just for a bit higher classification in technical ability requirement.

So the 15 would be So the 15 would be if we have some employees in the city that have a pretty good mechanical background, have a rudimentary understanding of hydraulic and pneumatic systems, but maybe don't possess the understanding of how to do programming on starters, motors, and drivers and controllers, or don't have any background on rebuilding some of the motors or pumps, this gives us that transitionary step to go from wherever they are in the organization, organization to the ultimate goal which would be instrument controls technician grade 17. I'm waiting. What are you waiting for? I'm waiting for you to tell me I spoke too many times. That's what I'm waiting for. You spoke once. Did you want to speak again? Yeah. Okay, then how about you do that? Okay, nobody opposing it. Okay. Why not the highest pay grade if it's recommended that that you want to move into a 15 is it because he hasn't met the skill levels yet or the knowledge or the training is the reason why he's at that you propose a 15 as opposed of a 17 and what would be the requirement he meets all of the training skills and things of this nature before you can move him a step higher?

Essentially what I'm saying here is you need a year or two of mentorship with the maintenance department to gain the finer skills necessary to do the job.

That would be your recommendation, right?

Yes.

Yeah, okay. All right. I'm good.

Alderman Stacy?

My biggest ordeal with this whole deal is that they're weeks from going into negotiation.

And I don't know why this could not have been settled in negotiations, first of all. Second of all, we have had people placed in positions that were not equipped for that position, yet they were still placed there.

they were given extra training and whatever they needed through Highland or wherever to get what they needed to qualify and so how do we determine who we do that for and who we don't do that for I just feel that this position should have stayed at the level 17 as it was and the person that was bidding on the position should have been given the education or the training or whatever it needed at that level because even the person before the level was empty was not qualified for the position yet they remained at the level 17 and we have got to treat people equally. What's good for the goose is good for the gander. These people have to work in one another's faces daily. They don't need to be enemies working side by side. They got to work together. And we as a council need to make sure that things are happening fair and just. That's all.

If there's no further discussion, Madam Clerk, please take the roll.

Clem? Aye. Monroe? No. Simmons? Parker? Aye. Stacey? No. Shadle? Aye. Sanders? No. And Sellers? Aye.

The resolution passes 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 to 3. Item number 16 is the adoption of resolution 202504. Could you please read this?

Resolution approving memorandum of understanding with the Fraternal Order of Police regarding post-employment health plan or PEP Chief Schindler Yes, so this matter was before the council two weeks ago and then I think it got pushed to the cow So we've talked about this, I'm not going to read the entire memo But basically what it says is during the negotiations with the FOP during this last contract contract. Three officers were either at 20 years for years of retirement or will be at 20 years during the duration of this contract, and they were offered an ability to be grandfathered into the prior PEP provisions where if they did retire with at least 20 years of service, they then would get compensation for their sick time that they accumulated.

So this is just, I guess, solidifying that agreement, and it's something that we talked about for the last two weeks now.

Thank you. At the last council meeting, we did have a motion to adopt this resolution made by Alderman Clem, seconded by Alderman Parker, so we don't need to do that again.

So is there any further discussion? Seeing none, Madam Clerk, please take the roll.

Clem, Aye, Monroe, Aye, Simmons, Aye, Parker, Aye, Stacy, Aye, Shadle, Aye, Sanders, Aye, and Sellers, Aye, the resolution is adopted, 8-0. Item number 17 is the adoption of resolution 2025-05. Could you please read this? Resolution ratifying emergency board up of 1300 East South Street by NICAM Construction. Thank you, Director Duckman. Thank you, Madam Mayor.

The former hotel on US-20, most recently branded as a travel lodge inn, formerly the Holiday Inn, it has been condemned since January 11th of 2017, declared a chronic nuisance on November 16th of 2023, and in 2024, it currently has a lien of $34,100 on it.

The city is currently petitioned to the circuit court for a demolition order which is ongoing On December 3rd of 2024, Fire Chief Scott Miller informed me via email that there was an apparent break-in at the property which was immediately investigated by our police department Chief Miller shared his immediate concern of the building being a fire hazard with people potentially starting fires to stay warm in the upcoming winter months Due to immediate health and safety concern, I solicited bids from three contractors in accordance with our codified ordinances to board up all entrances into the building with half-inch OSB The three bids were provided below to you in the memorandum and they came in as NICAM Construction bid $13,863, Winter Construction bid $15,000, and CMM and Associates bid $23,076 City moved forward with NICAM construction as the lowest responsible bidder to perform the emergency board up and the work was subsequently completed on December 16th of this year or 2024 rather staff recommends approval of the resolution to remit payment to NICAM construction for the emergency board up services at 1300 South Street is there a motion to approve some move second the motion made by Alderman Sellers, seconded by Alderman Shadle. Alderman Sanders, did you have something?

Yes. Director Duckman was recommended to condemn and demolish this property. Is that what we're saying?

We are working on that, and we do have an ongoing case on that to demolish this property.

What prompted, what was the neglect that prompted this move?

Well, it's long been neglected. It was condemned in 2017 and it was declared a chronic nuisance by my, by the hard work of my department of November of 2023 and in that time we've, it's accumulated over $34,000 in code violations on the property and since early 2024 the city's been moving forward for its demolition. Okay I know Chief Shenberger already made a comment but I was just wondering are we patrolling that area to prevent any other kind of provocations or whatever that might cause problems like incidents fires or or anything that the city would be liable to from this abandonment of this property because we got to post it first, right? Or have we done that already?

We are currently in that process right now. I do want to commend Chief Shenberger and Chief Miller for constantly keeping me abreast of what's going on on that property.

keeping me abreast of what's going on on that property. They do a great job monitoring it. And prior to this time, my team, my inspectors have been boarding up the property, doing the best that they can, but they find another window to break in. And this last incident had several areas of entry and several broken windows. And it was to a point where with the winter months coming, really needed to secure the structure. Definitely. Okay. Thank you. Alderman Stacy.

Okay, you spoke about boarding it up. What are we looking at to board this up again? I didn't write down my totals.

Okay, so it's already boarded up right now. It's been boarded up. But the total cost to board it up was $13,863.

Okay, now this is what I don't understand. Okay, I understand you can have it from the owner.

the landlord, the owner, I'm sorry, what was the, are you wreaking havoc from, I'm wreaking havoc from that person, yes, meaning I'm, I'm trying to understand how I wreak havoc, is he giving you a hard time, you don't, you don't want it tore down or, well, I will say that, yes, the city is moving to tear it down through the courts, so we can't fast demo it, I mean, is it getting $100 fines, it is getting $100 fines, and it will not be fast-tracked because it's a commercial property and not a abandoned residential property and I certainly brought that up to our legal team and said can we fast-track this property and they said with it being a commercial property we're going to move forward with a petition at the circuit court.

so it's an ongoing legal matter right now and I just would say personally I strongly believe it needs to be remediated immediately yesterday yeah I'm 13,000 to board it up when it needs to come down I'm with you a hundred percent I am with you a hundred percent you know we're doing our best to get this done quicker there's no further discussion madam clerk please take the role Clem Monroe aye Simmons Aye. Parker. Aye. Stacey. Aye. Shadle. Aye. Sanders. Aye. And Sellers. Aye. The resolution is adopted 8-0. Item number 18 is adoption of Resolution 2025-06. Could you please read this? Resolution approving Lexapol invoice for use of subscription material. Chief Schenberger. The Freeport Police Department has used Lexapol knowledge management system for the development and issuance of policy and procedures since 2019.

Strong policy and procedure is critical for law enforcement agencies to ensure staff responds to calls for service in a consistent manner.

Some of the benefits of utilizing Lexapol KMS to develop and maintain policies and procedures include ensuring the agency's policies are current and comply with changes in laws.

Lexapol KMS adapts policies to include legislative language when state legislator enacts new legislation.

Responding to civil and criminal cases, Lexapol KMS monitors court cases and ensures the policy and procedures are compliant with changes in case law. And Lexapol KMS includes language necessary to facilitate the accreditation process. The annual subscription for Lexapol KMS is $15,180.52. This cost is included in the fiscal year 2025 PD budget under line item 101-151-66.

6150. Is there a motion to adopt? So moved. Second. We have a motion made by Alderman Clem, seconded by Alderman Shadle. Discussion on the resolution. Madam Clerk, please take the roll. Clem. Aye. Monroe. Aye. Simmons. Aye. Parker. Aye. Stacey. Aye. Shadle. Aye. Sanders. Aye. And Sellers. Aye. And that resolution is adopted 8-0. Item number 19 is the adoption of resolution 2025-07.

please read this. Resolution approving purchase of ENCODE module for accounts payable automation.

Director Richter. Thank you, Your Honor. Currently, the City of Freeport uses Tyler ENCODE for payroll, general ledger accounting, utility billing, and accounts payable since it was implemented in 2020.

The current process, and this is just very basic from beginning to end, the current process for The process for entering invoices for payment is inefficient and impacts many departments. Currently, the fire department, police, library, public works, and the finance department enter their own invoices into the system. The process for entering invoices is a hard copy of the invoice is received by mail or we print it out from an email. The invoice is reviewed and matched with packing lists.

as applicable. Once reviewed by the department head, the invoice is coded and signed as approval, and the invoice, along with any backup, is scanned into the system. The invoice is hand-keyed into Tyler InCode for payment, and the scanned document is then attached. Each of the departments I listed before, they submit their packets of invoices electronically to finance for review.

the city accountant reviews all packets by checking the key data and comparing it to the original invoice and that pile of bills so for example the packet that you approved in the consent agenda is this big and so electronically well I'm sorry at this point the paper bills go from the city accountant they go to my desk I review all of them then they go the city manager's desk he reviews them and then they end up in the consent agenda for counsel. Tyler InCode has developed an advanced module called Accounts Payable Automation. Once a scanned document is uploaded into the software, the information from the invoice, such as the date, the amount, the vendor, is electronically imported into the software. The imported information does need to be verified, so you still need a human.

and the account code needs to be entered. Once the invoice is entered the invoice is put into an electronic workflow. For example, instead of manually signing and coding a piece of paper the invoice is electronically forwarded to the department head for approval and then into a flow to go to the city accountant for review, finance director, city manager. By adding this technology we anticipate the reduction of staff time necessary to enter and approve invoices. This will not only positively impact the finance department but also all departments that enter their own invoices. The strategic plan alignment here is responsive, efficient government. The finance department staff requests approval to purchase the accounts payable automation module that is just a piece, a new piece of Tyler in code at the quoted price of $11,000 $838 annually with a $250 implementation cost. Is there a motion to adopt? So move. Second.

The motion made by Alderman Sellers, seconded by Alderman Parker. Discussion on the resolution?

Alderman Stacy. Yes. I'm concerned that it took us four years to realize this isn't giving us what we need or really want and we're willing to buy a second piece of the same in code Tyler in code company. Is that the route we need to go or do we need to look at something totally different? Manager, did you want that? Yes. Other woman, Stacy, I think you're referring to when we went from we changed the county systems.

and I think you get an opportunity when you first purchase a new piece of software to elect to find out what of the modules you actually want to use because there's a lot more modules there that you may not use. So you go ahead and elect the ones that you want, you implement them, you see how the system works and then over a period of time and review you have a look like Michelle has done and say hey we might need to add this accounts payable module. So I think this is kind of a little bit of a tuning of the system.

right now. It's the addition of something we need that has come essentially to our attention that it really could be streamlined if we were able to do that. So I would just submit to you that this is actually more of an evolutionary process, a refinement process, and I think I support it fully. So thank you. If there's no further discussion, please take the roll. Clem? Aye. Monroe? Aye. Simmons? Aye. Parker? Aye. Stacey? Aye.

Shadle, Sanders is absent, Sellers, Aye Sellers? Aye. The resolution is adopted 7-0. Item number 20 is the adoption of resolution 20-2508. Could you please read this? Resolution approving faregram master service contract for 2025. Thank you. Manager Boyer? Thank you, Your Honor. So the city has various annual engineering needs, projects that come up and things as we go along with the large construction schedule that we have put before ourselves.

the last several years. So some of the things that come up throughout the year are topographical studies, infrastructure system mapping, geo-information systems, construction survey and staking, elevation records, ADA issues, multiple grants and loan assistance, water, storm and sanitary sewer utility system design, structural assessment, street infrastructure, airport engineering support, various right-of-way permitting, Illinois EPA Protection Agency requirements, Illinois Department of Transportation necessities, and quality assurance and quality control via inspections and observations related to construction. In addition, soil borings and analysis and all emergency needs for professional engineering requirements. So this consultant work is performed outside of specific project contracts brought to the council and are required specific funding sources.

Freeport requires an engineering firm to provide support with staff, technical professional licensed engineers who specialize in these diverse areas of expertise. So the city of Freeport approves various engineering contracts throughout the year and the support for all the city staff departments as needed. So this would be a contract that's related back to the time and material needed by staff at various times throughout the year during the construction phases. This contract allows General Engineering Requirements not related to a specific contract to be performed on a day-to-day needs basis.

So it also enables the city to be reactive to our daily needs and requirements as the infrastructure emergencies arise. We've been doing this for several years and all the major projects are handled separately and I've, you know, if we do not use this entire agreement, we do not use it all, we just use is what we need. So it's been very helpful and it allows us to contend with issues that emerge in the field efficiently and effectively. So with that, I would request council approve this resolution. Is there a motion to adopt? So moved. Second. Motion. Maybe Alderman Sellers seconded by Alderman Clem. Discussion on the resolution. Alderman Sanders.

What are we trying to say here? That Fehr Graham made a proposal. Is Fehr Graham making a proposal to the city?

Well, each year the city actually requests that Fehr Graham put together this master services agreement.

And as I mentioned just a little while ago, this gives us the flexibility to get certain projects done and completed.

did throughout the year because whatever you're dealing with construction, whenever you're dealing with things day in and day out like we do, whether it be lining, whether it's sewer cleaning or replacements of sewer mains, this gives us the operational flexibility to get those things done and we have kind of a cap amount and I don't believe we've exceeded that since we started.

Alderman Sanders?

Should I wait?

Alderman Sanders, go ahead.

using Fehr and Graham services to do the inspection, the whole entire ball of wax or whatever, whenever inspections or a job needs to be, projects needs to be considered and things like that, we are dependent upon Fehr and Graham to make that assessment and determination and the cost and the estimated cost that we have not had a chance to to determine whether or not their cost is justifiable to work on the city for the city at large.

In other words, what Fehr and Graham has not revealed to us, all of his cost services, all of his structural cost service and infrastructure cost services, Services. And are these estimated costs? Because I like to have a cost that is already something that the council has determined whether or not we will go forward with certain services and certain costs. Director Boyer. If I could speak to that point. Number one, it's been my experience and I've dealt with a number of different engineering design firms and different engineers. Fehr Graham not only is local, they know and understand our systems, whether it's transportation, water, sewer, storm, and a whole lot of other systems. They have always delivered at or below cost, and when they have had a problem where they've had a cost overrun, we didn't see a change order. They just took care of it. They took care of it internally because Freeport is an important customer to their organization.

however I want to address your point which is as far as the time and material portion of this contract is concerned okay these this is definitely reviewed and overseen by staff we make sure that anything they're doing we're keeping track of those times and we're also keeping track of all of the activities that they're doing and that we go through and parse those out and approve them individually when the invoices come through but I wanted to make one last point Grant, which was in the relationship that we have a program, the only difference you would do in other ways, like for instance, if you had another project and you were interested in pursuing other help or other engineering services contracts, this wouldn't be a bidding situation, it would be a statement of qualification where you would submit to various engineering companies, their statement of qualifications, and you would receive those. I've looked at a number of those, different process, different statements on different projects and I will suggest because of their not only their track record of success and their knowledge, deep knowledge of the city, they are very, very qualified and to the point where it would be difficult to find anyone more qualified. Alderman Stacy. Yes. I don't know that we did, but I don't know that we didn't go over last year because Fehr Graham came back and asked for $250,000 extra. Now, I know what was budgeted, what was started with, and I know there's also a 20% increase that can be added up in there as well, if I'm not mistaken.

My only concern, my only request, we have 20, 30 items on this agenda, and three are contracts with fairground.

it would have been nice to have gotten these in November or December at the latest to go through all this instead of spending the weekend trying to understand and I know it happens but how many people are really even reading them to even understand what it's saying and what we're committing to Or are we just getting back and saying, yes, aye, aye, aye? We don't take the police. We don't take ASHME when their contract is up and take a couple of days to approve their contract. And we just need to see this information before it runs out in advance. I'm not against it happening. We're indebted to Fairground.

I'm not against fairground, but it would be nice to get these type of things in advance.

Well, if you think that, you know, it's going to be two, three months in advance, and we'll never get anything done, I mean, this is normal procedure to put something forward.

What is normal?

It's not normal.

It is.

Adoptions of resolutions are...

Mayor Jodi Miller, all I'm asking...

is that not that nothing be changed, but that we receive it in advance to go through it in case we have any questions, because I don't want to make a motion to move this to the cow in February. That would be my right.

that would be my right. So please understand where I'm coming from. I know what's been norm, but what's been norm don't mean it's been right. All I am is trying to take time, three contracts, am I correct, on this agenda. I don't want to just da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da. Okay. All I'm asking is that if we're going to vote on something in January pertaining to Fehr Graham's three contracts is that we get them in November to look over them, to ask questions, to do whatever we may want to do. Maybe some don't want to do nothing because they ain't done nothing for so long, but some of us want to understand.

Darren did you want to add to that yeah sure we can certainly try to get contracts here sooner I would like to state that this is the exact same contract the exact same everything for the last three years that is why it wasn't presented sooner it's an annual contract and it is a time and material estimation contract if you read it so we could continue on the current contracts that we have because there's not a final set amount on it but city manager direction was to bring new contracts yearly so they can be brought to council and gone you know in front of everybody so everybody was still in agreeance of moving that forward. To your statement of the cost I believe we budgeted the same amount as last year but city manager directed me to bring only part of the contract first to see what we actually need for the year because it will very year to year. Last year was a very busy year. So, you know, if we exceed the 350, we would have to bring in additional surfaces back. That would come back. I understand all of that. I get all of that. Alderman Monroe, did you have something? Yes. Thank you, Madam Mayor. Normally I've supported this in the past, but recent events have changed my mind and there's a lot of reasons why.

On January 8th, Fehr Graham made a post on Facebook. That post says we are proud to collaborate with clients like Rob Boyer, City Manager of the City of Freeport, City Hall. Rob shares how Fehr Graham's dedication, communication, and exceptional service sets us apart from other firms. Join us in making a difference and enhancing our communities we cherish. Together we create real change.

What most people don't realize, a lot of people in the city of Freeport, is that happens to be, right around the same time, a local citizen was trying to change the form of government in the city of Freeport.

So, is there other things going on in this situation?

So we've got the, this is how convoluted this has become.

We've got the Public Works Director signing off on a contract with Fairgram to the city of Freeport that is then countersigned and sent back to the city manager. These agreements come back and forth, the communications, so the director sits in multiple positions. He works for Fairgram. He participates in a lot of this work that's done, and no doubt Mr. Stiekel does a great job in a lot of things, but it creates a conflict of interest, and that conflict of interest gives the impression of a pay-for-play or something that's nefarious going on. It doesn't have to actually be going on to break and violate the law. A Class 4 felony. A Class 4 felony.

and we walk in this room hundreds and hundreds of thousands of dollars and it's like well this is what we've always done well we should be questioning everything we do because we're spending money that we don't always have and we're constantly raising rates on everything and we have to come back and and this is this is the Illinois law a conflict of interest occurs when a person's personal interest could compromise their judgment, decisions, or actions. This includes financial interests, family relationships, friendships, or social factors. This is the state of Illinois. This is not my opinion. This goes above that as well. And these things have been going on behind closed doors, and they've been occurring over and over and over again. I bring this up because here we go, we're just going to say $350,000 for this, this, 100,000 here, 150 here, another 100 over here, doesn't matter, Fehr Graham loves us, of course, I would love the city of Freeport if they gave me half a million or three quarters of a million dollars a year every year, minimum, but it causes the appearance, even if it's not happening, it causes the appearance that something nefarious is going on, and we're blocking out other engineering firms that theoretically could be bringing opportunities to the city of Freeport, Report as well, and not putting all of our eggs in one basket. And having been in a business and run a

business, I understand the dangers of doing that. It puts you in a situation where you're no longer able to check, could somebody else do the same thing at a cheaper cost, at a better solution? You don't know.

We've completely pushed all of the other players out and now we've built this deep relationship where we've got a Fair Graham employee who's also a city employee, kind of, I don't really know. I asked the question. Nobody's really given me a great answer on that yet. I happen to like him a lot. I think he does a lot of great things for the city, but it doesn't change the fact that this looks not good.

My personal opinions don't matter on that. My duty is to the citizens of the second ward and the rest of the citizens of Freeport. And when I see things like this coming through that, well, we don't know how much it's going to be. It could be more. It could be less. It just depends on what we do, how busy we are, what we've got going on.

and last year was a busy year. I mean, we did a lot. We did Adams. We did a lot of streets. We did a lot of work but at the same time now we're starting to now we're starting to understand why I'm asking the question we've already paid for the city employees on the other page who are going out and checking and following up to make sure the water mains are connected the right way but now we understand why we're asking for an increase there as well because now we need more money to pay Fair Graham more money. It's not about our city employees. It's about our contractors. And the people of Freeport deserve better than this. And Cecelia's right. Alderman Stacy is 100% right. This should have come to the cow. There's no reason it couldn't have come to the cow. And we talked about it last week. Instead, you're going to shove it through all three at once. And you know what? We know I know what's going to happen. It's going to pass. But it's not going to pass because I say yes. But people should start questioning. People should start looking at what's going on in this building and asking questions. Not enough people are involved, and they should be. But these three contracts, $350,000 master service contract for 2025 is insanity. You should have to come back to us or put it in the overall budget, lay it out. Here's what we're going to do. Here's the projects here's what we think it's going to be but once again we don't do that we don't lay it out and again that's three years of the same contract and a lot of unsupported accusations Darren did you want to defend that yes I would so I am going to take those comments personal personal because there is no situation going on here I work very hard for the city of Freeport every day I don't know another

consultant that has brought in $13 million of funding just this year which maybe we have a great relationship going on and the interactions between government and a consultant is actually producing more than other areas. I'm very proud of the work that I've done and I will state again there is nothing going on between city government and Fehr Graham. We have been embedded in this community for 51 years.

We have done the city engineering here. There is no employees from any other engineering firm that live in the city of Freeport. We employ 40 people down at our office that are all people that spend money in Freeport. We have a long-term.

We have a long-term lease at our building in Freeport, so we are embedded here.

I can give you examples of other projects that have happened here over the years, and one of them, you guys just approved money for a contract that, an engineer that didn't even finish their work and decided to pay them, but accusations are coming after us.

I will tell you, Mr. Monroe, our firm lost $21,000 on the landfill contract last year and we never came back and asked for a penny. We wrote it off, we ate it because that was the agreement. The general engineering contract, which this is the master service is what it is, that is in replacement of the city engineering department that doesn't exist here. These are things that we have to be nimble on it when buildings fall down.

When IDOT permits are needed to do water main construction, there is a lot of work in the city of Freeport that requires this everyday engineering with engineering stamps and with a team of people that are nimble and can react for the city of Freeport. Again, I have 40 people in a building down there that we are paying family wages to. There is not, there is another firm in town. They have nobody that lives in the city of Freeport. So compare apples to apples.

We invest in the community, we also donate to the community, and we have been a great partner to the city of Freeport. I just added this up, and we have personally, our firm has brought in over $50 million worth of funding that did not need to be repaid to the city of Freeport in the last, I believe it's 10 or 12 years. So we have been a good partner, and I am taking it personal that you are putting out on the council floor that there's accusations that are not there.

and you know me better than that. Alderman Clemm? Yeah. I'd just like to bring up that I've had the pleasure of working with a number of people in my 20 years as an alderman. Many of them have been from many other engineering firms. Some of those firms have been successful. Some of those firms have caused us problems.

I've worked with probably three or four city engineers over that period of time at least that caused us great problems and great costs to the city of Freeport who were employed by the city of Freeport where everybody thought they were saving money.

Over the last year, as Director Bryan gave his speech about the city of Freeport, we did seven miles of road last year. That's never been done in the city of Freeport. And it took cooperation between Fair Graham, their partners, and remember they oversee all these projects too that happen.

It took them, there has never been a year where that much has been produced without any hassle, without any overcharges.

I mean, you mentioned they came back once for monies for things.

They have managed the landfills for years.

I go to fitness lifestyles every morning at 5 o'clock or 5.15, 5.30 in the morning.

Who do I see in Honkat going into work? Darren.

who do I call at six o'clock at night when I've got a question on the project Darren Fair Graham has been a greatest partner to the city of Freeport as any firm we've ever worked for and I would never say I can't think of one project that we went back on that fair Graham had a redo reproduce do it over again or change things on I believe If you read this, they're asking for X number of dollars, and they're asking for, there's a limit set on the amount of money that they can make on this project, there's nothing more favorable in the world, and I know this as being a contractor, than a time and material contract, a common material contract, that you can work with a company that you can trust to get a job done, and I call the question.

I, um, well, I have to ask for procedure here, what am I doing? Oh, if, that's, that's cool, that's cool.

Are you, Alderman Clem, are you making a motion to call the question? Yes. Okay. So, a motion's been made, it would need a second and then a vote. If that passes by two-thirds majority, then the question is called. What was the motion? He made a call the question. Call the question. I'll second that. And so we have a motion made by Alderman Clem. Who wants to do that? Seconded, Alderman Clem made the motion.

and it has been seconded by Alderman Shadle. After you got done making that long comment you just made. You don't have the floor, Alderman Sanders. Yeah, but he wants to close the discussion. Yes, he does. That's what's on the floor. That's his prerogative, but okay. So we have a motion on the floor for that. So it's not debatable. It has to pass by two-thirds majority. And so, Madam Clerk, could you please call the roll on calling the question? Do you understand what this is? Yeah, I understand. Okay.

Oh, were you asking me? No. Okay, sorry. So, if you could please call the roll on calling the question.

Clem? Aye. Monroe? No. Simmons? No. Parker? Yes. Stacy? No. Shadle? Aye. Sanders? No. Sellers? Aye. One, two, three. We only have four in favor, so that fails.

So, then, more discussion. You've already had twice a talk, Alderman Stacy's once, Alderman Clemm's once, Alderman Monroe's once. Is there... Are we on the same subject or different subjects? Yeah, we're on the same subject. So, Alderman Parker, Alderman Simmons, Alderman Shadle, Alderman Sellers, do you have anything you want to add? No. To... To this resolution, adopting this resolution. I do. Okay.

The first thing is, why wouldn't I want someone that I could trust or I'm a good partner with? I mean, that's life. You want a good partner in marriage, you want a good partner in business, you want a good partner in friendship, you know, why wouldn't I want to be working with somebody that I have a good relationship with?

that's what I can't understand it's a the same same thing that we've done the year before the year before we've got the ball rolling we're moving we're making some strides where people are complimenting us on our work but we come and we complain on every on every number on every part of the agenda we have it's just it's combative on everyone and it's it's tiresome. Alderman Shadle or Alderman Simmons did either one of you have anything you want to add? You already had your twice, Larry. I will. Alderman Simmons. Yeah, I just want to say asking questions that's that we got to stop considering that combative like we shouldn't be expected to just come say yes to everything. Some things you may have the answer for and you may be in the mic questions and you want to ask those questions on public record, but it's always assumed that people aren't prepared, or they're combative and aggressive when they have questions, and I just don't think that's fair. Like, I don't have any more questions or discussion, but if somebody else does, then I'm going to vote no to call in the questions so they can finish their discussion. That's only fair.

Olman, Stacy, did you have your hand up?

No, but I will say that I too said no because I feel that if someone has something to say, they should have the option to say it. I mean, we've been limited to two questions, so I'm not going to take that from someone if they have further discussion.

I said what I said, I meant what I said, we have three contracts on this agenda, it would have been nice just to have gotten them in advance, I'm not saying anything negative about anybody, all I just said, no, not all the time, no, not all the time, I'm just saying, I wanted the contracts in advance.

I understand we'd have had the same contract for the last three years.

Last year, I believe, was my first time voting on the contract.

And I didn't know what I was voting on.

I couldn't understand half of the stuff that was in them.

Do that make me stupid? No.

That make me ask questions.

And maybe it should prepare you.

And that's my right.

and so just like when I go into When I go into contract negotiations, it's a three-, four-, five-month ordeal. I'm not asking for that. I'm just saying so that when the year is up, like where we're at today, that I've already didn't just have Friday till today to prepare.

Mayor, I know I could call you, I call you often, gonna keep calling you, called you yesterday, and I'm alright with that, but I'm not gonna be called combative, because I open my mouth and I speak. Amen. Well, we have a resolution to adopt for Fairgram's Master Service Engineering Agreement. You've already spoken twice. I did? Yes. So, if there's no further discussion, Madam Clerk, please take the role.

Plemm, Aye, Monroe, No, Simmons, Aye, Parker, Aye, Stacy, Aye, Shadle, Aye, Sanders, No, and Sellers, Aye, the resolution is adopted 6-2. Item number 21 is the adoption of resolution 2025-09. Could you please read this? Resolution approving Fairgram Master Service Contract for Public Works Service for 2025. Thank you, Manager Boyer. Thank you, Your Honor.

The city also requires a professional public works assistant for various civil, environmental, engineering, and managerial duties daily to oversee the city department effectively and efficiently. It's essential to have a director who's immersed in the city infrastructure and has the history and knowledge to handle the various demands of the position. City requests assistance to handle the volume of daily duties required by this large department including but not limited to right-of-way permitting, overweight permitting, IDOT, bridges, streets, forestry, water, wastewater, sewer, and storm infrastructure. City staff requires professional assistance as needed from Ferrogram to assist in the management of the department and specifically duties related to the various civil environmental engineering and project management services that require an expert level of knowledge and experience. The Public Works Master Service Agreement provides a team of local engineer experts for the city resources as needed. The total cost of these services is $100,000.

on a time and material basis and is billed as needed as the city manager or department directors require.

So this contract represents cost savings to the city.

A public works director hired position with full salary and benefits.

The compensation would be essentially $130,000 or more.

So recommendation, staff recommends city council approve the public works professional related assistance.

Is there a motion to adopt?

So moved. Second.

We have a motion made by Alderman Clem, seconded by Alderman Shadle. Discussion on this resolution?

Alderman Sanders?

Yeah, we throw in that term, directors, without the consultation from the council, into knowing who is stepping up to the plate to play these roles.

Obviously, we're being bypassed for these individuals who are directors, as per se, and we don't understand the whole criteria of these directors and what are they here for and who's doing the hiring or putting people in place without the consultation of the council.

and if we're doing that, no, I got to keep talking because she's going to shut me down and put me what's on the pause list and so I don't want that right now. I don't want you to interject at this point in time because she's subject to negate what I'm trying to talk about but my problem is we're putting people in place to make decision making decisions without the Council. I have a problem with that. I have a problem with every prominent positions like directors. I need to know who these directors are because these directors are making decisions on how taxpayers' dollars are being spent, how we're billing things, how we're doing anything when it comes to contract. This is what's happening constantly. And I don't want the I want to make sure that everything is brought to the light, how we got here, because people are sitting at home is, well, where did he come from? How did he get here? Who hired him? Who authorized the position? Well, if the council is not mediating none of this, talking about it, then we're clueless. They're just popping up like popcorns, you know, and we got to get a handle on that.

And when I look at my manager, I know that he's the link to these kinds of things, and we have to ask more questions. That's the reason why questions need to be asked in terms of how we go about the day-to-day operation and business of the city.

and so we need to know these things and we shouldn't have to be debating it. That's what we that's where we're combating it, slinging mud everywhere. You know, I'm just going because the chairperson is running things and I don't want nobody to speak while I'm speaking until I get an opportunity to say what I have to say. I want to make that a practice. I think every council person wants to make that a practice.

because I sat here and listened to others elaborate on their concerns, comments, and views and everything, their opinions and everything.

So I want the same respect when that comes forward.

And my question was just one question.

Well, maybe more than one.

But the point of the matter is I'm trying to find out how we are handling things when it comes to bringing people to the floor to make consultations to tell the council what is going on and what is expected and what they're trying to do.

I want my city manager making these kinds of discussions and proposals.

I want him to be more involved into understanding when I want to go to your office.

If I want to go to your office and want to talk about what went on in council, I expect something different than what outside people are talking about. I want my manager to know all these things so I can have a legitimate answer. And when I come into the council, the people can understand that I consulted with you. I have someone to say, well, this is the information I got from my manager, my city manager.

and I'm just going to voice that to the general public so they can understand why we vote the way we vote and sustain and things of this nature and so my whole thing is that I want to say we might need an overhaul on how we do things from the administrative position so that's my whole thing.

if you want to cut me off come on oh no I'm holding my tongue so um I I believe you're asking who gets to make the decision of the master service contract for the public works that's what this is so you can vote yes or no yeah but it's already in place it's it's it's for you to make a determination you either vote yes or vote no yeah that's what this is okay so any further discussion Darren yeah so I'll answer answer your question or try to. This works no differently than it would if somebody else sat in this seat. Directors have a certain responsibility to the city. They can only approve so much. Anything else has to go. It's a purchasing policy that is by the city. Michelle ensures that we follow the purchasing policy of anything that's done. It all comes to council. I believe anything Rob can't prove anything over $9,999 per our ordinance. So everything's still run through the council. We don't make decisions independently of the council. Rob and I work together on public works every day to ensure that our team has a good mission and we're getting things done, which I think is proven in the city that more and more and more is getting done since I've been assisting the city over the last two years.

So I have sat in that director role for the last two years. We're asking to continue it. We're making great strides, and our contract, I believe, is advantageous to the city because it's for less than they could hire somebody for with benefits, a truck, equipment. Our cost is all in 100%. It's time and material as needed. Last year, we made it the whole year, and we have enough to the whole year, and we have enough to maybe go a little bit into February yet, so we've done a good job managing the contract, and there's a lot more to this. We do permitting for water and sewer permits for residents. We also do overweight permits. We also do civil reviews for the city of Freeport, so in these contracts, there's money returned to the city through those fees through Mr. Duckman's Department. I don't know the exact number. Michelle could probably get it. There's probably over $100,000 in permit and civil review fees that get returned to the city for the work that we do every day through contractors, trucking companies, things like that, that before I took this role, nobody was really managing, and it wasn't really happening. So I have done my best to clean up the areas that we could and should and I think the role has been very advantageous to both parties and I'm living Freeport, I love Freeport and I work hard for Freeport every day and if you don't believe me you can ask any of the

directors of the other departments that I work with every day from fire, police, finance, community development, even the library and let them judge it. Any other discussion? Madam Clerk, please take the role.

Clemm, Aye, Monroe, No, Simmons, Aye, Parker, Aye, Stacy, Aye, Shadle, Aye, Sanders, No, and Sellers, Aye, the resolution is adopted six to two and item number 22 is the adoption of resolution 2025 10 could you please read this resolution approving fair Graham agreement to provide albertus airport stormwater inspections and reports manager Boyer uh thank your Your Honor, similarly, we have to, every year, we have to renew our stormwater permits.

Albertus Airport requires its own stormwater permit, so this is essentially an agreement with Farrah Graham to process a stormwater permit.

The total amount budgeted for this amount, for this item, is about $5,000.

Is there a motion to adopt?

So moved.

Second.

Second. We have a motion made by Alderman Clemm, seconded by Alderman Shadle. Discussion?

Point of correction on $5,500. Alderman Stacy? I thought it was okay. Any discussion? Madam Clerk, please take the roll.

Clem, Aye, Monroe, Stain, Simmons, Aye, Parker, Aye, Stacey, Aye, Shadle, Aye, Sanders is absent, Sellers, Aye, the resolution is adopted, 6-0-1.

Item number 24 is update of the city's goals for the social justice committee presented by manager Boyer.

Thank you, Honor. And in the interest of time, I will keep this as concise as I can. The Social Justice Committee, when it was meeting, offered several recommendations and metrics to assess the city's progress in diversity, equity, and inclusion within city employment primarily. There are some other metrics, but I do want to compare 2020 as our first year to quarter four of last year.

and just highlight a few of the pretty significant increases that have happened here. So in the police department, female employees increased 26.3% in that period of time. So we started off with 19 working for the police department. We currently have 24. That was an increase of five. In terms of minority employees, We started off with six minorities in the police department in 2020. We have increased that to 16. That's a positive gain of 10. That's a total increase of 166%. And I would provide the total employment in 2020. We had 63 full-time employees in the police department. Currently, we have 67. That's a total staff increase of four. So while we increased our diversity and and our women employees, we, it certainly didn't match the number of employees that we increased positions. On fire, we're working on fire. It's a lengthy process that involves various steps and requirements for qualification. I think we had reached out through various marketing methods this year when we solicited for new recruits, and I believe Chief has received the most recruits coming to the fire department than he's ever had before.

But Chief, if you could elaborate on that, I would appreciate it.

Sure, I'd be happy to.

I believe this last recruitment effort, we had 37 applications picked up and 36 returned.

A number of those applicants either failed to show up for the written exam, written exam and orientation, or they could not produce the correct paperwork at the orientation and written exam.

I believe it was 19 showed up for that.

And then we had, I believe, six washout from the written exam.

And then we also had a number of other applicants washout from the testing process, the honesty test, the background checks.

so eventually we wound up with a final eligibility list of five but just an example of our recruitment efforts this year we recruited and we sent out publications we advertised I should say in more than 42 different areas so our outreach was greater this recruitment process the prior one we advertised about 24 different areas so we more than doubled what we were trying to do and recruitment retention is difficult in the fire service whether it's here the suburbs or even in the city so this last group we tried extra hard to have a cross-section of our community and we wound up with a eligibility list of five. Thank you chief just to round this out so all other departments so not including fire and police we increased our female employees by 32 percent our minority employees by 100% out of a total increase of staff of about 12%. So enterprise-wide, we increased our female employees by 30%, our minority employees by 116%, and that is with a total employment increase of 10%. So I just wanted to thank and reach out to all the department heads and everyone who's been a part of this.

It's very important work that we're doing, and I'm glad that we are able to find qualified folks to not only represent as our city employees, but especially as our first responders, so thank you very much for all your efforts on that, and that's all I've got, Madam Mayor. Thank you. We'll move on to Department Heads Finance. Thank you, Your Honor. I would just like to thank Council for the approval of the software. It's much appreciated. Thank you. Thank you. Community Development.

nothing tonight madam mayor thank you public works nothing except for thank you for the generous contracts yes thank you each council member received a copy of the fire department's 2024 annual report that's highlighting the department activities for the last calendar year thank you fire i'm i'm sorry I have no report tonight. Thank you. Library? I'm going to talk for a little bit longer than I normally do, and I know it's been three hours, so thank you for your time. We are starting our One Book, One Freeport community read on Saturday. We have our book drop party from 12 p.m. to 2 p.m. and One Book, One Freeport is our biennial community read program. Community read programs work to promote literacy while engaging an entire community in a common reading experience. Join us on Saturday, January 25th for our official kickoff event for all ages. Pick up your free book and enjoy live music from the early jazz society, tasty snacks, a community craft activity, and a puzzle for everyone to contribute to. After the book giveaway, the library hosts a variety of programs to explore, including film screenings, group discussions, story times, and crafts.

Be sure to check out our website for our calendar of events and I can officially tell you that the book that was chosen this year is Dandelion Wine by Ray Bradbury Dandelion Wine by Ray Bradbury so be sure to come to the library to get your copy of the book and it is free you get to keep the book 12 to 2 on Saturday and then really excited.

And then, really exciting announcement, we are officially going fine-free, effective on February 1st, so have you heard that starting on February 1st, the Freeport Public Library is fine-free, returning late due to being out of town, no problem, keeping a book a few days longer so you can finish, we've been there, found a book and a pile of kids' toys while you were moving and you're afraid to come back to the library because of how many fees, you'll have. We understand life happens. Welcome back. Overdue fines are widely recognized by professional library organizations as a form of social inequity. And there's been multiple studies conducted that show that imposing fines neither teaches responsibility nor motivates borrowers to return their items on time. And any outstanding late fines on Freeport Public Library items will be per from our patron accounts starting on February 1st of 2025. All of our items will be fine-free with the exception of our hotspots, our STEM kits, our parent kits, and the Library of Things items. Essentially, those items cost a lot more money than the average book, so we'll still have some overdue fines on those. But borrowing privileges will be suspended for patrons with significantly overdue material, and for lost and and damaged items, the cost of the item will still be charged to the patron account if they do not return it. If you have more questions for us, feel free to call us at the library or come in and we'll be continuing to update our website with more information. Thank you for your time. Thank you. IT? Airport? City Manager? Thank you, Your Honor. I'll keep this quick. I just wanted to thank Director Bridge for his

report tonight. I thought it was very comprehensive and it reflects a tremendous amount of work and effort and execution that's been done by the city staff. So thank you to the staff. Thank you to our employees. You all have done an excellent job in 2024. I agree. Alderman Clem? Oh, mayor. Can't do that. Wait your turn. It is my turn. Oh, okay. Alderman Clem? Just wanted to announce that on January 28th We will not have our neighborhood watch. Please attend the event being held at the library at 6 o'clock that night. It will be the new candidates that are running for positions. That's far more important than the neighborhood watch is at this point. Please participate in that. Whatever you do, please get involved. Please vote. Thank you.

Alderman Monroe, nothing tonight, Alderman Simmons, no, thank you, Alderman Parker, nothing tonight, Alderman Stacy, last Saturday, January the 18th, we had our National Day of Racial Healing, what an empowering event it was, also, we were scheduled yesterday to have our Dr. King celebration, and due to the cold weather, it was canceled, but we will be having it this Saturday, January 25th, opening up 430 with praise and worship and program at 5. Please come out and show your support.

Alderman Shadle.

I just want to commend Darren Stiekel and Fehr Graham.

There's a lot of things said tonight that were stretches.

The amount of value that we get out of that corporation is phenomenal.

The amount of integrity that's sitting in that seat is phenomenal.

Alderman Sanders, Alderman Sellers, Public Comments, Tommy, you said about the hotel you mentioned, when they're going to open real soon, Tommy, real soon, they have to go to court for that, they sure do, Tommy, and it was like this, Julie, Julie, Mike, Andrew wants to know when, We all want to know, Tommy, we all want to know Are there any other public comments? Bernie? Good evening, everyone, board and madam mayor I'm going to take a very short thing, I think you're doing a fairly good job I really appreciated Director Bridge's report tonight

there's only one thing missing on that report and that's the association with dollars by department and to that I noticed that in the consent agenda the best we could do is having a report as of November 30th not December 31st so I think these things need to merge together so that the the strategic plans, reports, and financials come together so we know what we've done and how much we've done and what it cost us to get it done. In regards to the, I appreciate doing the scanning, but it's not going to solve all problems. I think you're going to have to take a look at purchase orders or purchase requisitions in the future so that you can get ahead of the game so that you can close your months on time. Now, I want to divert to a little politics. I think you're doing a good job. You're getting there. These are some quotes from a person that had lived a long time ago from this particular area. He says, cheap cigars come in handy. They stifle the odor of cheap politicians.

He also said that if we are to have another contest in the near future of our national existence, I predict that the dividing line will not be the Mason-Dixon, but between patriotism and intelligence on one side, and superstition, ambition, and ignorance on the other.

here. Ulysses S. Grant quoted that. He also said, I would suggest a taxation on all property equally, whether church or corporation. And there are a few more things that, oh, the last one is, you can violate the law, and banks may violate the law and be sustained in doing so. But the President of the United States cannot violate the law. And he was a President. So some very interesting things that date a very long time ago. Something to ponder over and think about. And Mr. Boyer, I forgot to bring in my pink snout. I was going to share it with you. Okay? Okay, your time is... We used to live very close to each other in Virginia, and the commanders have won and are going to be in the playoffs. And at one point in time, they were called the Hogs. And I think you probably are a Redskin fan.

Okay. Is there any other public comment this evening? If not, I'll entertain a motion to adjourn.

So moved. Second. A motion made by Alderman Sellers, seconded by Alderman Shadle. All those in favor?

Aye.