WEBVTT

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Okay, I think we're ready to go.

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Madam Clerk, are you ready?

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He kind of did now.

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He was number one when he was inspired.

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Thinking about retiring in June, he didn't go, but now he's kind of ready.

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Okay, is everybody ready to take their seat?

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Brady, could you please give the invocation?

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Thank you, Madam Mayor.

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Father in heaven, we give you thanks tonight that your presence is with us to help and lead and guide

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this council according to your will and purpose. We ask for the flourishing of the businesses and the

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people of this city. We pray for peace, justice, hope, and access to resources. We pray for the

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leaders of this council to govern with wisdom and integrity. We pray for your kingdom to come

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and your will be done tonight in this meeting in Jesus name. Amen. Amen. Thank you. Now we'll officially call this

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meeting to order. Madam Clerk, could you please take the roll? Mayor Miller. Here. Alder Persons, Clem. Here.

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Johnson. Here. Simmons. Is absent at the moment. Parker. Here. Stacey. Here. Shadle. Here. Sanders. Here.

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and Sellers, here. And if you could please stand for the Pledge of Allegiance, led by Alderman Clemm.

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The Pledge of Allegiance for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible.

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So to start this evening, I would like to read the email that I sent to all of the aldermen last Friday,

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just in case someone did not have the opportunity to read that email. The email was,

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At our last few meetings, members of the council have been advised to comply with standards of rules of conduct and decorum and have repeatedly refused to do so. This is a disservice to other council members who abide by these rules. It is also a disservice to members of the public who expect their elected officials to act in a professional manner when conducting business on behalf of their constituents.

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I have had numerous comments from members of the public expressing concern at the lack of decorum at our meetings. This lessens all of us in the eyes of the public and negatively impacts the credibility of this council. And most importantly, failing to observe established rules of procedure leads to disruption of the effective and orderly conduct of the business of the city. For all of these reasons, we have clearly established rules of council which

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which govern the conduct of business by the city, and to which all of you have access. I am putting everyone on notice that I intend to strictly enforce those rules until we get some decorum introduced back into our proceedings. I am saying this now so that no one will be surprised or be able to claim that they somehow were unaware of these standing rules. Specifically, but without limitation, the following conduct constitutes a violation

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of the rule of order. One, speaking out of turn or when otherwise not recognized by the chair is a violation of the rule of order. Two, exceeding established time limited on the floor for an issue or failing to yield the floor once the time has expired. And three, interrupting or disrupting someone while addressing the public assembly during public comments is also a violation of the rule of order.

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I should not need to make these statements as these are all rules which should be followed simply out of respect for fellow elected officers and the important role that each of you plays in running our city.

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Unfortunately, events at the last few meetings indicate that we need to rely on stronger measures than mutual respect.

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All members of the Council are hereby reminded that pursuant to City Ordinance 220, 10, 24, and 25, if you are declared out of order, you are subject to a fine of up to $250. If you are declared out of order twice at the same meeting, you will be removed. I am putting you all on notice that I will be enforcing these rules strictly moving forward, and I sincerely hope that all of you will take your responsibility

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to this city seriously enough to avoid being sanctioned or removed for the sake of grandstanding.

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So with that, we'll start with item number one, which is the approval of the agenda. Is there such a motion?

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So moved. Second. We have a motion made by Alderman Shadle, seconded by Alderman Sellers.

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All those in favor, signify by saying aye. Aye. Opposed? That motion passes. Approval of the minutes from the

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regular meeting on September 15th, 2025. Is there a motion to approve? So moved. Second. A motion made by Alderman

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Shadle, seconded by Alderman Sellers. All those in favor, signify by saying aye. Aye. Opposed? That motion passes. Do you have a question? I did not see when Alderperson Simmons came in. Did you know the time when you came in? 610. Thank you. Item number three is recognition of

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Service Awards, Manager Boyer. I'd like to have the fire chief acknowledge the two firemen. Yes, thank you. It's my pleasure to recognize Amos Langlois and Dylan Oberle for their careers within the fire department. Amos just completed his 10 years of service and Dylan has completed five years of service. I can personally say both are great people, very, very

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good at their jobs, their firefighter paramedics. Amos is actually on vacation this evening, and Dylan is presently on an ambulance call serving the public, so he couldn't be here tonight. And I will be recognizing both of them at the fire station on their shift. They're both on the same shift. Thank you. Deputy Davis, we have, would you please? Yes, I would recognize Officer Nikeal, who has been with the

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Freeport Police Department for five years. She's an outstanding officer and works diligently to protect the citizens every day. Thank you. With that, we move on to public comment. We have three. We'll start with an email that was sent to the clerk. This was received today from Ashley Heilman. I am sorry to not be there in person this evening. I am, however, in Lombard for a realtor conference. I would like to speak against item number seven on the

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agenda for short-term rentals. I am here on behalf of one of my owners who has a short-term rental and myself as her

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manager. When it comes to short-term rentals, often called vacation rentals, everyone seems to become a

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real estate expert, quick to say they destabilize neighborhoods or create problems. And as we are

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aware, there has been one instance at one property that has caused this potential change to come

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forward. However, in reality, vacation rentals often serve important needs. Corporations use them to house

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employees. Families use them to test neighborhoods before buying. Contract workers use them for housing

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when traveling to fill vacant positions at places like FHN. And large vacationing families use them to

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stay all together than having multiple hotel rooms. These homes are typically well maintained because

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owners depend on good reviews and consistent bookings to make these rentals work. I've been in real estate for

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eight years and have seen firsthand how vacation rentals complement housing markets rather than harm

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them, as I own several and try to stay at them when I travel. They provide flexibility for property

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owners, support local tourism, and offer families and employees more housing choices. Many of the issues

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issues often raised, noise, property maintenance, nuisance activity, are already addressed by city ordinances and the current short-term rental ordinance. The city has tools to address problem properties without stripping rights from responsible owners and other owners in the future. Property rights are not an a la carte menu. When the right to rent is heavily restricted, one-third of a property owner's economic rights are lost. Instead of rezoning and removing these rights, the city could cap the number of vacation

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rental permits in R1 to R4 zones instead of removing them completely. This would prevent overconcentration, avoid clustering rentals only on the east side of town, and create a balanced approach that respects neighborhood character and private property rights. Or what about making this a special use permit instead if you feel changes need to be made? Other cities like Galena have found success starting with a cap and expanding permits as things go well. Freeport has that same opportunity. Balanced

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Regulations that work for everyone. To strengthen the ordinance further, the city could add guardrails. Tie guest room limits to bedroom count and square footage. Require a local property manager if the owner is not nearby. Limit on-site vehicles. Revoke permits after repeat violations. This approach creates accountability without over-

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creates accountability without overreaching, ensuring vacation rentals remain residential friendly while protecting the rights of Freeport owners. Thank you for your time. Ashley Heilman, welcome home, Northwest Illinois. Thank you. Jilly Whiting. I'm in agreement with everything Ashley says, but city council members, thank you for allowing me to speak. Our city's proposed ban on single family homes being used as Airbnbs is presented as a solution to depleting our owner occupied housing stock.

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but in our case it's simply not supported by the facts. Of the six Airbnbs in our town of 22,600 roughly, three are owner occupied homes where residents rent out a portion such as a spare room or a suite while living in their own home. These are not investor owned properties being removed from the market. In reality these homeowners are enhancing the housing stock by sharing their space not reducing it. Across the country responsible regulations already recognize this distinction.

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For example, Chicago and other major cities require that Airbnbs and short-term rentals in single-family homes be the host primary residence for most of the year. The intent behind these rules is clear. Prevent the conversion of full homes into permanent short-term rentals by investors while still allowing homeowners to host and share space in their principal residence. These laws protect neighborhoods from losing housing yet make room for flexibility and diverse housing options. Our local reality mirrors these

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cities, not the tourist hotspots facing housing shortages due to mass investor purchases. Let's be clear, banning owner-occupied Airbnbs won't expand our housing market. These homes are not available for sale or for long-term rent because their owners live there. Prohibiting them has no impact on home ownership or affordability in our town. Instead, it risks punishing responsible residents, taking away supplemental income that helps cover mortgages and meeting rising costs.

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and with just six listings citywide, three of them part owner occupied, the policy does not address the real threat to our housing stock.

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Please consider a balanced approach, exempt primary residence Airbnbs from any ban, focus instead on policies that target non-resident investors or large-scale operators,

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not everyday homeowners responsibly sharing their own homes. This honors both the spirit of the community and the facts on the ground.

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Thanks for considering an equitable and evidence-based solution.

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And last would be the Lefevres.

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Good evening, City Council members, and thank you for this opportunity to speak to you regarding short-term rentals.

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We're Frank and Mooney in Lefevre at 1650 West Apache Trail in Freeport.

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We were the very first short-term rental operation in Freeport, and we voluntarily approached the city in 2019 to ensure that we were operating legally and transparency,

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even before ordinances were in place. We are owner-occupied hosts living full-time in our single home, renting out our lower-level apartment. With the current proposed zoning changes, it feels like responsible hosts like us who have followed every rule are being penalized. The memo suggests that STRs strain the availability of housing, but owner-occupied homes don't contribute to this strain. Our home is not on the inventory. It's off the market as we live in it.

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We asked the council to make a clear distinction in the ordinance between entire home STRs where the owner does not reside on the premises or owner-occupied STRs where the host reside full-time or at minimum grandfather in well-established compliant properties beyond January 2029 such as ours. I'd like to further add that our STRs provide a value to the community not only to support visitors but support local families. After a storm damage, one local

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Family's Home. They stayed with us for five and a half months, avoiding the stress of a long-term lease,

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renting or buying furnishings while their home was being repaired. Another guest specifically chose a

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short-term rental with off-street parking such as ours because their work van had thousands of dollars

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of equipment on the back of their van to do road integrity surveying, and they were concerned about

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without somebody accidentally backing up into their van in a crowded hotel lot. The damage could have been costly and disruptive to their work, and our home offered them a driveway to park to alleviate their worries. Many guests have in fact told us that they're grateful to find us as all hotels have been currently filled, which is a problem in Freeport. Mr. Boyer himself has stayed with us for a summer during his relocation to Freeport to take a job here at the city. He appreciated the conveniences and traditional hotels could not

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offer such as a full kitchen and a laundry room. Since opening in 2019, we have personally had no safety issues or complaints. I vet every booking for verified state IDs, photos on profiles, and guest reviews. If I'm uncomfortable, I have no problem canceling that guest. I require registration forms to be filled out like hotels. We've even had neighbors refer their own family and friends to stay at our property. In closing, please consider grandfathering in a compliant homeowner

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owner-occupied STR like ours beyond January, 2029, where there is a proven track record of safety and

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community benefit. We are not absentee landlords. We are residents, neighbors, and responsible hosts,

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and we care deeply about our community. Thank you. That concludes public comment. Next, we'll move on to

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the consent agenda. The consent agenda is considered to be routine in nature and acted as one motion unless

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the member of council would like to have something removed for further discussion. The consent agenda

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consists of approving to receive and place on file board and commission minutes from the Police Pension Board May 7, 2025 and the Board of Fire and Police Commissioners August 12, 2025, the Greater Freeport Partnerships Monthly Report September 2025, approval of the finance bills payable in the total of $4,189,115.71 and payroll for pay

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period ending September 20th, 2025, in the total of $676,474.02. Is there a motion to approve?

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So moved.

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Second.

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We have a motion made by Alderman Shadle, seconded by Alderman Sellers. Discussion on the consent agenda.

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Madam Clerk, please take the roll.

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Clem.

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Aye.

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Johnson.

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Aye.

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Simmons.

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Aye.

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Parker.

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Aye.

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Stacey.

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Aye.

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Shadle.

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Aye.

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Sanders? Aye. And Sellers? Aye. The motion passes 8-0. Item number 6 is a second reading of ordinance 2025-57. Could you please read this? Ordinance revising codified ordinances to create the position of operations superintendent. Thank you. Manager Boyer? Thank you, Your Honor. We've discussed this at the last council meeting. This is creating a new position for the city that would allow one individual to oversee both the utility and the street

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Department and deal mainly with the field crews. However, responsibility would extend to all operations within public works and staff recommends moving forward with this job description approval. Thank you. Any questions? Alderman Stacy? It just seems like every time we change the original title and went to a supervisor,

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position, and that gentleman end up quitting. And it's like, here we go again with wanting to now add duties to another title. Did you consider going back to the original director title and hiring someone under that?

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Is that all your question? I just didn't want your clock to time out if you, yeah, manager, Boyer?

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You know, we currently have a public works director, and that is Darren Steakles, our contract public works director. The operations superintendent is more of a hands-on leader in the field and with day-to-day operations in mind, so it's a different job.

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Would you like your second?

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Sure.

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Go ahead.

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No, that's okay.

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Okay, any other discussion? Madam Clerk, please take the roll.

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Clemm. Aye. Johnson. Aye. Simmons. Aye. Parker. Aye. Stacey. No. Shadle. Aye. Sanders. No. Sellers. Aye. The ordinance is passed, 6 to 2.

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Item number 7 is the second reading of Ordinance 2025-58. Could you please read this?

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ordinance amending chapters 810 and 1250 concerning the licensing and zoning of vacation rentals. Thank you, Director Duckman. Thank you, Madam Mayor. So we read this last, at the last meeting, this ordinance was read. I would say nothing has changed except for the public comments that we've heard tonight. Just to give you a brief overview of this, staff was tasked to write this ordinance in order to eliminate

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in order to eliminate short-term vacation rentals from the R1 through R4 zoning districts which essentially removes the short-term rentals from single-family housing which is the intent here. So after staff was directed to draft this ordinance it was brought to a planning commission meeting on August 14th and at that time the planning commission put it forward to the next scheduled meeting

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meeting, which was on September 11th. At that meeting, there was a supporter, Tom Clemm, Alderperson Clemm, was there as somebody supporting this ordinance. And then City Clerk Anderson was there as a resident and was basically in favor of short-term rentals and which would be opposed to this ordinance. And the results of that meeting was support of this ordinance by a vote of five to zero.

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All that being said, as of tonight, there's obviously been people, the public comment has been against this ordinance, and staff has put it forward, put the forward information for a vote, so leave it at that

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Thank you. Discussion?

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Alderman Sellers?

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I do have to agree with what Ashley Heilman presented tonight, and I do agree with the other ones.

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I stay at Airbnbs all the time and I think they're awesome. I know we had one bad incident but I don't think we should take one incident and kind of get away from all of it because you do look at a town like Galeno or other different places that have been small towns and it is an asset to the community and like they also said we really don't have hotel space.

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you know, and that that was another thing. So I will, you know, be against putting this through because I do think it's something that we need. We talk about tourism and people coming in, but they also have to have somewhere to stay. So I do think that they are a good thing for the community. Any other discussion? I just have a question about the ordinance. Is is that appropriate?

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or, um, so currently the ordinance says that the owner of the property is the only one that can own this

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license? Director Duckman, can you answer? Yes, so, correct, the owner of the property, you own a property, you would have to get a license to do a short-term vacation rental, yes. Okay, so what if you're renting to own, you know, or what if you're, um,

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If you're renting to own or if you're leasing property for a business purpose, why would you not be allowed to obtain, why or why not would one not be allowed to obtain a license?

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Director Duckman? Yes. So it's 30 days. Basically what's going on here is in order for this ordinance to take effect as currently written, your term of your lease would have to be 30 days or less. So oftentimes rent to own is not going to be 30 days. So that's why if you're in a rent to own agreement, you're not going to fall under this ordinance because this ordinance would, as it's currently written and it's being proposed is it's 30 days or less.

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you have to have an agreement that you're going to rent somebody's property for less than 30 days.

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Any other?

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I have additional information.

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The rental property ordinance just states you have to be an owner.

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So that's part of our rules.

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When I process those applications, I need to check that the owner matches the insurance.

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The owners, the applicants have to put up a certificate of insurance.

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That would be an owner's responsibility.

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a leaseholder would only have, you know, like content insurance.

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Director Duckman, I don't know when it's rent to own or lease to own.

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You know, if they're in the process of buying, I really don't know.

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Yeah, I understand.

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Sorry.

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Maybe it's a true question.

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No, I don't think it's, I think there's some complication here.

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And I think the ordinance protects the title owner.

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Title owner is deed owner, fee simple owner.

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That owner is protected.

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and essentially if you had a rent to own situation you would the city would just ask that the property owner sign an affidavit or just sign the paperwork that they would be doing the vacation rental and we do that in any of our zoning applications any permit applications if there's a rent to own agreement or something like that we would we always make sure that there's the actual title owner of the property is aware of any

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permitting going on.

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Alderman Stacy, did you want to?

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What if the person renting to own have the insurance and things in their name?

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They would have to ask the person that they would be buying it from.

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The title owner would still have to sign off on it.

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That makes sense.

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The person, so when you're in a rent-to-own situation, there's a title, there's a fee, the person that owns the property, the actual, not the person renting to own, the person that owns the property would still have to give that permission and be named on that vacation permit.

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But you said that the person that owns the property would have to cover the insurance, but if the person that's renting to own is covering the insurance, isn't that different?

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I think we're really getting into, yes, no, it's fine.

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Just one second. If you can try to pull together all of your questions instead of the back and forth, that would be helpful.

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I'll just answer the question here I think just I think anytime somebody we have I believe how many of these now four or six we have three and one in process okay we have three and one in process every single permit that gets submitted is reviewed by my department by Clark Anderson's department and if there's any situation where we're talking about well we have to verify insurance we have to verify a rent to own situation the staff our staff's

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going to review it and is going to work with the person. I think we're looking at an outlying situation here to try to base our judgment on it. I don't think the intent here is to eliminate rent-to-own situations from having the ability to obtain a vacation rental license.

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Alderman Johnson, did you have something?

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Yeah, I just wanted to say I did some checking to ask, like, how many times a month are these Airbnbs rentals or vacation rentals, and the person I checked with said sometimes four to five times a month.

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So when I think of that and how ever long they've been running them, and we've only had one incident, I think that maybe we need to not proceed with this.

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Well, Madam Clerk, Alderman Clemm, did you want to?

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Sure.

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Since I brought this up, I'll take the hit on it. Hey, I really appreciate everybody that came and spoke. There are two sides to this. There's no ifs, ands, or buts about it. The intention was not to completely take away Airbnbs as we started out and talked about this. The thing was to take it away in single-family dwelling areas. I currently am the alderman in the area where this happened.

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keep in mind this wasn't just a little incident. There were about 12 pistols, automatic weapons, illegal weapons, and 15 to 20 people that walked out of the place. And it's still under investigation. Is that correct, Deputy Chief? Yes, it's still under investigation. Okay, so I bring it up because I don't put that as a minor issue. You know, God bless if it doesn't go through and it isn't going to go through, it doesn't make a bit of difference.

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Life's going to go on. But I think we also ought to take a look at some of the safety things and some of the places where it's at. If you bought a house, and I got laughed at for saying this last time, so I'll say it again. If you got a house in a very expensive neighborhood, you'd think that you could live in that house without not knowing who lives next door to you and have a whole bunch of people with cars there and so on and so forth.

00:29:06.930 --> 00:29:36.910
and we can't say that doesn't happen because the night before this happened there was 10 cars at this place, okay, and that came from a neighbor. It wasn't the owner that called the police, it was the neighbor that called the police. So that's the reason I'm bringing on. You can sit there and shake your head, I'm sorry, I said that I told you that I thought what you said is right, I agree with a lot of it, okay, but someplace in life we got to take a look at the fact that somebody could have unloaded with how many weapons and

00:29:36.910 --> 00:29:43.150
killed how many people, and we'd all been sitting there saying, oh, shucks. So that's fine. That's all I got to say.

00:29:44.510 --> 00:29:45.370
Alderman Sellers.

00:29:46.410 --> 00:29:55.830
I do, I'm not taking it as a light situation. My nephew, he works for Airbnb, and I called him to ask him some questions about

00:29:55.830 --> 00:30:23.940
asked him to ask him some questions about all of this, and he said that even happens in hotels, that they come in there with that type of ammunition and all that kind of stuff. It happens. But the thing, if you really want maybe some more clarification or some rules on how on Airbnbs in your community, you can call them and they will have a consultation with you and help you come up with ideas on

00:30:23.940 --> 00:30:53.920
what you can do in your community to make it safer having the Airbnbs but I've stayed at Airbnbs in places that were probably million dollar homes and you know but it's all about you know how we perceive this and and and take it on and look at the one mistake that happened how are we going to prevent it from happening again but I do think it would be something really good in our community because of

00:30:53.940 --> 00:31:20.000
of, you know, the hotel situation. And this is another way people make a hustle. You know, this is how they make extra income to take care of their families or, you know, just to have to take care of their homes. But I do agree. I'm not saying that it wasn't bad because it scared me when I heard it. But I'm just thinking that it shouldn't be something that we just do away with it because we had one bad incident. And I'm, you know, thankful that nothing did happen.

00:31:20.600 --> 00:31:22.220
Appreciate your input. Thank you.

00:31:22.220 --> 00:31:26.100
Any other discussion before we vote? Madam Clerk, please take the roll.

00:31:27.420 --> 00:31:42.960
Clem? Aye. Johnson? No. Simmons? No. Parker? No. Stacy? No. Shadle? Aye. Sanders? No. Sellers? No. The ordinance fails, two to six.

00:31:43.460 --> 00:31:49.590
Item number eight is the adoption of resolution 2025-113. Could you please read this?

00:31:49.590 --> 00:31:59.970
Reconsideration of Resolution Regarding Community Solar with Illinois Shines, which is a state-administered incentive program to support the development of new solar projects

00:31:59.970 --> 00:32:07.150
Okay, so before we can have this, Manager Boyer, we need a motion to reconsider

00:32:07.150 --> 00:32:10.380
So moved

00:32:10.380 --> 00:32:13.060
Well, it needs the motion

00:32:13.060 --> 00:32:14.000
Who made the motion?

00:32:15.160 --> 00:32:15.360
Oh

00:32:15.360 --> 00:32:17.380
Linda, that'd be you

00:32:17.380 --> 00:32:18.700
Linda

00:32:18.700 --> 00:32:20.780
I do not have that

00:32:20.780 --> 00:32:22.800
Well, it'd be in the minutes, attorney

00:32:22.800 --> 00:32:23.400
Okay

00:32:23.400 --> 00:32:34.780
So sorry

00:32:34.780 --> 00:32:36.600
When all eyes are on me

00:32:36.600 --> 00:32:43.510
Shadle made a motion

00:32:43.510 --> 00:32:45.170
Clem seconded to adopt

00:32:45.170 --> 00:32:46.990
Motion failed by roll call vote

00:32:46.990 --> 00:32:50.090
Ayes were Clem, Parker, Shadle

00:32:50.090 --> 00:32:53.610
Nays were Johnson, Simmons, Stacy, and Sanders

00:32:53.610 --> 00:32:55.890
The motion to reconsider

00:32:55.890 --> 00:32:56.790
Would be made

00:32:56.790 --> 00:33:01.880
Johnson, Sanders

00:33:01.880 --> 00:33:03.920
Simmons and Stacy

00:33:03.920 --> 00:33:04.560
Or Stacy

00:33:04.560 --> 00:33:10.560
So do you

00:33:10.560 --> 00:33:12.220
Do you understand what's being asked of you?

00:33:12.420 --> 00:33:12.860
Question.

00:33:13.520 --> 00:33:14.600
Alderman Sanders?

00:33:14.700 --> 00:33:16.940
Who's asking for this reconsideration?

00:33:17.840 --> 00:33:19.080
Who's asking for that?

00:33:19.400 --> 00:33:20.740
Manager Boyer, myself.

00:33:21.100 --> 00:33:22.220
You're asking for it?

00:33:22.340 --> 00:33:22.860
And who?

00:33:23.200 --> 00:33:23.780
And yourself?

00:33:24.220 --> 00:33:24.380
Yeah.

00:33:25.140 --> 00:33:30.200
So it's, I don't, the reason being, Alderman Sanders, is I don't think there was a very good explanation,

00:33:30.540 --> 00:33:35.320
and it kind of tied together with Mike Mudge's two presentations, and I don't think that everybody

00:33:35.320 --> 00:33:36.140
really understood.

00:33:36.580 --> 00:33:36.780
Yes.

00:33:36.780 --> 00:34:06.760
So it's just it's just to be able to have a little better discussion on this one piece before we vote on that. Can we reconsider the person that was given the explanation to this particular program? We can't reconsider to bring him back to give us another understanding. Well, that's why we go ahead. We would need a motion to reconsider the topic first.

00:34:06.780 --> 00:34:20.640
because if you guys choose to reconsider the topic, then once that topic is back on the table, then you could talk about, hey, since we're talking about it again, we want to bring Mr. Mudge back in to talk about it at that point.

00:34:20.700 --> 00:34:24.820
But if you guys don't want to reconsider the topic, then there's no point to having Mr. Mudge here.

00:34:24.840 --> 00:34:28.400
I don't think we should be voting on something that has not been clearly understood.

00:34:28.400 --> 00:34:31.740
Right. Well, we're not. Do you want to talk more about it?

00:34:31.820 --> 00:34:32.180
Yes.

00:34:32.500 --> 00:34:34.840
So are you making a motion to reconsider, Alderman Sanders?

00:34:34.840 --> 00:34:41.900
on the premises of the fact that he would come and give us a better understanding of the process.

00:34:42.640 --> 00:34:43.160
Okay.

00:34:44.160 --> 00:34:47.120
We can't say what he's going to do.

00:34:47.440 --> 00:34:59.960
Well, it would be something that maybe Manager Boyer or Mr. Siegel could give a better understanding on, it's really free money to the community.

00:35:00.240 --> 00:35:00.720
No.

00:35:00.720 --> 00:35:06.080
So, if you are making a motion to bring the topic back up, I would need a second

00:35:06.080 --> 00:35:12.240
I'll second to bring it back up

00:35:12.240 --> 00:35:14.940
Okay, so we have a motion made by

00:35:14.940 --> 00:35:16.020
Did he make a motion to bring it back?

00:35:17.020 --> 00:35:18.780
Alderman Stacy, that's kind of out of order

00:35:18.780 --> 00:35:20.760
So, he did make the motion

00:35:20.760 --> 00:35:22.800
Alderman Johnson seconded it

00:35:22.800 --> 00:35:25.640
So, now that gives us the ability to talk about it

00:35:25.640 --> 00:35:28.160
So, what we'll do next is allow

00:35:28.160 --> 00:35:30.360
You got to vote on it

00:35:30.360 --> 00:35:32.340
You have to vote on the motion to reconsider

00:35:32.340 --> 00:35:33.520
I forgot that part

00:35:33.520 --> 00:35:40.560
So, on the reconsidering itself, Madam Clerk, could you take the roll on the reconsidering?

00:35:41.160 --> 00:36:01.720
Clem? Aye. Johnson? Aye. Simmons? No. Parker? No. Stacy? No. Shadle? Aye. Sanders? No. And Sellers? Aye. One, two, three, four. It is currently tied. Mayor? Aye. The motion to reconsider passes five to four.

00:36:01.720 --> 00:36:30.580
So now before you then is city managers being able to read the memo. Sure. Thank you, your honor. The city of Freeport was asked at the September 8th Cal Mike Mudge presented on the community solar bill credits with Illinois shines program. So anyway, if we were to participate in the Illinois solar energy incentive program, solar developers are often required to offer

00:36:30.580 --> 00:37:00.580
for subscription incentives. The city's largest electrical counts are 100 kilowatts and under and will be eligible to receive the monetary bill credits from the program incentive. These incentive programs work on a 20-year subscription timeline and the subscription program application will allow Freeport to participate and receive solar incentives from solar array projects that are being installed in the area. Freeport will not have any financial or liability participation in

00:37:00.580 --> 00:37:30.560
installing or paying for any solar build project. The city utility accounts are appealing the program due to the large inconsistent use of electricity. Many Northwest Illinois cities are joining this program. So there's a brochure included, but essentially these are credits the city would get back based on the amount of solar activity, solar projects that are being built. And I don't want to quote incorrectly, but I believe

00:37:30.580 --> 00:37:47.540
believe Mr. Mudge said we'd be the only community that did not approve this in the area. So I just request that council give it some more thought and consider moving forward with the Illinois Shines program.

00:37:48.440 --> 00:37:50.320
Director Sekel, would you like to add to that?

00:37:50.320 --> 00:37:59.080
Yes, I would. So I just want to give the basic blue collar discussion to this quickly.

00:37:59.080 --> 00:38:07.340
this is every large solar array that's done gets credits that they have to give back to the community

00:38:07.340 --> 00:38:11.860
and it's dollars that they have to return back to that community and it's based on usage

00:38:11.860 --> 00:38:20.060
this is not available for let's say our city hall account because we don't pay electric for our city

00:38:20.060 --> 00:38:26.000
hall account because we we have a a deal with comment on this this is for the utility accounts

00:38:26.000 --> 00:38:54.640
like our wells and our bigger accounts that use a lot of electricity and basically is what they're saying is here's free money every year for the next 20 years because we have to give this money back to communities. I cover a lot of communities in Northern Illinois. This would be the first town that didn't take this money. They can't tell you exactly what it is because we can't negotiate with them until we have an approval with the accounts that Michelle would put together that we actually pay for monthly.

00:38:54.640 --> 00:39:19.720
Not that this would be massive money, but this could be $10,000 to $20,000 a year of free money coming back to the utility with no commitment from us, right? We don't have to sign up for more solar work. We don't have to do some special program. We don't have to add more solar fields. We're just accepting their credits because we have high volume accounts. So it's essentially free money back.

00:39:19.720 --> 00:39:39.580
There is no subscription fee to the city, but the subscriber, which is this Illinois Shine, they take a portion of the rebate as their fee for processing this deal. That is part of what they do. We can't do it. Illinois Shine has an agreement with them that they do all the processing.

00:39:39.580 --> 00:39:53.960
So, and what has been offered to Freeport, which has been greater than other communities, is I believe they upped the rebate percentage from 10 to 15, but I don't know how that works.

00:39:53.960 --> 00:39:56.660
but I don't know how that works financially for us other than it's a larger incentive that other

00:39:56.660 --> 00:40:02.420
communities get. There will be other opportunities for us besides Illinois Shine as well. That's just one

00:40:02.420 --> 00:40:07.840
program that's out there. There's other fields being brought around the area and they go to the

00:40:07.840 --> 00:40:15.060
bigger municipalities. So I appreciate you at least having this discussion. It is truly free money to

00:40:15.060 --> 00:40:20.400
the community that we desperately need more funding so I don't know why we would pass this opportunity

00:40:20.400 --> 00:40:36.360
up when there's no commitment based on us spending any financial money whatsoever. And if the incentives or the rebates get low enough, for instance, like our accounts, we don't use enough or they don't produce enough solar, we just don't get the rebate for that month.

00:40:37.280 --> 00:40:38.040
Attorney Zito.

00:40:38.940 --> 00:40:39.720
Just a point.

00:40:40.200 --> 00:40:50.240
Darren, this particular program, this has nothing to do with the actual residents of Freeport. My understanding is that we're talking just about

00:40:50.240 --> 00:41:19.580
the city electric bills that we utilize at our buildings, not all our buildings, not like city hall, like you said, but our utility buildings. So this is about our a rebate for us and what we have to pay. This program has nothing to do with the general public. That is absolutely correct. Thank you. So for an instance, one of our larger bills right now that we have monthly is our city lighting bill for all the street lights around town. That account would qualify for this.

00:41:19.580 --> 00:41:27.060
it's steady usage, it's annual usage that we have to pay for, so that rebate would come from one of those accounts.

00:41:28.140 --> 00:41:28.980
Alderman Sanders?

00:41:29.640 --> 00:41:44.060
Well, who's monitoring these incentives and these rebates, and how do we make decisions whether or not we want to go forward with any of this program, because we don't have a measuring stick with it.

00:41:44.320 --> 00:41:49.400
There is no measuring stick, there's no monitoring, there's no oversight committees, there's no nothing.

00:41:49.580 --> 00:41:59.020
to make sure that everything is above board. In other words, we're taking a risk at something that we don't fully understand at this point in time.

00:41:59.780 --> 00:42:11.100
And just them throwing out brochures and incentives and possible quick pro quos probably hanging out there in the balance that we don't know about.

00:42:11.100 --> 00:42:41.080
We've got to make sure that we have a lockdown on everything about the understanding of how we are going to receive any kind of receivables, dividends, or whatever the case may be. We have not put that in place yet. This, what we're talking about, has not been orchestrated by council yet. We have not had a full discussion, not just because we're having one now here in the city,

00:42:41.100 --> 00:43:03.960
here in this assembly, but we need to be able to have this kind of discussion to get the details of how is it benefiting the community of Freeport, who's going to be served with these types of incentives to join in, to be part of that whole process, and how the rebates are distributed.

00:43:03.960 --> 00:43:33.940
I don't think the rebates, you narrow it down to the electric here and the facilities of our own water and sewer and everything like that, but we don't have a monitoring system to determine that. Council don't have it. We don't have what they say, alert status about rebates that are coming into the city on behalf of the

00:43:33.960 --> 00:44:03.620
We don't have that. We don't have indicators that let council know how this is being presented and being brought back each year or whenever the rebates are being submitted to the city. We don't know that. I'm going to give an example. Just like the rebates that happens out in Menards, you have to sign up for rebates. Rebates may not ever come. And who knows who's using.

00:44:03.960 --> 00:44:11.880
the system, the monitoring system as far as solar and everything of that nature in order to reap the benefits.

00:44:12.020 --> 00:44:19.540
Those incentives are just out there. I just don't see how it benefits anybody at this time.

00:44:20.140 --> 00:44:21.740
Manager Boyer, would you like to respond?

00:44:22.100 --> 00:44:31.620
Yeah, I just wanted to comment. Alderman Sanders, you know, Mike Mudge came September 8th, and none of those questions were brought up to him at the time.

00:44:31.620 --> 00:44:38.380
so he didn't have an opportunity to answer your questions because you didn't ask them so I will say

00:44:38.380 --> 00:44:44.420
the opportunity existed it just for whatever reason didn't happen yeah director sequel yeah I can answer

00:44:44.420 --> 00:44:53.000
a handful of those questions um if you want sure so the the rebate money would come directly to our

00:44:53.000 --> 00:45:00.260
director of finance because that's how that works and until we have an approval from council we can't

00:45:00.260 --> 00:45:30.240
sign up for a contract, but there will be no money touching any departments other than directly to her as a rebate off the bills. That's the way it works. And then it's all accounted for on our balance sheets, just like every other dollar that comes in for permit fees or anything else. It's very transparent and it's very easily seen on what comes in. So again, if you guys choose not to go forward, that's your take on it. But we are constantly here asking for more money and here's an opportunity

00:45:30.240 --> 00:45:38.320
to capture some extra dollars isn't going to, you know, make us rich, but over a 10-year period, it might be

00:45:38.320 --> 00:45:46.800
another $100,000 or $200,000 of input to the utility funds or to the general fund, whatever, wherever it

00:45:46.800 --> 00:45:51.380
comes in, it gets expended, but it's money that we currently don't have, and they want to lock it in

00:45:51.380 --> 00:46:00.220
for 20 years. 20 years. Alderman Stacy, would you? Yes, Mayor. What you did was not

00:46:00.220 --> 00:46:28.320
John Wright, Mayor Miller, you tricked Alderman Sanders into reconsidering. He never said, I make a motion. He said, yes, he would consider under the assumption that the guy could come back and express it greater. Now, Darren has been allowed

00:46:28.320 --> 00:46:59.960
out to speak everything that he know on this matter because he knows it all. And giving his input is just to promote why we should do this. Do something that we have already voted down. And I watched the little faces and the little talks, you know, and

00:46:59.960 --> 00:47:28.840
and City Manager Boyer, you sitting there cracking up till you're red laughing because now he got all these questions and he's wanting information and he's saying this and he's saying that. He never physically said, I make a motion that we reconsider. You promoted that, Mayor Miller. You promoted that because that's what you want and that's what you said.

00:47:28.840 --> 00:47:52.480
He never made the motion. So we just voted on a motion that really was not made and was not legal. And that is not right, pushing your values and what you want and tricking him to move forward because this is something that you want. It's just not right. And it's not funny.

00:47:52.480 --> 00:48:00.300
Well, first of all, I don't think it's funny. And secondly, it was a motion to reconsider. And if the

00:48:00.300 --> 00:48:06.980
council chooses to bring Mr. Mudge back another time, that's totally acceptable. But we have two men sitting

00:48:06.980 --> 00:48:13.160
here that can easily answer a question. And maybe that's enough. I just wanted to have bring more

00:48:13.160 --> 00:48:19.380
clarity to the subject. That's it. He still never made a motion. He made a motion. No, he did not.

00:48:19.380 --> 00:48:50.930
Johnson. You make the motion. Please. So we have before us the discussion. Is there any more discussion on this Alderman Sellers? Blow me off. I would just like to know, why would we not want to get free money? Can you say it again? How would we not want to take on free money? And it's 20 years. I just want to know, why would we say no to free money? Alderman Johnson?

00:48:50.930 --> 00:49:20.790
I've always been told you never get anything free, so I'd like to know how can they give us something free without us not giving them something back, or what is it that's promised, or what's the bottom line on this, is this something that, I mean, from what I understood Mr. Mudge to say, that there was a subscription you had to do, and that subscription would build more solar farms, more solar places, because there's not enough right now,

00:49:20.930 --> 00:49:50.910
what he said. There isn't enough right now around here to give us the whatever we need to get the energy that they're going to give us. So I want to know what is it that they're looking for in return because you never get anything free. Attorney Zito. And Manager Boyer and Darren, correct me if I misspeak to your guys' understanding of this program as well there. But my understanding of how the program works, what they're asking, what they want in return from the

00:49:50.910 --> 00:49:52.010
City is 20 years.

00:49:52.010 --> 00:49:57.880
from the city is 20 years worth of us paying electric bills to them. So they're willing to say if you're

00:49:57.880 --> 00:50:03.360
willing to commit and subscribe to us and lock in for 20 years and you're going to pay those month after

00:50:03.360 --> 00:50:08.360
month after month every bills that you guys are going to pay, I'm willing to incentivize you to lock in for

00:50:08.360 --> 00:50:14.800
that period of time by giving you this 10 to 15 percent discount because I locked in the otherwise

00:50:14.800 --> 00:50:18.960
all of that revenue that you're going to pay month after month that we would have paid month after

00:50:18.960 --> 00:50:47.900
Month anyways there, and they take that revenue stream, that committed revenue stream, that company will say, if I know I got the city of Freeport and I know I have this other, let's say, large manufacturer that has, you know, a large electric bill, let's say it's an industrial user, right, and I sign up 15 to 20 of those types of companies, those sorts of users, that's enough for me to justify building then my grid or my plant, my solar field there.

00:50:47.900 --> 00:51:21.920
So that's what they're looking in exchange is they're looking for a long term commitment from from from the city of Freeport and say in exchange for that, I'm willing to to give you a discount on your bill. Did you want your second? Yeah. Would this lead to eventually everyone in the city having to go solar? Director Siegel? I'm just curious. No, no, is what they're trying to do is build solar to feed the grid because we have

00:51:21.920 --> 00:51:28.760
have a larger power requirement than what Comet can feed. So they're supplementing the grid with this type of power.

00:51:29.800 --> 00:51:39.720
And the reason we're advantageous is because accounts that are already in aggregation are not eligible to be used for this type of project.

00:51:40.740 --> 00:51:42.820
Hold on, Mr. Sanders, does you have your hand? Go ahead.

00:51:42.820 --> 00:51:49.200
Yeah, when you say aggregation is not fitted for this particular project, is that what you just said?

00:51:49.200 --> 00:51:55.140
I'm asking, I thought that's what I heard, but if I didn't, if I heard you wrong, I apologize, but

00:51:55.140 --> 00:52:00.960
Accounts that are already in aggregation programs are not eligible for this type of incentive

00:52:00.960 --> 00:52:07.720
So what's defying that for me? Are you talking about residents or people that's already pre-existing?

00:52:07.720 --> 00:52:15.060
Right now this is just on the city of Freeport utility accounts only. This has nothing to do with our

00:52:15.060 --> 00:52:27.680
right now. And who's governing this? Who's governing over this project to make sure that the citizens of Freeport are not being taken advantage of?

00:52:27.780 --> 00:52:33.860
This has nothing to do with our residence lawyer. This is just for the city of Freeport proper accounts.

00:52:34.040 --> 00:52:39.360
Okay. It does not drill down to the homes. It does? Okay. I see. Now I get the picture.

00:52:39.360 --> 00:52:55.780
Right? It has nothing to do with everyone's individual electric bill. It has only to do with the utility accounts that are done by Public Works and or Ms. Richter during our monthly bill cycles.

00:52:56.780 --> 00:52:57.020
Okay.

00:52:57.320 --> 00:53:01.660
Okay. So, Alderman, Stacey, did you have another one?

00:53:01.660 --> 00:53:21.420
Yes, and so for 20 years, how much are we paying them for this little, what, 10 or 15% discount? How much is it costing us month after month after month for 20 years?

00:53:22.780 --> 00:53:25.040
Director, I'm sorry.

00:53:25.300 --> 00:53:25.540
Go ahead.

00:53:25.540 --> 00:53:47.720
There's a subscription fee based on what you save every month. And I don't know that number because until we enter into something with them, that number won't be disclosed. What they're saying is there's a 15% savings on the electrical bills that will qualify for this program, but they do get a subscription fee for the processes.

00:53:47.720 --> 00:54:19.190
So we don't even know what the subscription fee is costing us. We don't know what we're putting into this. And we're committing to 20 years. And we will not until we sign up. That's something fishy with that. And then we have all these the solar panels and areas we have right here in town. They don't even take care of them like they're supposed to. They're not mowed and maintained. I have a question to her

00:54:19.190 --> 00:54:25.290
to her point. It's not like we're paying them. They're just deducting it from what they owe us.

00:54:25.690 --> 00:54:31.370
That is the correct statement. They're deducting it. At what rate? Well, that's what he said. It's kind of out

00:54:31.370 --> 00:54:39.110
there, but it's we get the payment minus the fee. So we still come out in the positive. But we don't

00:54:39.110 --> 00:54:46.770
know that. It's in the brochure, because if there's no savings for the month, then there's no fee.

00:54:46.770 --> 00:55:20.040
Okay, I have a question. Alderman Simmons. So does the percentage change go up or decrease per year based on what they get? Mr. Oh, I'm sorry. Director. The percentage for the city's savings or the percentage of that fee? The percent, the fee and the savings, like. So I can only go off of what the brochure was and the brochure, I believe it's a percentage of the savings per month.

00:55:21.020 --> 00:55:29.800
and our rebate, though, would be locked in on a percentage of the bill because our electrical bills aren't the same amount every month. They go up and down based on seasonality.

00:55:29.800 --> 00:55:32.060
So we're not locked in? Is that what you said?

00:55:32.700 --> 00:55:34.840
The percentage was 15%.

00:55:34.840 --> 00:55:39.800
It doesn't go up or go down. You're saying that percentage, though, stays the same. It doesn't go up.

00:55:39.800 --> 00:55:46.760
That's what Mr. Mudge told us. And again, if we decide to move forward before we would sign anything with them, we would get it all in writing.

00:55:46.760 --> 00:55:56.580
But again, it comes back to the point, it's money that we can have as revenue that doesn't cost our taxpayers, our citizens, anything

00:55:56.580 --> 00:56:03.790
If there's no further discussion, Madam Clerk, please take the roll

00:56:03.790 --> 00:56:07.400
Clem? Yes

00:56:07.400 --> 00:56:08.800
Johnson? No

00:56:08.800 --> 00:56:10.360
Simmons? No

00:56:10.360 --> 00:56:12.040
Parker? Yes

00:56:12.040 --> 00:56:13.700
Stacy? No

00:56:13.700 --> 00:56:15.100
Shadle? Aye

00:56:15.100 --> 00:56:19.220
Sanders is currently absent, Sellers? Aye

00:56:19.220 --> 00:56:50.760
uh the resolution is adopted four to three oh I'm sorry it has to have five positive mayor we right so you have half of the council voting in favor already so that triggers a situation where the mayor is allowed to vote okay I forgot mayor aye and that will make it five to three that we need the five item number nine is the adoption of resolution 2025 118 could you please read this resolution ratifying emergency

00:56:50.760 --> 00:57:18.600
Storm Sewer System Repairs at Greenfield and Santa Fe by Fisher Excavating. Thank you, Manager Boyer. Yeah, thank you, Your Honor. The City of Freeport had an emergency repair to the storm system. The repair was much more significant in scope and included sidewalk, ADA ramps, and curb replacement. City staff did not receive an invoice for the concrete work until recently, and Fisher Excavating informed us that the concrete pay item had not been invoiced during the busy end of the 2024 season.

00:57:18.600 --> 00:57:44.600
Staff has confirmed through our own system that Fisher was never paid for the required restoration work and has verified the work was done in line with required city compliance and standards. Due to the error, Fisher is only requesting the invoice be paid without the allowed contract markups and wanted to be made whole for the subcontract work. Fisher excavating is a valuable partner of the city of Freeport and performs many emergency work scenarios for the utility.

00:57:44.600 --> 00:57:52.700
staff recommends payment of the $19,540 to Fisher Excavating for the repairs at Greenfield and Santa

00:57:52.700 --> 00:58:00.640
Fe. Thank you. Is there a motion to adopt? So moved. Second. The motion made by Alderman Clem, seconded by

00:58:00.640 --> 00:58:07.800
Alderman Sellers. Discussion on the resolution? Alderman Sellers? Yeah. I know I had talked with Rob earlier

00:58:07.800 --> 00:58:13.560
about this, and I do think that I know that sometimes you get busy, and I know there are big

00:58:13.560 --> 00:58:43.540
organization, but I do think that we as a city and in our finances, we need to look at something like this a little more closer to not let something like this get this far behind in paying our debts. I know that they should have given us the invoice, but we also need to look at maybe the end of the year or something to see what still we have out

00:58:43.540 --> 00:59:09.600
out there outstanding to make sure that it's paid in a timely fashion so that we don't have to come back this many months later and pay for something like that. So I do think that we need to also look at making sure that if we have a bill out there or an invoice out there, we need to make sure that it's in so that we can have better records, too, for us.

00:59:09.600 --> 00:59:11.720
Sure. Director Siegel.

00:59:11.720 --> 00:59:14.540
Yeah, I appreciate your comments.

00:59:14.700 --> 00:59:16.320
I'll take the blame on this one.

00:59:18.780 --> 00:59:27.440
We did storm work in this location for a storm collapse, and we did pay them during the appropriate period for the storm work.

00:59:28.420 --> 00:59:34.600
However, it led into a lot of concrete, and we had a couple other jobs going with them at the same time.

00:59:34.600 --> 00:59:50.000
and it was our error. We thought we had collected it but or not collected it. We thought that they had billed us for it. They thought we we've actually been going back and forth for quite a bit of time thinking it was played.

00:59:50.000 --> 01:00:17.940
thinking it was played but I really drilled down into this and it was unduly fair not to pay them for the work that was done and I did go back through all the invoicing and I also had the public works admin help me and we proved that we never paid them for this emergency work so you know it's unfortunate that they didn't bill us sooner but we have been negotiating on it trying to figure out whether we did or didn't and that took a little bit of time and like I said we had three or four open jobs with the

01:00:17.940 --> 01:00:24.880
at the time. So again, we'll try to do a better job trapping that, but I will take this one as my fault.

01:00:25.820 --> 01:00:31.700
Thank you. Any further discussion? Alderman Stacy? Yes, I would like to know, so when was this emergency work

01:00:31.700 --> 01:00:41.600
done and was this emergency work bidded out or was it given to them to do? And if it was bidded out,

01:00:41.600 --> 01:00:45.320
Did they bid $19,540?

01:00:47.340 --> 01:00:48.440
Director Seagull, do you want that?

01:00:48.460 --> 01:00:48.760
Yes.

01:00:48.960 --> 01:00:50.560
So, no, this was emergency work.

01:00:50.980 --> 01:00:59.300
The storm sewer at Santa Fe and Greenfield collapsed last fall, and they did the pipe work.

01:00:59.580 --> 01:00:59.960
When?

01:01:00.300 --> 01:01:00.880
Last fall.

01:01:01.040 --> 01:01:04.540
Okay, I understand that, but are we talking August, September, October?

01:01:06.380 --> 01:01:07.560
I'm going to say August.

01:01:08.080 --> 01:01:11.300
I don't know the month off the top of my head, Cecelia.

01:01:11.600 --> 01:01:41.480
and we had the pipe work done, but then when we did the pipe work, we had to rip out significantly more curb and two ADA ramps that totally had to be redone at that intersection. Anyone can drive out there and see the work that was done. So this is actually a really good price when you account for us having to do probably over 100 feet of curb and two ADA ramps that encompassed this repair because it went completely across the intersection.

01:01:41.600 --> 01:01:49.440
Actually, without their contractor markup that they're entitled to, this is a really good price for the work, so

01:01:49.440 --> 01:01:49.940
Norman Sanders

01:01:49.940 --> 01:01:55.720
The ADA ramp, it affected the storm is what we're talking about

01:01:55.720 --> 01:02:04.320
There was two ADA ramps that was over top of the storm, and when we fixed the pipe, we had to take them out and put them back in

01:02:04.320 --> 01:02:11.460
And replacing the, well, the ADA ramp is already paved for, and the storm

01:02:11.460 --> 01:02:39.340
the storm sewer material was not paid for? The opposite. We didn't get the opposite, okay. We didn't get the invoice for the storm sewer repair, and we couldn't put an ADA ramp until we got that storm sewer repair, right? Am I correct? Yeah, we had to, before you can put the ADA ramp in, the storm sewer had to be repaired. Is that correct? That's what I'm asking you.

01:02:39.340 --> 01:02:43.220
The ADA ramps could not be installed until the new piping was under.

01:02:43.220 --> 01:03:09.320
That's what I just said. That's exactly what I just said. So we as a council, when that came up and you declared it as an emergency kind of deal, what was the emergency? It's just time and material. When you're talking time and material, we need to know the cost. We need to know what kind of material we're going to replace it with, how much we're going to pay for material.

01:03:09.340 --> 01:03:39.200
and what was the scope and the measurement of that project that brought us to a price that I feel that was an estimated cost until we understand that we need to know how much material and work our time and material that went into that project to make sure that it was an emergency kind of deal because I don't recall us having any major storms

01:03:39.200 --> 01:03:56.420
developing and any washouts or anything like that could have prevented you from continuing with the project of the ADA ramps. I'm just looking at this from a position where what came before.

01:03:56.420 --> 01:04:05.300
it was not an ADA project it was it was a storm pipe collapse under an intersection that had to be repaired and

01:04:05.960 --> 01:04:14.020
Resultingly the two ADA ramps had to be ripped out in order to fix the pipe. Okay, got you. Okay, so so did we get a time

01:04:14.120 --> 01:04:21.920
Did we get a time and no it was an emergency repair that was ratified by this council and we went through with time and material

01:04:21.920 --> 01:04:51.900
Okay, so I got to say, I appreciate that you have, you're inquiring on these questions, but you're the back and forth conversation, it's what's a violation. So if you can, if you can pull together your thoughts and then ask something, but then one minute, and so then when I give the floor to the director, then it becomes his. So then if you want to speak again, then you have to ask. So it's just that procedure. So I appreciate the questions. But once someone else finishes speaking, then you have to have be recognized in order to continue.

01:04:51.920 --> 01:05:21.320
continue. So would you like to continue? I'm going to have a litigation meeting with this attorney, with the attorney here, the city's attorney, because as far as I'm concerned, we are in contempt. Okay. We are in contempt right now at this moment, and you're- Okay, so let me just- Well, I'm just saying, Mayor- Okay, I'm going to give you a warning. I want to talk to this attorney. I want to talk to this attorney. Alderman Sanders, I'm going to give you a warning. Okay. When you'd like to speak, you have to be acknowledged. Okay. So let's try to keep it at that.

01:05:21.320 --> 01:05:51.300
All right, so let's not go past the warning. Alderman Stacy. Yes, so when this emergency event happened, what's it brought to council? And we voted and agreed on this. But they did the work, but they were not paid. And so now we realize they have not been paid. And they're, a year later, is coming for what is due.

01:05:51.320 --> 01:06:13.480
for the service they've rendered? Correct. We only paid them for the piping portion. We never, because we had to get a, we, there was a delay to get the concrete work done, so we paid them for the piping portion, and the restoration, the ADA ramps were delayed, so they didn't get paid right away. That is correct adage of exactly the way it happened.

01:06:13.480 --> 01:06:18.840
Okay, Madam Clerk has some input on this.

01:06:19.020 --> 01:06:42.700
I just looked at the invoice a little bit closer. It says Stenstrom concrete work. So, Darren, when you say no contract, the markup for the contractor fees, so Fisher has been billed by Stenstrom for this concrete work. If we don't pay it, Fisher is stuck with Stenstrom's bill.

01:06:42.700 --> 01:06:52.980
They've given us the courtesy of not giving their, what, 10 or 15 percent markup, and they're only charging us for 19,000 plus that was done over a year ago

01:06:52.980 --> 01:06:53.860
That's right

01:06:53.860 --> 01:06:54.160
Okay

01:06:54.160 --> 01:06:56.780
Isn't that what I just said?

01:06:57.060 --> 01:06:59.740
Okay, so if there's no, would you like your second, Alderman Sanders?

01:06:59.740 --> 01:07:10.620
Yes, I'm glad you brought that out, simply because here we go again, I'm going to speak this time and I wanted to, I don't want to question an answer

01:07:10.620 --> 01:07:34.700
I just want to speak on this issue that the fact that it was something that had been repaired a year ago and we still didn't get an invoice at that time to determine what the time and material costs that justify the hourly wages and the material that was placed in it.

01:07:34.700 --> 01:08:03.400
We had not received that. And a year has already gone by. This is nothing but an estimation. These are estimated, yeah, because you have not demonstrated to us the invoice. The invoice has not been looked at at this current time. We have not seen that. And so we're depending on what you're saying, according to the invoice, with a non-invoice, it was estimated.

01:08:03.400 --> 01:08:11.780
These are estimated costs, and I don't need this, I just know what it turned out to be.

01:08:11.860 --> 01:08:12.320
The invoice?

01:08:12.580 --> 01:08:21.540
Yeah, the invoice might be saying what you're charging, but you're not telling us why it's an estimation.

01:08:22.020 --> 01:08:27.620
You don't want to say that it's an estimation because that's what time and material boils down to.

01:08:28.240 --> 01:08:30.220
That's what it boils down to, Darren.

01:08:30.220 --> 01:08:58.820
That's, well, if I'm not, if I'm not, who's standing there monitoring the amount of time that it takes to repair a storm sewer and what material that was used? There's no one there, and if that had been the case, then we should have received that report long before now, and we're estimating this over, well, you can keep shaking your head that it's not, but the fact of the matter is that's what it boils down to.

01:08:58.820 --> 01:09:19.740
until we get more understanding how we got these escalated charges and you had not demonstrated time and material, we don't know how much material was used, how much were we spending, and how long did this job take? We don't have that before us, and so we need to know all of that.

01:09:19.740 --> 01:09:32.840
All of the material is accounted for on the invoice by the square foot, so it's easily measurable by anybody that would go out there, and it was included in the packet.

01:09:33.420 --> 01:09:34.680
This is not acceptable.

01:09:34.680 --> 01:09:48.680
Okay, so, unless there's any other discussion, and, and, Alderman Sanders, you were warned, now you're out of order, so please don't do it again, because if it happens again, you're going to be escorted out. Please refrain from...

01:09:48.680 --> 01:09:53.180
scored it out. Please refrain from talking out of order. And you can talk to the attorney afterwards, but please refrain from talking out of order.

01:09:53.180 --> 01:10:05.580
Okay. Is there any more discussion on Alderman Shadle? I just would like Clerk Anderson to know that her work of attaching these memos doesn't go wasted on all eyes.

01:10:05.940 --> 01:10:15.700
Uh-huh. If there's no further discussion, Madam Clerk, please take the roll. Clem. Aye. Johnson. Aye. Simmons. Aye. Parker.

01:10:15.700 --> 01:10:52.200
Aye. Stacey? Aye. Shadle? Aye. Sanders? No. Sellers? Aye. The resolution is adopted 7 to 1. Item number 10 is the adoption of resolution 2025-119. Could you please read this? Resolution approving a software renewal from Ferguson Waterworks for AMI Neptune 360 utility software. Thank you. Director Suttman. Thanks, Mayor. Council, this is the annual agreement for our Neptune 360 software platform.

01:10:52.520 --> 01:11:05.880
that software is kind of the interface for the water meter collectors. The reading is taken at your meter, it goes to MIU on your house, goes to the collector, and from there it goes to 360, up to 360 for processing.

01:11:05.880 --> 01:11:36.760
this agreement and proposal includes the licensing support cloud storage and other purchases the total cost is $37,138.58 and has been budgeted in the fiscal year 25 water and sewer budget any questions is there a motion to adopt second the motion made by Alderman Clem seconded by Alderman Sellers discussion on the resolution

01:11:39.810 --> 01:11:40.490
Alderman Johnson?

01:11:41.490 --> 01:11:55.990
Yeah, I asked how much it would cost if we were doing all this by hand and people were going out and reading the meters and so forth, and it would cost anywhere between $130,000 and $155,000 instead of $37,000, so it sounds like a pretty good investment to me.

01:11:56.490 --> 01:11:58.190
Thank you. Any other discussion?

01:12:00.010 --> 01:12:00.730
Alderman Sanders?

01:12:01.770 --> 01:12:04.690
Yeah, how did we get to this cost?

01:12:04.690 --> 01:12:39.010
what what what drove this are we getting is it been is this by percentage did we get this by percentage okay before you answer that Alderman Sanders make sure that you finish whatever thought you have so it doesn't go back and forth are you good with that question Alderman Sanders are you good with that question I'm done mayor okay um it's kind of a per user or a population size account or amount is where it gets the price

01:12:39.010 --> 01:13:08.990
and again figuring there's cloud storage the support they give us both the software and the hardware and then for the product itself the software. Any other discussion? Madam clerk please take the roll. Clem. Aye. Johnson. Aye. Simmons. Aye. Parker. Aye. Stacy. Aye. Shadle. Aye. Sanders. Aye. And Sellers. Aye. The resolution is adopted eight to zero. Item number 11 is the adoption of resolution 2025.

01:13:09.010 --> 01:13:38.530
25120. Could you please read this? Resolution approving an agreement with Fair Graham to provide additional civil, environmental, engineering, project management, and other professional services for the 2025 Public Works Master Services contract. Thank you. Manager Boyer? Thank you, Your Honor. The City of Freeport has various annual engineering needs. These include topographic study, infrastructure system mapping, geotechnical construction survey and staking, elevation records,

01:13:38.530 --> 01:14:04.850
Davis, ADA issues, multiple grants and loan assistance, water, sewer, storm, and utility design, structural assessments, street infrastructure, airport engineering support, right-of-way permitting, Illinois Environmental Protection Agency requirements, Illinois Department of Transportation and necessities, quality assurance, quality control inspections, observations, soil borings and analysis, and all emergency needs for professional engineering requirements.

01:14:04.850 --> 01:14:13.970
This consultant work is performed outside of specific project contracts brought to the council and required by specific funding sources.

01:14:14.650 --> 01:14:24.170
Freeport requires an engineering firm that provides support with staff and technical professionals, including licensed engineers who specialize in various areas of city operations.

01:14:24.990 --> 01:14:29.590
City of Freeport annually approves various engineering contracts to meet the city's engineering needs.

01:14:29.590 --> 01:14:35.510
This support is for all city staff departments on an as-needed basis, time and material.

01:14:36.110 --> 01:14:45.030
This contract allows general engineering requirements not related to contracted projects to be performed on a day-to-day basis for the city departments.

01:14:45.470 --> 01:14:52.230
It also enables the city staff to be reactive to our daily needs and requirements as infrastructure and emergencies arise.

01:14:52.230 --> 01:14:59.830
This year has been extremely busy due to the large amount of engineering work, grant submittal, extensive permitting requirements, and et cetera.

01:15:00.690 --> 01:15:07.110
The original contract funds have been expunged through nine months, and staff requires additional funds to complete 2025.

01:15:07.850 --> 01:15:12.790
The estimated cost is about $100,000 on a time and material basis and used as needed.

01:15:13.010 --> 01:15:21.850
The funding for these additional services was included in the 2025 engineering budget, and staff recommends moving forward with the additional services contract.

01:15:21.850 --> 01:15:49.850
and I will mention that we have had a tremendous amount of work this year. We put together a partial list and it is quite extensive. I do also want to point out that some of the fees that we are paying relate back to contract review and construction permitting and we do receive revenue back on the items through fee structure for anybody requesting construction permits.

01:15:49.850 --> 01:16:22.030
We've had quite a few of those this year as we have NICOR, we have Surf Internet building out the fiber optic network, and we have a lot of different projects going on throughout the city that aren't city-led. So staff request moving forward with this. Is there a motion to adopt? Second. A motion made by Alderman Shadle, seconded by Alderman Sellers. Discussion on the resolution? Alderman Sanders? Did I hear somebody else?

01:16:22.670 --> 01:16:34.070
I called on you. Okay. Yeah, well, the question I have, there's an existing contractor already on board before

01:16:34.070 --> 01:16:45.010
Fehr and Graham gets involved with this particular contractor to supplement or to engineer or to

01:16:45.010 --> 01:16:50.410
support it. Is that what we're talking about? If we're talking about that kind of occasion,

01:16:50.410 --> 01:17:17.910
then why do we need Fehr and Graham services when we have not even talked about the master services contract and what's all entailed with it? Why haven't we made a discussion and evaluated what it is that the master services even provided for even Fehr and Graham to get involved to help the supporting of this engineering?

01:17:17.910 --> 01:17:47.850
I don't see how we can engage with Fehr and Graham with a contractor collaborating together to get the support that they need in order to fulfill their duties. I don't see how we can establish that when we don't know how much it's going to everything is estimated. Like I said before, things get to be estimated and costs can go out the roof without

01:17:47.850 --> 01:18:17.830
What about a measuring stick? If you don't have something to gauge it with, estimation is don't have no borders. That's the problem with that. And so my whole thing is I don't think council should be involving themselves with secondary subcontractors like Farron Graham with a contractor called master service. I don't even know what all entails with master service until we know that.

01:18:17.850 --> 01:18:47.830
I'm going to suggest that we get more information from whoever's submitting this or suggesting or recommending it. I see that your name is there, Mr. Stiekel. I think before we indulge ourselves in spending more money, because it seems like to me we're spending millions of dollars and hundreds of millions of dollars just on this project, whatever this construction work is, and I'm surprised that we're not asking questions.

01:18:47.850 --> 01:19:16.730
questions as counsel. How did we get to this point and the fact that who's making the recommendation? I don't know how we got here. I don't like for counsel to just lie down and just let this thing go through or talk about it because there's nothing but a resolution. It's a resolution. I understand that, but the fact that it matters for us to adopt it so they can continue on doing what they're doing by

01:19:16.730 --> 01:19:33.690
allowing Fehr Graham to impose themselves into a contract that we don't even know what the qualifications of the master service abilities are when we don't have no scope of that.

01:19:33.690 --> 01:19:46.070
And so we need to reevaluate all of that. And I think this is like a dead horse or dead dog heading down the wrong road, and I don't think this should be happening.

01:19:46.070 --> 01:20:01.400
and I don't think this should be happening until we reveal who in the heck is master service and finding out what kind of work that they're doing for the city of Freeport, then we can have another discussion about it. That's my whole thing.

01:20:01.880 --> 01:20:04.380
Thank you. Manager Boyer, would you like to respond?

01:20:04.380 --> 01:20:34.240
Yeah, I would. So let me start out. Alderman Sanders, we can have these discussions anytime. We've had many of these meetings scheduled that we did not get together for. So I can answer these questions in a timely way that doesn't take up a lot of the public or the rest of the council's time. But with that being said, let me start with the list here. We've had survey calculations and staking at the fire station improvements and

01:20:34.240 --> 01:20:56.420
There are many projects throughout the city that we've used the master services program to get done. That came up to about $29,000. We had utility permit reviews, so that would be for all the construction going in the right-of-way. That came to about $45,000, but we are getting repaid for that through our right-of-way permit process.

01:20:56.420 --> 01:21:26.400
IDOT has a multi-year program that has to be updated. That's about $5,000. Hancock Bridge preliminary design review is about $24,000, but that's a major priority. We want to get the Hancock Bridge fixed, so we got to figure out what we're doing and then be able to apply for the IDOT funds to make that happen. That happens through a lot of diligent and careful work that goes on at Fairgram. Also, we required assistance with setup for the cleaning and lining contracts for all

01:21:26.400 --> 01:21:41.600
the sewer projects that we've done, and that's about $30,000, but we've spent, I think, around close to, what, a half a million dollars in sewer lining, and that just keeps all the water out of the sewer so we don't end up at the wastewater plant flooding out the wastewater plant. I'm sure you're familiar with it, though.

01:21:41.600 --> 01:22:11.580
We've also got process optimization, so that's Tom Glendening working with us at the water treatment plant and the wastewater treatment plant, getting processes in place and making sure things are running efficiently there. Site development, so we're talking about the city developed projects, we had about 6,300 there. We had cracked ceiling bidding and construction oversight, about 2,000 there. Tree removal, we had about $8,000 in bidding and inspection.

01:22:11.600 --> 01:22:34.820
and ensuring that our contractors are doing appropriate work out there and getting good quality for us for the city, get high value for our dollars. Public Works fuel pump paving system, we spent about $23,000 with the updated tanks and pumps and everything that goes on. By the way, counsel, please feel free to stop me if you've heard quite enough, but I could keep going and that's fine. Okay.

01:22:34.820 --> 01:22:35.580
You can stop.

01:22:35.580 --> 01:22:38.000
Actually, yeah, Attorney Zeta would like to respond.

01:22:38.000 --> 01:23:07.540
Yeah. And just to give a little bit more context, Alderman Sanders, the original master contract, that's with Fair Graham. So the master service contract, that was approved by the City Council probably near the beginning of the year, and it's with Fair Graham. They're asking basically to add more money to that contract. That's the simple aspect of it because of all the work that Manager Boyer just said. We've used up the contract thus far, so now we need

01:23:08.000 --> 01:23:13.860
additional work done just for the rest of the year, to cover the rest of the year, that's all.

01:23:14.340 --> 01:23:15.720
Olderman, Sellers, did you have your hand up?

01:23:15.840 --> 01:23:16.120
No.

01:23:16.420 --> 01:23:16.940
Olderman, Stacy?

01:23:16.940 --> 01:23:28.840
In the scope of services section of the original public works master service contract, it states

01:23:28.840 --> 01:23:37.980
Fairground will provide various civil environment and engineering service, project management,

01:23:37.980 --> 01:23:49.200
and other related professional services as requested or directed by city manager representing the city of Freeport Public Works Department.

01:23:51.360 --> 01:24:04.120
Let's look at the phrase other related professional services as requested or directed by the city manager.

01:24:04.120 --> 01:24:05.640
Hmm.

01:24:06.040 --> 01:24:07.320
What does that mean?

01:24:07.320 --> 01:24:32.020
What does that include? All the duties, please don't stop me, all the duties that the city manager Boyer described in the background of his memo were considered consulting work performed outside of spec contracts. However, these tags actually fall within the scope of public works.

01:24:32.020 --> 01:24:47.480
There were no limits or stipulations on the services rendered in the master service contract, nor did it allow for additional invoice for service considered outside the scope.

01:24:47.480 --> 01:25:07.640
Paul, we have already paid Fairground $100,000, now nine months in, you're asking for another $100,000, and what is the purpose of this again, I ask.

01:25:07.640 --> 01:25:22.660
The situation reflects either Fairgrounds fail to properly price their service or the inability to produce and present a solid contract.

01:25:23.560 --> 01:25:34.680
Regardless, it is not the city's obligation to provide more funding due, and it's funny to you, I see you're laughing,

01:25:34.680 --> 01:25:55.560
more funding due to a company professional shortcomings. I believe this issue should be addressed if and when council decides to renew this contract, this $100,000 contract with Fehr Graham.

01:25:55.560 --> 01:26:20.020
At that time, we can consider whether to increase funding or not. We have a contract in place, and we have honored that contract. Our end of the agreement by paying the $100,000 that the contract asks for.

01:26:20.020 --> 01:26:27.470
Okay, so you've said a lot there. Madam Clerk, did you say something about a contract that you wanted to?

01:26:27.610 --> 01:26:35.750
Yes, did you reference the public works contract? Is that what you said, public works contract? This is a different contract.

01:26:35.750 --> 01:26:42.850
The scope of service section of the public works master service contract.

01:26:42.850 --> 01:26:47.770
This is in addition to the general master services, correct? This is a different contract.

01:26:47.770 --> 01:27:14.570
would you like to clarify this? So there's the general master service agreement for city engineering, which is a totally different contract than the one you're referencing. The one you're referencing is the public works director master contract, which we're not asking for any more money to that, and we are just fine on the budget of that, so whatever you stated there about those implications is not true.

01:27:14.570 --> 01:27:41.810
This is the general engineering contract for the city of Freeport. The original amount was $350,000. And with all the phases that we have done, we have expended that and it was a time and materials contract, which all of them are. So if we don't extend it, which originally it was supposed to be $450,000 for this year, but we decided to go with $350,000 to start to see where that landed us for the year.

01:27:41.810 --> 01:28:04.810
So if you choose not to extend it, the services will stop because it's a master service agreement that's time and material for city engineering. There is a lot of day-to-day engineering that has to go on. When other people do work in the right-of-way, the city has to respond to that work with surveying or engineering, which you don't have a department for those.

01:28:04.810 --> 01:28:26.810
So all of these items are phase-tasked, they're identified, they're billed by the phase, and they're all ordered by the City of Work. We don't decide just to use them. The Public Works assistance that I give to Public Works is the contract you're talking about there, and we don't need extra money on that. We're just fine. We're right on budget for the year.

01:28:27.330 --> 01:28:29.010
Manager Boyer, did you want to add to that?

01:28:31.880 --> 01:28:34.160
I think that satisfies. Thank you.

01:28:34.160 --> 01:28:37.180
Alderman Stacy, would you like your second?

01:28:38.220 --> 01:28:38.660
Yes.

01:28:39.260 --> 01:28:45.240
Okay, so why wasn't this brought to us when you start getting close to running out of money?

01:28:46.400 --> 01:28:47.180
Is that all?

01:28:47.700 --> 01:28:48.820
So we don't have a back and forth?

01:28:48.940 --> 01:28:49.220
Yeah.

01:28:49.480 --> 01:28:50.340
Okay, Director Siegel.

01:28:51.500 --> 01:28:54.500
It is being brought to you because we're getting close to running out of money.

01:28:54.680 --> 01:28:58.780
We're still providing the services, even though we're beyond our contract.

01:28:58.920 --> 01:29:01.200
We haven't stopped because we work in good faith.

01:29:01.200 --> 01:29:31.060
We have had a lot of big work going on in the last three months with all of the construction going on around town and so as work's being done money is being accounted for towards these contracts and these phases and when you have five or six seven people working around town doing projects it accumulates quickly and so we're at a point we're not stopping service we continue to provide the service every day we are at a point that we need more fee

01:29:31.060 --> 01:29:44.000
which we could have signed up and maybe we should have done originally at a larger amount but the city asked me to go at 350 to start with even though we projected it would be 450 and we would see how long that takes. It's been a very

01:29:44.000 --> 01:30:11.920
and see how long that takes. It's been a very large season. We have many contractors working in Freeport. Surf internet, frontier issues, and I will say that there's over $100,000 that I have saved the city of Freeport just on fees and enforcement of right-of-way permits. Well over that. I had one claim that was over $30,000 that came back to the city general fund, and Michelle can verify that.

01:30:12.000 --> 01:30:41.880
our contracts pay for themselves daily here and the accusations that they don't really bother me with all the hard work that we put on for the city of Freeport every day. The facts are that these contracts work and we save the taxpayers money because we don't have to have a staff of 10 people running around here getting benefits and pay and our fees are all inclusive for everything we perform for the city and we seldomly come back and ask for more money but we will on time and material

01:30:41.880 --> 01:30:49.220
contracts because we don't have a risk amount in those contracts. And I will also mention while we're at it

01:30:49.220 --> 01:30:55.540
that many of our lump sum contracts we have cut short with the city and we don't bill out the full amount

01:30:55.540 --> 01:31:01.220
if the projects get done ahead of time because that's the right thing to do for our clients and

01:31:01.220 --> 01:31:05.640
that's what we've lived to with the city. I just don't come back here and brag about it every time it

01:31:05.640 --> 01:31:36.650
happens. Thank you. Alderman Sanders, did you want your second? Yes. Yes. Yeah, I've heard your explanation, Darren. I heard your explanation, but when I find out that there's been a collusion with two contracting companies, that's Fehr and Graham and Master Service,

01:31:37.370 --> 01:32:07.290
working in conjunction with each other because it says it's working with each other. Existing, Master Service is already existing, Fehr and Graham is jumping on board or they was to be integrated in order to support Master Service. And then all of a sudden we come up with this estimation. Who are we estimating for? Fehr and Graham or are we estimating for Master Service? Which one is it? The fact of the matter

01:32:07.290 --> 01:32:34.250
The other is, until we get an itemized list of everything that master service have been doing, what the scope of their job contracted, what is contracted, we need a list of all of the services that are provided and finding out all of the things that Fehr and Graham is supporting them with to justify this cost.

01:32:34.250 --> 01:32:52.590
If council is not going to take responsibility, someone should look into that matter to find out who's dictating who, is it Fehr and Graham to master service, or is it master service to Fehr and Graham?

01:32:52.590 --> 01:33:21.910
and Graham. There's a collusion going on, and so we need to get the scope of it and understanding. And right now, I just don't feel comfortable, and I don't think the people of the city of Freeport should feel comfortable with opening up the gates of an estimated cost between Fehr and Graham and master service. That whole thing should not even be entertained until we get right down to the bottom of the crust of everything.

01:33:22.590 --> 01:33:31.470
That should not even, we should not be even entertaining this. I don't even know how he got on the agenda without counsel discussing these matters in the first place.

01:33:31.470 --> 01:33:47.630
Okay, so let me just bring a little bit of clarity for you. Master Services is not a business. It's not a person. It's the title of the contract that we have with Fairgrounds. It's not something separate. It's not a different business. Alderman Sellers.

01:33:47.890 --> 01:33:49.170
That's what I was going to say.

01:33:49.730 --> 01:33:51.610
Is there any other discussion before we go to vote?

01:33:51.610 --> 01:33:54.650
Let's roll. Madam Clerk, please take the roll.

01:33:56.210 --> 01:34:16.450
Clem? Aye. Johnson? Aye. Simmons? Aye. Parker? Aye. Stacy? Aye. Shadle? Aye. Sanders? No. Sellers? Aye. The resolution is adopted 7 to 1. Item number 12 is the adoption of resolution 2025-121. Could you please read this?

01:34:16.450 --> 01:34:32.130
Resolution of Final Report of Expenditure, FROE, from IDOT for Sullivan, Greenfield, Navajo, MFT Project, 23-00169-00-RS

01:34:32.130 --> 01:34:33.510
Thank you, Manager Boyer.

01:34:33.890 --> 01:34:34.510
Thank you, Your Honor.

01:34:34.510 --> 01:34:46.430
As part of IDOT's process, when we complete a MFT project, we need to have a final resolution that we then submit so that we have our records all in order.

01:34:46.450 --> 01:35:18.790
Order. So all we're asking for is that move forward with IDOT's resolution final report for 23-00169-00-RS. That is the 2023 MFT projects. Thank you. Is there a motion? So moved. Shadle and Clemm. We have a motion made by Alderman Shadle, seconded by Alderman Clemm. Discussion on the resolution? Madam Clerk, please take

01:35:18.790 --> 01:35:48.710
the roll. Clem. Aye. Johnson. Aye. Simmons. Aye. Parker. Aye. Stacey. Aye. Shadle. Aye. Sanders. No. And Sellers. Aye. The resolution is adopted 7 to 1. Item number 13 is the adoption of resolution 2025-122. Could you please read this? Resolution approving the purchase of a brush mulcher attachment from Helm Truck and Equipment. Thank you. Manager Boyer. Thank you, Your Honor. Many activities within the public

01:35:48.710 --> 01:36:18.550
Works Department require brush elimination, mowing, that type of thing. Staff has requested that we bring this to council for approval. This is the new brush mulcher that would attach to a skid steer machine. The cost is $17,878 from Helm Truck, which is a source well dealer. This would be a vital piece of equipment for maintaining the catch

01:36:18.550 --> 01:36:48.530
basins and some of the areas that get overgrown with woods and weeds and that type of thing and right now Sioux Basin is a project that's coming up that we'll be cleaning up and fixing and this is a vital piece of equipment for that. This will be coming out of the utility budget and the amount for this brush mulcher was not specifically enumerated in the budget however due to the fact that we saved about $30,000 on our aeration equipment for the waste

01:36:48.530 --> 01:37:21.090
to our treatment plan. Staff is requesting using these funds the remainder of that budget for the purchase of this piece of equipment. Is there a motion to adopt? So moved. Second. The motion made by Alderman Sellers seconded by Alderman Johnson. Discussion on the resolution? Alderman Johnson. Is this brand new? Yes. Okay. Madam Clerk, please take the roll. Clem? Aye. Johnson? Aye. Simmons? Aye. Parker? Aye.

01:37:21.090 --> 01:38:01.300
Aye. Stacey? Aye. Shadle? Aye. Sanders? No. And Sellers? Aye. The resolution is adopted 6-2. Item number 14 is the adoption of resolution 2025-123. Could you please read this? Resolution approving construction observation engineering agreement with Fairgram for lift station projects. Manager Boyer. Thank you, Your Honor. So the city has two sanitary lift stations, rehabilitation

01:38:01.300 --> 01:38:31.280
projects that were in the capital plan for this year. One is at Galena and the other one's at Laurel and this also includes a new backup generator for the Carroll tank. If anyone is familiar with well number eight, there is no backup power there and that was one of the items that we had identified as needing to include in this 2025 construction year. So staff is asking for approval of the construction engineering contract with Ferra Graham for the amount of 140

01:38:31.280 --> 01:39:01.940
$46,750 to move forward and get these projects completed. Is there a motion to adopt? So moved. Second. We have a motion made by Alderman Flemm, seconded by Alderman Parker, discussion on the resolution. Madam Clerk, please take Alderman Sanders. Manager Boyer. Yes, sir. We're talking about an interior

01:39:01.940 --> 01:39:16.400
interior, what I want to say, updating improvement when we're talking about the electrical and things like that that's going on within the lift station.

01:39:16.400 --> 01:39:31.380
Are we talking about enhancing whatever this is, this engineering, exactly what Fehr and Graham is going to be demonstrating to help

01:39:31.380 --> 01:39:41.860
about the engineering process of these lift stations when it comes to planning the upgrades and the enhancement of the lift station, what exactly.

01:39:41.860 --> 01:39:47.180
of the lift station, what exactly they're going to do, and what does it cost in the city for these type of enhancements?

01:39:47.380 --> 01:40:05.760
Sure. We're going to get to that bid here a little further on. The total cost of the project is about $2 million. It's going to include new pumps, motors, drivers, and controllers, backup systems, you know, starters, electrical work, and that.

01:40:05.760 --> 01:40:35.740
so the two lift stations and then of course well eight is going to have a whole new backup generator that's sufficiently sized to cover the entire electrical needs for well number eight. Any other discussion? Madam Clerk, please take the roll. Clemm? Aye. Johnson? Aye. Simmons? No. Parker? Aye. Stacy? No. Shadle? Aye. Sanders? No. Sellers? Aye. The resolution is

01:40:35.740 --> 01:41:05.660
is adopted, five to three. And item number 15 is the approval of bids. Could you please read this? A bid opening was held on September 30th for that last contract, Galena lift station renovations, Laurel lift station renovations, and well number eight generator. Manager Boyer. As we previously just discussed regarding the construction engineering observation estimate, we also have the actual work. So this

01:41:05.660 --> 01:41:34.760
was bid, let's see here, June, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, September 3, thank you, Dovie, so we had a bid opening, Helm Group was a low bidder, and the lowest, the amount was $2,036,116, that was the base bid, and Helm usually, you know, frequently works with the city of Freeport on all kinds of infrastructure projects, so staff's recommending moving forward with the low bid from Helm Group.

01:41:34.760 --> 01:41:36.440
Is there a motion to approve?

01:41:36.980 --> 01:41:37.440
So moved.

01:41:37.600 --> 01:41:37.920
Second.

01:41:38.440 --> 01:41:47.660
A motion made by Alderman Schadl, seconded by Alderman Sellers. Any discussion on the bid? Madam Clerk, please take Alderman Sanders.

01:41:48.720 --> 01:42:05.120
Wow. Amazement right now. But approving this bid for the renovation with any contractor, as far as I'm concerned,

01:42:06.300 --> 01:42:35.880
When it comes to understanding the existing generators that we already have, have there been a deficiency in those generators where, I'm just talking right now, is there a deficiency in the generators that we already have in our sheds right now or on our property where we know that they are mobile,

01:42:35.880 --> 01:43:05.840
We know that these generators are more of the existing ones. We only have one now. That's all we ever had. That's all we ever had? Yeah. Okay. Does it show that the purpose of an extended one or a second one? Did we open up more lift stations to justify why we need another generator?

01:43:08.660 --> 01:43:38.640
Are you done? Yes. Okay. Manager Boyer, would you like to take that? Yeah, I'll try to answer. So if you're referring to a portable generator, every time you have one portable generator, that means you got one guy driving around in the middle of an emergency. Because when do you lose power? When you're having an emergency. It's usually during an ice storm. So the idea here is all of our remote sites at some point are going to end up with their own dedicated backup generators. Okay. So well 11 has backup

01:43:38.640 --> 01:44:08.620
generator already, well 11 has a backup generator as part of its construction, the new well 12 will have its own, well 8 does not, and well 9 does not. We need one or the other of those always functioning. As far as the lift stations, well you know what happens when you run out of electricity on a lift station, right? It's not good. So what we got currently is one guy driving around in the middle of a storm trying to plug it in and start things up and I don't think that's safe.

01:44:08.640 --> 01:44:38.360
and so and because it has to be sized for everything in the system it's enormous and so some things only need a little bit of power some things need a lot of power but you don't want to be hauling around the biggest piece of equipment you have in the middle of an emergency even if it's just for a small reason so this is just a build out over time as we you know continue to improve the utility we're going to be putting in stationary backup generators at all critical points so that our crew don't have to drive around the middle of the night

01:44:38.360 --> 01:44:39.740
with a big heavy generator.

01:44:40.180 --> 01:44:47.200
Yeah, I'm, I'm, so, um, I'm sorry, I, okay, just one second, generator equipment isn't a part of this

01:44:47.200 --> 01:44:53.100
discussion, um, no, this is about approving the bid for Helm Group, so if you have something you want to

01:44:53.100 --> 01:45:01.260
talk about approving a bid for Helm Group, then we just need to get back on track, okay, uh, so, would you

01:45:01.260 --> 01:45:31.020
like your second then? Yeah. Okay. On the helm group, did they give us a cost or I don't want to say estimated. I don't like estimations anymore. Do we have a cost in mind? Would it would cost the city to have the helm group to follow up with us? Yes. 2,036,116. That's the bid. Is there any further discussion?

01:45:31.260 --> 01:46:04.360
on approving this bid. Madam Clerk, please take the roll. Plum? Aye. Johnson? Aye. Simmons? Aye. Parker? Aye. Stacey? Aye. Shadle? Aye. Sanders? Aye. And Sellers? Aye. The bid is approved 8-0. And item number 16 is another approval for a bid. Could you please read this? There was a bid opening on October 3rd for the demolition of five residential properties. Thank you. Director, Doctor. Thank you, Madam Mayor.

01:46:04.360 --> 01:46:33.580
City staff published a notice for a bid opening in the Journal Standard on September 28th and the bid opening was held on October 3rd at 9 o'clock in the morning and staff received bids from five contractors and they based on those submitted bids staff is recommending the following the following submitted bids to do the to do the work for

01:46:33.580 --> 01:46:59.440
for demolition and asbestos abatement of five properties. So Kleckner Excavating in the amount of $31,500, and that would be for the demolition of 623 and 625 East Orrin, as well as 32 South Hooker, Albert and Son Earthworks, $15,840 for the demolition of 227 North Henderson,

01:46:59.440 --> 01:47:09.460
and Fisher Excavating $33,150 for the demolition of 612 East Oren and 640 East Oren.

01:47:11.260 --> 01:47:20.060
Thank you. Is there a motion to adopt the bids as stated? So moved. Second. We have a motion made by

01:47:20.060 --> 01:47:27.480
Alderman Sellers, seconded by Alderman Shadle. Discussion on the bids? Alderman Stacy? I trust that

01:47:27.480 --> 01:47:38.800
I think the homework has been done and that all three of these companies are in good standing with federal and state laws.

01:47:39.120 --> 01:47:42.020
I appreciate the trust, yes.

01:47:43.460 --> 01:47:44.440
Anything else?

01:47:45.940 --> 01:47:47.120
Madam Clerk, please take the roll.

01:47:47.320 --> 01:47:47.620
Clem?

01:47:47.960 --> 01:47:48.900
Oh, excuse me.

01:47:49.660 --> 01:47:50.260
Alderman Sanders?

01:47:50.320 --> 01:47:51.100
Sorry about that.

01:47:51.100 --> 01:48:05.640
Director Duckman, these abandoned homes, are they still occupied and owned by any owners at this time?

01:48:07.020 --> 01:48:16.660
We won't have a problem with somebody complaining about the demolition of a property without their consent.

01:48:16.660 --> 01:48:46.660
we won't we won't discover anything I can I can sorry I can never promise that people don't complain in the city of Freeport over demolitions so I won't make that promise but I can promise you that we won't demolish a house with somebody living in it okay if there's no further discussion Clem all right Johnson aye Simmons Parker aye Stacey aye Shadle Sanders

01:48:46.660 --> 01:49:16.200
Aye. And Sellers. Aye. And that bid is approved 8-0. Move on to reports of department heads. Finance. Nothing to see. Thank you. Nothing tonight, Madam Mayor. Thank you. Public Works. I'd like to let everybody know that 18th Avenue reconstruction will start next week. A huge win for the city of Freeport via inconvenience for the people that live out there for, you know, probably a month. But they should get that going.

01:49:16.200 --> 01:49:25.200
and have it paved before the end of the season. The utility is going to continue on replacing water

01:49:25.200 --> 01:49:31.340
services on Warren and should be have that ready to pave sometime next week and we're hopeful that

01:49:31.340 --> 01:49:37.080
excuse me the week after next and we're hopeful sometime later next week we might be able to

01:49:37.080 --> 01:49:40.020
pave hands as well and I'd like to thank.

01:49:40.020 --> 01:50:07.100
and I'd like to thank all of our contractors that have worked diligently this year to get us to a point to finish this season here in October and also our public works crews who have done a fantastic job paving streets this year. Appreciate all their hard work. Thank you. Fire. Yes. Thank you, your honor. October is fire prevention month. So that means we'll be starting our school visits for all public and private grade schools. They'll be consisting of the next three weeks.

01:50:07.100 --> 01:50:37.080
will be delivering fire safety lessons to an estimated 2,500 children this month. Thank you. Police? Nothing from the police department tonight. Thank you. IT? Nothing tonight. Manager Boyer? Yes, I have one thing. I want to congratulate Police Chief Chris Shenberger on 27 years of outstanding service to the city of Freeport. He has announced his retirement taking effect October 24th.

01:50:37.100 --> 01:50:57.420
We will be having a reception here at City Hall. You can contact Michelle for that details, but he's been an outstanding public servant to the City of Freeport, and we all wish him very well on his future endeavors, and we look forward to seeing his future successes. So, thank you.

01:50:57.420 --> 01:51:13.440
Thank you. And just to remind Council that next Monday, the 13th, City Hall is closed, an observation of Columbus Day, so our next City Council meeting, which is the Committee of the Whole, will be on Tuesday, the 14th, starting at 530 with the Finance Cow. Alderman Clem?

01:51:13.440 --> 01:51:29.580
A big thank you to Chief Shenberger, done a great job with working with the department, we have an excellent group there and hope we can continue on that, nothing other than that

01:51:29.580 --> 01:51:31.880
Alderman Johnson

01:51:31.880 --> 01:51:33.020
Nothing tonight, Mayor

01:51:33.020 --> 01:51:34.220
Alderman Simmons

01:51:34.220 --> 01:51:36.440
Alderman Parker

01:51:36.440 --> 01:51:36.920
Nothing

01:51:36.920 --> 01:51:38.220
Alderman Stacy

01:51:38.220 --> 01:51:40.520
Alderman Shadle

01:51:40.520 --> 01:51:41.480
Nothing tonight

01:51:41.480 --> 01:51:42.720
Alderman Sanders

01:51:42.720 --> 01:52:10.660
Yes, I just want to bring up the first thing that came to counsel tonight in regards to admonishment, admonishing counsel, and the fact that the person that is admonishing counsel has no authoritative jurisdiction to be admonishing counsel.

01:52:10.660 --> 01:52:40.640
Council. We got this cart or this horse flipped the wrong way. It is not supposed to be the mayor admonishing council. It is the council that admonishes the mayor and anybody else in this government establishment until we recognize the fact that we have not done our homework when it comes

01:52:40.640 --> 01:53:03.940
to governing, legislating, and anything else that pertains to the legitimacy of council until council wakes up, because I tell you, at the beginning of my first tenure, my first year, we were duped by whoever orchestrated our orientation.

01:53:03.940 --> 01:53:23.540
Our orientation when we first got here was a lie because a lot of things was not disclosed or disclosed to council potential members and council themselves because we're still not owning up to responsibilities for our actions here.

01:53:23.540 --> 01:53:48.920
And so my point of measure is there's no policy. If you don't demonstrate policies, terms to counsel, when someone steps out of line to make admonishment to counsel, then you must be held in contempt of counsel for even acknowledging your, exerting your authority over counsel.

01:53:48.920 --> 01:54:18.900
You cannot do that. Until then, you have to show everything that was said in writing. Then council will stand by that. But you've got to remember, it is council that established the legislation of this body. It is council that runs the authorizations and duties of this council. People don't understand that yet. Until we get this thing in order, this is what's going to happen.

01:54:18.920 --> 01:54:29.520
I am going to have Attorney Zito to bring forth the actual order and the duties of counsel.

01:54:30.360 --> 01:54:38.300
Counsel is just not doing the homework enough to make sure that we are all in proper order.

01:54:38.300 --> 01:54:44.600
That's the reason why I get up screaming all the time, because the order of counsel is out of order.

01:54:44.600 --> 01:55:07.160
And then anyone that impedes upon it is in contempt of counsel. So until someone wants to argue that fact, show me the paperwork and show me the policies and the fact that the counsel don't have jurisdiction over the whole government body of these proceedings. I'm done.

01:55:07.160 --> 01:55:17.500
Okay, so I'll just challenge you to look up the city ordinance 2-20-10, 24, and 25 because that's all written out. Alderman Sellers, would you have anything to add?

01:55:17.500 --> 01:55:36.740
Yes, I would just like to say that I was down here earlier today and it was just so sweet to see the elementary children down here learning about city government and then going over to the police station, learning about rules and regulations.

01:55:36.740 --> 01:56:12.700
I thought that was really nice so I just wanted to say that was really it was kind of nice to see the kids. I agree and thank you clerk Anderson for working on that. We will move on to public comments. Is there any public comments this evening? Go ahead. Good evening. I'm Kelvin McElwain, 515 West Mosley Street. I just want to say that what was discussed here on the floor tonight definitely reinforces the perception that the city

01:56:12.700 --> 01:56:40.500
and probably the majority of this community only care about one side of the city and not the other half of the city. That incident that occurred where there was a big gun sale, party happening, within months, this city council was discussing an ordinance to prevent something like that from ever happening again in that neighborhood.

01:56:40.500 --> 01:57:07.260
And the ordinance that was presented was pretty radical. Basically, it was to just get rid of all Airbnbs in Freeport. Now, it was voted down, but I'm pretty sure that ordinance would probably come back again, just adjust it to something that's a little more reasonable. But the fact remains, though, is that there was an immediate conversation on the council floor about how to use city ordinances to control the problem.

01:57:07.260 --> 01:57:12.700
There are rental properties on the other side of town that are even more problematic

01:57:12.700 --> 01:57:21.860
There have been murders, major neighborhood disruptions, drug houses, and rental properties

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That's way more significant than what looked like a possible gun sale

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People on that side of town, homeowners on that side of town, are just as concerned about what's next door to them

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They're just as concerned about wild parties going on next to them

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They're just as concerned about drug houses next door to them

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They're just as concerned about their property values dropping because of unkept rental housing on their street

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But where are the ordinance discussions regarding helping those homeowners out?

01:57:59.640 --> 01:58:02.680
Now, church in the street is awesome

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Resource fairs are awesome

01:58:05.480 --> 01:58:07.720
Community meetings are awesome

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all the community action that's happening is awesome and it's needed but until this city council starts having conversations about ordinances to correct and help reduce crime in Freeport because there are certain levers that only the city can pull just like you tried to do tonight to get rid of all air and bees and residential properties only the city can pull that lever and there was discussion on this council floor to talk about that until there are conversations

01:58:37.720 --> 01:58:59.360
on this council floor to talk about the levers the city can pull on the other side of town, that perception is going to continue. And from what I saw tonight, it might not be perception, it actually just might be the hard reality. If something happens on one side of town, action is taken to wipe it out immediately. On the other side of town, oh well. Thank you.

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Is there any other public comments this evening? Not? Okay.

01:59:04.640 --> 01:59:37.770
Hello, my name is Marcus Signer. Sorry, I missed the meeting earlier, but I made sure I put in two hours for PTO to make it here tonight. I just had one question for you. Is there someone in mind for the new chief now since he's retiring? Well, well, there's a process of it. Well, I came here today to please and I'm asking not let him. I remember him searching me falsely.

01:59:37.770 --> 01:59:58.280
I remember him searching me falsely, walking as a kid, 13, 14, plenty of times this guy, I didn't see him in the black police detective car before he was riding in his Ford truck, making faces, you know, being really immature for what he does for a living. That's all I had to say.

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Any other public comments this evening?

02:00:12.890 --> 02:00:14.450
Father God, in the name of Jesus.

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Your word in Proverbs 16.11 says the Lord demands fairness in every business deal. He established this principle. So Father God, we continue to look to you to take control of this city.

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Father God, you know what's been said, you know what continues to be done, make it right God, from A through Z, make it right, this is your city, I'm just living here right now, and without your help, without you doing it, it won't be done, continue to search the hearts of the people,

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continue to search the hearts of the people on this council, the leaders of our city, Father God, help us to do what's right in spite of for our constituents, for this city, so that we don't crumble to nothing. In Jesus' name, amen.

02:01:57.900 --> 02:02:03.600
That concludes public comment. We'll move on to item number 22. Madam Clerk, could you please read

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executive session? Pursuant to 5 ILCS 122C2 collective negotiating matters between the public body and

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its employees or their representatives or deliberations concerning salary schedules for one or more classes

02:02:17.020 --> 02:02:23.300
of employees. Thank you. Is there a motion to enter into executive? Second. A motion made by Alderman

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Sellers, seconded by Alderman Shadle, Madam Clerk, could you please call the rule on that?

02:02:30.240 --> 02:02:42.000
Clem. Aye. Johnson. Aye. Simmons. Aye. Parker. Aye. Stacey. Aye. Shadle. Aye. Sanders. Aye. And Sellers. Aye. Passes 8-0.

02:11:33.090 --> 02:12:15.010
Kurt, let me know when you're ready. To return to open session, Madam Clerk, could you please call the roll? Mayor Miller? Here. Are these on? Okay. Alderpersons, Clemm? Here. Johnson? Here. Simmons? Here. Parker? Here. Stacey? Here. Shadle? Here. Sanders? Here. And Sellers? Yeah. That leaves us with item number 23, which is the adoption of Resolution 2025-123. Madam Clerk, could you please read this?

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Resolution to ratify 2025-2028 Collective Bargaining Agreement with Council 31 of the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees, or AFSCME, Local 3367, AFL-CIO

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Thank you, Manager Boyer

02:12:30.610 --> 02:12:31.810
Thank you, Your Honor

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The city has reached a tentative agreement with our local AFSCME union and staff requests council approval of this agreement

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Is there a motion to adopt?

02:12:43.470 --> 02:13:12.070
So move. Second. We have a motion made by Alderman Sellers, seconded by Alderman Clemm. Discussion on the resolution? Madam Clerk, please take the roll. Clemm. Aye. Johnson. Aye. Simmons. Aye. Parker. Aye. Stacey. Stain. Shadle. Aye. Sanders. Aye. And Sellers. Aye. The resolution is adopted seven to zero with one abstentia.

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I will entertain a motion for adjournment. So moved. Second. Motion made by Alderman Shadle, seconded by Alderman Sellers. All those in favor, signify by saying aye. Aye. Have a good night.