WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:07.600 Good evening. Renee, could you please give the invocation? 00:00:16.560 --> 00:00:29.280 Good evening, Mayor, City Council members. May we bow our head for prayer. Father God, we worship you above all. You are God, the absolute source of love and creation, forgiveness. 00:00:30.000 --> 00:00:33.360 As we gather here tonight, we ask for your guidance and your wisdom. 00:00:34.080 --> 00:00:45.040 We ask that you rain down your blessing on our local leaders with strength, integrity, patience, as they make important choices for the Freeport future. 00:00:46.040 --> 00:00:52.420 Oh, Lord, rain down protection on our first responders, our city workers, our neighbors, and our families. 00:00:52.420 --> 00:01:06.240 Let us not forget that you are in control as we share a duty to care for one another and to build a safe, thriving community. In our Savior's name, Jesus Christ, amen. 00:01:07.860 --> 00:01:11.880 Thank you. Now we'll officially call this meeting to order. Madam Clerk, would you please take the roll? 00:01:11.880 --> 00:01:21.680 Mayor Miller. Here. Alder Persons, Clem. Here. Johnson. Here. Simmons is absent. Parker. Here. 00:01:22.420 --> 00:01:31.060 Stacy is absent, Shadle, here, Sanders is also absent, and Sellers, here, and if you could 00:01:31.060 --> 00:01:33.620 please stand for the Pledge of Allegiance led by Alderman Johnson. 00:01:34.360 --> 00:01:43.140 I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which 00:01:43.140 --> 00:01:49.760 it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. 00:01:53.920 --> 00:01:58.240 Item number one is the approval of the agenda. Is there such a motion? So moved. Second. 00:01:59.120 --> 00:02:05.440 We have a motion made by Alderman Shadle, seconded by Alderman Clem. All those in favor, signify by saying aye. Aye. 00:02:05.920 --> 00:02:15.320 Opposed? That motion passes. Item number five is approval of the minutes from the Committee of the Whole Meeting on July 13, 2026. Is there a motion to approve? So moved. Second. 00:02:16.380 --> 00:02:23.060 We have a motion made by Alderman Shadle, seconded by Alderman Johnson. All those in favor, signify by saying aye. Aye. 00:02:23.060 --> 00:02:29.920 All right. Opposed? That motion passes. Madam Clerk, could you please note at 6.02, Alderman Simmons arrived. 00:02:32.300 --> 00:02:40.940 Ben, do you want to join me? 00:02:41.140 --> 00:02:42.860 I have a six right now. 00:02:43.980 --> 00:02:51.240 All right. So, on behalf of the city, I'd like to read the following proclamation for Ben Zobris Day. 00:02:51.240 --> 00:02:59.740 Ben Zobris has distinguished himself as one of Major League Baseball's most respected athletes through his remarkable career, 00:02:59.740 --> 00:03:24.460 exceptional character and unwavering commitment to serving others. And whereas Ben Zobers played a pivotal role in leading the Chicago Cubs to their first World Series championship in 108 years, earning the prestigious World Series Most Valuable Player award after delivering clutch performances throughout the historic championship series. 00:03:24.460 --> 00:03:54.300 and whereas beyond his accomplishments on the baseball field Ben Zobris has demonstrated an enduring commitment to philanthropy using his platform to create a mental health nonprofit champion forward to support young athletes and their families and whereas Ben Zobris dedication to youth community and the game of baseball is reflected in mission with the little Cubs field in Freeport a Wrigley Field replica 00:03:54.300 --> 00:04:17.560 and attraction throughout our within our city. And whereas a fundraiser is to be held on behalf of Zobrist and the Champion Forward on September 5th, 2026, where attendees can enjoy a free youth baseball clinic, book signing, autograph opportunities, and a home run derby with Zobrist as a participant. 00:04:17.560 --> 00:04:31.540 Now, therefore, I, Jodi Miller, hereby declare September 5th, 2026 as Ben Zobris Day and encourage every resident in Freeport to engage in this wonderful community event that shines such a bright spotlight on Freeport. 00:04:31.960 --> 00:04:36.900 So, Denny, I'd like you to be able to talk to the council and public about this day. 00:04:37.660 --> 00:04:47.120 Sure. I'll try to limit my remarks to like an hour and 10 minutes or so, if that's okay. Or maybe a minute 10 at the most. 00:04:47.560 --> 00:05:16.180 So I didn't want to scare you. But this is a very unusual situation. I ran into Ben about a month ago at the field, just a random thing. I was over doing some routine maintenance. He was there by himself. He was coming from Field of Dreams where he did some signing. And he was setting up a camera to take some pictures and do a little report on it for his nonprofit. He'd never heard of it until the day before. And then he says, the first thing he said to me, we have to do something here. 00:05:16.180 --> 00:05:46.020 I love this place and he went nuts for the next hour I pitched balls to him these little stress balls he he aged from 45 to 10 in about 10 seconds first pitch he hit about 250 feet and it's with a stress ball the farthest I've seen one hit and I said are you warmed up yet and he says I think so so he wants to do that he wants to participate interact with the kids he's not charging us this is unheard of this is 00:05:46.020 --> 00:06:15.620 This guy is one is well known as one of the nicest people in Major League Baseball in the last 20, 30 years. He's going to be very approachable. He's going to stick around Freeport for a little bit. So if you can make this event, it's going to be a very positive, uplifting event. And they put me in charge. And his group said, anything you can think of for Ben to do, he'll do. He's very, you know, he's very interactive. And I said, you don't know what you're getting yourself into. 00:06:16.020 --> 00:06:25.040 So I've got some very unusual things that we're going to be doing. They'll all be very positive. And I look forward to seeing everybody's face there, if you can make it. 00:06:26.100 --> 00:06:27.460 Denny, do you know the time frame? 00:06:28.020 --> 00:06:40.240 Yeah, he's going to be there from 10 a.m. that Saturday, September 5th, till at least 4 p.m. That's six hours. That's a long time for a baseball player to be at an event. 00:06:40.240 --> 00:07:09.970 and he'll probably stick around a little bit longer if I know him if everybody hasn't gotten an autograph. So come see what happens. It'll be there'll be surprises. Tim Connors will be there as my co-emcee. So, you know, anything could happen if you know Tim. So thanks. Thank you. Thank you. And there was no one signed up for public comments. We'll move on to item number eight. Madam Clerk, could you please read for the record? 00:07:09.970 --> 00:07:23.970 Discussion regarding resolution approving a license agreement with Stephen Hasselman and Colton Asche for mowing, hay production, and weed thistle control at Albertus Airport 00:07:23.970 --> 00:07:25.190 Thank you. Mr. Tickle 00:07:25.190 --> 00:07:36.710 Yes, thank you. It came to our attention over the last couple years that the City of Freeport has significant ground out around Albertus Airport 00:07:36.710 --> 00:07:44.710 report. We have been working on a solution to the ground and specifically getting it mowed and maintained and 00:07:44.710 --> 00:07:53.610 thistle control along with fertilization of it. We have actually taken the task on right now with our own 00:07:53.610 --> 00:08:00.810 people due to the fact that we don't have anybody. If council remembers earlier this year, we put the 00:08:00.810 --> 00:08:08.490 Haley's out to bid and we had no responders. So we had to go out with a plan B. I reached out to some of the 00:08:08.490 --> 00:08:15.230 contacts that I've had throughout my life that do this kind of hay production. Usually they either have 00:08:15.230 --> 00:08:22.410 to be somebody that does custom cropping or field maintenance or they actually have a large beef 00:08:22.410 --> 00:08:28.090 establishment that they feed a lot of grass hay. So we have had several people come to the airport and 00:08:28.090 --> 00:08:57.950 look at it. And recently we had two people that came to me and offered us proposals to overtake the ground or take over the maintenance of the ground. Selfishly, I have had some requirements in it to benefit the city of Freeport. So the first thing that we did was we made everybody submit to background checks, which the Freeport police ran the background checks for us based on a form that they gave us that we could. We've got some really good 00:08:57.950 --> 00:09:04.590 people to come forward to take care of it. There is hay ground out there. Currently, it's not very good hay 00:09:04.590 --> 00:09:11.310 ground. It's rough grass with a lot of thistles in it. Usually, people that have really large beef crowds, 00:09:11.310 --> 00:09:16.510 they look for very hardy grass, which this is not because it has not been well maintained for years. 00:09:17.530 --> 00:09:22.530 So I wanted somebody that would take care of the ground and make sure that the land that we have is 00:09:22.530 --> 00:09:52.370 protected and it's getting fed fertilizer and nutrients and obviously as part of our agreements with Rural USA is we need to keep the thistles down, right? So I found a couple people that made us offers. I believe that Mr. Hasselman and Mr. Ashey have joined together and have the best offer of all parties. The reason we're bringing this to council is to advise you of this at the next meeting because we 00:09:52.370 --> 00:09:59.990 didn't have any bidders at the last attempt. The council will have to have a two-thirds majority vote this 00:09:59.990 --> 00:10:27.980 Two-thirds majority vote this forward to move forward. In my discussions with several of the candidates that looked at the ground, there's input cost and fertilizer that's very expensive that has to go on this ground. So anybody that was looking to move forward with the ground implied that they would like to have at least five years, if not a 10-year lease, because by the time they get the crop or the area into good standing where they can actually sell it for a decent price, they would have several years 00:10:27.980 --> 00:10:32.420 of fertilizer inputted that they would actually probably be losing money at that time trying to get 00:10:32.420 --> 00:10:42.540 rid of the bales. And my background, I do understand that. I believe about $3,500 a year is what they're 00:10:42.540 --> 00:10:50.860 going to have in fertilizer and thistle applications to get the ground good. We did a benefit cost analysis 00:10:50.860 --> 00:10:57.440 on, which I like to do with everything on what it costs us to maintain this 185 acres three times a 00:10:57.440 --> 00:11:25.000 Year, right? Because it doesn't have to be mowed like we mow our grass at home. It just has to be maintained to keep it down to keep wildlife away from the runways. So three applications a year with fuel and manpower for 185 acres came out to about $14,000 to $15,000. I also got a quote out to do this because you can't mow it with regular lawn equipment, right? You have to have field equipment to mow this area. 00:11:25.000 --> 00:11:54.980 I've got a quote from a third party to do it for $16,000 a year so I think we're in the ballpark when I figured the benefit cost analysis I figured in our employees wages benefits everything per hour to make sure that we were factoring it equal for equal right so that being said I've been in discussions with our airport manager Jeff ever since we lost this ability and he's been mowing it along with our public 00:11:55.000 --> 00:12:24.120 Bogart Works, people just trying to keep it maintained. I believe this is a fair deal for the input of the cost. It takes away any cost to the city to maintain the ground. Yes, it is true that the farmer or Colton, Mr. Ashey, and Mr. Hesselman will be able to sell these bales. That was what was currently happening prior to this whole arrangement. It was just that we weren't getting any fertilizer applications, and it was getting more thistles, more weeds, and more unmaintained. 00:12:24.120 --> 00:12:31.720 We also want to retain ground out there to be able to spread our leaves. The last two years we have been 00:12:31.720 --> 00:12:37.900 working towards compost permits to be able to spread our leaves annually on the fields out there to give us 00:12:37.900 --> 00:12:46.240 a zero input cost into leaves. We weren't able to get the compost permits approved last year and so 00:12:46.240 --> 00:12:51.880 that's why we were ended up kind of burning them because we need to get rid of them. But the year 00:12:51.880 --> 00:12:58.120 prior to that we had over two years of leaves piled up that we tried spreading out there and did but it just 00:12:58.120 --> 00:13:03.500 took a lot more time and effort. So what I'm trying to do is take something that is an input cost to us every 00:13:03.500 --> 00:13:11.480 year and make it at least a zero input for us and yes we tried to get bids to actually turn it into 00:13:11.480 --> 00:13:18.480 income. We weren't able to do that. Nobody's going to stick fertilizer and materials into that ground 00:13:18.480 --> 00:13:25.140 that they can't make any money off of. That's very understandable. And again, every suitor that came 00:13:25.140 --> 00:13:30.500 to us said, if I don't get a long-term deal with this, then I'm not going to entertain it because I'm 00:13:30.500 --> 00:13:34.680 going to have too much input costs, right? And they didn't want us to just say, hey, I'll take it for 00:13:34.680 --> 00:13:39.960 five years. I'll put all the fertilizer on it and then give it to somebody else, right? So I didn't 00:13:39.960 --> 00:13:45.480 think that was fair. So I think this is a reasonable solution. Some of the questions people can ask, 00:13:45.480 --> 00:14:15.460 it's all in the memo but Mr. Zito helped me with this we're calling it a lease agreement or sorry license agreement we are not calling it a lease it's a license agreement the license agreement gives the city of Freeport more oversight instead of a lease they can't sublease it to anybody else they can't bring in other people to work the ground it has to be them there's indemnification hold harmless everything from a city 00:14:15.460 --> 00:14:20.700 aspect that the attorney and I would suggest that protects the city of Freeport and gets us a good 00:14:20.700 --> 00:14:27.160 person that's out there taking care and working with us on the property. The idea here would be to right now, 00:14:27.220 --> 00:14:32.940 I believe there's only two clippings a year that have been going on prior to this year. The idea is to get 00:14:32.940 --> 00:14:37.240 it fertilized, that there'd be at least three clippings to keep it down. And again, the reason we 00:14:37.240 --> 00:14:42.400 want to do this and not let it grow is because we don't want wildlife hanging around the tarmac and 00:14:42.400 --> 00:14:47.080 the airport's getting strewn out into front of the airports, right? It's reasonable to keep it down. 00:14:47.240 --> 00:14:54.480 The area's all fenced in. These also suitors have said that any of the ground that's around that we 00:14:54.480 --> 00:15:00.460 actually farm as dirt ground that they put crops in, they'd be interested in renting that as well if those 00:15:00.460 --> 00:15:06.380 properties turn over and people don't want to rent them moving forward as well. So again, we, 00:15:06.380 --> 00:15:35.740 just as a recap the ground at the airport isn't I don't want to say it's not fertile ground it's not prime ground we're never going to get a lot of rent money for that ground and what we want to make sure is somebody's taking care of it somebody's mowing it maintaining it on our schedule not theirs and and that they're doing a good job and keeping the land good for us and clean and maintained and I think the these people that 00:15:36.380 --> 00:15:42.020 um have gave us this proposal are being very fair about it and I believe it's the best proposal that we 00:15:42.020 --> 00:15:49.280 received um so what I'm asking is to take this to council next week and I would ask to suspend the 00:15:49.280 --> 00:15:57.180 rules and we would uh uh entertain them um as a 10-year license agreement that way they can get 00:15:57.180 --> 00:16:03.040 their and the reason I'm asking for suspension is I don't think we need not for a resolution oh I'm 00:16:03.040 --> 00:16:06.000 Sorry. I would like to get it passed at the next meeting then. 00:16:06.060 --> 00:16:07.820 So you're bringing it to the next council meeting? 00:16:07.820 --> 00:16:29.400 Yeah. They want to spray already in September in order to get something sprayed yet this year, which based on the conditions out there and the thistle growth, I think that's a great idea. And so I'd like to get this going yet this year. That would probably get us one more mowing out there this year that our crews and city funds won't have to support. I'll take any questions. 00:16:29.420 --> 00:16:31.480 Do we need a motion to move that forward? 00:16:31.480 --> 00:16:37.920 We've kind of bounced back and forth on that. I think we've just been placing these on the agenda now. 00:16:40.620 --> 00:16:47.780 Any questions, counsel? Then we will move on to item number nine. Madam Clerk, could you please read this 00:16:47.780 --> 00:16:54.460 for the record? Discussion regarding 2027 road program planning for Walnut Avenue and Cottonwood 00:16:54.460 --> 00:17:05.780 Street. Mr. Siegel. Let's talk about our favorite subject in the city of Freeport, streets. Rob and I 00:17:05.780 --> 00:17:12.740 have been kicking around the road program for several months. We think the first two years have been very 00:17:12.740 --> 00:17:19.120 successful. We've really got a lot of streets done. I just want to give you a recap of where we're at right 00:17:19.120 --> 00:17:24.620 now. So South Street should be kicking off. I don't know if it'll be in the next 30 days, but they should 00:17:24.620 --> 00:17:29.700 be getting South Street paved and there'll be some more storm renovations that the state's required to 00:17:29.700 --> 00:17:38.560 do as part of that project. Galena Avenue is the other really large project. They're behind. They're 00:17:38.560 --> 00:17:45.140 having a kickoff meeting tomorrow. I think you're going to see ADA ramps. There's 77 to do in that 00:17:45.140 --> 00:17:50.780 corridor. They'll get done yet this year, but I think the mill and overlay of it will actually be done in 00:17:50.780 --> 00:17:54.800 the spring because I think it's going to get too late in the season. I think that's reasonable for 00:17:54.800 --> 00:18:21.640 We're the citizens of Freeport because we want the best product possible. And, you know, projects are really tough to do when you start getting towards the end of the year. And they're calling for an early winner this year by the Farmers' Almanac, right? So we go back to our program. And our program has been great, successful. I think we've actually, we've overdone our program. 00:18:21.640 --> 00:18:36.960 every year we've been able to add streets that have not been on there and so and thanks to our public works team who has worked in concert with our local contractors, Fishers, Helm, and Kelsey and we've got a lot of great work done. 00:18:37.280 --> 00:18:49.240 I think the biggest problem that I've had is Walnut Avenue is probably our our biggest problem with our largest traffic right now in Freeport and I think everybody in this room knows that. 00:18:49.240 --> 00:19:16.940 I believe it's been strewn all over Facebook about when we're going to address walnut. Currently we don't have reserve funds to meet the needs of walnut. It needs to be reconstructed from Main Street all the way to Empire and of course the Empire intersection has been our number one safety issue in town with the offset intersection along with the amount of pedestrians that go through that intersection daily. 00:19:16.940 --> 00:19:35.720 If you went and sat there during any school time, you're going to see hundreds of kids walking through that intersection daily, and it's not safe. There's been numerous reports of accidents, and then we paid Alta to do that study, and again, they came back saying that that was our largest safety issue in town with the amount of people walking through there. 00:19:35.720 --> 00:19:57.920 So Rob and I kicked this around for hours trying to figure out how we could come up with funding. I have been chasing funding for Walnut Avenue for four years trying to find someone that would give us money, some project or some grant funding that could come up with it. The only funding I could come up with was a federal grant that would require every house on the West. 00:19:57.920 --> 00:20:00.720 that would require every house on the west side of the street to be bought and demoed. And I didn't think 00:20:00.720 --> 00:20:06.720 that was a good plan for Freeport. That's the only one I could find. And the reason is it's an older part 00:20:06.720 --> 00:20:12.920 of town and all of the intersections of that street, and there's numerous ones, are not built to federal 00:20:12.920 --> 00:20:18.620 standards. So all of those would need to be widened, which would require us to gain the properties to 00:20:18.620 --> 00:20:25.080 bring them up to state standards. I don't think that that needs to be done. I also believe that if we did 00:20:25.080 --> 00:20:54.120 that project, it would probably be between $7 and $8 million by the time we were done. So I went back and we ran an estimate of cost, high level at this time. I believe Walnut Avenue with the offset of the intersection, all in, water, sewer, storm, sidewalks, new curb, new street, and an undercut the entire way would cost around $5 million. That's a high level number. I may be high. 00:20:54.120 --> 00:21:23.800 I do think the intersection buying two houses that would be needed to bring the offset back we kind of put a round number of about a million dollars in that that was also in the Alta plan as well of a design right we talked about roundabouts way too big way too expensive for that area we talked about leaving it alone I don't think that's the right thing for Freeport long term it needs to be fixed and we know without a shadow of a doubt that every dollar that we spend on Walnut 00:21:23.800 --> 00:21:29.320 Avenue without reconstructing it is just throwing that dollar in the garbage right now. Every piece of 00:21:29.320 --> 00:21:34.640 pavement is alligator cracked. There's potholes throughout. The intersection of Carroll and Walnut is 00:21:34.640 --> 00:21:41.560 almost not traversable at this point. I want to find a way to fix it. The only way Rob and I could 00:21:41.560 --> 00:21:50.480 come up with it was to push the current year program a year and bring Walnut into the limelight of next 00:21:50.480 --> 00:21:57.460 and try to get that problem fixed. We don't have that additional funds. I know when we laid out the 00:21:57.460 --> 00:22:05.340 original street program, we talked about having a, you know, trying to get a project in each ward as much 00:22:05.340 --> 00:22:10.440 as we could. We have fulfilled that mission as much as possible. One that's just one of these streets like 00:22:10.440 --> 00:22:16.740 Adams Avenue was that there's nothing left to fix and we're going to have to go sidewalk to sidewalk to 00:22:16.740 --> 00:22:46.620 fix it. An idea that I'll throw out there for Walnut, it won't be a popular one. I would love to get rid of the parking on Walnut Avenue the whole way and shift the sidewalk or excuse me, shift the curb out on one side and actually make a bike trail from downtown all the way to Carl Sandburg. I like that idea. It gives a lot of it can clean up the neighborhood some it can make the front yards a little bit bigger. We need to replace all the curbs anyway, we need to replace all the 00:22:46.620 --> 00:23:16.600 sidewalk every way. We've been trying to find some type of a trailhead that we could push towards that side of town that could be the start of that trail that could also be connected up to south and maybe to the Hisp eventually. We've been, again, trying to find a corridor through there that we could do that. We can't do it without taking the parking on one side of the street. It would be absolutely impossible to do. There's only parking on one side now, but the lanes are very tight with it being parked to drive through there as well. 00:23:16.620 --> 00:23:45.800 Well. But there are plenty of side streets for side street parking for people that may or may not be able to fit all their cars in their driveways. So I think the discussion tonight that I'd like to have is what does the council want to see done? I'm personally fine with moving forward as the program as we have laid out. I think it's been very successful. But I also think that Walnut's a big enough problem that we need to talk about that. And while we're having that conversation, 00:23:45.800 --> 00:24:15.500 We've already committed to Cottonwood because of the water main issue. Digging into Cottonwood farther, Cottonwood is going to end up being a full reconstruction as well. There is storm sewer underneath there. There's a 30 inch arch that is collapsing in several sections already. We found that during topography studies. I pulled some of the lids. I had guys go down in there. The 30 inch arch is at least 50% full of rock and sediment. 00:24:15.800 --> 00:24:19.460 and things like that that are not going to be able to cleaned out. People couldn't even get in there on 00:24:19.460 --> 00:24:25.520 their bellies. So that piping for all of Cottonwood will have to be replaced, which was not planned, 00:24:25.680 --> 00:24:31.400 which is going to end up bringing us into a full reconstruction of sidewalks, curbs, things that we 00:24:31.400 --> 00:24:35.980 weren't planning on doing in that section. But if we're going to do it, now's the time. 00:24:35.980 --> 00:25:05.960 Another familiar problem that we have that we've all seen, the intersection of Galena and the twin singles, which is Douglas and Clark, that's where Cottonwood drains. Has anybody ever drove through there when it's raining extremely hard and there's water sitting there? I'll tell you why. The Cottonwood area drains to that and there was a new arch that was installed many years ago from that point all the way to the back of First Magnet. 00:25:05.980 --> 00:25:35.960 but it was never extended from 1st McNess out to the river so it becomes a bottleneck of stormwater that that accentuates to that end and then starts coming up the inlets and up the manholes that's why the lids pop off so knowing that there was a study done in 1973 that said hey the the piping in this area is not big enough so the first leg of that was the piece from basically FS out to 1st McNess well this would be 00:25:35.960 --> 00:26:03.300 another leg of that, and the other leg would be the outfall to the river. We've already committed to moving forward with Cottonwood, so I think it makes sense now to address all the issues in that corridor. It's going to be expensive. I think my estimate was about $2.8 million. Again, I think it's on the high side for the neighborhood, but until we really get into more design of the storm sewer and things like that, I'm not going to be able to narrow those costs down. 00:26:03.300 --> 00:26:35.260 so again tonight's really about priorities from the council what do you want to see done we need to start moving towards design contracts and moving next year's program forward if we have any hope of getting these done and built and just as a reminder that the southern portion of walnut will be done this year right from Empire to South Street that's part of the STU projects that I talked about that will likely be pushed to the spring so it has not been on a letting yet so I think it will be pushed to 00:26:35.260 --> 00:26:40.420 the spring, which would actually be good timing for this because we could actually dictate when we would 00:26:40.420 --> 00:26:44.140 like to see that done, which might be a little bit later in the year then. So the part that you're 00:26:44.140 --> 00:26:50.460 talking about specifically is just from Empire North? It would be just south of the Empire 00:26:50.460 --> 00:26:56.960 intersection, right? Because we would be taking at least two houses probably on the south side to 00:26:56.960 --> 00:27:02.240 offset that intersection back. Questions, counsel? 00:27:02.240 --> 00:27:32.220 One other thing I'd like to point out, I had a good question on this, and I probably didn't explain it well enough. Where's the money coming from? Okay, so we're working on budgets for next year. Our revenue stream is about three and a half billion dollars a year in the 1%. We also have paving money of about a million dollars. So that's been our annual program, a hot mix. And then really, the rest of the money would be funded through water utilities, because there's going to be new water main on both 00:27:32.220 --> 00:27:36.700 streets end-to-end, which is going to be very expensive. It's large main on those streets. 00:27:37.140 --> 00:27:42.640 And then you've got sanitary sewer we would be lining. And then each street needs a lot of storm work, 00:27:42.640 --> 00:27:44.780 so the rest of the balance of that would be coming out of storm. 00:27:47.060 --> 00:27:47.880 Alderman Johnson? 00:27:48.880 --> 00:27:54.280 Yeah, I just kind of wondered on the streets that we had down originally for our program, 00:27:55.020 --> 00:28:02.200 the water and sewer issues on those streets are not as in dire need. Are they as the ones that 00:28:02.200 --> 00:28:36.960 you're talking about now. Let me bring up that memo real quick. So Winnishik, Garden, and Carthage, and Revere all had water in them for next year, and they all need to be done, but they don't have near as many issues as Cottonwood did draining our system, and again, my proposal would be regardless of what happens, we're talking about a year-end shift of getting it done, a priority, what's most important to the city. 00:28:37.200 --> 00:29:07.160 so it's not that we would not or totally eliminate these streets they would just the entire program would get shifted back one year to bring these two into the priority if you guys don't feel like this is the priority then we go ahead and we stay with the streets that are on this list I just know that I have been approached by many people about what we're doing about walnut and honestly this is the only option that I've been able to figure out I am really trying to find more road money but it doesn't qualify 00:29:07.160 --> 00:29:14.160 for anything except for this federal STU money, which is going to require us taking down, what, 15 homes 00:29:14.160 --> 00:29:19.380 that I just don't think Freeport has the pallet to do. Okay. Thank you. 00:29:21.500 --> 00:29:28.020 Alderman Sellers? So you're saying to do walnut and to do cottonwood, it would probably be a total of 00:29:28.020 --> 00:29:34.560 probably about $8 million? Give or take, yeah. A high-level estimate, I would say somewhere between 00:29:34.560 --> 00:29:56.040 seven and a half and eight. And so that would be the entire road program next year, because if everybody remembers, we take the MFT money, we take the 1%, and then we're taking water, water, sewer and storm money from the utilities to pay for that infrastructure that's in those streets. And, and, you know, again, we're at, you know, 00:29:56.040 --> 00:30:18.520 you know again we're at you know a 10,000 foot view right now I can't get a detail down till I I don't want to spend a lot of money in those directions figuring out what the cost is if if the council doesn't want to move that direction I really don't see an opportunity coming to fund Walnut Street it's it's while it's very heavily traveled for the city of Freeport it's it doesn't really qualify for any of the assistant money that has been out there. 00:30:18.520 --> 00:30:19.840 Alderman, Clemm? 00:30:20.100 --> 00:30:24.020 Yeah, I just want to reiterate a little bit on Cottonwood. 00:30:24.300 --> 00:30:30.680 I think we've all got to go back on the Cottonwood deal to think last year when we almost drained two towers. 00:30:31.040 --> 00:30:35.260 So it's a big deal for the water system and that kind of stuff on it. 00:30:35.660 --> 00:30:41.860 But everybody I've talked to has always been, you know, when you're going to do walnut, when you're going to do walnut, you know. 00:30:41.860 --> 00:30:46.240 It is a priority and it is a very used road. 00:30:46.240 --> 00:31:10.160 So, you know, I know one of the wards you mentioned is bad and is in my ward, Carthage, there's some places on it that are absolutely terrible. There's no ifs, ands, or buts about it. But looking at, you know, the amount of traffic, et cetera, I think the other two, without a doubt, would be a priority that we should really take a look at. 00:31:10.160 --> 00:31:15.320 And like you say, there's no sense wasting a bunch of time until everybody says, yeah, this 00:31:15.320 --> 00:31:20.740 is what we're going to do, you know, so appreciate all your work you guys have done so far on it. 00:31:21.260 --> 00:31:21.780 Alderman Shadle? 00:31:25.720 --> 00:31:31.020 Definitely whatever we're doing, we want to do it the right way, like you had mentioned. 00:31:31.020 --> 00:31:59.300 we need to address that storm on Cottonwood and the water main after the issues earlier this year that that's without a doubt in my mind where that needs to be dealt with. Walnut Street, again, I hear comments a lot about that and I drive it occasionally and it's there, there's several in the sixth ward that are on my list. 00:31:59.300 --> 00:32:20.380 and they are bad but I don't know if they're worse than walnut they may be as bad but that's it's a the ones in my ward are not as heavily traveled as walnut either and it's a main artery from the south into the downtown that 00:32:20.380 --> 00:32:50.360 I was not initially a big fan of this by putting everything else off but the more I'm thinking about it the more I am a fan of just let's bite the bullet on the rest of the program there's roads that are going to end up worse than Walnut is now by waiting another year but those can become priorities in the 28 season let's get this one done and move on 00:32:50.380 --> 00:33:09.520 Um, couple of questions I have, the stormwater, it was always my understanding that the bottleneck down, uh, towards the river was due to an issue with getting a bigger, uh, culvert under the railroad. 00:33:10.460 --> 00:33:14.340 Um, and is that a possibility of getting done? 00:33:14.340 --> 00:33:30.620 And then the other question I have that you can jump right to after that is if we commit to this, both of these projects, is there enough time to get the engineering and everything done prior to construction season next year? 00:33:30.620 --> 00:34:00.220 Okay. The storm question. So Rob and I, on behalf of the city, submitted a grant two years ago, and it has not been answered yet, so it's still open for stormwater improvements in downtown Freeport. The first maintenance outlet, as we call it, is on that list. The current outfall needs to be lined. It's old, and it really can't handle the flow, but there also has to be additional piping 00:34:00.220 --> 00:34:08.440 put from there to the river, which is going to require CN to agree to allow that to go under 00:34:08.440 --> 00:34:15.980 their tracks. That's the biggest hurdle there. I don't want to speak negatively with the railroads. 00:34:16.120 --> 00:34:21.040 They're very difficult to work with. Anything that happens within the railways, very, very tough to deal 00:34:21.040 --> 00:34:26.520 with. Everybody kind of knows the bent and outfall that we have, that we already have a bunch of 00:34:26.520 --> 00:34:32.160 liability and a bunch of issues. They don't want to see a huge underpass or anything tunnel like that under 00:34:32.160 --> 00:34:36.940 there. So it's going to have to be addressed with multiple piping networks that are bored out to the 00:34:36.940 --> 00:34:42.800 river. That's the only way we're ever going to overcome that. Honestly, we're going to need those 00:34:42.800 --> 00:34:49.100 grants that we submitted to and their EPA grants for stormwater specifically. We're going to need it to 00:34:49.100 --> 00:34:55.240 do those projects. They're very expensive. There was three main projects in downtown Freeport on those. 00:34:55.240 --> 00:35:10.480 It was that outfall, the Benton outfall, and there's a completely plugged storm over here on Cherry that needs to be dealt with and has been that way ever since we moved into City Hall here. So those were the three main projects that we need to address. 00:35:12.460 --> 00:35:24.760 Design time. If you guys tell us that these are the projects that you want to get done, we will get them done. I just can't wait till December to do it. We need to be moving forward in September to make that happen. 00:35:24.760 --> 00:35:32.400 I need to get topo picked up as fast as possible and it's doable and I promise you we will get it done. 00:35:33.580 --> 00:35:39.080 Cottonwood, we already have the water main very far. It's that we've just been running into all these 00:35:39.080 --> 00:35:47.260 hurdles. The arch is actually made of stone. It's not made of any type of piping material and I have this 00:35:47.260 --> 00:35:53.200 great fear that when we peel the street off of it it's just going to fall in on itself and we're going 00:35:53.200 --> 00:36:21.280 to have a lot of problems there. So I think we're either going to plan for taking it out or we're going to find out after we open it up, we're taking it out. I really think that that's the options. Something else that we have to remember about Cottonwood that's very unique. I believe the bottom of this arch might be bedrock for as low elevation as it is. So I have this feeling that back when they constructed it, they started getting into rock and said, we can't go any farther. This is the best we're going to do. 00:36:21.280 --> 00:36:51.260 Cottonwood has several utilities running through it now so the water main actually has to go right back in the same hole that it's in because there's so many utilities we can't get separation for them right there's there's actually two full storm utilities running through the street there's cable there's electric there's several other underground utilities that are in the section so it's a very tight and there's also two water mains currently when they put the larger water main in there they actually didn't remove 00:36:51.260 --> 00:36:56.540 moved the old one because it was going to be too difficult to hook up to the side streets and they didn't want to dig through the arch. 00:36:58.760 --> 00:37:02.920 So, yes, we will get it done if that's the priority for the city of Freeport. 00:37:02.920 --> 00:37:03.840 Alderman Sellers? 00:37:04.620 --> 00:37:19.680 I can agree on doing the program because understanding Cottonwood and understanding the walnut, how busy that is, but I just want to make sure that, you know, 00:37:19.680 --> 00:37:22.960 I know we are changing and shifting to do these. 00:37:23.400 --> 00:37:32.400 I don't want us next year when we start again with the projects that we push those other streets back again and we find something else that's big. 00:37:32.480 --> 00:37:38.720 I think we should get right back on our plan again and finish up these streets that the people have been waiting on to get done. 00:37:38.720 --> 00:37:49.660 So I can say, yeah, but I also want to make sure that when we come back again, that we start back into our program and get going again on the streets that we had on our plan. 00:37:49.680 --> 00:37:52.440 That's my, but I do agree 00:37:52.440 --> 00:38:11.400 So can I make a comment to that? So I totally agree with you on that and I think that's the commitment that we're making to you is that if this is the plan that we want to move forward as a council, that's why we're talking about it, then it's just a year hiatus of this schedule and the schedule just goes back a year 00:38:11.400 --> 00:38:41.380 I drive the streets quite often in Freeport and I make you know mental notes and and list of streets that are poor I'm trying to come up with some some I don't want to call it temporary patching but some different types of creative engineering on some of these streets to buy five or ten years I we don't really like spending money in that direction if we don't help it but we have some streets that are just in too poor a shape that we're not you know we don't 00:38:41.380 --> 00:38:45.980 have enough money to address 30 streets in one year. We're never going to have that money realistically, 00:38:46.180 --> 00:38:55.120 right? So I'm trying to figure years ago they used to do some types of slurry seals or liquid fills or 00:38:55.120 --> 00:38:59.420 things like that that would buy you like five years. And so I think some of these streets we're going to 00:38:59.420 --> 00:39:05.040 have to creatively say, I'm going to pick a street that I don't believe is on the list, a pleasant street 00:39:05.040 --> 00:39:10.280 that is very, very poor that we're going to have to figure out, can we buy five years with some kind of 00:39:10.280 --> 00:39:15.640 treatment or technique to get us to another day. That's the realistic issue. 00:39:15.640 --> 00:39:19.120 Okay, we have a couple more aldermen. Yeah, alderman Simmons, did you have your hand up? 00:39:20.540 --> 00:39:26.600 Thank you. So my question is, with the grant, because it seems as though we can all agree that 00:39:26.600 --> 00:39:32.080 Waunat Street is a very busy street. It impacts pretty much everyone that drives or travels here. 00:39:32.080 --> 00:39:53.740 So if there is a grant that would pay for it and also cover the purchase of the homes, everyone on this floor laughed. However, when that was the case within the third ward, you sought interest and you went for it. So why not do the same with Walnut? 00:39:53.740 --> 00:40:01.200 Why not do the same with Walnut? See if those homeowners are even interested in selling. How much would the grant cover if you sought out that grant? 00:40:02.640 --> 00:40:21.360 Good question. So the federal process for those type of grants is 80-20, right? So let's say it was $8 million, we would expend engineering and then 20%, so roughly a couple million dollars that we would end up having into that. 00:40:22.000 --> 00:40:50.420 Generally speaking, we could go or look at that direction. Getting that many homes for that long a distance is usually quite a problem and then you have to end up going into eminent domain with them. And I'm not saying that that's not what we can do, but it's a new heightened process when you bring federal money in because you have to do it to federal requirements, which usually ends up costing a lot more money. That's the honest truth with it. 00:40:50.420 --> 00:40:51.800 Manager, Boyer? 00:40:53.240 --> 00:40:59.540 I think Darren touched on it when he said you have to build everything to federal standards when you use federal money. 00:41:00.000 --> 00:41:07.520 So, and that was actually something we contemplated with Adams, but federal standards would have required all those intersections on that. 00:41:07.600 --> 00:41:13.820 I think there was about six of them that would have had to have been roundabouts at every intersection. 00:41:13.820 --> 00:41:18.740 So I think when you build something to a federal standard, you use their money, you got to build it to their standards. 00:41:18.740 --> 00:41:23.100 and it usually means it's a drop in the bucket compared to the work that's required. 00:41:24.000 --> 00:41:24.500 Oldman Parker? 00:41:25.780 --> 00:41:28.300 You're talking about that temporary fix on some roads. 00:41:28.820 --> 00:41:31.420 Stewart going north from Steveson would be a good place. 00:41:31.700 --> 00:41:32.540 It needs it bad. 00:41:32.640 --> 00:41:35.020 There's a lady of blue attire on that road the other day. 00:41:35.200 --> 00:41:39.620 But if it be that temporary fix, we could get four or five years out of it. 00:41:39.760 --> 00:41:41.040 But it's something we definitely need to do. 00:41:41.420 --> 00:41:44.360 Stewart's on this year's list, so it will be done this year yet. 00:41:44.560 --> 00:41:44.900 Thank you. 00:41:44.900 --> 00:41:57.440 Okay, so it looks to me like the question is, does the majority of the council desire to move walnut and cottonwood as a priority in the 2027? 00:41:58.380 --> 00:41:58.980 Yes. 00:42:00.260 --> 00:42:09.120 I'd also like to mention that just because we do some alternating of this doesn't mean we still won't be chasing road grants for other road work. 00:42:09.260 --> 00:42:14.100 It just means that we haven't found something that is advantageous for walnut. 00:42:14.900 --> 00:42:29.080 I got a couple of nods. Everybody good with that? Anybody not okay with that? It looks like you've got your go-ahead to work in that direction if your desire was September to start figuring that out. 00:42:29.940 --> 00:42:31.360 Okay. Thank you. 00:42:31.920 --> 00:42:35.640 All right. Item number 10 is public comment. Are there any public comments? Tommy. 00:42:35.640 --> 00:42:48.960 Well, I told Jodi Miller's doing a good job, and Don Parker, you did a good job doing that. 00:42:48.960 --> 00:42:50.160 Thank you, Tommy 00:42:50.160 --> 00:42:54.000 And we want to know about the Eaton Beach coming up 00:42:54.000 --> 00:42:55.840 That's the end of the month 00:42:55.840 --> 00:42:56.740 End of the month 00:42:56.740 --> 00:42:59.120 I just want to know 00:42:59.120 --> 00:43:08.540 Rob, what about that trash over by Whistler Drive 00:43:08.540 --> 00:43:15.540 Any other public comments this evening? 00:43:16.580 --> 00:43:17.260 Go ahead 00:43:17.260 --> 00:43:21.780 Good evening 00:43:21.780 --> 00:43:23.520 I've never done this before 00:43:23.520 --> 00:43:55.230 So bear with me, and if I understand right, I can't ask questions, okay, so two, and I'm sorry, I don't know your name, Mr. Public Works, okay, I have some concerns, but I'm not a yay or a nay, because I do live right around Empire and Walnut, a couple of things, and I would love to speak with either you or Mr. Boyer afterwards, because I'm being right almost in the heart there, this brings up some interesting, not red flags, 00:43:55.250 --> 00:44:24.390 But anyway, my concern, and again, I'm not an expert, I know, so I'm just trying to learn, but when you said something to the effect of doing the west side of Walnut and then cars would have to park over on the other side or on other side streets, I've lived where I live for 18 years now. 00:44:24.390 --> 00:44:54.090 it'll be 19 years in September. And I think most of the council that knows the area will, I know the police chief will testify that we're not the safest area. We have, as a matter of fact, some of the police officers, I kind of keep joking with them saying you're around my area so much, I'm going to invite you for Thanksgiving dinner because I see you all the time. We're not a safe area. I'm concerned that if you start making people move and park their cars off on side streets, 00:44:54.390 --> 00:45:23.890 especially those who work second and third shift they're going to be walking around the corners I just see some that possible I mean maybe you and Mr. Boyer have that worked out and God bless you if you do but that's one of the first red flags that comes up for me the other thing I wanted to ask and I know you can't answer maybe later you can tell me is I kept hearing what was it that you said take down a few of the homes I'm assuming you're me meaning physically take these homes down 00:45:23.890 --> 00:45:28.990 I'm hoping that's not going to be my house but you know because we've been there for 18 years 00:45:28.990 --> 00:45:34.750 the other thing I'm sure you and Mr. Boyer are aware of is a lot of those houses on Walnut are rentals 00:45:34.750 --> 00:45:42.430 you're going to come up against a lot of opposition and from dealing with rentals years ago 00:45:42.430 --> 00:45:48.030 you can't always find the landlord they they live in Chicago or Texas or whatever 00:45:48.030 --> 00:45:51.750 and I'm assuming that you're aware of that kind of thing too 00:45:51.750 --> 00:46:20.810 but the safety is a little bit more of mine and my concern you know with that and if I could maybe speak with you afterwards you or Mr. Boyer and you could give me some more information I would really love that because I would being that I'm kind of in the side center I'd like to have more information on what's going on. And can you please state your full name for the record? Renee Blazeski. Thank you. Thank you. Any other public comments this evening? Seeing none I will entertain a motion to adjourn. The move. Second. 00:46:20.810 --> 00:46:26.530 We have a motion made by Alderman Sellers, seconded by Alderman Shadle, all those in favor, signify by saying aye. Aye.