Every day. Working. Where are you working now? Up in Monroe. What are you doing up there? Doing business development. That's who I am. Good evening. Linda, could you please give the invocation this evening? Let us bow our heads. Dear God, our Father, we glorify you and we welcome your presence here. Thank you for your mercy, grace, and your love for this city and all those who dwell here.

Your desire is for peace, unity, and prosperity. As decisions are made here tonight, we pray that they would be in agreement with your desires. We ask that those things that are in the past will be forgotten, and all would reach forward to those things which are ahead. May all walk in the same rule and be of the same mind. May understanding, patience, respect, and unity abound as decisions are made this evening. We pray for health to return to Dovie and all others who may be ill at this time.

may their strength and their health be restored and father we thank you for those that are being honored tonight and recognized it's always a joy to recognize those who serve among us we thank you Lord for all that you are in Jesus name amen Jesus name amen thank you now we'll officially call this meeting to order madam clerk could you please take the role mayor Miller here Clem Monroe here Simmons Parker here Stacy Here. Shadle. Here. Sanders. Here. Sellers. Here. And if I could please ask for a motion to allow Alderman Clem to remote in for this evening's meeting. So moved. Second. A motion made by Alderman Parker, seconded by Alderman Shadle for remote access. Discussion? Madam Clerk, please take the roll.

All the persons, Clem, Oh.

You have to start with Monroe.

Okay, Monroe.

No.

Simmons.

Parker.

Yes.

Stacy.

No.

Shado.

Aye.

Sanders.

No.

Sellers.

Aye.

So there's a three to three tie, so you would call the mayor's vote to break the tie?

Yep.

Mayor Miller. Aye. So that would create a four, um, four to three, which would, four would be two-thirds out of, of the six. There. Okay. Start working. Yeah, just, just asking if he's here. Okay. Clem, are you here? He's here, the microphone's not working out. Okay. Thank you. So, uh, next is the Pledge of Allegiance. If you could please stand for that, led by Alderman Monroe. I pledge allegiance to the flag of of the United States of America, and to a republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all of us.

Item number one is the approval of the agenda with taking off item number 22, which is executive session.

There was no need for executive tonight.

So with that, is there a motion to approve?

So move.

Second.

The motion made by Alderman Sellers, seconded by Alderman Shadle.

Madam Clerk, could you please take the roll? Alder Persons, Clem, Monroe, Aye, Simmons, Parker, Aye, Stacy, Aye, Shadle, Aye, Sanders, Aye, Sellers, Aye, Motion passes. Item number two is approval from the minutes from the regular meeting of December 16th, 2024. Is there a motion to approve? So moved. Second.

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

Clem, Monroe, Aye, Simmons, Parker, Aye, Stacy, Aye, Shadle, Aye, Sanders, Aye, Sellers, Aye. Motion passes.

And we just have one person signed in for public comment, Steve Carroll.

Okay, I am, Steve Carroll. Got to say it because the OMA requires it. So anyway, this is about streetlights. Years ago on Oak, where I live, we had great streetlights. They were bright yellow lights that gave great coverage and very high definition. About seven or eight years ago, the lights were changed over to LED lights that don't have the coverage and very poor definition.

This was done as a cost savings measure for the city.

However, this was done at the expense of public safety, as recent events have now proven.

In the last two weeks on Oak, there's been gunfire in the 1400 block, 1200 block, and finally last Wednesday evening, it appeared at the 800 block where I live.

Once again, I watched as the street in front of my house was blocked off as officers were looking for empty shell casings with their flashlight. I don't think the LED streetlight in front of my house was of much help. I firmly believe that the older yellow lights would have made their jobs somewhat easier. Crime hides in the shadows, and with the current lighting on Oak, they've got plenty of shadows to hide in.

The situation on Oak is now very dangerous, and I'm no stranger to Oak Street gunfire, as this has been a problem for years, but right now it is the worst I have ever seen. Sadly, my neighborhood isn't the only neighborhood that needs better lighting. This is an easy fix. Fix it. I would like to thank Chief Shenberger, because he has been incredibly responsive and helpful.

That doesn't happen to me much, believe me. Maybe on a brighter side, Friday night about 9.30, I heard some people talking outside, heard a dog barking, and I'm thinking, oh, God, what now? I looked outside, there were two or three police cars there. Wow. I walked out onto the sidewalk, and this figure walks across the street and says, hi, Steve, how are you? And I said, okay, who are you?

Bob Shenberger, and the thing is, the library was so poor, I couldn't figure it out. What are you, 6'5"? Yeah. You had a good day, yeah, but come on, guys, let's make this place safer. Maybe you won't have me in here as much, but anyway, so thanks. Thank you. Thank you. Okay, we'll move on to item number four, which is the consent agenda. The consent agenda is considered to be routine in nature and acted as one motion unless there's a member of the council would like to have something removed for further discussion.

Seeing nothing, the consent agenda consists of approval to receive and place on file the Board of Fire and Police Commission dated December 17, 2024, the Greater Freeport Partnership Report, January 25, the Liquor Commission from November 7, 2024, the finance bills payable in the total of $2,589,777.37, payroll for pay period ending January 25, 2025, in the total of $565,979.

$99.57. Is there a motion to approve? So moved. Second. We have a motion made by Alderman Shadle, seconded by Alderman Sellers. Madam Clerk, could you please take the roll?

Clem, Monroe, Aye. Simmons, Aye. Parker, Aye. Stacey, Aye. Shadle, Aye. Sanders, Aye. Sellers, Aye.

and Madam Clerk could you please let the record reflect that at 6 0 5 Alderman Simmons entered the meeting yes and then when you're ready if you could please read the appointments re-appointment of Craig Deininger to the Ethics Commission effective through February 22nd 2027 re-appointment of Quincy Carter to the Ethics Commission effective through February 22nd 2027 Is there a motion to approve?

So moved.

Second.

There's a motion made by Alderman Parker, seconded by Alderman Shadle.

Discussion?

Alderman Monroe?

Thank you, Madam Mayor.

In the past, I've been against some of the reappointments.

I know both of these gentlemen, and they tend to be a very high moral fiber.

I do have some concern because in recent weeks we've uncovered the last one that we got a tongue lashing over, Mr. Attorney Steve Cox, who happens to be Officer, Attorney Steve Cox, who happens to be one of the city attorneys, happens to own a business with the mayor. None of that was disclosed to the council. None of that was brought up. None of that was shared. And it makes me now question a lot more the reappointments and the appointments that the mayor is performing in this city. If it weren't... I'd just like to ask you, what is that business? Don't please don't interrupt me. If it weren't for their high quality Moral fortitude, if you will, I would probably try to block this as well, but I think it's disingenuous of you, Mayor, to hide that you've got relationships, and it gives the appearance, once again, we've been talking about ethics, which is hilariously funny here, the Ethics Commission, that this comes up in a time when that's coming into question.

And I think it's important that you're much more forward and sharing information than you have been in the past If I wouldn't have seen it posted online, I didn't think to go look But I probably wouldn't have found it either Because it's buried within the documents within the state So I came here tonight to ask you, on the record, are either one of these gentlemen associated with a business that you own?

Well, once again, what is this business that I have with Attorney Cox? Because I'm unaware of it.

Would you like me to read the document that you signed?

Please enlighten me.

Business Entity, Freeport Festivals Incorporated, corporate name, registered agent Steve Cox, 208 West Stevenson Street 101, vice president Steve Cox, director Jodi Miller.

And that is not a business that is owned, that is a non-for-profit that was organized to be able to form the Tutty Baker Festival, and we named it Freeport Festivals, so that way in case it branched out further from Tutty, it could actually incorporate anything having to do with Freeport, and that's been common knowledge since we've started Tutty Baker stuff, this is the third year, nothing's ever been here.

I've never, nobody's ever brought it to the floor, nobody's ever told us who was involved.

Well, that's not a city thing, that's a private non-profit with four volunteers, there's nothing to hide Okay Okay, so if there's no further discussion, Madam Clerk, please take the roll Clem Aye Monroe Aye Simmons Aye Parker Aye Stacey Aye Shadle, Aye, Sanders, Aye, Sellers, Aye. Motion passes. Item number six is Presentation of Employees of the Year Awards. Manager Boyer. Thank your honor. Each year the city provides recognition for outstanding service to the city from varying departments. Tonight I'd like to start with community development then go to library and then we will talk about police and fire. So thank you Wayne. Thank you manager Boyer.

So today I am happy to name Doug Quinn as the City Hall Employee of the Year.

Mr. Quinn has stepped up this year in his role as our code enforcement supervisor, and he has implemented significant changes to both our contractor license database and our rental registration.

He has led the charge in making our contractor license renewal process entirely digital.

so I can't express how much easier it's made the lives of our contractors as well as our staff so very appreciative of that and it was a job well done there. Also want to state that Mr. Quinn has led the charge to completely revamp our rental registry by onboarding the new software platform of Ptolemy and he worked tirelessly with their team to ensure that our rental registration process is also entirely virtual. On top of that, he also helped to identify more than 3,000 suspected rental properties within the city of Freeport all through using the Ptolemy platform. And as of Friday, last Friday, we've already began the process of mailing more than 1,500 letters to the owners of all these 3,000 properties. Finally, I want to state that Doug has kept a professional and positive attitude during a year of turnover. He's worked with three different nuisance inspectors, and he found a way to still produce over 5,000 co-enforcement activities for our department, and he's just done a tremendous job training John Gunther, who's our newest nuisance inspector, and he's already set out to have a record-setting December with over 500 nuisance inspection activities, so Doug, I just want to say congratulations on a job well done. Thank you.

Take a picture here. Where do I hide?

Employee of the Year is not here, but I'm still going to go ahead and talk about him. So I'm happy to announce Mark Heap as the library's Employee of the Year for 2024. Mark has worked at the library since December of 2021 and is the first part-time employee to be voted to win the Employee of the Year. He is consistent, dependable, and will always have excellent customer service. He has a wonderful He has a wonderful sense of humor, and the library team loves working with him. Over the years, I've received several comments, compliments from library patrons about Mark's customer service skills. They really enjoy Mark being at the library. As a leader, I can say Mark embodies the attitude and work ethic that every boss seeks. In the past three years have been a blast, and I look forward to the years to come. Congratulations, Mark.

Congratulations, Mark. Thank you. Chief Shenberger. Thank you. So we traditionally give out a civilian of the year award at the police department and an officer of the year award. We already handed out these awards on our Christmas party last month, so we'll do it again. Craig, you want to step up here? So our 2024 civilian employee of the year is Craig Deininger. And I'm just going to read some of the excerpts of letters of people and emails people sent to Craig. So the purpose of this letter is to formally award Craig Deininger as a 2024 civilian of the year. Craig received nominations from six different employees at the police department. Craig currently serves as the police department's parking enforcement officer. However, Craig takes on many other roles and performs tasks most probably don't even notice on a daily basis. Here are some of the letters I received from PD employees regarding Craig's commitment to the department. I would like to nominate Craig Civilian of the Year. Craig does so much around the PD and he always has the biggest smile. His work inside and outside the PD shows his level of dedication to the department and the community. Craig is always moving,

always doing something, mowing, watering, planting flowers, taking care of parking issues, removing seven-day vehicles. Craig does outstanding work and he deserves the recognition. Craig is a multi-tool of the PD and he deserves recognition for his efforts. Craig always seems to have a good attitude as well.

He's a stand-up guy, not much else needs to be said My nomination for Civilian of the Year is Craig Deininger Craig has helped me numerous times with tasks at the PD Including hanging up a key box for me in the CO's office Moving cabinets, cleaning out and reorganizing storage closet from across the evidence room Craig is always willing to help out and keeps a positive attitude I've noticed Craig even comes in on his unscheduled hours And waters flowers and cleans up around the PD Craig is an inspiration to us all and puts me in a better mood every time I see him I think it's clear that everyone deserves that the civilian of the year award should go to Craig Denninger The reason he should win the award can be summed up by his typical work day, which is everything but typical Almost everyone who recommended Craig commented on his great attitude and work ethic Craig keeps people's spirits high as he walks down the hallway, greeting everyone in the morning and very loudly too sometimes but it makes it hard to be in a bad it makes it hard to be in a bad mood after talking to him. Craig also works hard during his off hours to keep the downtown looking nice. Craig volunteers in different aspects of the community, including helping with police department events. He is the first to sign up to ring the bell for the Salvation Army. He will not hesitate to go up against someone half his age and twice his size in a community basketball game, all with a smile on his face. Craig goes out of his way to know members of the community and tries to do what he can to help resolve issues.

The perfect example is all the work he did with the parking issues downtown.

Craig went beyond marking tires.

He reached out and talked to people to try to resolve the problem.

Craig displays a willingness to volunteer and complete any task.

One incident in particular sticks out to me.

During the Hosmer incident this year, Craig, before going home for the day, made it a point to check to see if there was anything he could do for all the officers that were on scene.

Craig made runs for pizza and water to make sure all the officers were taken care of. This was a task that no one would have expected Craig to do, but he did so without hesitation. So based on all that, we felt that Craig by far deserved the 2024 Civilian of the Year Award. Congratulations.

All right, so our 2024 Officer of the Year Award went to Corporal Andrew Goode. The purpose of this letter is to formally award Corporal Andrew Goode as a 2024 Officer of the Year. Corporal Goode was nominated by several of his peers who submitted letters outlining their reasons why they felt Corporal Goode was worthy of this award. One of the letters submitted consisted of the following. I'd like to nominate Corporal Goode for Officer of the Year. Corporal Goode deserves Officer of the Year for numerous reasons.

I believe he goes above and beyond his duties on a daily basis. Corporal Good is always a pleasure to work for and with. He helps keep the shift in good spirits no matter what may happen each day. Corporal Good is supportive of everyone on shift and is willing to help anyone he can even when it's not work related. Corporal Good is always assisting with calls and investigations any chance he can and has never made it seem like a burden. Corporal Good truly wants everyone to perform well at their jobs and is always willing to answer questions no matter how busy.

he is. Corporal Good additionally is always willing to listen to complaints and concerns to help resolve issues. As a bonus, his wife Alyssa always makes the best food for the chef. So I have also been fortunate to know Corporal Good since he started his career with the department in 2013 and I've witnessed him mature from a rookie patrolman to a leader who is a cornerstone of the department. Corporal Good serves the department in many different capacities as a member of the emergency response team, an officer an officer on the FOP Labor Council, a member of the ILEAS Mobile Field Force, and is a field training officer.

Corporal Good has also taken the lead to renovate and organize the lounge room area in the basement of the police department.

So based on all this, and you can't find a better person today, definitely deserving of the Officer of the Year Award.

Well, it is my distinct pleasure to recognize the Director of the Year.

This year, Director Wayne Duckman has been instrumental in a tremendous amount of work being accomplished in the Community and Economic Development Department. From a numbers standpoint, his department was responsible for over 51 total demolitions of dangerous properties and a remarkable 5,144 code enforcement activities. These numbers, though, do not tell the whole story. Director Duckman worked tirelessly with city staff to combat the issue of non-compliant landlines, landlords with the city. In 2024, his department implemented the new rental registration software that allowed both the city and the landlords alike to utilize a more comprehensive software that ultimately improves communication and relationships between the city and other landlords. In addition, he and his department put a tremendous amount of effort into creating the online portal for contractors to renew and acquire licenses. This process used used to require the City Hall staff, but Director Duckman identified the need for a more accessible and completed with the job with great success. On top of what he does for local contractors and landlords, he has worked to build relationships with outside agencies to bring new life to Freeport. His ability to show the potential of this city to organizations such as the Northwest Illinois Land Bank has brought new hope for dilapidated homes. The expertise he has cultivated within his department has has secured millions of dollars in grants that even as federal agencies saying what he's doing for Freeport is nothing short of a miracle. I could go on about the accomplishments he and his department reached in 24, but I'd like to end by highlighting the importance of his professionalism and compassion toward the residents of Freeport. Spend an afternoon here at the front desk at City Hall and you'll see a variety of cases he and his departments encounter on the daily basis. They constantly

they have to be on their toes to help each unique situation with a tremendous amount of patience and compassion.

Director Duckman and his excellently trained department each has to be ready to assist and for what we are all incredibly grateful as they truly are our first point of contact for many residents here.

With that, I thankfully present Director Duckman with City of Freeport's Director of the Year.

Now, with that, I'd like to recognize the City Employee of the Year. Chief, would you join me up here?

This year's Employee of the Year, Firefighter and Paramedic Mark McCullough, he began his decorated career exactly 18 years ago today.

Not only in 2024, but throughout Mark's career, he has shown several qualities and characteristics that make him Fire Department Member of the Year and Freeport City Employee of the Year.

Mark has extensive firefighting experience not only with Freeport Fire Department but with years of service on a Wisconsin volunteer fire and EMS department. Mark is a consummate leader, patient, knowledgeable, self-motivated, ever-training, thorough, and extremely intelligent. Mark is compassionate and always kind and tough when he has to be. Mark leads by example. Mark has never walked away from a problem that he could not fix without doing just that. His knowledge in everything from construction, electrical, and general repair is definitely a bonus for all of us here at the city for the Freeport Fire Department. It's a knowledge that he is always willing to share. Mark's priority is and always has been to leave the fire station better than he found it. Mark takes time with new recruits to demonstrate skills or walk them through how to build, repair, or operate something until both parties are satisfied with the lessons that were learned. This is true whether Mark is working on completing monthly fire inspections, treating a patient as assigned to the ambulance, working as lieutenant for the day, or acting as an engineer of one of the engines. Mark's an example of what all members of the Freeport Fire should model themselves. Lastly, Mark can be counted on.

Mark participates in many activities. He accepts overtime when others refuse. He's a member of the tactical EMS team. He's part of the tactical rescue team and serves as a member of the foreign fire board. Firefighter and paramedic McCullough, thank you for all you do. Congratulations on this well deserved recognition. Thank you.

and I want to highlight that at the Cal next week we'll be giving recognition to our Public Works Department. Thank you. Item number seven is recognition of service awards. Manager Boyer, did you want to start with that one? Yes. I believe we have a fire department for 20 years with Bradley Cox. Go ahead. I'd like to invite Lieutenant Cox up to the podium here.

So this is my pleasure to introduce Lieutenant Brad Cox. He began his career with the Freeport Fire Department February 28, 2005. He was promoted to lieutenant October 31st of 2018. His education includes a Bachelor's of Science degree from the University of North Dakota. He's also a paramedic. Some of the other certifications he holds as fire service vehicle operator, fire apparatus engineer.

He's also a member of the technical rescue team. What that means is there's a lot of specialized rescue certificates.

They consist of rope technician, trench technician, structural collapse, confined space technician, and also he's involved with hazardous materials and incident command.

He also possesses firefighter one, two, and three certifications. He's a fire officer one and two, fire service instructor one and two, fire investigator, and even a higher level of arson investigator. And probably most impressive of all, he's received two life-saving awards for operations conducted during structure fires and rescues.

so it's my pleasure to congratulate Lieutenant Brad Cox. Here hold this thing all right next I'd like to invite Fire Marshal Hillary Brocious up here so Hillary just like Lieutenant Cox they've been here a number of years they've accomplished great things for our department for the city so Hillary began her career February 1st of 2010 she was appointed to lieutenant October 5th of 2020 and then appointed as Fire Marshal January 19, 2021. So the education certificate she holds, an associate degree in applied science as a paramedic, certified paramedic, firefighter two and three, hazardous materials technician, hazardous materials incident command. She also has plenty of specialized rescue certificates consisting of technical rescue, trench technician, structural collapse technician, and rope tech.

In addition, she's also a fire apparatus engineer, fire service vehicle operator, fire officer one and two, instructor two, she's a fire department incident safety officer, she also participates in the juvenile fire center intervention specialist, fire inspector one and two, and she's a fire investigator, and again, more importantly, an arson investigator. It's a much higher level of fire investigations. And she's here with her husband, Daryl, and kids, Kim, Zach, Hannah, Maddie, Avery, Delaney, and Darren. They're not all here, are they? Just one, Darren. Well, he made it here tonight. So, it's my pleasure to present this certificate of 15 years to Hillary Brocious. She did relate to me. She's eager to give a speech this evening, too.

Okay, last but certainly not least, I'd like to start by saying congratulations, Michelle, on your 10-year anniversary.

Michelle Richter started with the city February 5th of 2015 as the city accountant.

In 2018, she was promoted to the deputy city accountant position under Randy Bukas, and in 2020, she took over as finance director and has excelled in her role.

Some of the most critical city work happens in the finance department. Director Richter has led the department. She has worked tirelessly to ensure each fiscal budget is balanced. She has integrated all departments and their budgeting into ENCODE for more effective organization, and she's taken over the water billing department after the dissolving of the water commission. Aside from all the fantastic accomplishments she has had her time here, her temperate and professionalism has been built built relationships and trust with all city staff to the point where she is often the go-to person for many staff members, questions, and concerns. Her ability to listen, understand, and quickly find solutions to all issues is second to none. She has been described as a compassionate leader who never hesitates to help everyone around her feels comfortable, and we all appreciate Director Richter for her service, her camaraderie, and all that she does for the city of Freeport. So with that, please join me in recognizing Michelle Richter.

Ten years. Ten year anniversary. Okay, let's move on to item number eight, which is the second reading of ordinance 20-25-04. Madam Clerk, could you please read this for the record? Ordinance regarding part 14, building and housing code chapter 1442.14, increasing plumbing permit fees and adding chapter 1477.14, 14 solar interconnection types. Thank you. Director Duckman. Thank you, Madam Mayor. So to go over a little bit of the history here, in the last, in the first reading, it was proposed to actually make some changes to this, to this ordinance, and just so everybody's clear about what's being voted on, at that time, it was not agreed upon to change. It did not pass the vote to change to a different dollar amount so what's before you today for a vote is changing the plumbing permit fees from $50 to $150 for any work that is done that connects into a city water service or a city sewer service and then anything else with inside of the actual private property is going to go from $30 to $100.

Any questions concerning this ordinance? Alderman Stacy? Okay, so what you just presented to us, how is that different than what was presented to us last time?

It's exactly the same. But remember last in the first reading, I think it was you made a motion to actually make it instead of 150, you said $100. And then that was voted upon and that didn't pass. So I was just clarifying that what was presented last week is exactly the same.

That's exactly what you're voting on from last week. The 150. Yes. If there's no further discussion, Madam Clerk, please take the roll. Hold up, ma'am. Oh, yep. You're moving too fast. Alderman Shadle. I mean, I'm sorry, Alderman Sanders.

Yeah, I realized we talked about that last week, and there was no, I don't think there was enough feedback on that particular subject.

on that particular subject and where we had tried to make a modification of just that fee or fees, did we come to a conclusion on what we determined as aldermans around the table to work with that fee, to talk about it more in depth to determine whether or not it was feasible to leave it at because initially it was presented to us at 150. If that's the case, then what have we done to try as a unit, as a group of officials trying to change that or did we stand fast on what was presented to us?

that we, it was voted down. Okay. Thank you, sister. So if that is the case, then if it was voted down, how do we come to 150 again for the, to vote again for the same thing to be voted down?

We'll answer that for you, Larry. Okay. All in Sanders. All right. So the original ordinance that was presented to you had the 150 in it, right? So then there was a motion made to change it to a lower dollar amount. That motion to change it to a lower dollar amount did not get approved. So that leaves you then with the original underlying $150. I get it. Okay. All right. Okay. So the $100 was denied.

They were asking to take it from $50 to $150. So why didn't it go back to the $50?

It didn't. It's not. The ordinance that's before you that's in the packet, it's still at that same 150.

So it's just represented itself as it originally did. It's not that it's represented. That's where it was left at because you remember you start at 150. There was a motion made to change it to 100. That motion didn't pass. So now you're just left with the same original underlying. That's all. So it's not being represented. It's what was being presented the first time.

Thank you. So the first reading is exactly the same as the second reading. Okay. Alderman Sanders. So that means we're casting the vote on the same presentation of the 150 on the fee to determine whether or not we're going to vote one way or the other. Yes. To accept it. Okay. Got you. Manager Boyer. Yes. Alderman Sanders. I just wanted to also mention there was a cost analysis performed on the amount of time it takes and the number of inspections that are done.

and I think our numbers came out to right near 150 was a little bit shy but based on our experience here with inflation what that won't be the case for very long so I think it came into like a little over 130 direct costs for most cases yeah there's no further discussion madam clerk please take the roll Clem no Parker I Stacy no Shadle all right Sanders No. Sellers? Aye. It's a tie. So you would call the mayor? Yeah, Mayor Miller? Aye. I thought it had to pass a two-thirds vote. Not for, this is just a reg, this ordinance to just increase fees as a standard ordinance. So why did the, why did the hundred dollars have to pass at a two-thirds vote? The hundred dollars didn't need to pass at a two-thirds vote.

Motion passes five to four Thank you Item number nine is the second reading of ordinance 2025 07 Could you please read this Ordinance approving variance application at 207 West Empire Street Submitted by Tim and Vicki Rowe To seek relief from statute 1252.05 F1 To allow a front yard of less than 25 feet Thank you, Director Duckman With this being the second reading just doing a little recap here what exactly this was referring to and at 207 West Empire there was a variation for a handicap accessible or mobility accessibility ramp and I think if you scroll down you can actually see the ramp a little better and kind of recapping the story here family member longtime resident here his son built the ramp for when he came home from the hospital and somebody had called and we went out and informed them that they would need a building permit they would also need a variation due to how close they are to the sidewalk and so that being said staff is recommending approval of the variation thank you is there any further discussion on this ordinance you turn the light back on all right

Seeing none, Madam Clerk, please take the roll Clem Aye Monroe Aye Simmons Aye Parker Aye Stacey Aye Shadle Aye Sanders Aye Sellers Aye Motion passes 8-0 Item number 10 is the second reading of Ordinance 20-2508. Could you please read this?

Ordinance amending Chapters 608 and 806 of the Liquor Code.

Thank you. Manager Boyer.

Thank you, Your Honor.

As previously discussed, this is kind of a cleanup of existing ordinance. Modifications to chapter 608 and 806 of the liquor code have been identified as portions of the code are out of date, such as requiring landline phones, for requiring a certificate of insurance that has been listed in the codes for some time. All such certificates shall list the city of Freeport as a certificate holder. These are all changes. And there's several in there, but just Staff recommends moving forward with the changes to the liquor code.

Alderman Parker.

Just for me not understanding, what's the difference between landline or cell phone?

This is just getting rid of the requirement for a landline.

So with most of these places not having landlines anymore, we're just taking that and cleaning that up.

Oh, so they don't need one then.

Right.

Okay, thank you.

There's no further discussion.

Madam Clerk, Alderman Monroe.

Thank you, Madam Mayor.

This question goes out to the two chiefs, chief of police, chief of fire. Do you see any issue with response times or responses? If somebody doesn't know the address, you know, who's making a call for an emergency situation, you know, in a panic moment, that this would be a concern not having a hard line with geopositioning of a cellular phone not being as good as it could be in today's age?

I'll just say what I am familiar with, with this next generation 911, the enhancements to the information that's received at the dispatch center is far more advanced than it was early on when cell phones were just coming into play and landlines were more crucial for that purpose, but my experience has been hearing dispatch and having some conversation with them that they are able to pinpoint and locate people with much greater accuracy now than they could in the past.

There's no further discussion? Madam Clerk, please take the roll.

Clem. Aye. Monroe. Aye. Simmons. Aye. Parker. Aye. Stacy. Aye. Shadle. Aye. Sanders. Aye. Sellers. Aye.

Ordinance passes 8-0. Item number 11 is the adoption of Resolution 20-25-12. Could you... Yes, ma'am.

I have a question. Because number 10 involved so much, I thought he was going to hit each section.

The ordinance is, as the whole, we discussed it in the cow, and then this is the second reading. Was there something in particular?

Yes, I just had the question that who wanted this change as far as extending the down to Jackson in Chicago? Who asked for the Liquor Commission to expand and include the change?

For which part? I didn't understand what you asked.

I thought I was on number 10 on one of the agenda items tonight is speaking about extending down to Jackson and Chicago. Oh, you're talking about for the festival district? Yes. Okay.

for the Festival District. Yes. Okay, so the thought behind that with the Liquor Commission is that it's got a it's got an imaginary line that's drawn that is during the Festival District so that way a person can purchase a drink and walk outside during specific times to be able to go to other establishments during an event and so there's recently been a new liquor license in the downtown area that wanted to be a part of that festival district, so it was a matter of redrawing those lines just slightly, so that way it included another business.

Okay, so my question still remains, who asks for this change?

That'd be the Liquor Commission.

Huh?

The Liquor Commission?

They don't make changes on their own, they can make recommendations, and then the council decides whether it's approved or not.

Okay.

Okay.

Okay.

Item number 11 is the adaption of Resolution 2025-12.

Could you please read this?

resolution approving renewal of agreement with locality media Inc first due for fire department record management software and modules. Chief Miller. Yes. Thank you, your honor. I was asked to bring this up for discussion with council due to the price increase that has occurred since 2020. This software was approved by council back in 2020. And at that time it was presented it as a records management tool primarily used for our pre-fire incident planning and fire inspections.

Well, in those five years, many things have changed within our organization and requiring an expansion of our records management system.

Specifically, in the past, the hospital EMS system used to provide the records management for our ambulance reports, and we also were subscribed to what was called firehouse records management for our daily reporting for our incident reports as well so every call we go on we have to do a fire or a basic incident report and also an ambulance report so the hospital stopped offering free of charge that ambulance reporting software and then the firehouse software was bought up by another company and was not not as responsive to our needs as we would have liked to have experienced with them. So this first two software offered modules that covered those additional areas. So now all of our ambulance reports are done through Firehouse, all of our fire response reports, whether it's for a car crash, a structure fire, dumpster fire, it's all part of this first two software reporting.

and also additional features that this software now offers all of our dispatch information so you'll see me looking at my phone on occasion after a couple audible tones that's every single call that we've dispatched is now part of a application that is available to our cell phones as well as all of our mobile data terminals.

In addition to the software we use it for our shift scheduling, asset management and inventory, vehicle maintenance tracking, and also we use it for our shift scheduling. So this module alone by other companies that offer this feature is tens of thousands of dollars. So for $9,000 more in the last five years this whole suite of software is accommodating every one of our recommendations.

Management Needs, so a $9,623 increase over five years based on the use that we're getting out of this I think is an extremely good value and it's just before you tonight because it represents a higher cost increase from five years ago. Right. Is there a motion to adopt? So moved. Second. I have a motion made by Alderman Shadle, seconded by Alderman Sellers. Alderman Sanders, did you have something? Yes.

Thanks. Chief, what was the price of it five years ago?

Five years ago, it was $11,205, and we were only using it for two different disciplines within the fire department.

Now we're using it for, I don't know, maybe nine or more, and for those additional software packets or modules, It only represents a $9,600 increase over five years.

It's a pretty good value, in my opinion.

Does that also include the training of that software?

Because you're increasing something that I'm sure that our department has no fear.

They are not familiar with these type of modules that are being implemented into this software.

So, we have been using this, and each year it's been increasing incrementally, but this year it represented a $9,600 increase, so we have been using this, but we really didn't roll out all these features until about two years ago, and that was out of necessity.

Okay, did we do any kinds of studies of this upgrade that we're doing?

to make sure that the upgrade is meeting the specification of what you're requesting or asking for.

Sure, we did. Because there's so many different needs for our records management, we looked into other softwares that were available.

Others, even just for the ambulance records management portion, the ambulance reports, was way more expensive.

Rockford was using the other software they didn't care for it they were looking to swap out to this software Belvedere is currently using this as well so we looked at their operations what they were doing they recommended us this is the way to go and so we have had extensive training all of our members have even the oldest ones who don't grasp computer skills very well are now doing this from either at home on their cell phones, on their tablets, or in their offices at the fire station.

So it's very accommodating to what our needs are, and we're supporting this, asking for your approval as well.

All right. Thank you, Chief. Thank you.

Sure.

Alderman Stacy?

Yes, Chief Miller. Was this budgeted for?

Yes, it is budgeted, and you'll find that line item in the IT budget.

so it's not even part of the fire department budget anything that's computer software related comes through IT so there's sufficient funds in the IT budget to cover this existing software. I just wanted an opportunity to explain its use and why it's costing more over five year period. Thank you. There's no further discussion. Madam Clerk, please take the roll. Clem. Aye. Monroe. Aye. Simmons. Aye. Parker. Aye. Stacy.

Aye Shadle Aye Sanders Aye Sellers Aye Resolution is adopted 8-0 Item number 12 is the adoption of resolution 2025-13. Could you please read this?

Resolution approving purchase of portable handheld police radios from Motorola Solutions.

Thank you. Chief Schenberger Thank you. The Freeport Police Department is currently in the fourth year of a five-year plan to replace the portable handheld Motorola radios currently being utilized by all sworn police officers. The police department has up to this point replaced all but 15 portable handheld Motorola radios. The radios in circulation still function, but they've reached their end of life. At this time, Motorola is the only supplier of portable handheld police radios. I should add in there there are other options like Kenwood and other companies, but we all want to have the same Uniform Radios.

The Police Department has received a quote to replace 10 Motorola Portable Handheld Police Radios and Accessories at a total cost of $64,994.82.

Funding for the 10 Portable Handheld Motorola Radios and Accessories is provided in the fiscal year 2025 PD Capital Budget 331-302-70.

Is there a motion to adopt? So moved. Second. A motion made by Alderman Shadle, seconded by Alderman Sellers. Discussion on the resolution? Thank you, Madam Mayor. Chief, some of the Motorola's have had issues inside of buildings, you know, Sullivan's, you know, inside of some of the downtown buildings. Are these newer generation radios any better, or are we still going to be struggling with that?

What we're looking to buy is what I carry right here, and I have pretty good coverage. I haven't found too many dead zones within the city. If I go outside the city, I do at times. You're right there. But as far as like, I've gone into Walmart, I've gone into other places, and when it is dead, it tones out, and I don't that it tones out, and I don't, I haven't had that too many, happen in too many places within the city, outside the city, it's a different story though. Okay. Alderman, Stacy. Chief, Schimberger. Mm-hmm. We were budgeted for 10 in 2024. Mm-hmm. Did we buy those? Yep. Okay, so this 10. Yeah, we've been slowly trying to go through the supply and get the ones that are end of life out of circulation.

so a little bit at a time 10 10 at a time next year will be five and then we'll be done how much more was it this year to do the 10 than it was last year um I would I don't know how much it was I can't recall offhand but I think it was about the same only Sanders yeah chief those molar rotas rollers they have not went through a comparison am I correct No. Okay. And not only that, there is other manufacturers with technology such as the molar rollers, but we have not made any comparisons to those, to the ones that we have right now. So my question is, when purchasing an item like that in every, there's many major companies around here in the state of Illinois that sells those items, is there any particular reason why you decided to want to go with that addition. We started transitioning to, it's the Motorola APX 6000. We started transitioning to them four years ago, so it's our intent to keep everything uniform and the same with those instead of having a whole mix and match types of radios.

is okay. I was just going to ask, does that matter? What brand you're using? If the brand has the same quality or more, have we done any comparisons to determine whether it's a uniform type of radio? Sometimes we could be in the market for cheaper radios, but with the same quality.

Well, then, yeah, and then we would have to have them programmed differently. We'd have another company coming in this way. We have the same company that works on our radios that programs them, and it's just better business for us that way. Okay. Okay. Thank you.

Alderman Stacy. Yes. I just want to make sure that the 331-302-70 was purchased.

last year in the budget?

We purchased radios last year.

I believe it was the same line item, correct.

Line item.

So this is budgeted for or do you get a grant?

No, this is budgeted for in the capital budget.

In the capital budget.

Wow.

Mr. Boyer, you told me today that there was a grant for this.

Manager Boyer.

I apologize for that miscommunication. Actually, that had to do with their body cameras. So I was mistaken. It was the body cams we got the grant for and we purchased the radios in the past. Yeah, we purchased body cameras last year and I was able to get a 50% match grant that we recently got awarded for that. Thank you. Yep. There's no further discussion. Madam Clerk, please take the roll.

Clem? Aye. Monroe? Aye. Simmons? Aye. Parker? Aye. Stacy? Aye. Shadle? Aye. Sanders? Aye. Sellers? Aye. Resolution is adopted 8-0. Item number 13 is the adoption of Resolution 2025-14. Could you please read this?

Resolution approving an intergovernmental agreement with the Illinois Telecommunicator Emergency Response Task Force Thank you, Chief Shenberger The City Freeport Dispatch Center would like to join the Illinois Telecommunicator Emergency Response Task Force known as ILTRT The IL-TRT is currently comprised of 62 active member agencies, 9 associate member agencies, and 220 trained and deployable telecommunicators in the state of Illinois.

Local agencies who belong to the Region 2 Illinois TRT include the Oakville County Sheriff's Department, the Rochelle Police Department, and the Winnebago County Sheriff's Department.

Illinois TRT is utilized during natural disasters and critical incidents currently there are telecommunicators who are interested in being part of the Illinois TRT if approved by council the city of Freeport would become an active agency member once a telecommunicator is selected the telecommunicator would be required to fulfill additional training provided by the state of Illinois the city of Freeport dispatch center would only send an Illinois TRT telecommunicator to a call out if the staffing level in the dispatch Dispatch Center is allowable. It is a position of the City of Freeport Dispatch Center that an assignment to the Illinois TRT could be a motivator for our current telecommunicators to attain this appointment. By being a member of the Illinois TRT, the Dispatch Center would also be the recipient of additional telecommunicators if there was an unfortunate public safety crisis. Thank you. Is there a motion to approve? So moved. Second. Motion made by Alderman Parker, seconded by Alderman Shadle. Discussion on the ordinance or on the resolution? Seeing none, Alderman Stacy. Is there a cost to be a part of this organization? No, it's just our training, once a person is selected, they'd have to go through additional training, but that's provided by the state. Madam Clerk, please take the roll. Clem. Aye. Monroe. Aye. Simmons. Aye. Parker. Aye. Stacey. Aye.

Aye. Shadle. Aye. Sanders. Aye. Sellers. Aye. Resolution is adopted 8-0. Item number 14, could you please read this bid approval? Bid opening on January 21st, 2025, janitorial services for a police station in City Hall. Manager Boyer. Thank your honor. Each year, well, not each year, about every three years, the city rebids the commercial cleaning contract for City Hall and the police department.

This year we had three bids. The winning bid was a cleaning service. They came in roughly half of what we're currently paying for cleaning services. So we've done our homework, checked into the background, and it's a small business that's doing a really good job for a lot of other communities. I'm sorry, a lot of other customers that we've contacted.

So city staff requests moving forward with the recommendation to accept the bid from Canop Cleaning Service Is there a motion to approve?

So moved Second Motion made by Alderman Shadle, seconded by Alderman Sellers Discussion on the bids?

Alderman Monroe Thank you, Madam Mayor One big concern here when it comes to cleaning up biohazard situations, oftentimes it contains blood, other bodily fluids, things like that, that can contain very hazardous blood-borne pathogens.

What type of training does this Kirk Knopp have for that type of cleanup, and what certifications does he have, and also who's going to transport the waste once it is cleaned up, Which is required by the state of Illinois. Manager Boyer? I'd say that's something completely different. This is just about keeping the city hall clean, vacuuming, mopping the floors and doing those types of things. Can you clarify then what's in the memo when it says, let me find the line. I believe your point, he also clarified he agreed to include biohazard cleanup on an as needed basis.

you know yeah go ahead Darren so uh thank you the biohazard that we have called in there is like vomit uh those types of items uh people get sick here there's a lot of visitors to city hall we're not uh we're not talking about you know somebody bleeding out inside of city hall that would be a total specialty type of product this is just as people get sick they would come in and clean up the mess so city employees don't have to deal with it um we do have that happen especially we have a lot of visitors that come into it it is defined as biohazard but in the specifications it's it's really detailed as vomit potentially possibly diarrhea type things like that that happen with visitors that that come to city hall follow-up thank you uh well since you brought up diarrhea i know that you know there's serious serious things that can come along with that, that even hospitals don't really deal with well. My question is, is because I know the chief has probably had a prisoner or two in their time where somebody's gotten bloody from a fight or something else. Those do require a different level of cleaning. I could see the vomit, but I think I could see the vomit, but I think the diarrhea and the blood, it really needs to be put out there because there is a serious liability to the city if somebody were to get hep C or, you know, C. diff or something along those lines. And it takes a special skill set to do those types of cleanings.

Alderman Sanders.

And also, since there's a recommendation for any cleanup or janitoria or whatever the case is, in our business or areas, they need to be certified. Am I correct?

Manager Boyer.

This is not for any kind of cleanup anywhere. This is just routine vacuuming, dusting, that type of work at City Hall or the Police Department.

If we had some kind of biohazard thing, we'd have to call a contractor in that specializes in that So in other words, what you just said was we have to take the time out to call a biohazard contractor to come in just for this particular task and that the janitor is not authorized or certified to do any of this task work at the current time that it happens Now, my question would be is the delay of time that this hazard is sitting in our presence at the city hall or anywhere on the city property, am I assuming that we're going to have to wait for a biohazard individual to come out to clean this?

or do we have someone in the city of Freeport that is certified to do such things because we just can't rely on delay if this is what is considered.

We just can't. It has to be done with an expeditiously movement, just like a fire or anything else.

House. Is that what we're also considering along with this particular presentation? No. Is this something different? No, this is just for routine cleaning and maintenance of the police department. But it's not routine. This is not routine. What we're considering here is just the routine maintenance of City Hall and the police department in terms of cleaning. That's it. If we have some blood or vomit or diarrhea or whatever, we'll deal with that at the point that we have to deal with it. There's plenty of companies out there that can come in and handle hazardous situations.

I'd like to make a motion that we strike the language having to do with biohazard and any language associated with that from this agreement.

So we have a motion on the floor to strike that language. Is there a second?

Second.

Motion made by Monroe, seconded by Stacy. Any further discussion on striking the language?

let's take the role. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. You have a question on the language? Well, yeah, I do have a concern about that. What I'm looking at and what I'm hearing, and this sounds like it's being passive to my ears at this moment, and we do not, If it's what it is, it's what it is. If it's biohazard, it's biohazard. There's no other definition right now that I know of that we can change the language of this particular situation.

My thing is I'm concerned about the certification of an individual collecting that biohazard This is nothing that you can be passive about It is something that you have to define what it is and then move forward with it and put things in operation for it to be considered to take care of this particular problem that we're going to be passive about the term and the language. It is what it is, and if it is what it is, then I think we should be very well in tune with what it is, because biohazard is unfortunate something that is being something that is dispensed in our community. I think we have to take precautionary measures.

We just can't let janitors just come in and clean up biohazards and things of this nature if this is what we're leaning to because if you're changing the language, it's making it permittable for anyone, even myself, to go in there and clean up biohazard.

That's how it sounds to me. And so I don't want to have to go clean up biohazard material. And I don't want anyone that's not certified to go do the same thing. I don't want a janitor to do it if it's not called for. But if it's something that could be a public problem, then I think we should address it. And I don't think we should be passive about any of that.

and that's the only reason why I have a concern for it. Attorney Zito has a comment.

Alderman Senators, I think Alderman Monroe's motion to change the language, to strike the language regarding biohazards is in line with what you're saying. So then if the language is removed, any reference to biohazards, then this particular janitor cleaning crew would not be able to do any of the biohazard stuff.

It would have to be done, and Manager Boyer saying that any biohats or stuff would then have to be a separate company that does have the proper training certifications there. So I think what the motion to change the language is consistent with what you're talking about.

Yeah, but I don't think, I'm not sure whether or not the language nullifies a janitor. I didn't hear the part where it says two separate companies would have to come in to take care of this issue.

So my understanding of Alderman Monroe's motion is to remove from the scope any reference, the scope of work that this company would be doing, anything that would be biohazard related.

so if that means then they're not going to be allowed to touch that topic okay is that is that accurate moment that's very accurate you know and I just looked it up OSHA is very clear on what a biohazard and a bloodborne pathogen is so I think you know the city would abide by those standards in the workplace right you know and then this contract with your change proposal change language if it goes through then it would be out biohazards would be outside the scope of what this contractor would be allowed to do. So they wouldn't even touch that stuff. So when we're looking at janitors, when we're looking at janitors, they have a certain classification. When we're looking at biohazards, they have a certain classification. There's a distinction there. And so we have to know what we're dealing with, even I don't care what language we use and how we use it. There's a clear distinction. If we're hiring a janitor, he cannot utilize, he cannot provide that service as a certification guy if he doesn't carry the certificate, if he's not certified, and so that's all I'm saying. We're making a distinction out of the two, and I don't want it to get confused that a janitor can just walk in and just clean up biohazards. I just don't want that to happen.

Again, this has been stretched. If we go back to the specifications, the biohazard we're talking about is really if somebody were to get sick here at work so employees don't have to clean it up. If you look at the bid items, Canop Cleaning Service bid it at $0.00. The other two people, I believe, bid it at $100.00. So just the scope in general would show you that if it was a true biohazard cleanup, for instance, if someone got shot here, there was blood all over something like that would not be that kind of cleanup and the city would not be able to hire a cleaning service like this to do it. James, you were in that business, you would know it. So again, if you look at the bid price, nobody's asking anybody to clean up body organs for $100. This is just a cleaning service. The cleaning service actually performs at nighttime hours when the city hall is not open. Right? That's what they do. We've had this going on for years.

This is an annual contract for not only City Hall, but the PD. Our current service provider is was time to renew their contract. They did not bid on this contract. And there had been issues. So just stating the obvious here, the current low bidder, I got a question today was asked if they're registered as an Illinois business. They are not. They have Wisconsin and Illinois tax number. And there is no requirement for cleaning service.

Services to be registered as a business in Illinois. They're a local company. They've been in business for five years. I called all ten of their references. They had ten business references, three personal references.

references, three personal references. I had at least seven businesses call me back, said they're the best cleaning company they've ever had. Two of them are local businesses here in Freeport. And really, this is about, oh, if you have a problem, a kid walks in, throws up on the floor, the admin doesn't need to clean it up, they'll just come and take care of it. Yeah, so we had a response time of a couple hours. I think you're missing the point, though, and you know, you're right. I did work in the business. Even throw up can have issues with it. Right, but throw up can can be cleaned up with bleach and gloves and, you know, not every scene. I'm trained in it, actually, because I used to be a coach at the high school. Anybody that's trained can clean up that type of product with rubber gloves, chlorine splay. We did it at basketball games all the time, and the games continue. We're not asking them to remove body parts from City Hall.

Okay, so the motion on the floor is just one thing, striking the language of biohazard So, if there's no further discussion on striking that language, Madam Clerk, would you please take the roll on just that portion?

Clem, Monroe, Aye Simmons, No Parker, No Stacy, Aye Shadle, No Sanders, No Sellers, No Fails Okay, so now before you is the original bid, the way it was presented, any further discussions on the original? Alderman Stacy.

My biggest concern was the difference in the price. One for both buildings was $14,500. The other one for both buildings was $89,000. And the middle person was $55,100. How?

Wow. Yes, Darren. Go ahead. Well, the difference in bids reflect brick and mortar businesses versus mom and pop shops. The other two bidders are bigger businesses with bigger overheads and the company that was low bid is a mom and pop shop with three employees and, you know, growing, right? So that's your difference in price. I will also say the low bidder also FOIA'd what we currently pay for a contract because that's legal.

and so they knew the price they needed to beat to get the contract. The other two did not.

So are they bonded?

Yes, I'm sorry. All three companies that bid submitted bid bonds of 10%, performance bonds, and payment bonds.

So they are fully bonded. They also supplied their insurance certificate as well, which pending approval tonight will go to Aaron for review.

We have specific language that goes into the chain of insurances to cover all the city employees, including the board members That is something that they will need to alter on their chain of insurance before a final agreement is signed Okay, Madam Clerk, please take the roll Clem, Monroe, No Simmons, Aye Parker, Aye Stacey, Aye Shadle, Aye Sanders, Aye Sellers, Aye Aye. Resolution, oh no, bid is, bid approval. Okay, item number 15, there's another bid approval, could you please read this?

Bid opening on January 28th, 2025, 2025 sewer cleaning for sewer lining bid. Thank you, manager Boyer. Yep, thank you, your honor. The city of Freeport does quite a bit of lining every road work project, we're lining the sewers as we go. City staff had a bid opening for the cleaning and Inventory of Sanitary Sewer for the 2025 Year Paving Program. The low bid was from National Power Rotting at $60,820. That was below projection. Darren, could you remind me, what was, how far below projection was that?

$23,000.

Yep, so out of 23,000 below projection and city staff requests city council move forward with the agreement with national power riding Is there a motion to approve? So moved. Second. A motion made by Alderman Shadle seconded by Alderman Sellers, Alderman Sanders Yeah, how much coverage area? How many miles of a sewer lining that we're expecting to have taken place?

Who am I talking to? Rod?

Darren probably has a question.

Sewer lining or cleaning? This bid is for cleaning.

Oh, okay.

So we typically put out...

Or sewer lining. Okay, the bidding is for just cleaning?

This is for cleaning and TVing and identifying point repairs and lines that can be lined.

We annually budget about $400,000 to $500,000 a year for lining, which usually gets us about $20,000 feet, I believe.

Okay, when we come, sorry, when we're coming into cleaning, we're talking about, as far as cleaning is concerned, we're talking about covering the whole Freeport, the city of Freeport, when it comes to sewer cleaning, am I correct?

No, this contract is specifically only for the streets that we intend on working on in the next year to two years so we can identify point repairs. This this contract would be probably over a half a million dollars or more to clean the entire town. Okay, so I can't speak in there. Any other discussion? Madam Clerk, please take the roll. Clem. Aye. Monroe. Aye. Simmons.

Aye. Parker. Aye. Stacey. Aye. Shadle. Aye. Sanders. Aye. Sellers. Aye. Approval of bid passes. Okay. Item number 16 is discussion regarding reappropriation of funds to address street lighting and high crime areas in the fifth ward identified by a list of by Chief Schenberger presented by Alderman Stacey and Monroe.

Yes. Chief Schoenberger and I kind of started this last year, and it kind of fell on the wayside. However, I picked it back up, and it's my desire to run with it as far as the lighting here in Freeport.

As Mr. Carroll spoke earlier, we did have 150 watt bulbs, ComEd came in with the LEDs and we went down to 35 watts and it's just not enough.

When I made the request a couple weeks ago for State and Iroquois, an additional 55 watt bulb was added to that area. And it's still dark. And I am asking that funds be made available to go through this list that I received from Chief Shenberger the concerned crime areas that's dark and with all the talk the last two weeks on Oak Street that has added an additional 10 concerned crime areas on Oak that Chief has added to this list that needs additional lighting.

Chief Schenberger, can you?

Yeah, I talked to Alderman Stacy Friday night, I believe it was.

We talked about this.

I was out there on Oak for a while.

There's 10 lights I've suggested in between Broadway and Empire.

So there's 10 lights there.

and obviously as Mr. Carroll talked about earlier, that area does get dark, especially on the sidewalks at nighttime, so.

So I have spoken with Chief Shenberger, I've spoken with Mr. Gorrapp, ComEd, and I've spoken with Darren, who kind of gave me an idea of what we were looking at for the now 13 areas, concerned areas, and so it is, I don't know, Darren, if you have anything you would like to say on this matter.

Sure This is Ms. Stacy This is, Ms. Stacy is correct. We did talk about this almost a year ago. Originally, there was some concern about dark streets, and I asked Chief Shenberger to put a list together of higher crime areas of Freeport that were consistent with the calls that we have, and at that time, we went to ComEd, and we, City Manager Boyer and I, asked ComEd to please consider coming out, looking at these areas, evaluating the lights, and then look to add different lights with more strength back in. And at that time, and that was Mr. Gallrath that came out, he came out and did light surveys at night on the streets. He came back and said, based on the lights that we currently have, they're emitting what they're supposed to. And if we want as a community to have greater light, then we have to pay for the fixture replacement. And then we have to coordinate with ComEd.

said, those ComEd lights, we can't just shut them on and off. They have continuous power, so they have to be shut down by ComEd to change the heads out, but we would have to pay for that. It's a pay item. We also asked about new poles and new lights mid-blocks. Those were costed out, too, and I believe it was a year ago, but I believe that was around $13,000 a pole with the light and electrical to add them mid-blocks or in between existing poles.

So the thought by Chief and I was it would be cheaper to replace lights than to add new poles, and I believe originally, and again that was a year ago before the areas had shifted, we were looking at about $25,000 worth of light replacements in the streets list that he had at that time.

If it's the desire of the council to look at this further, then we should do that, but that's the direction we need to be given.

Okay, so I actually spoke with Mr. Gallwrap today as well, and just so you're aware, we've actually been talking with him for months about being on, that right now we are not on the list as a distressed community, however, we are up, we should be back on that list to be considered again, so that kind of puts us in a different spot, but we are working with ComEd have for months and so it's just kind of a waiting game to see if we get on that list and what that impact could be for us so I guess my question is kind of twofold to you Alderman Stacy is where are you suggesting that the funding comes from because it has to be removed somewhere in order to make that difference up and then secondly would be obviously the chief has places probably all over the city, not just in the fifth ward. So why would we not consider a citywide versus fifth ward only? Okay, I want to take the second question. As I said two weeks ago, we have to start somewhere. And so I have taken this bull by the horn, and it is my desire, my intentions to get We're going to be able to get something done and not allow it to fall to the wayside again, right, so, so there's going to be other areas that's going to need and there too will be fixed. Well, and my, my, my challenge to you then is that needs to be an entire council decision, not just put forward by one alderman. Go ahead. Thank you. Thank you. Alderman Monroe. So basically we just saved $23,000

on the sewer lining bid, so that almost makes up the $25,000. My suggestion, and while I agree with Alderman Stacy that the Fifth Ward has got some of the darker spots, is that the Chief and Public Works and the City Manager kind of come up with a list, try to reuse the $23,000 we just saved and go for the hottest spots where we'd get the biggest bang for the buck. And I think we have to start somewhere. I agree 100%. I live on a street that's, we've got three lights on our street. It's barely lit. And I can see, you know, in some areas of the city that that could really present a safety issue for officers. It presents a safety issue for for citizens. You know, you look at pizza delivery drivers. They've been robbed in the past just because things aren't lit. And, you know, this is a much, much bigger issue than just trying to figure things out. We've spent significantly more money on things that are less of a need and more of a want than this is. This is a need that needs to be addressed. Which is exactly what I meant by it's really a citywide issue, and that's where we're hopeful that this will become, we will be back on the list of being a distressed community and see where that raises it to be. Alderman, Sellers.

First of all, I want to say that this lighting problem has been going on probably when George Goldratt was mayor, so I know that Alderman Ronnie Bush had read, had led, trying to get lights in the third ward back when he was alderman at that time because there was a lot of crime.

Then when Patrick Sellers presented his crime bill, that was one of his big issues was the lighting in the certain areas.

And we did have a meeting with George Gorrap down at Township.

and like the mayor said, there's this, we were not on the list for distressed community and the city of Aurora was on this list and they got, because of their high crime in Aurora, they got a lot of help from ComEd because they were on this list. So if we wait to get on this list, it will cost us less money and we can probably get more done. So that's what the thing is.

So this isn't something that, oh man, on Oak Street, I've lived on Oak Street for 34 years, and so I know how Oak Street is. And yeah, we've had crime in the last few weeks or whatever, but we have big oak trees on Oak Street. So I do know that there is some crime going on on Oak Street, but I also know that I've been there for 34 years and felt safe. So I know that we need lighting, but even around my house, I do have a nice bright light.

And, of course, if we get some of those big oak trees down, we can probably have a brighter light.

But this problem has not just been going on in the last two years.

It's been going on probably 20 years.

So if we give ourselves some time and let George get us on this list, we probably could get more money because it would be less for us to pay out.

So that's what I'm saying.

So are you saying we've been waiting 20 years to get on this list?

No, we never knew about the list until we had that meeting with George Gore.

So just wait another year and then another year and just let it continue to fall?

It's up for 2025. We will be on this list.

Manager Boyer?

I would like to clarify a few things. Number one, the old streetlights were metal halide and they cast a 180 degree pattern that went both ways down the street and beneath them.

the new LEDs don't we have been we've actually the what the mayor mentioned distressed communities we were in 2020 we were a distressed community we exercise the entire use of that program to brighten up downtown that's why we have the new LEDs that we have there saving money because all those down there were metal halide and use a lot more wattage when we say 150 watt or 250 watt that doesn't equate directly to lumens you know we could have a hundred watt LED LED is just as bright as say a two or three hundred watt metal halide that's used in two to three times the electricity and lastly we have been after ComEd for the last four years to get back on the what was once called the Distressed Communities Grant it is now called Select Communities and we are as Alderman Sellers just mentioned we apparently we are very close to being put that on there and that will have significant savings on terms of all of our lighting programs and so I just correct some of that or mention some of that information. Yeah, so we really need to think about that before we just start reappropriating funds. Alderman Sanders. Yeah, yeah, I just wanted to know since this has been brought up have we decided on a working solution as a whole because it sounds like something that should take place, have we been able to get together to bump heads to talk to, comment about getting on this list? Have we come to that resolution on that part if we're going to move forward on it? I think that just talking about it here, is there any actions being taken place?

Manager, Boyer, we I spoke with George Galrap this morning about it he said that we are on the list to move forward there hasn't been a confirmation of the select community status but he expects that to move forward but there's no confirmation at this time but that's going to have a huge cost impact to any upgrades we do anywhere in the city so and you know we all want better lighting that's we just all of us would agree with that Darren yeah so the city staff has been working on this for staff has been working on this for since it was brought up the last time. A matter of fact, people probably have forgot about this, but we wrote letters to Representative Cabello, Sorenson, Downstate. We filed many letters asking to get these deeper discounts because there was many communities that were on the list that are far better off than ours, and it's just a process.

anything at this level takes a lot to get done and it is a significant savings on the grants if we do get designated in that bucket which we currently weren't. It's a much deeper discount on lights but again we have been working on that for a year. We were told that in order to get back into the community level that we wanted to be at that we had to work with through our representatives that ComEd just would not turn turn us back to that program automatically. And we're happy to provide copies of those letters because we sent them out. It's got to be nine months ago.

Alderman Monroe.

Thank you, Madam Mayor. I've got several questions along those lines. Since we've been working that so hard and diligently since nine months ago, how much money have we put forth to set ourselves up for if we get on this list?

What have we done to forward think through and have money available for us on that list? And I've got a follow-up beyond that once.

Michelle, correct me if I'm wrong, but I think we have $20,000 in the street lighting program.

Yeah, that's what I just talked about.

So, yeah, so that $20,000 will go significantly farther if we're on the select community's status.

So we sent a letter nine months ago. Have we followed up on that?

I've done that multiple times.

multiple times and that's through I spoke with them this morning. Okay, that's how recent I've followed up on that. Okay, I just want to say that I took the list that was given to me from Chief Schemberger and I am appalled of the way you Jodi Miller has come at me and not respect it.

I didn't make this list. I did not make up this list. No. Just like you want us to respect your opinion and your desires and what you want. Respect what the chief gives me to bring to the council. Be supportive of that. I'm not disrespecting you. I was just asking you where the money was coming from and I asked you why you would not consider that to be a citywide versus just your ward. That's all I was asking.

if there's no further discussion move on to department heads finance nothing this evening thank you community development yes I just want to report back on the letters that went out to suspected rentals we had 80 letters go out Friday and today I spoke with the actually I spoke last week with our consultant info send and they said that 1,498 are going to go out today so thank you community or I'm sorry, Public Works. Yeah, a couple things. I'd like to apologize to the utility and streets department that I did not get the invitations out early enough for tonight's meeting, so we will have those presentations next week. That's totally my fault. I apologize to those people. Also, I'd like to recognize next Monday night at the Cal, we will have Alta Planning coming to Freeport.

They'll be doing a short presentation on the SS4A program for Freeport that they've been working on.

That's a safe streets for all. There's a lot of different parts and pieces of it, but what that means is it's transportation related, so it's cars, bicycles, and pedestrians.

also could include lighting so at the council level they'll be giving a short recap on Tuesday night from 5 30 to 7 30 we'll be having a public open house for residents and council members here at City Hall it'll be an open house there won't be a huge presentation but there'll be areas that you can be involved surveys that you can give and and more inclusiveness there is also a a plan if you can't make that that down the road here we'll also be having online surveys that community members can fill out. I want to be clear though at next week's meeting it is not for city staff it's really for council members and people from the public to be here to put their input in without influence from city members so please join us if you can and that's all I have. Thank you. Fire.

Yes, thank you, Your Honor. As I'm sure everyone is aware, Friday the 24th of January, we had a major structure fire in town, Knowlton Motors. Initially, we had some traffic control challenges, we were able to work through those. We're very fortunate, we had no injuries whatsoever, and the building is a total loss. It's currently under investigation. Our fire marshal will be meeting with two insurance agency fire investigators on Wednesday and so they're going to compare their notes and their findings and then hopefully make a correct determination. Thank you. Police? Yeah, I had a meeting this morning with Alderman Sellers and she just asked that I touch on some of the stuff that we're doing in regards to this uptick on oak and give a little history about what we've done last year.

So, for the past three months, going from October 19th to January 15th, during that time frame, we had one incident of shots fired, and that was in December on Kunkel. And just to clarify, you know, that's still unacceptable. You know, we aspire to have zero shots fired incidents.

Right now, there's efforts being made by the police department to counter gun violence. At the last council meeting, the end of year report was presented. In 2024, the police department took 82 firearms, seized 82 firearms during investigations, and also made 51 arrests for unlawful use of weapons. So far this year, just in the first month, adds seven firearms to that total, which I guess it would be on pace for more than last year.

Seven firearms that we've taken off the street.

PD staff is utilizing crime reduction measures we've talked about on this floor to deter these incidents.

Some of them include saturation patrols.

We've been trying to have a heavy presence on Oak right now.

Utilizing our technological resources, which is sound thinking, which has, it's covered, That area is covered. Utilizing LPR cameras and intelligence from TIPS and other sources of information. Making efforts to work with the families of those who we believe are involved in this. And most importantly, if you see something, report it. We can't solve this issue alone. It's going to take all of us. And as always, attend neighborhood watch meetings. It's a good source of information. And Sergeant Leverton, who spearheads that, puts information out there that not just shots fired, but other issues that we're dealing with at this time.

Thank you. Library?

I just wanted to let you know that our One Book, One Freeport is going well. I put books on your tables.

And then we also are doing our series in lectures in American history, which we do every winter.

and our next one is on Thursday, February 6th at 6.30 and it's about Jane Adams so it's relevant to our community so if anybody wants to go. Thank you. IT? Welcome tonight. Thank you. City Manager? Thank you, Your Honor. I just wanted to reflect on the refreshed report this weekend. In January, I think we had 17 tons of garbage dropped off and in in February, so Saturday, last Saturday, we had 24 tons dropped off, so a pretty significant increase, and especially compared to what we anticipated, we were thinking between 3 and 10 tons, so we're definitely, and by the way, we had 54 mattresses dropped off too, which is huge, apparently those are kind of a specialized item that reduced the density of the hauling, so anyway, that's good, that's less work that we have to deal with.

And hopefully that lessens illegal dumping. We'll move on to council announcements. Alderman Clem.

Nothing since I'm on remote. Alderman Monroe. Thank you, Madam Mayor.

Thank you, Madam Mayor. You know, good job to the fire department on that response. I saw several agencies there. Traffic control, that's something we probably should work out if we're going to have situations like this, especially in our main thoroughfares, Galena and 26, especially. But I am very disappointed tonight, and it was hard to bite my tongue. The fact that, you know, we've waited nine months, the shootings are continuing, the police department's doing all they can do.

do, they're getting guns off the street, but it really doesn't feel like this is our number one priority to get out there, fix these streetlights, improve the community and the places that need to be improved, and we've got to work better, you know, and I, you know, Public Works saved $23,000 on the lining, we've got $20,000 set aside, I just don't see the harm in trying to figure out how to address at least some of these most likely areas before we wait for ComEd or the state of Illinois or whoever makes the final decision and you know waiting another nine months or a year I mean how many people have got to get shot you know we've got to continue to work forward and try to improve and and I putting our feet down and saying well you know we've sent letters we've been talking to them we hope to be on there everything I've ever learned in life hope is not a plan. You've got to have a plan and execute on that plan, and I think we've got to at least start taking some of the control over as the city, and that's why we've got home rule to make these types of decisions and move forward. That's all I have here, Mayor. Alderman Simmons? Nothing, thank you. Alderman Parker?

Just one thing. I was only a couple blocks from the fire down there in Norton Motors, and I really want to tell how much I appreciate the fire department. It was amazing. It's the worst fire I've ever seen.

in my life, and they did a great job. Thank you.

Hold on, Ms. Stacy?

I want to say today that I was told, and I won't say who said it to save face, so Darren, I'm just going to look at you.

I was told that lighting these areas was not going to fix the crime.

again I say we have to start somewhere and Chief Shenberger I want to thank you for Friday I won't even go into details about it because it wasn't their neighborhood so what do they care but thank you for the fast reply when I called you Friday for that situation.

Alderman Shadle.

Alderman Sanders.

Yeah, I have two parts here, but let me address a notification that could be implemented when we're talking about crime prevention, notification on how do we come up with solutions to deliver to the citizens of Freeport so they can be on alert. What is our mechanism for addressing these kinds of issues that can address them when things are added into the mailbox from the publishers of advertisements and things of that nature that sends out McDonald's flyers, Burger King, Flyers, any Flyers that hits your mailbox. These are notifications that they send out. And this to bring the awareness that McDonald's, Burger King, all of them got a sale going on and things like that. They're being notified. Okay? And they have a solution to reach the people. And reaching the people is what we're trying to do to alert them about the high crimes or crimes that are being in their area. So my thing is, are we trying to develop a solution for this? I know we're talking about it, but what would be something that we can immediately get the people involved in as far as awareness is concerned, where they can talk about it even in our, what do you call it, neighborhood watches?

and things like that. Now these items come directly to your mailbox whether you like it or not. You know, I mean, if that can come to our mailbox at a moment's notice or weekly notice or whatever the case may be, that is another solution that we can utilize in order for people to be aware that these things are going on in your neighborhood and what to do about it.

How do we have them to make these reports when you say see something, say something, and that kind of thing? Well, sometimes we have to reiterate those kinds of public notice or notices to our citizens of Freeport to let them know we still got to be vigilant and keeping up the task, keeping up the work for the city of Freeport.

So that is one of the things that I think we need to try to talk about here in our own council or wherever our media department is or whatever the case is, how do we get an ad into the Burger King flyers and McDonald's and everybody else's to be added to the mailbox because people are reading these things.

They're looking at it, for those that don't have internet and media coverage, social coverage or whatever, you know, we're not trying to shove anything down their throat, but the fact that it matters is it helps us, because that's what Chief Shenberger was saying, they can't do everything, but at least we can put a notification together and send it out or whatever the case is on these types of things.

And not only that, in addition to my second part, I wanted to address this to Manager Boyer and putting emphasis on how people are to make disposals, private disposals, forestry or whatever that is needed throughout the city.

We need to keep people abreast to all of these things so they would know that, oh, I remember we can drop whatever it is off at this location, at this location, what it is that we can and cannot do, because that's what I received over the weekend, what it is that we can and cannot do, and that right there educated me on where I should go with my disposals.

and things like that. So that's the kind of thing I wanted to address. And what can we do about it? If we can get if we can get flyers out, stick them in it. I don't say stick them in the mailbox. But if McDonald's them can get a flyer to collectively together, then I think the city should be able to do the same. Darren, I just responded that the best way to get information is through the city's website.

Brian is really good about putting information out and as his report I believe last week we put out a lot of social media posts on leafs, branches, garbage pickup, garbage drop-off. That is our one-stop shop for information for the residents of Freeport and has been very effective. So if you're not on it, sign up for it.

Alderman Sellers? Yes, I'm going to say something. First of all, I just want everybody to know that Freeport is my home. This is where I live. I love it. I'm staying here. Me and my husband have invested in our home on Oak Street. So we're here. So this lighting problem and the crime areas, they are a concern to me. And I have been on this battlefield for We're having a safe community, like I said, for a long time. And no, just getting lights is not going to stop the crime because it was crime back, like I said, when Alderman Ronnie Bush was at the time trying to get lights, there were people getting shot and dying back then.

So, right now, we all have to, it's a process, and it's not going to happen right away, and we have been working on this process, and in that crime bill that Pat Sellers put together, and it was there, part of the crime is getting rid of these dilapidated houses. Thank you, Community Development, you have been doing that, and that's part of it.

Part of it is having our police force back to a strong police force. Thank you, Chief. You have been doing that. So we have You have been doing that. So we have trying to work with other different agencies to come together and talk and find out how we can all work together. That was part of it. So we are working, trying to get it together. It's going to take time. And we have to come together and talk with compassion, but also with respect, like you said. We have to respect everybody. But we can't sit here and blame us now for the lights that have been there for where, like I said, many of years we've been trying to fight for it. But thank you, Lord, that we are getting on this list and we're going to be able to take care of some of the lighting, just like we've got money to take care of the housing. We got money to get the police force. So we are doing a lot of those things that it said to help us get a safe community. That's part of it also. So that's my thing. And I'm going to keep fighting. I'm going to keep pushing. I'm going to keep saying whatever I have to say because this is my home.

this is where I live, this is the place I love. Item number 21 is public comment. Is there any public comment this evening? Linda? Yeah, I just had one regarding the biohazards, the contaminated body fluids. CDC has guidelines and procedures of how to take care of those things and it would be very easy to write a policy and a procedure for whatever buildings they're cleaning. They could be available for everyone.

There are also blood spill kits and things like that available that you can buy and have here for anyone that comes across those, they just read how to do it and it's right there, shows them how to do it, not that everyone's going to want to do that, you know, not everyone wants to clean up body fluids, but that would be a solution and train those people, whoever they are, that's coming to clean, show them where everything is and they should be able to take care of those issues.

The other thing I was wondering, I'm not an electrician or anything by any means, but I was wondering on the streetlights, could you have something like a bar light like they do in the stadiums for ballgames that would light up, I mean, use the same pole and use like a bar light that would, in certain places, to light up really dark places? Just a thought. Okay, thank you.

Any other public comments? Tommy?

Jodi Miller got a medal for Special Olympics What's your medal, Tommy?

Third place for the basketball tournament Nice job Jodi Dickman We got a question What about this holiday in this?

We're working on it, Tommy And, Ro, you did a good job speaking Is there any other public comments? Yes, three minutes Good evening, thank you, Madam Mayor, City Council, City Manager Manager, City Staff, Josh Atkinson here. I just want to take a moment and address the last part of the meeting here about the lighting. I want to start with when you set your goal to become a distressed city, to be listed as a distressed city, guess what you're going to become? You're going to become a distressed city. We're not there yet. So what I heard tonight was, hold on, guys, just wait a little bit more. We're going to run it into the ground to that point where we become a distressed city.

We found the money. We found the money tonight. Alderman Monroe, you pointed it out, $20,000. We've got another $20,000 in the budget for it. We've got another 23 that we saved. We can get to work on some of this stuff. We just have to want to do it. And the response to, I don't want to do it in Fifth Ward because we better be getting it on the west side of town, doesn't fly anymore. It doesn't. It doesn't work. People are getting shot. People are getting robbed. Old ladies are buying tasers trying to figure out how to use them in their homes.

It's not okay. It's not okay. Figure it out, please. Any other public comments this evening?

Entertain a motion for adjournment. So moved. Second. A motion made by Alderman Sellers, seconded by Alderman Shadle. Madam Clerk, would you please take the roll? Clem, Monroe, Aye. Simmons, Aye. Parker, Aye. Stacy, Aye. Shadle, Aye. Sanders, Aye. Sellers, Aye.

Weaning is adjourned at 8-0-4 I want to stay on another half I think we should debate I think we should debate on another half of an hour I'm sorry for the college planning grant and so did you present that calendar Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.