Hello, folks. Welcome to the City Council Chambers, Galesburg, Illinois. March 2nd, 2026 meeting. Ms. Benowitz, can you call the roll, please? Council Members Mangieri, Hunnigan, Reynolds, White, Achera, Saul, Cheeseman, Mayor Schwartzman. Eight are present, Your Honor. Thank you. We'll rise and have a... I pledge allegiance, followed by a moment of silence. First order of business are the minutes from the February 16th, 2026 council meeting. I need a motion and a second. Manjeri, yes. Hunnigan, yes. Reynolds, yes. White, yes. Achera, yes. Saul, yes. Cheeseman, yes. Seven vote yes, Your Honor. Thank you. We've reached public comment. If you came here to speak, please step forward. You have three minutes to speak to the dais. And please state your name before you begin. I'm in the 5th Ward. I'm also the chairman of the City Golf Commission and it's that time of year of course. So our golf shop is open, so if anybody wants to come out and pay their dues or see what's going on, they can do that. They'll open the course when the frost is out and the course is ready to go. But a few notes that I took is. We had over 31,000 rounds again this year. unbelievable for public course we have a new bridge on number three have a new culvert on number six the 50 one or two golf carts are back this year they were only a year old we got new ones last year i want to remind everybody we're in phase two of the brick program if you're not familiar with it we have out in our sidewalk YOU CAN GET A BRICK WITH A LOVED ONE'S NAME OR A BIRTHDAY OR WHATEVER IF YOU'RE CONNECTED. A GROUP EVEN CAN COME OUT. AND THE INFORMATION IS OUT AT THE GOLF SHOP SO YOU CAN PICK UP SOMETHING THERE. SEASON PASSES. WE DID NOT RAISE IT. NOT ONE IOTA DID WE RAISE THE CITY THAT PASSES THIS YEAR. SO I CAN'T THINK OF MANY THINGS. I WENT BY THE GAS STATIONS TODAY SO LOOKING FORWARD TO PEOPLE BEING VERY HAPPY ABOUT THAT. see what else we got going on there I'd also like to remind anybody on the council some new members and that if you'd like when the weather gets a little better get a hold of me and I'll take you on a golf cart and I'll show you everything about the golf course that we have out there and explain to you and show you the papers and the books and that that we keep at our golf commission on how we run it and where we stand with it and you people are over it so Some of them have been on it, and I'd like to have you come out and do that. That's it for now. Thank you for your service on the commission. Anyone else for a public comment this evening? Please step forward. Say your name. My friends? Okay. Hi, I'm Darla Creachy, Board 5, and board members. of a board member of ages community. And I'm here with some of my fellow board members and volunteers from this past year's walk of the dead haunted trail. And we're here to present the city with their portion of the ticket revenue sales. So 2025 was our ninth year in cooperation with the city of Galesburg and putting on the walk of the dead haunted trails. We were quite ambitious this past year over half a mile of scares. But soon found out from our patrons that was maybe just a little too much fun. So we'll take that in consideration for future years. Nevertheless, over our eight nights of operation, over 1,100 people enjoyed our haunted trail. And thanks to those satisfied customers, for the fourth consecutive year, we were voted a top 10 favorite haunted house on hauntedillinois.com. And for those of you who don't know, I also do nature programs for the city. And it was this relationship that initiated the partnership with Ages Community, which is a nonprofit I founded, and the city to do the Haunted Trail. Along with sharing the proceeds from the Walk of the Dead, our volunteers also cut and maintain trails around the nature center. The city, meanwhile, uses their proceeds to offer no-cost and low-cost nature programs. and make improvements to the Nature Center area. These programs include the second Saturday and Nature at Night programs that I do, the Summer Nature in Your Neighborhood program, Little Sprouts, and most recently, a Nature Preschool. And I'm very excited about this Paul's This falls past improvements, which they included putting a water line close to the nature center so I can water my garden easier. And the best part, a paved trail from the parking lot all the way up to the nature center. So it makes our programs more handicapped accessible. But back to this check. I am delighted to present to the city a check in the amount of $6,724.89 plus $6,724.89. $500 worth of fishing derby prizes were purchased and delivered to Fur Maze Fishing Derby. For a running total, with this check included, over the past nine years, we have presented to the city checks totaling $53,166.77 and $3,000 worth of fishing derby prizes. All from an event that runs on weekends for one month. So if anyone's interested in volunteering, of course, we'd be happy to have you. Reach out to us through our Facebook page, Walk of the Dead. Or if Halloween isn't your thing, we always welcome volunteers to help with the trail cleanup and maintenance, and we'll be doing that the first two weekends in May. Thank you. Thank you. Please give it to the clerk. Okay. By the rec center out on South Lake Story Road. By the rec center, it's back behind. Do you know where the splash zone is out there? Yeah. The splash zone? We're right there. We're right behind it. All right. I have to tell people, like, where am I going? And I tell them. They're like, okay, that's easier to find. Come join us, please. I will visit you. Okay, I'll be there. I mean, I can't. I'll take it. Thank you for that. Anyone else here providing checks? We thank those who spoke. Move on to Consent Agenda 2026-05. All matters listed in the Consent Agenda are considered routine by the City Council and will be enacted by one motion. There are five items. Let me read them at least. This is a resolution reserving these cities 2026 private activity bonding authority. 26-3005 is a bid for 2026 wood waste removal. 26-5000 is 2025 fire and police commission annual report. 26-5001 is December 31st, 2025 quarterly investment schedule. And lastly, 26-8004 is approval and warrants drawn in payment of same. Need a motion and a second. So moved. Thank you, Mr. Saul and Mr. Cheeseman. Any questions about any of these items? Seeing none, I call for a vote on the consent agenda 2026-05. Manjari, yes. Hunnigan, yes. Reynolds, yes. White, yes. Acharya, yes. Saul, yes. Cheeseman, yes. Seven vote yes. Your Honor. Thank you. We have one item under passages of ordinances and resolutions 26-1003. This is an amendment to chapter 94 regarding emergency demolitions. It's on first reading. Mr. Hanson, can you fill us in? Thank you, Your Honor. Staff is recommending approval of an ordinance amending Chapter 94, Section 94.48 regarding emergency demolitions. The current ordinance adopted in 2023 requires demolition when the damage exceeds 75% of the structure's value, which can delay action when a building poses an immediate threat to public safety. Determining a precise damage percentage is not always feasible during emergency conditions. The proposed amendment replaces the percentage-based threshold with a public safety standard, allowing the city to act when a damaged structure presents an imminent and substantial danger and repair would not be prudent the revised language strengthens the city's legal authority by tying action directly to emergency conditions and provides flexibility to order demolition removal or other necessary remedies based on the circumstances there's no anticipated budget and impact associated with the amendment obviously we worked with legal counsel and and staff and are recommending approval of this change to the ordinance happy to answer any questions Thank you. Any questions about this ordinance? Yes, Mr. White. Do we see any problem with this ordinance when we're dealing with a private-owned business or a private-owned building? Is there a procedure that they get a certain amount of time or we work with them on how will that work out? Yeah, again, I think... The intent here is obviously not to use this often, but only in cases where danger of a wall collapsing, danger of a substantial structure that is compromised and poses additional outside threats, but also has to go through. And I'm happy to let my colleagues jump in, both from a legal perspective, but also from a fire, police, and code perspective. requires multiple individuals to look at and sign off before the structure moves forward with demolition. Or in some cases, just like the fire we had downtown, we didn't demolish the whole building, but we had to stabilize the wall. So we took immediate action there. The major change on this is just trying to put a valuation on a structure is a pretty subjective activity as well. And so we were trying to put something more cohesive together relative to public danger, which I understand could also still be somewhat subjective, but I think there are protections in place to ensure that we are able to justify the action. Happy to let my colleagues jump in. Yeah, this is a much more workable formula And in the situations where this pops up, very unusual. We normally follow a state statute that sets out the procedure for demolition. And this is an ordinance that we use only in very limited circumstances where it's an emergency situation. And you don't... see the city use this authority very often, only under very unusual circumstances. And the new language will make it easier for those that have to make the judgment call at the time to make that judgment call with some confidence that they're not going to be second-guessed. So I think it's an important and good amendment. Thank you. Anyone else on this? Okay, this will come back in two weeks. We have two items under bids, petitions, and communications. The first is 26-3006, design installation of Cook School splash pad. We need a motion and a second. So moved. Thank you, Mr. Cheeseman. Mr. White, Mr. Hanson. Thank you, Your Honor. Staff is recommending approval of a $323,000 proposal from Henley Group LLC for the design and installation of a splash pad at Cook Park as part of the broader park improvement initiative. The project is supported by a grant from the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity and includes installation of a nature-themed vortex splash pad featuring more than 15 water elements along with perimeter fencing. The request for proposal was publicly advertised and distributed to known vendors with three companies submitting proposals. After review by city staff and the Cook Park Project Group, Henley Group LLC's proposal was selected as it provided the greatest number of features while remaining within the available budget. Construction is anticipated to begin in April of this year, with completion targeted for June of this year. Funding includes a $250,000 grant and a $31,992.87 donation from the Community Foundation and the remaining funds budgeted in the Community Improvement Infrastructure Fund. Assuming we're approval, I would have guessed that Councilmember White will be the first one to use the splash pad if this vote goes through. Does that seem fair? In my speedo. You heard that. You heard that first here. It's on camera. So be prepared what's on the news this evening. Any questions about this item, Mr. Cheeseman? No questions. Just again, thank you to Ms. Jackson and Ms. Pacheco for your work and all of your crew's work. This is a wonderful example of a community with government. participation and cooperation and all the great citizens that worked with this to come up with just a beautiful multi-purpose park area which will be used greatly. So again, kudos to all of you. It's just a tremendous thing and everybody involved here. Thank you. Anyone else? Seeing none, I'll ask for a vote on 26-3-0-0-6 without the amendment. Manjari, yes. Hunnigan, yes. Reynolds, yes. White, yes. Acharya, yes. Saul, yes. Cheeseman, yes. Seven vote yes, Your Honor. Okay, next. 263007, Consolidated Data Backup and Recovery System. Need a motion and a second. Thank you, Mr. White. Thank you, Mr. Reynolds. Mr. Hanson, fill us in, please. Thank you, Your Honor. Staff is recommending approval of the bid from SHI International Corp. in the amount of $82,401.71 for the purchase of a base station and server backup system. The system automatically copies, secures, and stores data for city devices, servers, and applications across the network to centralize safe locations. It ensures continuity by allowing for rapid disaster recovery of files and configurations in the event of hardware failure, ransomware, or accidental deletion. The city's current backup systems serving the public safety and city hall were last replaced in 2019 and now require additional processing power and storage capacity. The proposed project will consolidate two legacy systems into a single standardized backup solution designed to provide the reliable integrated data protection and recovery for all city services. Funding for this purchase is available in the Computer Replacement Fund. Thank you, Mr. Henson. Anyone have questions about this item? Okay, I'll call for vote on 26-3007. Manjari, yes. Hunnigan, yes. Reynolds, yes. White, yes. Acharya, yes. Saul, yes. Cheeseman, yes. Seven vote yes, Your Honor. Thank you. We've reached the city manager's report. Mr. Hanson, do you have anything to add? Thank you, Your Honor. Just a couple of quick things. One, I just want to point out to Mr. Cheeseman's point, the 31,000 and change that came was the culmination of a lot of bake sales, trivia nights. a whole bunch of other fundraising efforts. And I just want to thank the group led by Ms. Pacheco, Ms. Jackson, who did so much. There were a lot of other people that did as well. I know they're always quick to point out what others did, but it's very clear who drove the bus on this particular project. But that is not an insignificant amount of money to help bring that to fruition. And just wanted to point that out and thank them for their commitment to making it happen. The other thing I wanted to point out relative to the council occurred Friday evening, and I know at least one was there that I knew of and maybe others. But a few years ago, we were having a very different conversation in this chamber about the Orpheum. And to know that Friday night there was a show that over 800 people attended. Attendance is back at levels that, you know, obviously we had hoped to achieve. and in part because of the continued support that this body does. And I just want to recognize Andrew Driscoll because he does a phenomenal job at bringing things to our community. And anytime we can put 800 people in our downtown on a Friday night is a good thing for our city. And the continued support of that facility, I think, speaks well to our community, but also to the good investment that it is relative to the council's support. So appreciate the council's willingness to do that, Andrew's great work, and obviously excited to see what else is coming down the road because my understanding was it was a pretty phenomenal show. So that's all I have unless there's any other questions. Anything else from the council? Thank you, we'll move on. I now need a motion to sit as a town board. Thank you. And we have a couple seconds. All those in favor, say aye. Aye. Anyone opposed? We are now sitting as a town board. We have one item. You guessed it. The bills. The bills. 269004, need a motion for the bills. So moved. Thank you. Anyone opposed? I mean, so anyone have any questions about the bills? Seeing none, I call for a vote on the bills. 26-9-0-0-4. Mangieri, yes. Hunnigan, yes. Reynolds, yes. White, yes. Echera, yes. Saul, yes. Cheeseman, yes. Seven vote yes, Your Honor. Thank you. Need a motion to resume as a city council. So moved. Second. Thank you. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Anyone opposed? We are now sitting as a city council. We've reached closing comments. This is the most enjoyable part of the whole event. So who wants to lead off? Mr. Hunnigan? Very well. Okay. There have been two massive house fires in the city of Galesburg. during this past month, month of February. On February 8th, a two-story Galesburg home owned by a father and son on Duffville Avenue was destroyed in the early morning, requiring emergency demolition after the blaze left the structure very unstable. No one was injured, but the house had to be demolished. It was rumored that cooking was the culprit. Two weeks later, February 21st, one person is dead and a firefighter was injured during a falling house fire on East Berrien Street on a Saturday morning. The Galesburg Fire Department responded to the structure fire with reported victims almost trapped on the second floor. The response included all three fire stations and 13 personnel on duty. It was rumored that an unauthorized burning might have caused the devastation. I'd like to defer my comments to our fire chief who has something to say about the fires in Galesburg. Thanks, Councilman Hunnigan. We had talked earlier last week, and he asked me to speak tonight just to say a few words. And the thing that sticks out in my mind the most and I want to hit home on are smoke detectors. You know, compared to 40 years ago, the time to escape a fire in a home has dropped from 17 minutes to three minutes. Furnishings have went from wood, cotton, wool to plastics, polyesters, polyurethane foam. So basically everything in your home now is all a petroleum byproduct. Very flammable. The number one thing you can do to protect you and your family is to install smoke detectors in your home. As of January 1st, 2023, Illinois Library requires all smoke detectors in a single and multifamily home to feature a 10-year non-removable sealed battery. That applies to new installations and replacements for older alarms. Smoke detectors should be replaced every 10 years and should be tested twice a year, spring forward, fall back. So here pretty soon we should be testing our smoke detectors. Bless you. They are required in every level of the home and within 15 feet of every bedroom. The Galesburg Fire Department partners with the American Red Cross and installs smoke detectors every year for folks who request them. We installed over 200 alarms last year, and we will do a home safety check at your home if you request us to do so. Here soon, we will be hosting a smoke detector, sound the alarm drive in partnership with the American Red Cross on April 18th from 8.30 to 2.30 p.m. This is a volunteer event that we will be putting out information on the Fire Department City webpage. Anybody we'd like to join in and help us put up some smoke detectors on April 18th? We'd appreciate it. Thanks. Okay. Thank you, Chief Oven. And those are my comments. Thank you, Ms. Nunnigan. Mr. Reynolds? I would just like to say that I am planning on hosting an open house on March the 12th from 5 to 7 p.m. at Faith United Methodist Church for the third ward. If anybody wants to come and... ask questions, get to know me, or express their concerns, I'll be there then. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Reynolds. Mr. White, you're up. Yeah. I do believe this is Women's Month, and I want to start out by saying that two women that worked so hard on getting Cook School Project going, you're doing your job. You did a great job. There's a couple of names I'd like to bring up. A lady by the name of Minnie M. Cox. These are the people that I'd like to see you guys look up. See what she did, see what she's about. She was a postmaster at Indianola, Mississippi in the 1900s. And there was a bunch of problems, but the president, Theodore Roosevelt, stepped in. Another lady by the name of Joanne Trumpster. D-R-U-M-P-A-S-U-E-R. She was born in Arlington, Virginia in 1941. Please look her up. The last group of ladies is called the Black Angels. They worked at Seaview Hospital in New York City during the time when tuberculosis was very rampant. I'd like you to look them up. This is, like I said, Women's History Month. And we have some ladies that work here that do an excellent job. And I just want to acknowledge our clerk, our assistant, and people that keep our money going. And I just thank them for all that they do. Thank you, Mr. White. Mr. Chair? Thank you. I was going to try to keep it short since we may be on record for one of the shorter meetings of all time. But I appreciate your remarks about Women's History Month. As Councilman White said to me, you know, isn't this Women's Month? And I said, oh, don't you know every month is Women's Month? But no, I appreciate all the comments regarding public safety. It seems like it just, we have such a problem with fires and appreciate you guys working together to bring that about. I also understand, I believe there was an announcement today and Chief, perhaps you can comment on it, but another sort of enhancement to our already great safety protocols and so forth. We have a new communication system, is that right? Can you talk about that a little bit? That's correct. We started something called iPause. So it's through the National Weather Service. It's through FEMA. It's the integrated public alert and warning system. So now anytime the National Weather Service puts out a wireless alert, it'll come across all the phones in Knox County. We can also geographically locate, like let's say there was a, just as an example, we had a train chemical spill. We can actually geographically lock in in those areas where that spill is at to let those people know whether they need to stay in place, they need to evacuate, or what they need to do. So this is free. No one needs to sign up for it. You will be getting those alerts immediately. Fantastic. Well, thanks for speaking a little bit to that. I think a press release went out today, but it's always good to make sure folks know about that. So keep up the great work. Thank you guys so much, and stay warm. Have a good night. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Saul? I was going to mention that also. But instead, I'll just go ahead and thank David for those 31,000 people going through your golf course. My gosh, that's amazing. And the reason for something like that, and I feel this too because I put on the balloon event in Galesburg, and you young ladies, that did the work at Cook School, you'll see it too. The reason that is, is because of all your hard work. People will come to these events. If it's a good event, well-run, well-organized, you're gonna get people to come to your events and your places like the golf course. And that's due to your hard work. So I appreciate everything you folks do, because I've seen it. I'd also like to put out a heartfelt condolence to the folks in Austin, Texas, for the two people that got killed there. Kind of close to home. I know people in Austin. So it's kind of a sad thing, but... It happens. So you can't stop it. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Zoll. Mr. Cheeseman. I think all of us are pretty much on the same page tonight with the things that we wanted to talk about. Public safety-wise, again, Chief Hoven and Chief Legate and all those folks that are part of our public safety, they're very professional. They're very good at what they do, and they do so many things behind the scenes that I think we sometimes take for granted and we shouldn't. That work is dangerous in all kinds of ways, and they're doing that to keep us safe. And I know having a son as a firefighter and a paramedic, and now he's part of a SWAT team, I know how difficult and dangerous this is. And they do it because it's what they love and what they feel their call is. So thank you to you, gentlemen, and all of your staff. Women's History Month, yes, Dwight, absolutely. And I think that we do lots of these things, and I think you've said this, and I agree completely. We just should be about history, but there's so many things that we have these, whether it's black history, Hispanic, women's history, that these folks have contributed so much to our country, but had to overcome so many things to do so, and had to work against oftentimes a stacked deck to make their contributions, and they did it anyway. And as you look back on all these things, you see that our world, our country, would not ever be what it is with the advancements that we've made without all of these people, and many of them we don't even know about. And I think about the Hidden Figures folks and didn't even know that, and I'm a history person. These are important stories to be told, and the things they have overcome need to be told as well. Finally, we've talked a lot about events here. You know, and I wanted to mention some things too with that. The Orpheum and Mr. Driscoll and the work that he has done there. It's a go-to place and our Discovery Depot and our Art Center and lots of other things that are put on by organizations to raise money or to entertain. Darla's group, that's just a terrific time. So there's so many different options to do these kinds of things. This week at the high school, the special ed department puts on a great basketball game to honor all of their kids and everybody takes part in and there's a great crowd out there to do things for our special Olympians and our special needs kids and that's attended nicely and there's a lot of work that goes on behind the scenes there. Our basketball teams at the high school, our wrestling teams, all of our sports teams in the winter time. had great seasons and the work that they put in, the sacrifices they made, and the life skills and the relationships they gain out of that are gonna serve them well their entire life. So there's a lot that goes on in Galesburg and a lot that people contribute. We should be proud of that. We should support those things as we can do those things. And it just makes me, again, to be a proud member of this community. And again, as I've said all along, the best part of our town is its people and they do so many things to give us much. Thank you. Thank you, Ms. Cheeseman. Ms. Mangieri? I would also like to thank you, ladies. That is a neighborhood that I grew up in, and it is very special to me. And I look forward to bringing my kids over there. And my parents still live over there, so it won't be very difficult for them to go over there even when I'm not there. But I am looking forward to that first day, that first flashback. I think I'll wait until after Dwight. comes um but yes and then i uh recently had a meeting on february 26th it was just a chat session with the general public and um it's every third or not every thursday let me back that up uh the fourth thursday of every month so um there will be another one in march and another one in April. I encourage everyone to stop by and share ideas. I really appreciated the ones that did show up on the 26th. We talked about some really interesting topics, and I want to see more of that. So please come by and see me. Thank you, Ms. Mangieri. That leaves me. So, yeah, to echo all the things that have been said, remarkable accomplishments across the board in Galesburg. I do thank you, Mr. Selkirk, again, for your service on the commission. During your time, the golf course has done nothing but do wonders, and it continues again. And I'm sure there are a lot of people waiting for the ground to thaw to get out and play. And I'll tell you, on Friday, it's going to be 70-something degrees, so that might help that cause. Last, I think it was Thursday, our girls basketball team played at home against the Victor, who was Washington, a team who has done extremely well in girls basketball for quite a long time. It was amazing to see the crowd in support, both for Galesburg as well as Washington. It was a very hard-fought game. All the women participating were out there, you know, helping their teammates and supporting each other. I think the fans were respectful, but certainly encouraging of their squads. It was just, and I heard from a lot of the older patrons who had been at the games for 30 years, go back to the 90s with some of the amazing teams, that it was kind of reminiscent of some of the wonderful occasions of Galesburg sports teams doing well. So I hear they have a young team, and hopefully they're going to come back next year with that experience behind them for even greater potential. But they had an amazing season, as well did the boys, and we look forward to greater accomplishments. Knox College women's basketball team also performed very well. They made it to the conference tournament this past weekend, and we should be thankful to have them in our community. I think it's important to note that at those games, it's a battle. It's two teams fighting for supremacy, sort of. But there's a recognition it's a game. And there's a mutual respect. In fact, walking into one of the games last week, the opponents actually offered to give me tickets because they had extra tickets on hand. And I think it's important in our community to stick together. There's a lot of tension in the world right now, and there's a lot of you get on the Internet and it's easy to get into arguments or see just the hostility that exists within other communities. I hope that in Galesburg we can see past that. We recognize each other as friends and family and neighbors, and we stick together no matter what the outcome might be. And with that, I'll call for the end of the meeting. Do we have a motion? Mr. White, please. Carl Sandburg, men and women, made it to the semifinals also. They were in their region four. And so we've got a basketball town that's playing basketball.