Thank you. We'll resume regularly scheduled council meeting November 18, 2024. The first item is the roll call. Ms. Benowitz. Council Member Hicks. Here. Dennis. Here. Miller. Here. White. Here. Achera. Here. Davis. Here. Cheeseman. Here. Mayor Schwartzman. Here. Seven are in the room, Your Honor. Okay. We will have the Pledge of Allegiance. Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine. Oh, what a foretaste of glory divine. Heir of salvation, purchase of God, born of his Spirit. If we trust ourselves or something other than God in our choices, we are operating out of pride. If we recognize that God is our creator and therefore knows what is best for us and trust in his ways, we are operating out of faith and humility. We can choose to judge God in our limited understanding or choose to trust. God in working all things together for what is good. As Romans 8 and 28 tells us, we know that all things work together for the good of those who love God, who are called according to his purpose. Open our hearts, Lord, our Galesburg community, support our humility, discourage our pride. Let us also work all things together for good. Amen. Thank you. First item is the minutes from the October 21st, 2024 meeting. We need a motion and a second. Thank you, Mr. Dennis and Mr. Miller. Any questions about those minutes? Seeing none, I ask for a vote on the minutes from the October 21st, 2024 meeting. Yes. Dennis. Yes. Miller. Yes. White. Yes. A chair. Yes. Davis. Yes. Cheeseman. Yes. Seven vote. Yes. Your honor. Thank you. Now we also have the executive session minutes from April 15th, 2024. We need to a motion in a second. Thank you, Mr. Dennis. Thank you, Mr. Cheeseman. Any questions about those minutes? Seeing none, I call for a vote on the executive session minutes. from April 15th, 2024. Hicks, yes. Dennis, yes. Miller, yes. White, yes. Achera, yes. Davis, yes. Cheeseman, yes. Seven vote yes, Your Honor. Thank you. We have reached public comment. If anyone's here for public comment, please step forward. You have three minutes to deliver your thoughts. Anyone? Please state your name before you begin. Hello, my name is Holly McDormand and I live in Ward 6. There's just a few things that I wanted to say today. I know the election is coming up for a few of your seats and I wanted to make you aware that I've been speaking to some groups in the community that don't believe that the council is actually accomplishing things and making progressive steps forward for our town. and they are afraid to come in and actually say something because they don't feel listened to. They feel like it's a waste of three minutes to come up here and speak and just say something. So those of you that are up for reelection and the potential candidates that are gonna be running that might be listening, I would really encourage you to go out there and speak to the citizens that actually live here in town and find out what the needs are. Go forward and actually go up to them because there's nobody brave enough to come up and actually speak because they're afraid they're not gonna be listened to. Also, I also wanted to comment about the unhoused population is gonna start getting cold. And so we need to make sure those people are getting treated kindly. Mr. Miller, I'd like to invite you to help them out specifically. maybe with a meal or, you know, a place to stay if it gets cold, you know, to make sure that they're doing well and that they're taken care of. I'm sure that, you know, that's something close to your heart. And so I just wanted to comment on that. I also wanted to talk about what a treasure our public library is, because I know there's been discussion about funding with them, and I wanted to let you know that they have my support 1,000%. My children go there every week and there's nothing that they don't deserve. That staff there, the building there is the most beautiful thing I've ever seen. The librarians there are the best people in the world. A librarian is someone that can do things that nobody else can. So thank you. Thank you. Anyone else for public comment? Seeing none, we'll move on. The Consent Agenda 2024-20. All matters listed under the Consent Agenda are considered routine by the City Council and will be enacted by one motion. Do I have that motion? So moved. Thank you, Ms. Chair and Ms. Davis. Any questions about the five items on the Consent Agenda? Seeing none, I'll call for a vote on the consent agenda 2024-20. Hicks, yes. Dennis, yes. Miller, yes. White, yes. Achera, yes. Davis, yes. Cheeseman, yes. Seven vote yes, Your Honor. Thank you. We are at passages of ordinances and resolutions. We have three items to consider this evening. The first is 241023. This is the city property tax levies on final reading. We need a motion and a second. Anyone? Thank you, Mr. Chair. Thank you, Ms. Davis. Mr. Hanson. Thank you, Your Honor. Staff is recommending approval of the 2024 property tax levy ordinance. The 2024 tax levy request has been established at $10,453,414, which is an increase of 2.66% when compared to the total amount of the current tax levy 2023 extension. Based on the current estimated assessed value, or EAV, for the 2024 tax levy, the estimated property tax rate for the city would be approximately 2.433 or 0.1%. zero one cents less than the previous year's levy rate. Be happy to answer any questions. Any questions about any of that? Do you know what percentage of the levy is a residential of the property tax? I know I should have asked you that before today, but. I do not have that breakdown. I certainly can get or try to get that breakdown from the county. but I don't know what the EAV breakdown is for the city whole. Yeah, I didn't, again, it occurred to me just today that something people might be interested in and it might help assuage their fears as well related to it. Any questions about the levy? Seeing none, I'll call for a vote on 24-10-23 city property tax levies. Hicks, yes. Dennis, yes. Miller, yes. White, yes. Aceri, yes. Davis, yes. Cheeseman, yes. Seven vote yes, Your Honor. The next item is 241024, SSA number one, property tax levies. This is on final reading. We need a motion and a second. So moved. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Second. Okay, I think I had Ms. Davis first, Mr. Hanson. Thank you, Your Honor. Staff is recommending approval of the 2024 levy for the special service area one. On January 20th, 1975, the City Council approved special ordinance number 75-4, which created the special service area number one, a flat rate of $1 per 100 equalized assessed value. Monies generated from this levy is utilized to pay maintenance services in the downtown area. On November 20th, 2023, the City Council approved another 10-year extension of a dollar 50 tax for the special service area tax commencing on the 2024 property tax levy. The tax levy must be approved in time to be filed with the Knox County Clerk by the last Tuesday in December of 2024. I'd be happy to answer any questions. Thank you, Mr. Hanson. Any questions about this levy? Seeing none, I call for a vote on 24-10-24. Hicks, yes. Dennis, yes. Miller, yes. White, yes. Achera, yes. Davis, yes. Cheeseman, yes. Seven vote yes runner. Thank you. Next item is 241025. This is a limitation on video gaming licenses. This is on final reading. We need a motion and a second to consider. Thank you, Ms. Davis. Do we have a second? Doesn't appear we have a second. So I'll ask legal. I believe that means it stays on the agenda for the next meeting. Point of order. Do we need to move to consider it in order to table this? Yes, but otherwise it dies for a lack of. Okay, I second that we consider this. Okay, Ms. Davis. made the motion and Mr. Chair seconds and I'll turn it over to Mr. Hanson. Yeah, thank you, Your Honor. As I've discussed individually with you all, we're still working on some of the modifications from the last discussion and obviously this stays on pending council action, but would request council considering tabling this item so we can do some additional work and bring this back to you in December. Mr. Miller? I'd like to make a motion that we table this. Okay, Mr. Miller makes the motion to table. And Mr. Hicks seconds. Do we need to specify a date? I think under Robert's rules, under tabling, it automatically goes to the next meeting. So it'll be December 2nd, unless you take... action. Some action will be required on December 2nd to either leave it on the table or to take definitive action. I would expect that we'll have more information by the next meeting. Okay, excellent. That's what we're looking for. Okay, we had a motion and a second for a table. We need to vote on that. So vote yes to table, vote no to remain on the table. Hicks, yes. Dennis, yes. Miller, yes. White, yes. Cherry, yes. Davis, yes. Cheeseman, yes. Seven vote yes, Your Honor. Thank you. We have nothing under bids, petitions, and communications. We now move to the City Manager's Report. I turn to Mr. Hanson for any further details. Nothing this evening, Your Honor, unless anyone has any questions. Any questions for Mr. Hanson on the City Manager's Report? Seeing none, we'll move to miscellaneous business. We have three items to consider there. The first is 244078, Administrative Adjudication Hearing Officer Agreement. We need a motion and a second. Thank you, Mr. Miller. Second. Thanks, Ms. Davis. Mr. Hanson. Thank you, Your Honor. Staff is recommending approval of the proposal from John Robertson of Barash and Everett LLC to provide services as the independent administrative hearing officer. Mr. Robertson is an attorney licensed to practice law and meets all the qualifications to set forth in the state and municipal code. Under terms of the agreement, the city will provide compensation to Mr. Robertson at a rate of $200 per hour for the independent hearing officer services. Mr. Robertson is the sole attorney appointed from his firm for the delivery of the services. The city will also continue to engage the current administrative officer, Wayne Statham, formerly of Statham and Long, to provide substitute coverage. Happy to answer any additional questions. Thank you, Mr. Hanson. Any questions about this item? Seeing none, I call for a vote on 244078. Hicks, yes. Dennis, yes. Miller, yes. White, yes. Achera, yes. Davis, yes. Cheeseman, yes. Seven vote yes. Your Honor. Thank you. Next item is 244079, agreement with Baker Tilly for auditing services. We need a motion and a second. So moved. Thanks, Mr. Chair and Mr. Hicks. Oh, it was Mr. Dennis. Okay. Yeah, all right. All right. Very well. Mr. Hanson. Thank you, Your Honor. Staff is recommending approval of extending the independent auditing services with Baker Tilly for the fiscal years 2024 through 2028. Municipalities are required by law to have an independent audit performed on financial statements, and Baker Tilly provides a thorough analysis, responds to questions quickly, and is stabbed with the expertise to assist city staff with the implementation of accounting standards. The total cost of the services ranges from $83,000 in year one to $97,000 in year five, with the detailed pricing structure outlined in the chart below and actually also in the packet. I'd be happy to answer any questions. Baker Tilly does a great job. There's a limited number of firms that are available that do audits of our size. Staff is certainly supportive of continuing this contract. Thank you, Mr. Hanson. Any questions about this item? Seeing none, I call for a vote on 244079. Hicks, yes. Dennis, yes. Miller, yes. White, yes. Echera, yes. Davis, yes. Cheeseman, yes. Seven vote yes, Your Honor. Thank you. Next item is 244080, the purchase of playground equipment for Cook Park. Any motion and second? Thank you, Mr. Dennis. And Mr. Chair of Seconds, Mr. Hanson. Thank you, Your Honor. I'm excited to bring this item to council tonight. Staff recommends approval of the purchase of the playground equipment for the future park at the Cook School property. in the amount of $111,018.30. Game Time has offered a sizable discount on the purchase of playground equipment for the Cook property by utilizing the 2024 Game Time Community Champions Playground Grant, which supports the development of high-quality outdoor play for communities. The total cost of the playground equipment, including freight, is actually $192,488. The grant offered by GameTime will provide $81,469.70 in discounted pricing for the purchase of the equipment, with the city's share being $111,018.30. This purchase also serves as part of the Oslaad-funded renovation project to the park. Therefore, the city will be reimbursed for 50% of the city's total cost utilizing Oslaad grant funds. I'd be happy to answer any additional questions. Thank you. Any questions about this item? My understanding is that this equipment will be in place by spring. Is that correct? If we vote yes. I this spring I would say probably not. I think the construction is going to start in spring and then with the wrap up by next fall. But this one obviously this is a sizable grant. It takes time to get the equipment And obviously frees up some money unanticipated that then we can also put towards the project. But I believe it's a spring construction through the summer available next fall, I think, is the schedule. Is that correct, Mr. Miles? Yeah, that's correct. Okay. Anyone else? Seeing none, I call for a vote on 244080. Hicks, yes. Dennis, yes. Miller, yes. White, yes. Achera, yes. Davis, yes. Cheeseman, yes. Seven vote yes, Your Honor. Thank you. We now need to sit as a town board. I need a motion to do so. Thank you, Mr. Miller. Second. Thanks, Mr. Chair. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Anyone opposed? We are now sitting as a town board. We have three items under town business. The first is 249024. Township Budget and Appropriation Ordinance. Final reading. We need a motion and a second. Thank you, Ms. Davis and Mr. Cheeseman. I'll turn it over to Ms. Benowitz for anything further. I don't have anything further unless there's questions. Any questions about this item? Seeing none, I call for a vote on 249024. Hicks, yes. Dennis, yes. Miller, yes. White, yes. Achera, yes. Davis, yes. Cheeseman, yes. Seven vote yes, Your Honor. Thank you. Next item is 249025, Township Tax Levy Ordinance. It's also in final reading. I need a motion and a second. Okay, we have Mr. Dennis and Mr. Miller. Anything to add, Ms. Benowitz? No, Your Honor. $531,000 for the estimated... Tax levy requests, same as last year. Very well. Any questions? Seeing none, call for vote on 249025, Township Tax Levy Ordinance. Hicks, yes. Dennis, yes. Miller, yes. White, yes. Echera, yes. Davis, yes. Cheeseman, yes. Seven vote yes. Your Honor. Thank you. Last item under town business are the bills, 249026. Need a motion and a second? Thank you, Mr. Dennis. Thank you, Mr. Miller. Anybody have questions about the bills? Seeing none, I call for a vote, 249026. Hicks, yes. Dennis, yes. Miller, yes. White, yes. A cherry, yes. Davis, yes. Cheeseman, yes. Seven vote yes, Your Honor. Excellent. We now need a motion to resume as a city council. Thank you, Mr. Dennis and Mr. Miller. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Anyone opposed? We are now sitting as a city council. We reach closing comments. Who wants to lead off this evening? Mr. Dennis, turn on your mic. How about that one? First of all, Steve, Evan, Brad, and myself are out at the Veterans Clinic out at the old mall. And I wanted to just give out a big thanks for Steve for representing the city out there. Dick did a heck of a job. It's the new one. It's called the Lane Evans Clinic. And nobody's been out there. They ought to drive by and look at it. It is beautiful. The second thing, 8 o'clock tomorrow, any vets around or in town would like to go to the VFW tomorrow. The city is going to present a check to the VFW for their veterans and the great jobs that they've been doing for the city. And my final thing is I'd like to thank Eric and his Illinois team for winning Saturday. Now he's in a good mood. Thank you very much. Thank you, Mr. Donis. Mr. Miller. I also was at the ribbon cutting for the new VA clinic. What a wonderful clinic for the men and women that have fought for our freedom. Also, thanks, Steve, for representing the city. Made us very proud. Also, I got an email from the city today with winter snow emergency routes. Please go on the city website and look at these so that when our city employees are out plowing streets, we don't have people calling in about cars being towed and things like that. So please. go on the city website and take a look at this. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Miller. Mr. White. As a veteran, a disabled veteran, I use the clinic. I get everything I need from them. They're great people. And I know most of them personally, and they're top notch. So anytime you have a veteran, help him out however you can. Didn't make it that day, but I will be at the VFW tomorrow. I just want to thank Dan Swanson. I took something to him, and he grabbed that ball, and he just ran. He started the one-yard line, and it was a 99-yard run. I'm so proud of him. I can't tell him how much I thank him for the work that he's done for the 12 black Americans that fought in the Civil War. It's the greatest point of pride that I've been involved in. And I was accompanied down to Springfield the other day by the mayor, Pastor Antonio Franklin, and Jim Jacobs. Jim has put a lot of work into the information fact-finding process. that I have, and I just want to thank him. Knox College has all the information. Owen Milder, he's been a great help. But it's just, as a veteran, as a person that's been to war, and to honor those men, it was something. If anybody's ever been to the house, I call it the chicken house because everybody's in there cackling like crazy. But when Dan Swanson stood up to start reading, you could hear a pin drop. And it was just a beautiful thing. And again, Dan, I thank you for all the work that you've done. And I'm just proud of being part of it. Thank you, Mr. White. Mr. Chair. Thank you. I'm definitely going to be there at VFW tomorrow morning. I have a special place in my heart for those folks. My husband and I ran a youth group for years, and we were able to drill there and support them and their mission. So really great guys, and I'm looking forward to that. I also want to say happy early Thanksgiving to everyone and remind everybody, shop local if you can. We have so many great shops around the downtown, even along Henderson Street, all over Galesburg. The bookshop, I like to really... point out, even if they don't have a certain book, they can certainly order it for you. And of course, we have Seminary Street and other shops. Consider for folks that don't need anything more, maybe buying a gift certificate for your favorite local restaurant. So let's try to keep those dollars in Galesburg if we can. Thank you. Thank you. Ms. Davis. I don't have a whole lot to add to those brilliant comments, and I appreciate especially Mr. White's talk about personal experiences with the VFW. I think that a lot of times we hear a lot of talk and it's fantastic to hear progress celebrated. But I love getting to hear about a personal connection that somebody has and their own experience with it. So thank you so much for sharing that. And I just wanted to add that November 13th through 19th. Yeah. So Wednesday through Tuesday, it's weird. Um, but this is transgender awareness week. So I'd like to wish everyone a happy transgender awareness week. Thank you, Ms. Davis, Ms. Cheeseman. All for, for getting that wonderful measure or resolution at the state house for the 54th Massachusetts. representatives from here in Galesburg. Great work there and outstanding. And again, the VA, a marvelous situation. I am not a veteran. My dad is. And taking him out there and the care they show is tremendous. And also tomorrow morning, our ability to go and help the VFW here is a wonderful thing. I recall, I'm old enough to recall that our veterans and folks, especially those that came back from the Vietnam War, were treated so terrible. It was unbelievable. And there was that time for you that are younger. And we need to do more yet today, but we're much better at it. So, and those are all great examples there. I look forward to this work with the housing so that we can do things to help our city move forward for all people within that. Housing is such an important part of our lives. Also at the high school, they have a, and there was a gentleman here a long time ago named Sully that came here to talk about Foster's voice. which is a group that really helps students with suicide awareness and education and things like that. And for those that are out there that can get that message across to young people that they know or come across, that is absolutely imperative. And also, this should be all the time during the year, and it is. We do a great job in our community with this, but especially at this time of the year also, you're seeing lots of food drives and other kinds of movements to try to help Those that are that are in need and with with gifts and food and coats and things like that, please think about that and be involved if you can in whatever way that you can. So just really, really good stuff. And our community steps up and does a great job with all of that. So certainly reinforce that. And thank you to all those that are involved with that. Thank you, Mr. Schwarzman. Thank you, Mr. Higgs. Thank you, Mayor. probably been said a couple times now, but the event at the opening of the VA, the Lane Evans VA clinic was very nice to attend. My wife works there, so I didn't really have a choice. It was interesting to hear, Steve, your story that that's where you met your wife was at the old Bergner's in that building. I actually met Ann years ago at the football game. At GHS, it took me 40 years to get married, so I'm a little slow. But that was a great event. Thank you so much for your handling of the comments for the city. You did an excellent job. And I thought one of the most interesting things about that event was the recognition of the 102-year-old soldier that was a prisoner in World War II in Japan. For three and a half years, yeah. My wife actually takes care of him when he goes there, and she's told me stories about meeting him, and it was really neat. I can't imagine living that long, let alone living that long after what he had to go through, but it was great to see those folks. W will be at your event mornings. They're not my favorite time of day, but I'll get up and get to the Veterans of Foreign Wars for you as well. Another thing that I did, and... It was very interesting. I had never even thought about doing it, but my wife decided she wanted to play frisbee golf, and Don, I think you did an excellent job. I mean, I remember walking that course with the designer and Ms. Acerra, the older woman, Acerra, and so it kind of helped. So when we were playing the game, I was like, well, no, the next hole's over here. I remembered what we did, but you guys did a great job. Heather, thank you for bringing that amenity to our city. I actually think I might... get some of that equipment and play on a regular basis. I want to say it was a 2.5-mile walk because I had a little app thing on my phone. And trust me, I need to walk, especially with the holidays coming up, so I can have a little bit of room for that turkey. But that Frisbee golf, Don, you did a great job. Your staff did a great job, and it was very enjoyable. And I'm no better at Frisbee golf, Steve, than I am at real golf. So maybe it will take several years to get to that point. But those are my comments. Thank you, Mr. Hicks. Yeah, you guys stole a lot of thunder. It's great to see the participation in these very special events related to our veterans. Last meeting, we read a proclamation related to making this Veterans Month in Galesburg. I've just been passed a note that it is also Native American Heritage Month as well, so something else to celebrate. I was in attendance in Springfield, a phenomenal event. Thank you, Mr. Swanson, for reading that. I know Mr. White and I have both posted that speech on our Facebook pages. It was a really powerful event for those who attended, and I thank Mr. Swanson for that work. I would reiterate the November 30, 2024, as a small business event, Saturday. So please support our local small businesses. Very important. The heart of our downtown is those local small businesses that benefit from our patronage. Also, I had a meeting this week, this last week, the Hunger Collaborative. That's probably a word that most people in Galesburg don't know much about. For the last three years, there's been an organization that has formed through the Galesburg Community Foundation, and they've pulled together resources from that organization and others, and they've, from what I understood, over $2.2 million worth of grants have been presented and will through the end of next year. And there's just a lot of really great work that's being done through that organization. And one of the recommendations made there was to get that word out. I know GCF does published some of that, but we need to get that word out because there's just a lot of good collaboration among many organizations. And to that end, now that's a hunger collaborative and they work, you know, indirectly with other needs. But what I've been hearing for the last year intensely is the concerns people have around mental health in our community. And there was a report issued by Bridgeway a few, about Two months ago, I believe, that I posted on my website. It's a state report that they did. It had to get released by the state anyway. And it has a lot of really great information. And with that information in mind and in hand, I'm announcing tonight, and it will be a press release out probably tomorrow or the next day, December 5th, which is a Thursday evening at 6 p.m. at the public library, there will be a public forum on mental health. that will hold in Galesburg. And with that announcement, I think that's all that needs to be said. So I ask for adjournment of the meeting. Mr. Dennis and Mr. Miller, all those in favor say aye. We are adjourned. Be safe, stay warm.