Welcome, folks. It's 6 o'clock. We'll commence the City Council meeting February 3, 2025. Ms. Benowitz, can you call the roll, please? Councilmember Hicks? Here. Dennis? Here. Miller? Here. White? Here. Achera? Here. Carrington? Here. Cheeseman? Here. Mayor Schwartzman? Here. Mayor Schwartzman? Thank you. Seven are present. You're on. All right. Thank you. Time to pledge allegiance. First order of business, approve the minutes from the January 21st, 2025 meeting. Second. Thank you, Mr. Dennis and Mr. Miller. Any questions about the minutes? Seeing none, I call for a vote on the minutes of the January 21st, 2025 meeting. Hicks, yes. Dennis, yes. Miller, yes. White, yes. Achera, yes. Cheeseman, yes. Sixth 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 message. Thank you. Good evening to the city council members, Mr. Mayor, to city staff on both sides of the room. Just want to say I'm glad to be here tonight and just put on the table last week, the last council meeting. And I come to follow up, make this official. So this evening, I come just to request that this council name a street in Gillsburg, Illinois, after Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. And it's time that this council and this community demonstrate its resolve and commitment toward building a community that's just a community where decency and respect or a champion. I know that the name of a street after Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. is not without its controversy. There will be a serious debate of the pros and cons, but together as responsible and courageous citizens and leaders, we can move forward in spite of our past. Wouldn't it be awesome to be able to say that I helped to move us closer to being the beloved community that Dr. King represented and lived his entire life for. So I'm hoping, I talked to one council member last time and he said he was in favor. Well, here's an opportunity to start that debate that would honor a man that's already been honored nationally and has a statue on the Mall in Washington, D.C. On this past Saturday, I had some folks knock on my door and put some political literature in my hand. I accepted it and was reading through it. And one of the candidates that's running for higher office in Galesburg said he was going to address homelessness and not raise taxes. So if we're going to do something as big as addressing homelessness, it's going to cause us to spend some money. So I would like that particular candidate to put some specifics. And anybody that's running for office, put down, I see the new doors in the back, and I applaud those. That says we're transparent. You want people to see what you're doing. So I just encourage those candidates that are running for whatever office to be transparent. Put your plan on your flyer and let us know how you're going to accomplish what you say you're going to do. Thank you. Thank you. Anyone else here for public comment? Please step forward, state your name. Good evening, Vince Merola, Ward 7. I come tonight to echo what Pastor Jowers is saying. Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. talked about a beloved community, a place where people came together, a place where people loved each other. And yes, there may be a controversy about naming a street for him in Galesburg. but I believe that it is something that we could do as a community that would show our commitment to racial equality, to welcoming and inclusion. And I'd even go a step further, because my understanding is that the council is in favor of a community center, in favor of the idea. So if we're gonna name a street, as we plan a community center, would that be something else to do? to name a community center for someone who lived his life under the principles of nonviolence to bring people together. Think about it. Thank you. Thank you. Anyone else here for public comment? Seeing none, we'll continue with our meeting. Consent agenda 2025-03. All matters listed under the consent agenda are considered routine by the City Council and will be enacted by one motion. Can I have that motion, please? Thank you, Mr. Miller and Mr. White. Any questions about the three items? Seeing none, I call for a vote on the consent agenda 2025-03. Hicks, yes. Dennis, yes. Miller, yes. White, yes. Echera, yes. Cheeseman, yes. Seven, six. Vote yes, Your Honor. Thank you. We are now at the passages of ordinances and resolutions. We have only one item, 25-1000. This is an ordinance. Site lease amendment number two for telecommunication tower at 2345 Adams Street. Final reading. Need a motion and a second. Thank you, Mr. Miller. Thanks, Mr. Chair. Mr. Hansen, please explicate. Thank you, Your Honor. Staff is recommending approval of an ordinance to provide for an amendment to the existing site lease agreement. The city currently leases a piece of property in Kiwanis Park to the GTP Acquisition Partners II LLC, which contains their telecommunications tower. The site lease began in 1999 and is set to expire in 2039. The tower owner has stated it is difficult to attract additional co-locating antennas with such a short time period left and has requested the lease term be extended an additional 20 years to July. 31st, 2059. If the ordinance is approved and signed, the amendment signed provided by February 15th, 2025 of this year, the city will receive a one-time payment of $15,000. The city also collects a monthly rent payment for the tower and each co-located antenna for the other communication companies to install their equipment on the tower, which would allow us to collect additional revenue on the tower for anything new that comes on. Staff is recommending approval. Happy to answer any questions. Mr. Miller, you have a question? Do we have basically what revenue is brought in on that tower on a yearly basis? We do. I just don't have it in front of me. I'd be happy to send the council a report on it this week. Anything further? Seeing none, I call for a vote on 25-1000. Hicks, yes. Dennis, yes. Miller, yes. White, yes. Cherry, yes. Cheeseman, yes. Sixth vote, yes, Your Honor. Thank you. We have no bids or petitions in the communications section, so we'll go to the city manager to report anything to add. Mr. Hanson. Nothing specific tonight. I did provide and go into quite a bit of detail today on an interview at GIL. The council and community get a chance to listen to. There was a number of topics on there of interest related to business development. commercial development on Henderson. We covered a number of topics today that are questions that we receive a lot. So feel free to catch that interview. But other than that, I'd be happy to answer any questions, but I don't have anything specific to report tonight. Thank you. Anyone have questions for the city manager? We'll move to Ms. Lane's business. We have two items, both on final reading. First is 254012, a TIF redevelopment Agreement with Steve Smith and Alan Garage. How it's written here. We need a motion and a second. So moved. Thank you, Mr. White. Mr. Chair, Mr. Hanson, please. Thank you, Your Honor. Staff is recommending approval of a redevelopment agreement with Nancy Brown, owner of Steve's Smith & Allen Garage, to modernize the central equipment at their property located at 41 North Kellogg Street. The existing car elevator has failed its recent state inspection due to age and the difficulty of finding replacement parts. This agreement aims to retain a long-term downtown business by funding a portion of the $62,548.80 total project cost through tax increment financing funds. The TIF incentive not to exceed $18,764.64 will assist in modernizing the elevator and replacing the aging garage door. This project is necessary for the continued operation of the business and will minimize the need for the business to utilize public parking lots for interim parking. The TIF for redevelopment area has sufficient funds able to cover the request and staff is recommending approval. Happy to answer any questions. Anyone have any questions about this item? Mr. Cheeseman? Just a thought. This is just as I know a number of us have dealt with this situation, and this just seems like an excellent solution to a difficult problem where it's a win-win for everybody involved. It frees up those spots and parking. It also helps a longtime business continue to do what it does. And that's a win-win, and that's what we want to try to do in every situation we can. There's definitely some compromises here. Hats off to everyone involved in that. Thank you, Mr. Cheeseman. Yeah, this has been kind of a long time coming. Appreciate the cooperation of the owner, Mr. Bondi, and obviously staff. We've been negotiating and working on this for several months, and I think this is a good resolution for everyone and allows the business to stay and resolve some issues. So appreciate those comments. Appreciate the staff and their work. in bringing this to fruition. Anyone else? Seeing none, I call for a vote on 254012. Hicks, yes. Dennis, yes. Miller, yes. White, yes. Achera, yes. Cheeseman, yes. Sixth vote, yes, Dr. Renner. Thank you. Next item, 254013, a lease agreement for Pelican Street Sweeper. Need a motion and a second? Thank you, Mr. Miller. Second. Thanks, Mr. Chair. Mr. Hansen. Thank you, Your Honor. Staff is recommending approval of a four-year lease agreement with NCL Government Capital for a 2025 Elgin Pelican Street Sweeper through Key Equipment and Supply Company, which will cost the City a total of $251,918.82 over the four-year lease if the equipment is not retained, or a total of $374,918.92 if the City decides to purchase and keep the unit at the end of the four-year lease period. The total quote for purchasing the same equipment outright is $307,535.00. A maintenance agreement is factored into the cost of the sweeper lease and covers routine maintenance and electronic updates. At this time, it is anticipated the City will return the unit at the end of the lease period. to minimize maintenance costs, but both options will be available to the city at the time of the lease expiration. The lease allows the city to acquire a modern, safe, and reliable street sweeper while minimizing upfront cost and long-term maintenance expense. As you might imagine, this particular piece of equipment is in use a significant amount of time and its sole job is to collect and vacuum things up that are objects in the curb. They do have a shelf life and become very maintenance intensive after four or five years and expensive, which is why we're going this route. Ultimately, we think this is a better course of action will allow us more reliable equipment, especially for our street sweeping capabilities. Happy to answer any additional questions. Any questions on this item? Mr. White. How many street sweepers do we have total? Just two. One is the primary one that this will replace and then cycle out. The other is a 2009 unit that's the backup. So these units are running almost daily in order to cover off the whole city. Am I correct? They are running, yes, all the time, or at least when we're able. And then they do the second one also does extra duty during a leaf pickup time to get the city run faster. Correct. Yeah, that's what I thought. Mr. Cheeseman. Thanks, Mr. Schwartzman. Did I read, and I'm looking through here and I'm missing it, and I know it's right here in front of me, the oldest one, the 2009 one, you would then try to sell and take that out of service, and we would just have these two newer ones that would be in service. Is that correct? Yeah, that's the plan. And the whole, right, as we get into these more expensive pieces of equipment, not to get into the weeds on budgetary things, right, but when you have these pieces of equipment that are a quarter of a million or half a million dollars, what happens is, you know, you have a plan to replace them, and then that budget series rolls around, right, and then you defer them, and you defer them, right, wrong or indifferent, and pretty soon you've had them for eight, nine, ten years. They're really expensive to maintain. They're less reliable. This puts us on a more regular schedule. Ultimately, it should reduce the cost and certainly reduce the maintenance cost. Obviously, we will evaluate this at the end of the four-year term, but we believe this is a better course of action and is consistent with what many communities, especially our size, do. Mr. White, I mean Mr. Miller. I know that my brother retired from vehicle maintenance or maintenance. Just in the last two weeks, I know I've had many conversations with him about the street sweepers and how complex they are and very difficult to fix. So I'm 100% behind it. Thank you. Anyone else? Seeing none, I call for a vote on 254013. Fix, yes. Dennis, yes. Miller, yes. White, yes. Achera, yes. Cheeseman, yes. Six-foot, yes, Your Honor. Okay, I'm here to ask for a motion to sit as a town board. Thank you, Mr. Miller. Anyone else? Thanks, Mr. Chair. All those in favor, say aye. Aye. Anyone opposed? We are sitting as a town board. We have one item under town business, and that are the bills 259003. We need a motion for the bills. Thank you, Mr. White and Mr. Miller. Any questions about the bills? Seeing none, I call for a vote on the bills. 25-9003. Hicks, yes. Dennis, yes. Miller, yes. White, yes. Achera, yes. Cheeseman, yes. Sixth vote, yes, Your Honor. I ask for a motion to resume as the City Council. So moved. We heard from a few. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Anyone opposed? We are now sitting as a city council. We have reached the closing comments period of our meeting. Who wants to lead off this evening? Mr. Hicks? Thank you, Mayor. Just wanted to ask Steve, have you thought the Sox are going to have a better year this year? I noticed your shirt. And other than that, I'll... I'll defer my comments for later time. Thank you, Mr. Hicks. Ms. Dennis. Steve, how many games did the Sox lose? Are they going to duplicate it or go down? Thank you, Steve. Thank you, Ms. Dennis. Mr. Miller. I'm going to defer tonight. Thank you. Thank you. Mr. White? I hope I get everything done in my three minutes. Orphan Theater is moving and changing. I'm just so glad that they're improving what they're doing. I went to the Motown Review, and gosh, they should have been there. Everybody. I've seen this old lady. They had to be in their 90s, her and her husband. They were just jamming away. Had a great time. I think... I'm looking forward to more things happening in the orphan theater. It's a gem. I spoke last week about being kind and caring towards people. This is Black History Month and we shouldn't have a Black History Month. It's part of American history but it's not being taught. And it's being removed from schools because CRT, critical race theory. And it's just, it's getting crazy. And I watched a tragic accident on TV the other day where almost 70 people lost their lives. And a gentleman came and blamed it on DEI. We're going, I didn't know what to say about it, but I asked some people here in our city about, are we gonna be struggling with the, I know there's a lady here that she goes to a corporate boardroom, and most of the time it's all men. And so she understands what it's about being, having to step into a world that you almost don't fit into. but you have to make a way. But we need diversion and diversity and inclusion in every step of our life. Our moms make all our decisions, dads are head of the household. Both of them are important. You can't have one without the other. So our nation is going crazy, I think. And I just want everybody to be kinder and gentler and don't let these, People tell you that you don't need this person or that person. Our fruit's getting ready to go up, but be prepared for that. Last but not least, I want to make sure that everybody gets involved in our city. Go to our webpage, the City of Galesburg webpage, go to the bottom of the page, and at the bottom of the page there's a thing called Get Notified. It gives you all the information that we have, all the information we get. Get involved in your city and work hard to help it grow. And stop separating us from a political party, skin color, economics. Thank you for your time. Thank you, Mr. White. Mr. Chair. Thank you, Mr. White. I wanted to give a shout out. to Eric, and I believe it was maybe Kathy that put together this summary of economic growth. Is that correct, Eric? That solely belongs to Kathy, and the data, Steve, I'll give credit where credit's due. I just supported their good work. Thank you. Well, thank you. Now, this was probably in the report. I've been a little bit under the weather. Is this being published on our website? It is. There's a link with a further description as well as the report and the data. So I'll just hit the highlights for anybody who may be listening. You know, attracting industry was indicated on a 2022 survey of the community of Galesburg as... the top priority by 77% of our residents, that is economic growth was. We've had a really great year and I think there's so many people that have worked on the different things from Ken to Eric and many others. But just to hit the highlights, we've had 23 new developments or expansions of business, 326 new jobs, and $113 million of private investment in our community. So I just think we're headed in a great direction. When things can seem rather gloomy, it's good to look at these positive trends. So thanks so much. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Cheeseman? Mrs. Chair, you cheated off of my sheet here, so I'm sorry that that occurred. I just wanted to say and reinforce... What's been said a number of times this week, and again this, and Kathy St. George, like so many of our employees, is just terrific that the economic news is wonderful news here in our town. The number of jobs, the economic impact, the self-esteem that it creates, it's remarkable, whether it's this new potential railroad advancement out at our... area off of Route 74, the Western Smokehouse stuff, our ag business, our healthcare stuff, the infrastructure additions, the beautification efforts. Things are really happening that are making a difference. And I want to thank you to all of those folks that are involved. And I see lots of contributions by numbers of people. And they're all important. And I think that's a real important key that I would sure play off of what Mr. White is saying is that everyone's important here. It doesn't matter their economic status, their race, their gender. We need everyone. You're all human beings. We all have to work and do these kinds of things together to be successful. And I sure hope that we keep this momentum going. We've got good people here that care, and good things are happening. We want them to continue, and it will take all of us. We've got to continue bearing down, and all of us need to be a part of this and not rest our laurels on what we're doing and on just a few people. Additionally also, and by the way, Mr. White. In Room 39's American History there at Churchill Junior High School, black history was taught. And I think one of the greatest Americans, one of the people that I admire most is Jackie Robinson. He certainly not because of his baseball, but because of all the other things that he did as well. And finally, my condolences to the family, Mr. David Ullman. Mr. Ullman was part of our zoning commission and planning commission. Just, again, another one of those tremendous people that is part of what makes Galesburg great. He raised a wonderful family here and contributed in that just quiet, unassuming way that really made a difference. And he passed away in this last week, and I certainly want to remember him for that and his family. Thank you, Mr. Schwartzman. Thank you, Mr. Cheeseman. And thank you, Mr. Chair, for pointing out this wonderful economic report. I think it is something that I have not seen the city do in recent years. And we had a great year last year. you know, to the extent the community feels it, you know, sometimes you got to see the numbers on paper to believe it. But I can tell you, speaking to constituents around the city, there's a lot of, there is a different attitude towards the future. And that's something we can take pride in, very much all of us at this, at Dyess. And with that, I just, I encourage people, and it's February 3rd, you know, it feels like the middle of spring, but we're going to get some cold weather, Again, before it's all over, we haven't had very little snow, which actually benefits our finances because, you know, the reduction in costs, labor costs and salt costs. So, you know, I can't predict. I mean, I teach weather courses. I can't predict what's going to happen in that regard. But, you know, let's keep in mind that, you know, still wear your coat to school. At Knox, there's a rash of some... some viral stuff going around. So be very conscientious about that when you're out and about. Let's keep these contagions to a minimum in our community. And with that, let's have a great rest of February. Enjoy Black History Month. With that, I'll call for adjournment of the meeting. Thank you both. All in favor say aye. We are adjourned.