Welcome, it's six o'clock. You are at the Galesburg City Council meeting, January 21st, 2025. Ms. Benowitz, can you call the roll, please? Council Member Hicks? Here. Dennis? Here. Miller? Here. White? Here. Achera? Here. Carrington? Here. Cheeseman? Here. Mayor Schwartzman? Here. Ater present, Your Honor. Please stand for the Pledge of Allegiance. you if you would pray with me almighty God creator of all that is good just and true we come before you this evening with humble hearts and hopeful spirits we thank you for the gift of this gathering Lord a reminder that you've called us to be stewards of our communities and instruments of your peace we pray that you would grant us the courage oh Lord to speak truth with love to seek justice with humility and to serve one another with compassion Let this council be a beacon of unity where diverse voices join together, not in discord, but in harmony, guided by a vision of what is right, what is fair, and what uplifts the least among us. And Lord, help us to remember that we, as we were taught by the honorable Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., bound together not by the color of our skin nor by the stations that we hold, but by undeniable truth that we are all children of one creator. Lord, may your spirit move within us, breaking down walls of division, building bridges of understanding so that together we might labor for a brighter tomorrow. Lead us now, O God, with your wisdom that's higher than ours, and may every decision here be made with honor to your name and blessings to your people. In the name of a God of love and justice, we pray. Amen. Thank you. Before we proceed, Councilmember O'Chara cannot be here in person, but is attending remotely. In order to do that, we need to make a motion and do a voice vote. So I heard Mr. Dennis and Mr. Miller first and second. All those in favor, say aye. Aye. Anyone opposed? Fantastic. Ms. O'Chara is at the meeting and will be voting, according. The first item to vote on are the minutes from the January 6th, 2025 meeting. Thank you, Mr. Miller. I'll second that. Thank you, Mr. Cheeseman. Anyone have any questions about those minutes? Seeing none, I call for a vote on the minutes from the January 6th, 2025 meeting. We'll do voice vote. Sorry. Voice vote tonight. Yep. Council Member Hicks. Yes. Dennis. Yes. Miller. Yes. White. Atchera? Yes. Carrington? Here. And Cheeseman? Yes. Seven vote yes, Your Honor. Thank you. We move to public comment. If anyone's here for public comments, please step forward. You have three minutes to address the council. Good evening. My name is Reverend Andrew Jowers. I'm also president of Unity and Community Alliance. I'm in Ward 6 and just want to say Happy New Year to the council and all the staff that's present and to my fellow Gillsburg residents. I am going to talk about community tonight and in light of our celebration yesterday of our new president, wishing him well and his administration well. I'm looking forward to, I'm excited about the prospects of building community. And so in that light, I want to take it to a higher level, being yesterday also Dr. King, Martin Luther King Jr.'s celebration of his birth. And I think God has a fantastic sense of humor in that the national interest had to be shared with him, a person of color. And so I'm going to talk about the beloved community. And that's what something that was very foremost on Dr. King's mind. And I know that there's been over 900 streets across the country and elsewhere that have been named Dr. Martin Luther King Drive. And so I think it would be fitting for us to chart a new course per se for Gillsburg and making a statement. There's some big challenges facing all of us in terms of some of the executive orders that have come down from our new president. So we're going to have to make some choices in terms of our direction as a city. So I'm excited. I'm not depressed. I don't have a crying towel. I'm looking up, as the psalmist say, toward the hills. Whence cometh my help? My help comes from the Lord. So I'm happy to cross lines of... the barriers and all that kind of stuff. And let's move Gillsburg forward in a positive direction for all of the citizens of Gillsburg. So I'm happy that I can participate in democracy. Thank you. Thank you. Anyone else here for public comment? Please step forward. Say your name. You have three minutes. Robert Kane up on North Maple, Terry's division. Some people have been getting with me and are concerned with the South Street underpass, what's going to happen there. A lot of people park in that area for an event, and I wanted to bring that up. Two other things, they've done a whole lot of work out skating, ranking different things, and we've got a slum hotel there that is an eyesore that will probably be caught on fire eventually with people getting cold. I think something should be that. And I understand they also own another one down on South Seminary Street on a corner. It seems that certain people can just do what they want. And I don't think that's fair. Oh, and of course, my heart was still, are we gonna do anything about getting a civic center? before my grandkids have kids. I want to kind of charge this committee. I don't see where we're going to go with that. I don't know if I got the right to do that or not, but I kind of wing it and learn as I go. So that's all I've got. Thanks. Thank you. Anyone else here for public comment tonight? Please step forward, state your name. Hi, my name is Bruce Cook. At the last meeting, the subject of helping the homeless was raised and that it will take a multidimensional approach to address. So I will offer my unsolicited advice based on personal experience to those who would hear it. Do not assume you can eradicate homelessness. The homeless have always been and will always be a part of human society. You will never be able to help all the homeless. You will even find that some don't want your help. If you can understand and accept this, it will keep you from feeling any remorse about those you cannot help and give you more focus to help those that you can. Now, I have at times been accused of being cold and heartless, which may actually be an accurate assessment, but I do know what it is to be homeless. In my early adulthood, I spent 10 years in a state of homelessness. I know what it's like to forage in restaurant dumpsters looking for anything still edible. To go to a mission for meals that barely suppressed hunger and provided little, if any, nutritional value. To be caught in the cycle of not being able to get a job because I didn't have an address and unable to get an address because I didn't have a job. To spend hours reading at the library just to have something to do and because fantasy was better than reality. To eventually surrender to depression and sit down on a park bench to wait for death. By the power and grace of God, I overcame the limitations of my psychological disability. I was befriended by a family who accepted me as one of their own and didn't judge me or question my decision to remain homeless even after I no longer needed to. But others were not so accepting. One man at a public pool told me that they didn't allow bums to use the showers, though at the time I worked 60 hours a week and paid taxes to fund that facility. and pay the wages of those that worked there. It was a point I made clear to the one who tried to keep me out. Despite initial hardship and ongoing disapproval, I sometimes long to return to that life. As deliberations are made about what can and should be done and who should be involved, don't follow the pattern of failed programs in other cities. Build something different, creative. so that years from now, cities all over the country will look to Galesburg to model their programs after. Thank you. Thank you. Anyone else here for public comment? What was his name? Mr. Cook. Okay, we will move on. You're Mr. Cook, right? Yes. Yes, Bruce Cook. May I ask his first name? Bruce. Bruce. Thank you. Okay, we have reached consent agenda 2025-02. All matters listed on the consent agenda are considered routine by the city council and will be enacted by one motion. Do I hear a motion? Thank you, Mr. Dennis and Mr. Miller. Any questions about the six items? Seeing none, I call for vote on the consent agenda 2025-02. Again, voice vote. Council Member Hicks. Dennis? Miller? White? Achera? Yes. Carrington? Yes. Cheeseman? Yes. Seven vote yes runner. We have reached the passages of ordinances and resolutions. We have four items to consider. First is 25-1000 site lease amendment number two for telecommunications tower at 2345 Adams Street. Mr. Hanson? 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 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 a lease term be extended an additional 20 years to July 31, 2059. If the ordinance is approved and signed in a signed amendment provided by February 15 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 from the other telecommunication companies that install their equipment on the tower. be happy to answer any additional questions. Any questions for Mr. Hanson? This will come back in the next meeting. Next item is 25-1001, ordinance removal of a Class A liquor license. I turn it over to Mr. Hanson. Thank you, Your Honor. Staff is recommending amending Section 113.043A of the Galesburg Municipal Code to remove one Class A-1 liquor license from the city's inventory. This amendment would remove the license held currently by the poorhouse prior to the business ceasing operations. Any interested parties in the future can make an application to the Liquor Commissioner and the City Council for a new Class A-1 license. Happy to answer any questions. Thank you, Mr. Hanson. Okay, we have a motion on Mr. Miller to move this to second reading. Do we have a second? Mr. Dennis. So we will vote on that. If you want to consider this second reading, vote yes. Again, we'll do voice vote. Council Member Hicks? Yes. Dennis? Yes. Miller? Yes. White? No. Achera? Yes. Carrington? No. Cheeseman? Yes. Six yes, one no, Your Honor. Okay, so now we are considering this. Do we need to make a motion to actually pass it? Okay, so do we have a motion? Mr. Miller makes a motion to pass this tonight and Mr. Dennis seconds. We will do another vote for that. I guess prior to that, some people could make a comment. Any comments before we vote? Okay. I'll call for vote on that. Councilmember Hicks. Dennis Miller White. A chair. Yeah, Carrington. Cheeseman 7 vote yes runner. Excellent we can move on to the next item. And that is 252002 resolution. The raise grant application for South St underpass. We need a motion and a second. Thank you, Mr. Miller. Mr. Dennis and Mr. Hanson, please explicate. Thank you, Your Honor. Staff is recommending approval of a resolution of support and commitment of local funds for a Rebuilding America Infrastructure with Sustainability and Equity or RAISE grant program application for a project planning study at the South Street Railroad underpass. The proposed application will apply for funding for project planning only. The intent of the project planning phase is to develop the purpose in need of the project, develop alternatives and conceptual designs, seek stakeholders and public involvement, study environmental impacts, and develop develop cost estimates for alternatives. The potential changes that will be a part of the study include the closing of Mulberry Street crossing and replacing the South Street underpass with a new, fully functioning underpass that does not have a height restriction, also straightening the underpass to be in line with the current South Street alignment and making changes to the intersection with Seminary Street, both of which would improve safety. The total estimated cost of the project planning study is $1,683,988. If awarded, the program would cover 80% of the cost of the study, and the city and BNSF would split the remaining 20% local match, which would equate to $168,399 for the city's contribution. Additional on this, this is the exact same... Project just a different funding source. It's also the same funding source that we announced last week for the logistics park. Obviously these are highly competitive, usually multiple rounds, so do not be surprised if this comes back in the future as we want to continue working on this particular project, but it's another source of funds that wouldn't be made available in support of doing the study for the underpass. Be happy to answer any additional questions. Anyone have questions about this? Seeing none, vote on 25-2002. Council Member Hicks. Yes. And Dennis. Yes. Miller. Yes. White. Yes. Achera. Yes. Carrington. Yes. Cheeseman. Yes. Seven vote yes runner. Thank you. Last item in this section is 25-2003. authorizing execution of a service agreement with the lowest responsible bidder for energy aggregation. I need a motion and a second. Thank you, Mr. Miller. Thanks, Mr. White. Mr. Hanson. Thank you, Your Honor. Staff is recommending approval of a resolution authorizing execution of a municipal aggregation agreement. In 2024, the City of Galesburg retained the Stone River Group LLC as the new energy broker for municipal aggregation, permitting the City become part of the Central Illinois Municipal Aggregation Group. SEMA was formed by the Stone River Group in 2017 to allow a group of municipalities to collectively negotiate an agreement at a fixed price for the supply of electricity for all their residents. Due to the daily fluctuations of energy prices The Stone River group must be able to obtain signatures from all municipalities within SEMA on the same day to successfully execute a new agreement with the lowest responsible bidder for the supply of electricity for residential and small commercial retail customers who do not opt out of the municipal aggregation program. Given the sensitive time frame, city staff are requesting prior authority from the city council to allow the city manager to execute. The municipal aggregation agreement at the time of receipt, the new municipal aggregation agreement for the city of Galesburg will be in effect once the current agreement expires in July of 2025. Additional on this, this is consistent with the 60-plus municipalities that are part of this group. If you remember last fall when we did this as a standalone, we were negotiating by ourselves with one particular municipality, broker this puts us in a group should hopefully give us better buying power uh... and ultimately hopefully lead to better better pricing for us but again trying to coordinate sixty different municipalities who don't have meetings on the same day is that the justification for this resolution staff is uh... encouraging approval we have any answer any questions any questions on this item ms kerrington uh... less of a question more of a repeating what you just said and rephrasing it so this is us joining in with a broker representing multiple municipalities and not just galesburg so that we can negotiate a better deal on our energy our electricity prices and we are authorizing or hopefully i i think hopefully voting to authorize um giving our city employees prior authorization to go ahead and sign the agreement on the day it comes through so that we don't have to have like a special session or anything like that. And when they get the agreement set, they can get it set that day. Correct. As it turns out, they sent us a note today. They'll actually be negotiating a power agreement on March 26th, which I don't believe we have a meeting that day if I remember looking at the calendar correctly. But essentially all the municipalities in the group have to be able to sign on March 26th in order to enact the agreement and make it because it's only valid for the 24 hours. So it's not any different than what we've done in the past. It's just now we're working in a group of municipalities, like I said, hopefully to get much better buying power through the consortium. Many of them within the group are communities that are quite a bit larger than we are in size. So obviously it gives us a much better opportunity. opportunity from a buying power and hopefully reduced rate for our residents that's the goal anyway thank you so much i just wanted to make sure that's really easily understood by the public and i think that this is a great plan and and i'm all for it very well any other comments see none i called for a voice vote on twenty five two zero zero three councilmember hicks Dennis? Miller? White? Achera? Yes. Carrington? Yes. Cheeseman? Yes. Seven vote yes, Your Honor. We've reached the city manager's report. Mr. Hanson, anything to add? Just briefly, I would give a shout out to... Whether you noticed coming in or not, we had a pretty massive water main break at Tompkins, and Kellogg and staff were out in a hole full of water this afternoon at below zero temperatures. I just want to give a shout out. We have exceptional employees that all work in the cold weather all day long, and I'm not trying to discount, but if you've ever been on a water main break in the summer, let alone on a day like today. You'll understand and appreciate what they did, and I just want to give them a special shout out for tackling that project this afternoon. But again, to all the rest of our employees that do so many things, no matter the weather, I certainly appreciate them as well and want to thank Aaron and his staff for the great work they do. I'd be happy to answer any other questions. Thank you for that. Anyone else? Move on. The final section, miscellaneous business. We have three items. First is 254007, agreement for fuel supply and delivery. Motion and a second. Thank you, Mr. Miller. Second. Thank you, Mr. Cheeseman. Mr. Hanson. Thank you, Your Honor. Staff is recommending approval of a five-year agreement with Harrah Petroleum for the supply and delivery of gasoline and diesel fuels. The city currently has fuel tanks in eight locations, and the tanks with highest volumes of use are located at the central garage as most city vehicles replenish their fuel supply at this location. In addition, there are smaller tanks located at various locations to fuel equipment and to serve as fuel supply for necessary generators. The city received two proposals for this service, with Harrah Petroleum providing the best proposal. and overall pricing to provide motor fuel and delivery to the city. Sufficient funds are budgeted by each department for the respective estimated usage of fuel. Staff is recommending approval. Happy to answer any questions. Thank you. Any questions on this item? Seeing none, I call for vote on 254007. Councilmember Hicks? Dennis? Miller? White? Achera? Yes. Carrington? Yes. And Cheeseman? Yes. Seven vote yes, Your Honor. Thank you. 25-4008, salary schedule. We need a motion and a second. Thank you, Mr. Miller. Second. Thank you, Ms. Carrington. We'll turn it over to Mr. Hanson. Thank you. Staff is recommending approval of the classification and salary schedule for exempt employees. This year brings many personnel and organizational changes to the City, including appointing Aaron Gavin as the Director of Public Works, condensing the Information Technology staff, and the retirement of the Benefits and Risk Manager person, Jan Lytle, after 15 years of service. The attached schedule And classification reflects the additions of the newly reconfigured director of information technology, the director of human resources position that will replace the combined two positions that are currently there. In addition, It eliminates the senior systems administrator and creates a position of senior systems administrator and security manager. Wouldn't you all like to have that job? Eliminates the HR manager position and creates a HR generalist position to assist our new HR director. The changes in the salary schedule are consistent with the FY 2025 budget as was presented in the fall. Happy to answer any questions. Any questions about this item? Seeing none, I call for a vote on 25-4008. Council Member Hicks. Dennis. Miller. White. Achera. Yes. Carrington. Yes. Cheeseman. Yes. Seven vote yes, Your Honor. Thank you. Last item under miscellaneous business, 25-4009, OPEB contribution. We need a motion and a second. Thank you, Mr. Miller. Thank you, Ms. Carrington. Mr. Hanson. Thank you, Your Honor. Staff is recommending approval of submitting the budgeted FY 2025 OPEB contributions of $146,325 to the city's OPEB trust account. In addition to pensions, many state and local government employees provide other post-employment benefits as part of the total compensation offered to attract and retain the services of qualified employees. Since 2013, the City Council has been proactive by annually contributing funds on average approximately $142,550 to the city's OPEB trust fund to offset the city's future liability. For the fiscal year 2025, administration is recommending that the city, excluding the library and township, contribute $146,325 to the OPEB trust fund. Happy to answer any questions. Thank you. Any questions on this item? Seeing none, I'll call for vote on 25-4009. Councilmember Hicks. Dennis. Miller? Yes. White? Properly. Achera? Yes. Carrington? Yes. Cheeseman? Yes. Seven vote yes, Your Honor. Thank you. We now need a motion to sit as the town board. So moved. Thank you, Mr. Miller and Mr. White. All those in favor, say aye. Aye. Anyone opposed? We are now sitting as the town board. We have one item under town board business, and that is the bills, 259002. We need a motion and a second. Thank you, Ms. Carrington and Mr. Miller. Ms. Benowitz, anything to add? No, sir. Any questions about the bills from the council? Seeing none, I call for a vote, 25-9-0-0-2. Trustee Hicks? Yeah. Dennis? Yes. Miller? Yes. White? Yes. Achera? Yes. Carrington? Yes. Cheeseman? Yes. Seven vote yes, Your Honor. Thank you. We need a motion to resume as a city council. Thank you. Thank you, Ms. Carrington and Mr. Cheeseman. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Anyone opposed? We are sitting as a city council. We now move to closing comments. Anyone want to lead off this evening? Mr. Dennis. I'll say the same thing that Eric just said. I had a water main break over on the corner of Silver and Summit and about I don't think 6, maybe 6, 7 o'clock at night. And those poor guys were out there until 6.30 the next morning tearing up a yard. The neighbors took them out some coffee. Those guys got to be commended. I'm with Eric. There's no way I'd do that job. Thank you. Thank you, Ms. Dennis. Mr. Miller. Okay, Mr. White. I spent this weekend or yesterday at the MLK breakfast and I appreciate everyone that came out, showed up and supported it. It's an annual fundraiser that we use to do scholarship for youth and non-traditional students. It was a great turnout. We had a great speaker and I would like to thank everybody that showed up for that. I want to say congratulations to Mr. Gavin for his promotion. I worked with you a few times, and you do a great job and a great asset to the city. But I want to thank you, Mr. Cook, for your words today. There's a lot of people, and I don't think there's anybody in here that's ever been homeless. So sometimes the people that have never been someplace don't understand where you've been. and how to deal with it and what causes people to be there. I had a conversation not too long ago with somebody about the same thing that you were just saying. Not only the struggles of being homeless, but why. And that's the important thing that I would love to see our city council and everybody understand why a person's homeless, how they got there, and why some of them will stay there. And don't ask for your help. and understand what the whole situation is. We're starting a brand new year, and I hope that we all move forward with compassion, love, mercy, and grace. Dr. King's birthday was yesterday, and he gave his life helping. And so please be ready to be loving and helping and have empathy. If without empathy, we're going to be living in a sad world. So have empathy for someone and everyone. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. White. Mrs. Chair? I also would like to express my gratitude and and my empathy for those who have to work public service, especially postal carriers, folks in the city. Oh, my goodness. Yes, it's quite the chilly weather out there. And I also want to thank my fellow councilmen for allowing me to call in. As you know, I do travel quite a bit for my job, and I really do try to work my schedule so that I don't miss any meetings. This won't happen very often, but I do appreciate the accommodation. Thank you. Thank you, Ms. Jarrah. Ms. Carrington. We live in a country where the person in the highest authority denounced the humanity of genderqueer people while one of his friends performed a Nazi salute on national television. This is vile and embarrassing. And if you aren't feeling disturbed right now, I suggest you pick up a book about the history of Germany, about World War II. If you are someone who's looking for support and community right now, if you don't feel safe contacting your city council representative, I want you to know that I am here. I am queer, I am unapologetic and I care for you. You are seen and you are loved deeply and you matter despite what anyone may say to the contrary. Thank you, Mr. Cheeseman. every day, that all anyone wants is to be treated with dignity and have an equal chance and opportunity of things. And again, being empathetic and trying to put ourselves in the shoes of folks that have that challenge is something we must do to do everything we can to help with that. And that also relates a little bit to what you said, Mr. Cook. Thank you for your comments. I went to, and I did last year, and I went again this year, tonight, in fact, on the coldest day, to the warming center. And I thank Mr. Hansen and those folks that coordinated increasing the amount of hours that that's open and also allowing to have more amenities there. And as I went there tonight asking some of the folks that use it and also the supervisor, Megan, and this goes as a little bit of a request for folks in our city. They could use pillows, wash rags, dish rags, towels, toiletries. Last year, they had a lot more food donations given to them by a number of restaurants. And understand that that can't always be. Those folks are in business as well, but they do not have those coming in like they did. So folks that bring food, nonperishables, things like that out there. They're looking potentially for an air fryer. They're making the best out of a situation. And as all of us know, we can't end homelessness, but we can make it better. and be more understanding and helpful to those that are going through that. So those are some things right there that are material things that we as citizens can do to help those folks there. And I also appreciate all the other warming centers that are available to our citizens during this extreme cold period. We need to just look out for our fellow citizens there. Again, want to, and I don't think we had a meeting between the announcement of this railroad grant that's going to help us develop an ag center, so to speak, that I'm not really giving it the fair explanation or description of, that I think is going to really matter financially to this area and our community. Mr. Springer and Mr. Hansen and other staff members and our legislators doing things that help with that. is just going to be something I think really, really important. And we're seeing those things beginning to pile up on our community in terms of economic advancements and opportunities. We see that tonight with the raise grant thing. And those are all good, good, good things. So appreciate that. And again, like the rest, appreciate all of the work our city folks are doing in tough conditions. And thank you, Mrs. Chair, for joining us tonight. Thank you, Mr. Schwartzman. Thank you, Mr. Cheeseman. Mr. Hicks. Thank you, Mayor. Just a couple quick things. There was a situation in my area, in my ward, where a tree, the top of the tree had snapped off. I don't know exactly how it happened, but I noticed it and made a quick call to Eric, and they were already taking care of it and cutting it down in less than an hour. And to me, the biggest issue was it was on the terrace. And if the top of the tree would have fallen, it would have fallen on a car. And I think that probably would have wound up being our financial problem. So I was more worried about making sure nobody was hurt and also that we didn't incur a bill that was unnecessary. So thank you, Eric, and everybody that was involved in that. And then just in general, as has been mentioned by most of the folks here tonight, working in these conditions. We have a lot of folks that work for the city, the firefighters, the police officers are out there every single day regardless of what the weather is, public works folks. So everybody that's out there that has to take care of some things in this weather, thank you so much because that is not something that most people would want to do. Thank you, Mr. Hicks. Yeah, I really appreciate Mr. Cheeseman's update on the warming shelter and the needs there. I think that's a real lift that this council over several years have continued to invest in with community partners. And the more attention we can pay to that, the more we can support that, as well as other humane efforts, the more the merrier. It really does express and indicate and is a manifestation of this community that Reverend Jowers speaks of. We need to recognize everyone who lives within our city is a member of our community, and we need to treat them with utmost respect, no matter their situation. I also, more generally, it's so cold, and we knew this is the coldest period of the year, climatologically. We need to know our neighbors. We need to check on them. If you haven't seen your neighbor in a while, knock on their door, see how they're doing, if they need water, if they need toiletries. if they have heat, you know, the simple things like that can go a long way to ensure that we all feel safe and we feel part of a larger community. So I encourage people to do that. We can each do that in our own neighborhoods. And that should, with that, I think we move forward. Hopefully I hear next week will be a little warmer. And so this is kind of the lull maybe for the year and we can get through it together and hopefully Thank you for all the city staff who worked tirelessly in this extreme cold as well, as has been mentioned. So with that, I'll call for an adjournment of the meeting. Thank you, Ms. Dennis. Mr. Miller, all those in favor say aye. Aye. Anyone opposed? We are adjourned. Be safe.