Hello, everyone. Welcome. Apologize for interrupting your conversations. Sounds like there's a lot going on out there. It is July 7th. We're here for the City Council meeting 2025. Ms. Benowitz, can you call the roll, please? Council Member Hicks? Here. Hunnigan? Here. Miller? Here. White? Present. Achera? Saul? Yes. Cheeseman? Here. Mayor Schwartzman? Here. Seven are present. Your Honor? Okay, we'll do the Pledge of Allegiance followed by an invocation. Mr. Hanson, our next agenda item is the audit presentation. I'll turn it over to you, please. Yeah, thank you, Your Honor. I will turn it over to Ms. O'Hearn and she can introduce our auditor and give a little background and get things underway. Thank you. Hi, it is the end of audit season. So we do have Sebastian Dombrowski here from Baker Tilly. He does our audit. Baker Tilly has done our audit for multiple years. I do also want to thank him. I want to thank Michael and the rest of their team. I do want to thank Denise Hensley, who is our staff accountant, who does a majority of the audit. She organizes all of our departments and all of the various items that they provide for the audit, and she does a fantastic job. I'll turn it over to Sebastian. Thanks, Jen. Hi, everyone. Good to be here. Thanks for having me. My name is Sebastian Dabrowski. I'm a senior audit supervisor with Baker Tilly. Michael Malott, the principal on the engagement who has presented in the past, was unfortunately not able to make it. But I will be going over the December 31, 2024 audit results. Before I do, like Jen said, I do want to also thank the finance department, Jen and her team, Bobby, Denise, Sharon, and Tanya. I mean, they can go on and on. Everyone does a tremendous job of getting everything ready for the audit. We come out, we ask for a lot of supporting documentation requests. We ask a lot of questions and they answer all of that on top of their day-to-day job responsibilities. And it's a huge lift and we wouldn't be able to issue the audit on time if it wasn't for all their help and preparation. So it was greatly appreciated. So I'm going to go over the several reports that we issued. I'm not going to go too deep into the numbers, but just kind of give you a brief overview of what they are and what the results were. So I'll start with the reporting and insights from the 2024 audit letter. So all the other reports that we issue, those are based on the city's information that we provided opinion on. This letter is a direct communication from us as your auditors to you, the governing body. It outlines the scope of the audit, your responsibilities as the governing body, our responsibilities as the auditors. If there were any key financial statement findings or internal control findings, those will be outlined in this letter as well. So with internal controls, we come out, we take a look at your key transaction cycles, your accounts payable, payroll. financial reporting, utilities, and we take a look to see if there's any operational risks that we might want to apply additional audit procedures to. And if we had any recommendations, those would be outlined in here. We did not have any findings. Your internal controls are operating appropriately right now. Also in this letter is a link to our website with some articles, trainings, videos, some resources for governing bodies, kind of taking a look at what's coming down the pipeline and future accounting standards. And then also I just want to reiterate too that Although we work with the finance department on a day-to-day basis when we do the audit, we are ultimately engaged by you to complete the audit. We report to you, so we want to be a resource to you. If you have any questions, not just here tonight, but in the future, please don't hesitate to reach out to us. We want to be a resource for you, so we look forward to hearing from you. Then I'll just go over real briefly the main report, the annual comprehensive financial report that outlines the city's financial position for the year end. It's a really beefy report, but at the beginning of the report is a summarization with the transmittal letter and the management's discussion analysis. I highly recommend reading through the management's discussion analysis. It gives you a high-level overview of what went on during the year in a narrative format with comparison to the prior year. It's kind of the Cliff Notes version of the ACFR. And then later on, you've got your basic financial statements and our opinion letter. So our opinion letter, it's a three-page opinion. It's an unqualified or unmodified opinion, so that's the highest level of assurance that we can provide on your financial information. It means anybody can pick up your report and rely on the information within as they assess the city's finances and operations. And then later on in the report, you've got detailed notes of the financials that give you the specifics of what went on during the year. And then in the back, you've got budgetary comparison schedules to actual expenditure spend. And at the very back, you have statistical information. So it's long-term trend data over 10 years. It's both financial and demographic. So your report starts high level at the front, and then as you kind of move throughout, it gets more detailed. And then we do submit a version of this with the Illinois Comptroller. It's very standardized in their own standardized format that goes into their repository. No issues there. Outside of the ACVIR, we do do a audit over your federal expenditures, your federal grant spend. That's a single audit or a uniform guidance audit. So this past fiscal year, we audited the community development block grants. And that's not just us looking at compliance over how those monies were spent, but we also look at the internal controls over the program to ensure compliance. And there were no issues there. So a clean, unmodified opinion on your federal grants. And then the last small report that we issue was on your TIF, your tax increment financing district expenditures. That was TIF four, also a clean opinion there, no issues. So clean opinion all around. Those were my prepared remarks, but I'm happy to answer any questions that you have. Sir, you provided us some slides, but this is just from the city. Yeah, those are, I'm sorry. Those are some slides I prepared just to kind of give you a general idea of just kind of the higher points. We're not going to go over those slide by slide tonight then. We can if you would like to. Okay, no, I just, I was just curious. Okay. One thing that wasn't answered by the audit, because it's not in the audit, is our financials related to pension funds. And one of the slides here is important to give relevance. So I would, you know, at some point, obviously let others deliberate, but if that might be one slide we can highlight and give attention to after that. Yeah, absolutely. So the funding status on your pension, so your IMRF, your police pension, your fire pension. Those net pension liabilities did decrease slightly from the prior year. It was a nominal decrease. A lot of that has to do with the market performance. So you've got your total pension liability, which is based on like your headcount, your years of service, the rate, stuff like that. And then you would look at comparing that to your plan's fiduciary net position, which is basically all the assets in that pension. And a lot of that is driven by the market performance. So if you have a year where the market is just down slightly, you'll see a decrease in your net pension liability. It fluctuates. In the back of the annual comprehensive financial report, there's a required supplementary information schedule that gives you 10 years' worth of the pension trend. And you'll see, like, the dips and valleys on it. Some years it might even go up to a full net pension asset if you have a really tremendous market performance that year. But then likely, as we kind of see how the market reacts, sometimes that will then dip back down into a net pension liability. The year-to-year fluctuations on that are kind of a little bit hard to really kind of dive into and analyze. You kind of want to look at the full 10-year trend of that. And so with the city, with the fund balances, kind of then additional contributions into the pensions, you have a really good healthy pension situation right now with the funds. So, yeah, but I'm happy to kind of answer more questions on that or provide more information. I can email you. as well if you have any kind of specifics on that. Anyone have any questions? I have a couple questions. How is Galesburg doing in relationship to cities of comparable size in the state of Illinois? A Moline, a Quincy, and so forth. How are we doing? Yeah, so I don't have, you know, the full numbers kind of compare right now to other municipalities. But, you know, balanced budget, healthy fund balances, you know, your unassigned fund balances right now are at the $10 million, which is the full discretionary spend that the city might want to allocate. Going kind of back to your single audit, why it's important to get that clean opinion, that unmodified opinion, is because with the ARPA money now kind of going away, that was kind of like a catch-all for everybody to kind of have that funding. Going forward, it's just gonna be really important to have those clean opinions on your single audit so that you can kind of get those quick approvals for additional grants going forward. They are competitive grants now that with the ARPA funding going away, but the city has been doing a really great job on getting the clean opinions. It's a low risk entity from that standpoint for a federal program standpoint. So based on that information, I think the city is in a good spot. And my second question is we are ending this year with a surplus. Am I correct? Yes. So your total net position, I believe, increased $8 million from the prior year. That includes all of your entity-wide activities, all of your long-term debt, your capital assets. On the fund level, you did have a slight decrease in the year of your total ending fund balance. I think it was a decrease, I want to say maybe like $3 million. I don't wanna give you the wrong number. Yep, yeah, so it was a little over 3 million in decrease. But healthy still ending balances in total. So we have a surplus of, if I would talk to my citizens of Gilbert, we have a surplus of what? So you're ending fund balances. YOUR TOTAL ENDING IN THAT POSITION WAS 80 MILLION, 80 SOME MILLION, AND YOUR TOTAL ENDING FUND BALANCE IS... 54 MILLION. WELL, AND ONE THING I'LL JUST CUT IN AND ADD TO THAT. A LOT OF THIS, AS HE MENTIONED, A LOT OF THIS INCLUDES ALL OF OUR FUNDS. And each fund is slightly different. For instance, if you take the general fund, that is where the bulk of our operating expenses come from, along with our water fund. But if you look at the general fund this year, what happens is, and the council approves this policy every year, we have a financial policy that requires that we have 30% of budgeted expenditures available as an unassigned fund balance, meaning it's free and clear, we can use it for whatever we want out of that general fund. And that's a little over 10 million, something like that. So what happened was at the end of this year with the general fund, we did have a surplus in the general fund. And part of that policy is that if we do have an excess over that 30%, so a little over that 10 million, any excess goes to additional funding for our public safety pensions first, then it goes to our replacement funds like our vehicle computer building replacement funds if we need to move money into there. And then the third bucket it'll go into is our planning for any future capital projects or other things we wanna do. So we did move, transfer that excess money out of our general fund and put it into like our public safety pensions, our replacement contributions and planning this year. So we were able to fund that and then still keep that 10 million unassigned fund balance. So that's why in those slides I gave you, We have just over a million dollar deficit in our general fund, but that's because we did well and we had that surplus that we were able to move over to other buckets, if that makes sense. My final question is, what is Galesburg's greatest strength and what is its greatest weakness when it comes to finances? That's a very hard question to answer on the strengths. I think with the strengths, I mean, you have a fabulous finance department team that really does a great job of monitoring all of your grant spend, your revenue sources, your expenditures. Typically, you would see if you have an excess expenditure over budget, that'd be disclosing the notes in your financials. But they do a really good job of looking at all of that. No weaknesses that I can think of right now as far as... looking directly into the numbers. But yeah, positives, you have a great finance team that's looking at everything. And it just goes to show to you with no material weaknesses or significant deficiencies in your finance department. A lot of places of this size, they don't have that. So a lot of places will have material weaknesses and significant deficiencies, segregation of duty issues, stuff like that. But you have a really well-run ship here. So we are financially sound. Give us a grade. Like, I'm not quite sure what you're asking about. Well, I'm a teacher. You know, we just kind of opine on the numbers. We don't really kind of get to the management decisions of stuff like that. So I don't want to give you a grade in comparison to other places. But you have fund balances, surpluses, good net position. And then going to Jen's point too, on page 20 with the fund balance classifications, just kind of add out a little bit color to that. So you have the unassigned that she had mentioned, but then you have the restricted, committed, and the assigned. So when you look at the restricted fund balances, that's all coming from outside sources. So that's coming from state statutes, laws, granting agencies, they'll restrict those funds specifically for those purposes. The committed portion is going to come from the governing body. And then the assigned is going to be from your finance department, kind of looking at it and kind of picking out the projects to allocate to. But having that 10 million unassigned balance in the general fund, that puts you in a good spot, too, in comparison to prior years. And to my knowledge, I've been here for a while. I mean, we've had unmodified audits for a decade or more in a row. And you also get the Certificate of Achievement for Financial Reporting from GFOA. That's also been consistent year to year. And you didn't explicitly say it, but that helps our credit rating. which also assists in us getting grants and getting good interest rates. Okay, anyone else? Thank you, folks. Thank you for your audit and your work. I appreciate it. Thank you so much. If you have any future questions, just feel free to reach out to us. Thank you. Yes, one thing that wasn't explicitly mentioned. It's fine, but we just wanted the pension status. And what I see on one of the slides is I'm just reading from the slides. The pension fund status, IMRF, it decreased from 97.7 to 96.4 solvency. And then police pension, though, increased from 50.2 to 53.2, which is a 3% increase, which is significant, I would say, historically. And then the fire pension increased from 50.2 to 51.8. So that's about a 1.6% increase. So, I mean, a lot of that may have to do with, you know, the vicissitudes of the market. and such but it also i think is a um a function of the this council's um commitment to making sure additional above your fund balance policy of the additional contributions yeah absolutely and that bodes well for our future solvency moving forward so it's it's we're we're paying now for future uh good times in galesburg okay thank you sir thank you Okay, next item tonight is the approval of the minutes from the June 16th, 2025 meeting. I need a motion and a second. I heard Mr. Miller and Mr. White. Any questions about those minutes? Seeing none, I call for a vote on those minutes. Hicks, yes. Hunnigan, yes. Miller, yes. White, yes. Saul, yes. Cheeseman, yes. Sixth vote, yes, Your Honor. Thank you. Next, we move to public comment. If you're here for public comment, please step forward. State your name. You have three minutes to address the dais. We have someone coming from the fourth row, or third row, I guess it is. Thank you. Hello, Mr. Mayor. My name is Angie Hillier. I live in Knoxville. I don't live in Galesburg. However, I support Galesburg, and I support the fire department of Galesburg. My father was Bill Munson, who did a lot of support for this fire department. I know that you guys are voting tonight to demolish the Maple Street fire station. I understand it's an old building from 1907. It was originally used when they had horse-drawn carriages. Don't know if you were aware of that. Don't know if there's anything that anybody would want to do to help try and save it, but I understand if you can't. I do congratulate you that you guys had a surplus. I'm also on the city council for Knoxville. We also had a surplus. So good work for your team. Thank you. Thank you. Come on, Mr. Selkirk. David Selkirk, Ward 5, and Chairman of the City Golf Commission. Tonight, I want to talk about two things, but really the one thing that's coming up next week is for our junior golf. We are in the Iowa section, even though it's Galesburg, Illinois. And the Iowa section, our two pros from Lake Bracken and Bunker Links, they started three years ago to get something involved with our juniors over here. Iowa has... over 100 events during the summer that juniors can play in. And they also have a point system. The point system is not awarded to every tournament, but our tournament is coming the 16th and 17th next week. It is a point system, so therefore, we're going to have something in the neighborhood of 115 to 120-some youngsters playing. They'll play the first day at Lake Bracken, I mean, excuse me, at Bunker Links, and then the second day they go out to Lake Bracken and play. And with that being said, they come from all over. I think there's some of them even coming from Missouri, from Kansas City and that. So I went to a couple of the motels that are close to bunkers, and they're going to work with us with a special pricing form, and that'll help out too. But they'll come in probably a day or two early to play both courses, so it's going to be extra revenue for us. If you get a chance, just come out and sit around number 12 or something, or just stand around the clubhouse. The mayor has been there in Washington before. And it's really something to see because they start out about seven years old and they go up to 18 years old. So that is for that. And then, how am I doing here, Mayor? The other thing- You still got a green light. Hmm? You still got a green light. Okay. The other thing I'd like to give some recognition And then I'll talk about their event next week or next meeting. Kathy Gibbons, she went out and got us a grant for Hook a Kid on Golf, which was in the area or has been here before. But she got that. And I went to about four of those sessions. And I want to talk about them next week because it just isn't about hitting a golf ball or whatever. And also along with that, Matt Miles, our green superintendent, did a great job that week. And so did Patrick Hankins, who works with him. So I'll talk about that at the next meeting, but thank you very much. Thank you. Anyone else here for public comment, please step forward, sir. Hello, my name is Charles Little, and I've been here about the homeless situation in Galesburg before, and we're on progress to improve the problem. Myself and two others went to Washington, D.C. for the last week, and we attended the Alliance to End Homelessness Conference in Washington, D.C. We attended as many workshops as we could so that we could learn the two-page writing of a grant, our continuum of care and how it's going to pan out with HUD's changes. And we also learned how other shelters were making changes so that they could get people off the street because we have kind of a high barrier shelter here. And they've proven that lower barrier shelters are more progressive. And we also went there and made connections. We made connections with a woman named Christine. She is, Illinois has a office of to end and prevent homelessness. And she gave me a business card for the mayor. She wants to make direct contact with us, you guys, the city, everyone, so that we can get grants written to get the problem solved around here. There's plenty of money available. They've made that clear that we just have to reach out and grab it. So I just wanted to let everybody know that we've been to Washington and back and that Galesburg really did make history sending three homeless to a crowd full of state workers, case workers, people that run shelters, but nobody there was homeless. They were all... And it was quite exciting. We met a lot of people and... We're doing real well in Illinois because a lot of states, they've made it against the law. They're arresting people instead of helping, and that's what the alliance is to help. But here in Illinois, we've got a lot going for us, and we just have to use the assets given to us, and we'll get right through this quickly. Thank you. Thank you. Anyone else here for public comment? Please state your name. Mindy Knapp. I'm with Charles. I want to mention a very important thing that this man right here, when he was down there, he's here, ladies and gentlemen, in Galesburg, and he's going to be somebody that's going to be written down in our history about a great person. He has ideas and thoughts that we should pay attention and listen to. He was down there in a meeting. How many people? There was over a thousand there. Okay. And they were writing down ideas of how to raise money and do all this stuff. This gentleman from Gettysburg, Illinois stood up and said that we used to have Hands Across America, Hands Across America, and they raised a lot of money on that, okay? He says, don't you think it's time that we redo that again, have an anniversary on it? He said the room was quiet and pins were picked up and rode away. So Hands Across America, will happen again because this gentleman right here. And it would be exciting if we can start it in Galesburg, Illinois. Really. Thank you. Anyone else? Please step forward. State your name. Hello, Council. Name's Champ Coleman. Come in here to speak about a couple different things. First off, I want to thank Steve Cheeseman for the last council meeting for speaking out about how my group, myself, was attacked by somebody that was speaking towards the community. And I just want to give the facts, actual facts of what it is. Anybody who knows me knows I'm a straight shooter. If I feel something, I'm going to say it. And what happened was unfair because Rick Smith, Diane Kroc, and Bill, they bust their ass all the time helping multiple people, homeless, everyday people in the community. They do a lot of work, and they don't get the credit that they deserve. But for them to get attacked by somebody in the community, that is completely unacceptable, and I will speak up on their behalf. I'm big enough, I can take that. When somebody says something about me, that's fine, it doesn't bother me. But when it does say something to them, when somebody says something about them, I have to speak up. And the only thing that I did say about any group, I was asked about a donation from Rick Smith. He was asking for a donation for this thing going on about taking the homeless to Washington DC. And I said, I think it's a good thing, I really do. I said, the only issue I see with anything is getting donations. And I spoke to one of the individuals that was involved. I said, the only thing a person's prior convictions in criminal history can hinder you getting donations. That's all that was said. It wasn't bashing any other group because a lot of you guys know I will work with any group. No questions asked. I don't want to be pat on the back. I do a lot of the back work, you know, behind the scenes to get this stuff done. And also I want to state Mindy here. Mindy is not part of Hope House. She does not do anything with Hope House. She comes and picks up meals just like anybody else in the community can. There's no questions asked and she takes them to the library. I know there's been multiple times that things have been said. that she works with us. She does not work with the Hope House. She does just what anybody else can, come pick a meal up and drop it off to somebody. I know we've gotten trouble from the library before about some things that were going on and it was supposed to be in the Hope House's name. It was not, and we can't have that because that would hurt us if we got something going on, because I know there was something about meals were brought like Wednesday, Thursday, throughout the week, we can't have that. And if you come get meals from us on a Monday night, the meal needs to be given out on Monday night. So that's the facts. If any of you guys have any questions, you already know you can reach out to me anytime. But thank you, Steve Cheeseman, for speaking up on that. And I expect everybody else to do the same. If somebody else gets up and blatantly lies, it needs to be addressed immediately. Thank you, Mr. Coleman. Thank you very much. Anyone else? Okay, please step forward and state your name. Carol Erickson, Ward 3. I'm also here because of some statements that Mindy Knapp made. And I think there was some confusion because she talked about a group, and some people assumed it was a group that I'm involved in, and apparently it's not. So... I was concerned about some of the things that were said about Champ and Rick and Diane. And so I went to Hope House. They stood in line with the other people. I talked to some of them and I found it to be a very interesting experience. The people appreciated their meals. They got to order as many as they wanted. Some of them shared with neighbors, friends, whoever. And I think it's a good setup. So I did talk to Champ afterwards and we had a nice conversation and learned a lot of things about each other and our groups. And I believe that Galesburg has a lot of groups that are trying to help people in need. And the main thing I would say is that I believe most of them really care and are doing the best job that they can. And I think that we should help them out. I think we should support them, encourage them, do anything we can to help them to help other people. I also think it would be really nice if we got that community center slash homeless shelter set up and going. I've repeatedly said that here. And I guess that's about it. Thanks. Thank you. Anyone else? Please state your name. Thank you. Hi, my name is Holly McDormand and I live in the Sixth Ward. As a lot of people in the community know, I had my car stolen on July 3rd, the middle of the night. But I want to thank the Gettysburg Police Department and the community of Gettysburg for all the work that they've done and they found my car within 48 hours, although not in the best shape. At least we found it, we know where it's at and we're figuring out next steps. This has not been the first time we've had property stolen with where we live at or had people go through our our car or our garage. We've had a bike stolen. That was one of my kiddos. But each time this has happened, as much as I can focus on the bad and say, you know, we need to look after this, we need to figure out what's going on. Each time this happens, I've reached out to the community as a whole, and I have gotten lots of support people that will help look for what we need, people that will say something because they saw something. And I just wanna focus on that. I wanna focus on the fact that there are people in Gettysburg that are reaching out to those that they don't know personally, but are helping each other out. While we do have to look into why this is happening, I know the Gettysburg Police Department are doing the best job that they can. And I thank them for looking into my own investigation with my car. But I just wanna let you know what the great citizens of Gettysburg are doing and have been doing. Thank you. Anyone else this evening? Thank you for those who spoke. I'll move on on our agenda. We've reached the consent agenda 2025-13. All matters listed under the consent agenda. You're looking at me funny. Everything okay? I'd like to make a motion on this, one of the items on the consent agenda. Okay, let me just, I need to read it out loud. But thank you. So all matters listed under the consent agenda are considered routine by the City Council and will be enacted by one motion. We have five items. The first is 25-2020. MFT Resolution for Safe Routes to School Project. Second is 253023. This is a demolition of the former Maple Avenue Fire Station. 255004 is FY2024 Annual Comprehensive Financial Report. 256003 is Appointment Memo. And lastly, 258012 is the approval and warrants drawn in payment of same. So let's first have a motion to discuss this. And so I need a motion in a second. Thank you, Mr. White, Mr. Cheeseman. So we are now discussing this and Mr. Miller. I would like to make a motion to table 253023, the demolition of the former Maple Avenue fire station. Okay. Yeah. Let's remove it. So we need a motion to remove it from the consent agenda first, and then we can discuss it. So just to state that briefly. I'll make a motion to remove. 25, 30, 23. So we have a second, Mr. Hicks? Yes, sir. Okay. We need to vote on that. So vote yes. If you want to remove that item, vote no to keep it in the consent agenda. Hicks, yes. Hunnigan, yes. Miller, yes. White, yes. Saul, yes. Cheeseman, yes. Sixth vote, yes, Your Honor. Okay. Now, should we vote on the remainder? Yes. So we have a motion on the consent agenda, and we had a second. And we've removed that one item, so we still have four items in the consent agenda. Any discussion of any of those four items? Seeing none, I call for a vote on those four items. Hicks, yes. Hunnigan, yes. Miller, yes. White, yes. Saul, yes. Cheeseman, yes. Sixth vote, yes, Your Honor. Excellent. So now we return to 25-30-23, and we need a motion to... Table this. Well, discuss first, and then we can table it if you wish. All right, make a motion to discuss. Okay, we have a second? Second. Okay, so we have a motion and a second, and then Mr. Miller? Second. All right, I'd like to make a motion to table 253023, demolition of the former Maple Avenue Fire Station. I think that I would like to look at other options other than destroying. I went by this building tonight. As far as what I could tell structurally, it's in very good condition. I know there's possibly a couple people might be interested in doing something with it. I would like to see something done with a fire station that had horse-drawn fire equipment in it. I think it's something to talk about our history of Gillsburg. So I'd like to table this, please. Okay, there's been a motion to table. Do we have a second? Mr. Cheeseman seconds that motion. This is not really discussable. So you now vote. Vote yes to table it. Vote no to keep it on the agenda. Mr. White. It'll be through the next meeting. Okay. Vote yes to table. Vote no to keep it on the agenda tonight. Hicks, yes. Hunnigan, yes. Miller, yes. White, yes. Saul, yes. Cheeseman, yes. Sixth vote, yes, Your Honor. Thank you. And I thank Mr. Miller for taking the lead on that. I think that deserves some comments from the audience. We got several emails today as well. Okay. So we move to passages of ordinances and resolutions. We have, gosh, you can't count that high. We have nine. No, no, excuse me. We have four. We have four. Then we go to the other, the way my paper is. So that we have four to consider. to to vote on first is twenty five one zero zero nine there's an ordinance site lease agreement for national railroad hall of fame is on final reading we need a motion in a second thank you mister miller and that was mister saul thank you mister hansen please thank your honor staff is recommending approval of an ordinance authorizing a ninety nine year lease agreement with the national railroad hall of fame for a portion of colton park this agreement grants The Hall of Fame, a lease of approximately 25,066 square feet of city property, the location of which is depicted in the attached aerial, at the cost of $1 for the entire term, with the exclusive purpose of constructing and operating a museum. The lease stipulates that if the Hall of Fame will be responsible for all maintenance, utilities, insurance, and taxes, then the land will revert to the city if it ceases to be used as a museum. There's no direct budget impact. Staff is recommending approval. Thank you, Mr. Hanson. Any questions about this item? Seeing none, I ask for a vote on 251009. Hicks, yes. Hunnigan, yes. Miller, yes. White, yes. Saul, yes. Cheeseman, yes. Sixth vote, yes, Your Honor. And I will be looking, thank you, I'll be looking for that penny in the budget next year. Second, 251010. conveyance of strip of land south of 40 East Simmons Street to Galesburg Public Library. This is also on final reading. We need a motion and a second. Thank you, Mr. Miller. Thank you, Mr. White. Mr. Hanson. Thank you, Your Honor. Staff is recommending approval of an ordinance authorizing the conveyance of a 610 square foot strip of city-owned land to the Galesburg Public Library Board of Trustees to resolve a property encroachment issue. A recent survey revealed that approximately one and a half feet of the southern portion of the former library building at 40 East Simmons Street sits on the adjacent city-owned parking lot. To rectify this, the city proposes conveying the small impacted strip of land, which is no longer deemed necessary for municipal purposes, to the public library, which will allow them to move forward with the future of the building. Happy to answer any additional questions. Thank you, Mr. Hanson. Any questions on this item? Seeing none, I call for a vote on 25-10-10. Hicks, yes. Hunnigan, yes. Miller, yes. White, yes. Saul, yes. Cheeseman, yes. Sixth vote, yes, Your Honor. Thank you. Next, we have 25, 10, 12. This is on first reading, amending provisions. Excuse me, Peter. I do have one question on the library. Is there anyone interested in the old library building? Do we have any? It's not our responsibility. I know it's not our property, but is there any interest in the building itself? I haven't received any updates recently. That's all I want to know. Okay, thank you. Ordinance 25-10-12. This is on first reading amending provisions for solar energy systems. We don't need a motion. Mr. Hanson, anything to add at this time? No, I'll just give a brief synopsis and happy to answer any questions. The Planning and Zoning Commission did recommend approval of an ordinance amendment to Chapter 152 of the Galesburg Development Ordinance relating to the regulation and development of solar energy systems within the city limits. Staff concur with the recommendations. This amendment will regulate solar energy systems within city limits by categorizing solar systems within private solar energy systems and solar carports permitted in all zoning districts as accessory uses, commercial and community solar energy systems requiring special use approval in agriculture, institutional, office, business, and industrial. districts and agrovoltaic systems restricted to agriculture districts only. It also establishes comprehensive regulations including permitting design operation glare control, concealed wiring, and maintenance standards. Furthermore, specific standards are set for private systems regarding height limits, setbacks, and placement while commercial community systems face more stringent requirements such as site plan review, landscaping plans, decommissioning plans, and liability insurance. Best practices were incorporated with the goal of promoting solar development while protecting public safety and neighborhood compatibility. The other, I think, important component, I'm happy to also defer to Mr. Gugliana, ultimately gives council more oversight through the process. It's not intended to prevent these from happening, but rather just to make sure that they're compatible with the appropriate zoning within the area and that we have proper oversight to ensure that they are Not only constructed and maintained, but obviously decommissioned properly. Happy to answer any additional questions or Mr. Gugliotta can as well. Thank you. Currently, this will come back on the 21st? Correct. The goal is to bring this back for final approval on the 21st. Any questions, Mr. Cheeseman? Not a question. I just appreciate the thorough work from Mr. Hanson, Mr. Gugliotta, and staff on this, trying to be as thorough as possible without in any way, shape, or form... creating an ideal or whatever that we're not for solar energy. We certainly want that, but we need to have some mechanisms in place to make sure that all these kinds of things are protected and looked after. So I appreciate all your work with this. Thank you. I think you came ahead of schedule several, maybe even a month ahead of schedule on this. So good work. Yeah, I'll give credit to to Mr. Gugat and his staff, obviously did a fair amount of research on other communities, looked at their existing ordinances, but also tried to make adaptations and obviously created the opportunity. I know you've received a few emails about this. You know, for those outlier properties that don't exactly fit, there is a variance process which council can undertake and give due consideration as long as we're consistent. So I think it incorporates the vast majority of what we wish to accomplish and should give us better oversight on future projects. And there still remains a lot of interest in these. We got a call again last week of someone that was at least exploring the that's also immediately adjacent to residential. So I think to the extent we can get this approved and put these measures in places to everybody's advantage. Thank you, Mr. Hanson. Mr. White. As probably somebody knows, I've had a couple reservations about this. I mean, I don't know a great of a lot about solar, but I know a 10 foot by 10 foot is 100 square feet. And I still am concerned about what a 10 foot by 10 foot, 100 square foot panel on the ground would be able to accomplish or be able to power. But I do have a problem with that. But I hope somebody can look into that and see if that makes sense to be that small if it's on the ground without having to go through the variance protocol in order to ask somebody, can I get a bigger solar panel than a 10 foot by 10 foot. Okay, thank you. Anyone else? Okay, and obviously all the council and the community, this is why we have two weeks. People should look at this, give us feedback, get input. I'm going to be seeking input from folks I know in the industry as well to see how this compares to other communities. But I really do appreciate the work that the cities did and how quickly they were able to pull this together. Okay, next item is related, 25-1013. This is amending provisions to wind energy systems. Mr. Hanson. Thanks, Your Honor. If Council will allow, it's essentially the same paragraph, only wind instead of solar. I can be happy to read through it, but in the absence of time, the goals are the same. It's placing the same types of regulations and control on wind systems within city limits as we are. Obviously, these are less prominent inside city limits because of the acreage required. But in the community I came from, there were either two or three towers actually inside of city limits. And so it's prudent that we move forward with this measure as well. Happy to answer any additional questions. Excellent. Anyone? Okay. We'll bring that back in two weeks. We're into bids, petitions, and communications. We have five items there. The first is 253024. This is the sale of surplus city lots. And we need a motion and a second. Thank you, Mr. Miller. Second. Thank you, Mr. Saul. Mr. Hanson. Thank you, Your Honor. City staff offered 13 city-owned vacant properties for sale and received bids on all 13 tracks. Staff recommend accepting the bids as follows. Accepting the high bid for eight tracks. accepting the sole bid for three tracks, accepting the best bid for two tracks. Track six, Jeffrey Anderson's $100 bid is recommended over a higher bid due to his ownership of adjoining property. In track seven, Carla Johnson's $100 bid is recommended over two other identical bids as she owns nearby property. If approved, the city will collect $3,594 in revenue, which will be allocated to fund 23 property redevelopment. This action will also eliminate ongoing maintenance cost of these lots and return them to productive use. Happy to answer any questions. Thank you. Any questions about this? Very well. I'll ask for a vote on 253024. Hicks, yes. Hunnigan, yes. Miller, yes. White, yes. Saul, yes. Cheeseman, yes. Sixth vote, yes, Your Honor. Thank you. Next item is 25302425, Central Fire Station Sleeping Quarters Renovation. We need a motion and a second. So moved. Thank you, Mr. Cheeseman. Second. Thank you, Mr. Saul. Mr. Hanson. Thank you, Your Honor. Staff recommend approval of a $328,000 bid from the Valley Commercial Construction for the renovation of Central Fire Station sleeping quarters. Constructed in 1976, the station's current layout featuring an open sleeping area, communal shower, and open dressing and lavatory area does not provide adequate privacy and is not suitable for co-ed utilization. The renovation, anticipated to begin in July and conclude by November 2025, will create separate bunk rooms, a renovated locker room with privacy curtains for changing, and three private shower rooms, each with a single-stall shower, toilet, and sink. The low-end best bid, which includes a $25,000 contingency, was chosen from six proposals, and there are sufficient funds budgeted in the Community Improvement Infrastructure Fund to complete the work. Happy to answer any additional questions. Thank you, Mr. Hanson. Any questions about this item? Mr. Hunnigan. Tell us about the shower and bed facilities at our fire department, if you can. Well, I think I explained it on the radio today. The beds are the same age as I am. And I'm old. A lot of gray, right? Other than some work that has basically been done by department staff, there hasn't been any renovations in nearly 49 years. Also, which we've talked about before and I'm proud to talk about, we have our, I think, first female firefighter who is a legacy of one of our former battalion chiefs who works at Central Station some time. Currently, only the Fremont Street Station has a separate quarter for someone of the opposite sex. So this allows us to create a better environment, not only for her, but for future firefighters and also just some much needed updates to the facility. They spend a lot of time there, and this is essentially their home away from home for two, three, four days a week sometimes, and giving them this environment is, from my estimation, long overdue. Thank you for that expanded thought and comments. I'll ask for a vote on 25-30-25. Hicks, yes. Hunnigan, yes. Miller, yes. White, yes. Saul, yes. Cheeseman, yes. Sixth vote, yes, Your Honor. Thank you. Next item, 253026, the purchase of a dump truck body. Need a motion. Thank you, Mr. Saul, Mr. Cheeseman, and Mr. Hanson. Thank you, Your Honor. Staff is recommending approval of the purchase of a dump truck body from... PAFCO truck bodies incorporated for 16,983.25. In May of 2025, the Water Division purchased a 2025 Ram 3500 cab chassis. As part of the scheduled vehicle replacements, the dump truck body will be built and installed onto the new cab chassis and be ready for use by October of this year. Two bids were submitted for the dump truck body. With PAFCO, Truck Bodies Incorporated submitted the low and best bid. There are sufficient funds budgeted in the water fund for this acquisition. Happy to answer any questions. Thank you. Any questions for this item? Call for vote on 25-30-26. Hicks, yes. Hunnigan, yes. Miller, yes. White, yes. Saul, yes. Cheeseman, yes. Sixth vote, yes, Your Honor. Next item is 253027, the purchase of a service truck body. Need a motion and a second? Thank you, Mr. Miller. Thank you, Mr. Saul. Mr. Hanson. Thank you, Your Honor. Staff is recommending approval of the purchase of a service truck body from Drake Scuggs Equipment for $67,220. In May of 2025, the Water Division purchased a 2025 Ram 5500 cab chassis as part of the scheduled vehicle replacements. The service truck body will be built and installed onto the new cab chassis and ready for use by the end of 2025. Drake Scuggs Equipment submitted the sole bid for this purchase, which meets all requirements There are sufficient funds budgeted in the water fund for this purchase. Happy to answer any questions. Thank you. Any questions? Seeing none, I call the vote. 25, 30, 27. Hicks, yes. Hunnigan, yes. Miller, yes. White, yes. Saul, yes. Cheeseman, yes. Six foot, yes, Your Honor. And last item, 25, 30, 28, intermittent resurfacing. In a motion in a second. Thank you, Mr. White. Thank you, Mr. Miller. Mr. Hanson. Thank you, Your Honor. Staff is recommending approval of the bid of $789,693.45 from Gunther Construction for the 2025 Intermittent Resurfacing Project. This project, which is anticipated to begin in July, involves milling and resurfacing deteriorated asphalt, replacing damaged curb and upgrading sidewalks. and ramps on Lincoln Park Drive, Locust Street, Knox Street, and Chambers Street. The bid was the lower of the two received and falls within the estimated budget. There are sufficient funds available in the Motor Fuel Tax Fund to complete the work. Thank you. Any questions about this item? Seeing none, I call for a vote on 25-30-28. Hicks, yes. Hunnigan, yes. Miller, yes. White, yes. Saul, yes. Cheeseman, yes. Sixth vote, yes, Your Honor. Thank you. City Manager Report, anything to add, Mr. Hanson? Yeah, just a couple of things real quick. I want to thank Ms. O'Hearn and her team for the outstanding work that they do. The audit representative was not incorrect by stating Certainly one of our greatest strengths is our excellent staff and to have unqualified opinions with no issues is a testament to their excellent work, her excellent oversight, and I'm really proud of what they've accomplished. She sent me a report the other day and the point that was made tonight about the single audit and being clean and part of this is a little skewed because of the recent build grant that was received. But the city currently has received and is actively implementing over $42 million in grant funds that they manage. And to do that with the team, with the departments, do that efficiently and effectively and make it through the audit process is no small feat. And I'm proud to call them colleagues. They do great work and they are definitely a strength of our city. Also want to give kudos not only because of just the temperatures outside, but events that occurred over the 4th do not occur without some folks having to work. And always want to recognize them for their excellent efforts. Obviously, public safety works year-round, but... to do things like Big Bang Boom and some of the other events that went on. Railroad Days, the weekend prior, takes a number of staff to come in on overtime. And yes, they get paid, but they have lives and families too. And I just want to recognize all the folks, especially in the maintenance staff, that put in a lot of extra hours the last two weeks so that many folks in the community could enjoy the things that we got to enjoy by the various events. So thank them for that, and I hope you will as well when you see them. I'd be happy to answer any additional questions. Thank you, Mr. Hansen. I think it's a note, probably didn't meet this woman, but the mayor of North Muskegon, Michigan, came here on the train and spent the weekend with us in railroad days with her husband and her nephew, and they had a blast. They had a great time. So we are recruiting other mayors around the country to come and spend their weekends with us. And that was just fabulous to get that feedback. She was very excited to be here. First time venturing in Galesburg, actually. Any questions for Mr. Hanson and his report? Oh, Mr. Hannigan, sorry. Would you give us a grade? SOR finances in this city. Absolutely. A plus. That's an easy one. Thank you. Yes. Okay. We move on to miscellaneous business. Two items. The first is 254047. This is hanger lease. And we need a motion and a second. Thank you, Mr. Hicks. Mr. Miller, Mr. Hanson. Thank you, Your Honor. Staff is recommending approval of a land lease agreement for private hangars at the Galesburg Regional Airport, now the... Harold W. Timmons Regional Airport. Driven by growing interest from airport users, the standardized agreement developed with the Airport Advisory Commission and incorporating best practices from similar airports will streamline future approvals and ensure consistent terms. Key provisions include a 30-year lease term with two 15-year extensions, annual ground rent of $25 per square foot adjusted for inflation, and the eventual transfer of hangar ownership to the city at lease end. Leasees will be responsible for building permanent steel approved by city staff, maintaining improvements, carrying insurance and paying associated taxes with the no construction costs occurred by the city. Approval of this item establishes the lease template and individual lease agreements will be brought to the city council review and approval moving forward. Happy to answer any questions. Thank you. Mr. Hicks. Just a few comments. There's five of the folks on the Airport Advisory Commission here. Our chairman is here in the front row. I'd like to thank Dan for all your work on drafting and working on the legal aspect of it. And Aaron did a good amount of work on this as the airport manager and also as a member of the advisory council or commission, whatever. So we've been working on this for over a year at least, two years. Yeah, so this is one of the reasons that I suggested, Mary, if you remember a long time ago in our strategic plan of performing this airport commission is because the economic development impact, this answers one of those questions, and the private hangars are definitely a need, and this will allow folks that need that space to create it, and it will provide economic development for our community. So thank everyone that serves on the commission and everybody that supports this. Thank you. Any other questions, comments? Mr. Cheeseman. I think that the dividends and the opportunities that the Harold Timmons Airport is now offering and will offer in the future, the sky's the limit. I think that there's going to be some really, really great things come out of our airport here down the line and another one of these nice things, just not nice, tremendous things that have been done here in the last number of years by this group and our city as we look to our future and continue to make our town better. Thank you. Okay, I'll ask for a vote on 254047. Oh, Mr. White, you had something to say? I'm sorry. I just wanted to say that I had an opportunity to fly in and out of the airport as a young man in the military, and I hope that I'll get a chance to fly in and out before I get 95 years old again. You've got about 30 years left, right? Okay, I'll call for a vote. 254047. Vote yes to approve the hangar lease. Hicks, yes. Hunnigan, yes. Miller, yes. White, yes. Saul, yes. Cheeseman, yes. Sixth vote, yes, Your Honor. Thank you. 254048 is an IDOT intergovernmental maintenance agreement. Motion and a second is required. So moved. Thank you, Mr. Saul. Second. Thank you, Mr. White. Mr. Hanson. Thank you, Your Honor. Staff is recommending approval of a new 10-year intergovernmental agreement with the state of Illinois for routine maintenance of designated state routes within Galesburg city limits. This agreement continues a long-standing practice dating back to 1935, where the city provides a higher level of service to its citizens by performing tasks such as pavement striping, snow removal, pothole repair, cracked ceiling sweeping, and litter pickup, the city will receive an annual lump sum compensation adjusted for inflation by IDOT based on lane miles and average daily traffic with an estimated total of $989,884 over the agreement's duration. The city's responsibility under the terms of this agreement are limited to routine maintenance with the state retaining responsibility for construction and major repair projects. State routes to be maintained include Henderson Street, Main Street, parts of Main Street, Grand Avenue, and Linwood Road. I just will add because this is certainly something that we get a fair amount. If you extrapolate the math, it's about $85,000 a year is what we get for all of those roads for snow removal and routine maintenance. While we're happy to partner with the state, we recognize that those roads are in need of repair and still would encourage council to work with state legislators and IDOT to bring additional dollars our way because this is not intended to fix every problem, but rather just keep things going and obviously get the snow removed and salted. And I just want to make sure that that's clear relative to what we're actually doing this evening. Happy to answer any additional questions. Mr. Miller. Any update on Grand Avenue? Is someday close enough? It's in the program, right, Mr. Gavin? 2026, 2027, it won't happen this year. Has there been any engineering work done yet on that project? Yeah, they started the phase one engineering work a little over a year ago. So they're making progress, which is good. More than we could say a couple of years ago. Okay. Anything else? Call for a vote on 254048. Hicks, yes. Hunnigan, yes. Miller, yes. White, yes. Saul, yes. Cheeseman, yes. Sixth vote, yes, Your Honor. Thank you. I need a motion to sit as a town board. I heard Mr. Saul and Mr. Miller. All those in favor say aye. Aye. All those opposed say nay. We are sitting as a town board. We have one item under town business, the bills, 259016. We need a motion for the bills. Thank you, Mr. Miller. Thank you, Mr. White. Any questions about the bills this evening? Seeing none, I call for approval of the bills, 259016. Hicks, yes. Hunnigan, yes. Miller, yes. White, yes. Saul, yes. Cheeseman, yes. Sixth vote, yes, Your Honor. Thank you. We need to resume as a city council. Thank you, Mr. Saul. Thank you, Mr. Miller. All those in favor of sitting as a city council, say aye. Aye. Anyone opposed? We are sitting as a city council. We move to closing comments. Who wants to lead off? Mr. White? Thank you. Sorry. As I looked at the, opened up my page this morning today, I see that thanks, that e-alerts and e-notified is on the front at the bottom, and it's very easy to get to. I keep telling people, get involved, find out the information that's going on. The city council, I mean, city has put it in a place where everybody can see it. Please get notified and find out what's going on in the city. and get involved, I see a new face today. And I hope they stay involved, come again. And I wanna say congratulations to my colleague. She's a granny. She's not here, I hope she's listening. Congratulations again. It's great to hear that the city is doing financially very good. I don't know what A, B, A plus, but I think we're doing very good. and keep up the good work, everybody that's doing the work. So I appreciate it, thank you. Mr. Sol. Okay, first off, I hope the good citizens of the city of Galesburg have gotten the fireworks out of their system for the sake of our service people who have PTSD and for all the dogs in my neighborhood. And second, I would like to wish my wife a happy birthday. Tomorrow is her 56th birthday. So happy birthday, honey. She don't care. She don't care. Thank you. Happy birthday, Mr. Cheeseman. A number of things here, Mr. Mayor, and in no particular order, some public service announcements and also some kudos, as we said, and what you just said there, Mr. Saul, is very important to be said, and certainly some of the fireworks that are going off at 2 o'clock in the morning. I hope those folks reconsider some of that. I held the town hall meeting just after our last city council meeting. I thought it was... A lot of folks attended, a lot of questions and information. Questions were answered, information was exchanged. I thought it was very fruitful, and I appreciate that. Some of you still continue to get, and this was something that was done before many of us were on council, letters with the city letterhead on it about entering into some kind of service agreement with the sewer and that kind of stuff. Those things are... not things that we as a city are offering. So make sure that you look at those things and you're entering an agreement there on your own with that. That's not sponsored by the city. I want to also mention that not only as a city, but as just a human being, my hearts go out and prayers go out to those folks in Texas with all that flooding and just a terrible, terrible situation. Thank you to Jen. My gosh, what a good report that is, and we're in great hands here with the financial department, and that makes so much difference. Finally, this past weekend, I attended a ceremony at the American Legion baseball game, and there's two things here to consider with our American Legion baseball program. They honored the memory and the legacy again of Jason Malden, who was a young man killed in a car accident here 11 years ago. And the American Legion Baseball Program does a great job to continue to honor his legacy and his memory. And I want to also compliment the American Legion Baseball Program. They have done a terrific job since they've come back into existence. Lots of folks have always been interested in our town. And I know they're using HT Custer Park, and that's allowing us to have one of our fields that has been redone, be seen by and used in a fruitful way by our community and by our American Legion baseball program. So two things there that are really, really important, Jason, in our Legion baseball. So my salute there goes to them. Thank you very much. Thank you, Mr. Cheeseman. Mr. Hicks? Just a couple of things, and I'll be short as always. Happy birthday to Jackie. I've known Jackie for years, and for her birthday present, Anne and I are volunteering to crew for the hot air balloon rally that's coming up that Greg's been involved with for 25 years. And that's July 25th, 26th, and 27th. So I will stay in the state of Illinois to help you out for Jackie's birthday present. It's a lot of fun. They probably need a few more crew people to help, and if you haven't, thought about that. It is a blast. One of the last times I helped, we were getting the balloon ready and the pilot said, aren't you coming? And I have no fear of heights. I mean, I've skydived, I've bungee jumped, I've parasailed in Hawaii. And he jumping in that balloon and flying over Galesburg, it was a beautiful, beautiful day. And landed at Icehouse Park right after Amtrak stopped. It was really cool. So just a recruitment tool for you, Greg. If you can help out on the balloon rally, it's a lot of fun. Thanks to the finance department. I mean, if you get an unmodified opinion on an audit, that's as good as it gets. And that is an A plus professor. So that's really good. So that's it for me. Thank you, Mr. Hicks. Mr. Honigan. Well, the first thing I'd like to do is express our condolences to Peter Schwarzman, whose father passed away, was it July 1st? Peter's father was not only a great husband, but a great father. He was a scholar. He taught at Howard University for many years in Washington, D.C. And he was also a social activist. And when he retired, he did not retire. He continued to pursue many of his causes. And again, our heart goes out to Peter this week and your father and I are about the same age. So, hit home. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Huntington. Mr. Miller. Oh, I'm not gonna be short, so. Wonderful fireworks that was put on by the radio station and all contributors to it. Very enjoyable. I think we probably got one of the best fireworks shows anywhere within 250 miles. Congratulations to Chief Legate and Kathy St. George on their appointments. I'm real happy and proud to have been a part of The works that's been done in our parks. H.T. Custer Park is in my ward. I go by it frequently. A lot of residents use it. It's very interesting to sit and see five, six, seven-year-old children in the wading pool splashing water on other kids. I don't know. I just enjoy it. So the money that we've spent on that's been money well spent. Get back to the firehouse. If I had the money, I'd like to restore it. Like I said, I went by tonight and looked at it. It's got a brick floor in it. I've never seen a building with a brick floor in it. And then to find out that originally it had horse and horse drawn fire equipment, I contacted somebody about the history of it and they thought it was about in that transition period where we went from horse and cart to motorized vehicles. Very interesting. Like I said, if I had the money, I'd look at renovating it and possibly moving there. If anybody has interest in this building, please contact our city manager, our city engineer, whoever needs to be. And then last, I wanna thank every city employee goes all the way from our city manager, all the way to our police department, fire department, street department, parks department, every department in this building. Everybody works so well together. that we get a lot accomplished and we do it in budget. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Miller. I just want to highlight the things that have been said related to the finances. I mean, it goes without saying, it's become routine at this point. We get such a high rating year after year after year, and this is impressive. And we transition to new staff in the finance department. and we've continued to have really strong external reviews and that's fantastic. And then discussions related that some of it came out today, in terms of some of the surpluses we've had over the last few years, we've been able to inject a lot of money into the pensions and try to make them more solvent. We continue to do that for another 10 or 14 years, I think, and we'll have full solvency. And that's rare and extremely rare for a city of our size and type. We've been able to put extra money into the parks that Mr. Miller mentions. We even last year put an extra couple million dollars in the streets to improve our streets because that was a priority for the community. So a lot of things have been done as a result of that good financial backing, and I think it's very important to keep that in mind. A lot of other cities, you may not know, but if you go into other cities and hear the reports, they're not so grand. As I mentioned, I got to meet the mayor of North Muskegon. She reached out to me just as a courtesy, I suppose, but I was able to pick her up, her and her husband and her nephew at our wonderful train station and take them to their hotel Friday before our great Railroad Days event. And she texted me later and said when she got home that how wonderful time she had And she hopes to be coming back. So that was great. As Mr. Hunnigan mentioned, my father did pass away last Tuesday. I have been fortunate to go to D.C. and be with him. It was tough. It's tough. I'm grieving. This is the worst death that I've witnessed in my life. Very personal. My father was... I'm not wearing a tie tonight out of honor in him. And that seems kind of contradictory, but my father, I don't know if I ever saw him in a tie. And I kind of kept my hair a little funkier than usual. And I think he would be very pleased to see that. He was, I didn't even realize this, but he had been sick for a few months. And apparently a week before his death, he actually went to the D.C. City Council meeting and delivered a prepared statement about the tax system in Washington and how it is very unfair to the people there. Kudos to him and thank you. I may not be here at the next meeting because he's having a celebration of life on August 2nd. With that, I call for closure of the meeting. A motion and a second. Thank you, Mr. Saul. Thank you, Mr. Miller. All in favor say aye. Aye.