Well, it's quiet as a mouse. We're all here for the City Council meeting, including the person who's calling. It is six o'clock on July 21st, 2025. Ms. Benowitz, can you call the roll, please? Council Member Hicks? Here. Hunnigan? Here. Miller? Here. White? Present. Achera? Here. Saul? Yes. Cheeseman? Here. Mayor Schwartzman? Here. Eight are present, Your Honor. Thank you. We'll have the... Pledge allegiance. I'll have Mr. Hunnigan lead us, and then we have invocation by Bonnie Erickson. Father, we thank you so much for your love for us. And Lord, I thank you for all of these people that are gathered here, people who care about our community, people who are willing to serve to try to make things better for everyone who lives in our area. And Lord, I seek your wisdom. And Lord, one of the issues we're facing right now is long-term waiting on roads, streets to be fixed. And Lord, give us wisdom to know how to do it quicker, faster, and with less interference with the businesses that are on those blocks that are being done. And Lord, you can give us that kind of wisdom. And Lord, I just thank you for each family that is represented here. And Lord, you know the issues that our country is facing. And you have the wisdom to know how to fix it. But each one of us has something that we can do. something that we're gifted with and we may not even realize it at the time, but help us to be willing to do whatever it is, even if it's just a smile or a handshake or a greeting somewhere, just something to make somebody's life a little bit better. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. Next item are the minutes from the July 7th, 2025 meeting. We need a motion and a second. Thank you, Mr. Saul and Mr. White. Any questions about the minutes? Seeing none, I call for a vote on the minutes from the July 7th, 2025 meeting. Hicks, yes. Hunnigan, yes. Miller, yes. White, yes. Achera abstains. Saul, yes. Cheeseman, yes. Six, yes. One, abstention, Your Honor. Thank you. We've come to public comment. If you're here for public comment, please step forward. You have three minutes to speak to the Council. Please state your name first. Thank you. Good evening. My name is Reverend Andrew Jowers, Greater Heights Worship Center, and also President of Unity in the Community Alliance. It's a blessing to be here tonight. I started out, I think, with the new council talking about good governance. And good governance is how the city runs, how its people interact, its residents interact with the government to get things done, to make this a good place, a place to raise your children and retire and just live life. And so in good governance, I think I talked about the election being participation, and then transparency. I believe this meeting would qualify as your attempt to be transparent in terms of how you conduct the people's business. And then I think tonight, accountability. And so I want to focus on the strategic plan. I think that would be my attempt to try to sort out good governance for us all. And so it's a vision for the future. And that process came from the strategic planning and goal development initiative that is called the Executive Summary for 2024. So here's the question that was posed. It said, if you left the city and the community for 10 to 15 years, what do you think or hope to see when you return? So you had this word cloud. And I'm looking at it, and I'm saying, what stands out? And so the biggest thing on the page was economic vitality, progress, growth, job creation, success. And there's some smaller things and smaller types. I don't know, but you ended up in one to three years, short-term goals, long-term goals. And so that short-term goals, there were five things listed. Three of the of the five were infrastructure. And so for economic development, economic vitality, I think you're going to have to deal with literacy. Literacy takes in growth of our nation, you know, all income, expenses and all that kind of stuff. Economic development, if people can't read and can't process information, that means they're going to be pretty much illiterate, therefore unable to hold a job, therefore unable to have income to buy things. And so we really need to focus on that. So the one thing on that one in three years was the housing study, which is good. It's a shame that our homeless folks had to camp out at the library. That's not a good look. And certainly for economic vitality, that is not a good look. Mr. Jowers, your time has elapsed. Come back for part two next meeting. I encourage anyone, I'm going to take a little liberty. I'm not going to press my luck here. I want to make an appeal to anyone out there that's listening to my voice that cares about children, cares about families, cares about poverty. That was one of the things in that eight year, four to eight years. So if you care tonight, I'm going to give you my email address. You need to reach out to me. I'm not talking. I'm not doing a whole lot of talking. I'm not doing. I got a footprint on two community colleges, Carl Sandburg and Illinois Central College. Mr. Jowers, you're pushing your luck. Andy Jowers at yahoo.com. Andy Jowers at yahoo.com. Reach out to me. We can make this city great. Thank you. Thank you. Please no clapping. Thank you. Next person. Step forward. Yes. Just come up. Yep. State your name. I'm the current owner of the property next to the fire station on Maple Avenue. And me and my wife are concerned with the tear down of the property. Our borderline of the property, which I have the paperwork here that can contest where the property line is. And we are concerned on if the council decides to tear down the building of what they have planned on putting there. And we are worried about what the property value of our house is going to be. How hard is it going to be selling? We bought the house in 2017 with the intention of it being our first home. We have currently two little kids at that time, a 16-month-old and a four-year-old. And how the layout of the house is, we are not able to really change their rooms and they are outside. Kids are the constant playing out there. The safety alone of tearing down the facility in my backyard pretty much is terrifying for my family because my safety and my kids, our property, our vehicles and everything. And then the building is also a buffer between us and the pickleball court with the constant problems of the noise. They're leaving the lights on 24-7, and we are worried that if they put another one there, my daughter's room is right next to the building. They constantly leave the lights on. They're loud screaming, drunk at night. They're until 12 o'clock, sometimes 1 o'clock, and they're constantly blocking my driveways. I've been courteous enough and asked them to move constantly, and they are, but I have had a few almost confrontations with the situation. And with everything going on, me and my wife are worried about what's going to come of this. We understand that the building is in need of repair and a lot of it. And we are more than happy to work with anybody that would love to repair the building to use our driveway to clean up the property and maintain the building. But we are more willing to have it as a buffer for our family and sanity because my kids are young and they don't sleep well all the time. And that's all I have to say. Thank you for your time. Anyone else here for public comment today, please step forward and state your name. My name is Holly McDormand and I live in the sixth ward. Bateman Park is the closest park to us without crossing a busy street. So several of my kids go there pretty much daily to get out of the house and to get some physical exercise. So we see the firehouse every day and so for an exercise I asked my kids to write down what they thought should be done with the firehouse. I told them what you guys are considering and I thought it would be nice to hear from the youth and what they thought. So I will read to you three of them that wrote down an essay about what they thought should happen. In my opinion, I think you should fix up the old firehouse next to Bateman Park and turn it into a history place for Galesburg. You could also make it into a place where people hang out and can go to the bathroom. It would be really helpful for the people who have long walks. I just wish you people would listen to others and take into account what they need. And that was from my 16 year old. And this is from my 18 year old. My opinion of the firehouse on Bateman Park. I want to have it turned into a pool. I told them that wasn't an option, but okay. And all the others. I wish you all would take this into consideration. And if you put it as a pool, I wish to make it more than the three feet deep shallow pools on all the other parks. I don't think we should add more pickleball courts. So I wish... Firehouse turned into a pool and tried all my reasoning for a pool and not a pickleball court. Could be more people like swimming and not the loud clickety clack on the pickleball courts. And then my 12 year old, who mind you loves pickleball, wants me to get into it, wants to show me what it's all about. I think they should not tear down the building and make more pickleball courts. I think that the amount we have is more than enough because there's one or two groups of people there at a time. Instead, we can make the building into something for the park, like bathrooms. I strongly think that we should get bathrooms for a number of those reasons, like for little kids that can't hold it or for adults that need to change their baby's diapers or breastfeed them. There are no bathrooms at Bateman Park. So my kids have to walk almost like a mile back home to use a bathroom, just in case anybody did not know that. But thank you for listening. And that's what some of the kids have to say. Thank you. Anyone else here for public comment? Please step forward. State your name, please. Mindy Knapp. I'm speaking on a good news first. On Cedar Street. and off abroad where there's the orchard, public orchard, the cherries are in bloom and the plums are ready to pick. We have told lots of the homeless people and a lot of people down at the library to go and pick, but I think people don't seem to have enough time on their schedule to do it, so I want to announce it here publicly because they're absolutely delicious. My daughter and I have picked some and handed them out. On another note, on behalf of our group, Charlie Little and mine, the Midwestern Humanitarian Center, we are working full throttle on lots of little things and still trying to put our organization together and help the public. And recently, I have to admit, there is several people we have been in contact with the homeless that are not able to have reading and writing skills. Okay? This is serious. I reached out to the Regional Board of Education, and one lady came out, and she's wanting to set up a foundation or something, hopefully with the library, I hope, with some kind of GED. So that would be very, very good. Yeah, there is a lot of homeless people in this town, and children that break out of school did not have education. Okay? This is a big, serious thing. And without education, we all know we're not going to succeed or step forward in life. So that is something I wanna mention. And again, as I'm up here again, housing, more housing. We need more housing for our homeless and for our society in Galesburg. Thank you, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you. Anyone else here for public comment? Please step forward, state your name. I'm Sally and I'm a wellness educator. And I've heard a lot of what we want to get done here, but I would have to say that if we don't treat our root system first, the economic system is not gonna follow. If we don't tend to our roots, we grow from the root system up, a tree does, so does the community. It doesn't grow from the top down. and neither does the country, as we can see. So I am also for dealing with the root causes of our problems here, and they are youth. We don't have anything yet to do with a community center. We don't have a Boys and Girls Club. We see the youth out on the streets all the time at night, riding their bikes around because there's nothing to do. if they don't get an education now, and we have adult literacy that needs education. If these people don't know how to write a check or keep a checkbook, where are they gonna be? So as the tree grows from the root system up and the inside out, that's where we have to put our efforts in the city. If we don't, trying to make everything look good on the outside to attract people coming in is just not gonna last. It's like putting on a big dress when you don't have money to pay for it. So I'd like for you to consider upending things from just the road systems and trying to look good on the outside and start looking at the roots of our problems here in Galesburg. Thank you. Thank you. Please step forward and state your name. Bruce Wyke from Ward 6. Sorry, I'm a little self-conscious. I'm having some dental work, minus a front tooth. So don't make me smile. I wanna just say that I think we're gonna miss an opportunity if we tear down the old firehouse. We've done that fairly often in Galesburg, take down historic buildings I believe this is one that would prove to be very beneficial. I'm thinking in my own mind, something of a museum for the fire department, something to show our respect over the decades that they've protected us and presently and in the future. Not particularly a museum, like we often think of it, where you throw stuff in and there it is, and people may or may not come. I'm thinking decoration similar to a museum using fire department, historic materials, maybe some present, and then using a building for neighborhood meetings, whatever we could come up with. I think it would be a very good use of it. I can see a mural of a fire department mural over the courts. I know it'll cost money. There's no getting around that. I did take one of the best preservationist contractors to that fire department. We did look at the building. This was... probably three years ago already. He believes it was in sound condition. He believes it could be preserved. He did not put any kind of a figure on that. So I just think it's an opportunity and it would be a shame to tear it down. Thank you. Thank you. Anyone else here for public comment? We will proceed with the meeting. Our next item is the Consent Agenda 2025-14. All items listed under the Consent Agenda are considered routine by the City Council and be enacted by one motion. I'm here to read the four items on this Consent Agenda. The first is 25-3029, rescind approval of surplus city-owned vacant real estate parcel to Carla Johnson. 25-3030 is approved sale of surplus city-owned vacant real estate parcel to Tuesday Spinks. Next is 25-2021. This is a resolution acceptance of the IHDA Home Repair and Accessibility Grant. And lastly, 25-8013 is approval and warrants drawn and payment of same. Do I have a motion for the consent agenda? Thank you, Mr. White. Second. Thank you, Mr. Cheeseman. We have a first and a second. Do we have anyone have any questions, concerns about anything on the consent agenda this evening? Seeing none, I ask the clerk to call the roll on the consent agenda. Hicks, yes. Hunnigan, yes. Miller, yes. White, yes. Echera, yes. Saul, yes. Cheeseman, yes. Seven vote yes, Your Honor. Thank you. We've reached passages of ordinances and resolutions. We have four items to vote on this evening. The first is 251012. This is an ordinance amending provisions for solar energy systems. This is on final reading. I need a motion and a second. Thank you, Mr. White. Thank you, Mr. Chair, Mr. Hansen. Thank you, Your Honor. The Planning and Zoning Commission recommended 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 this recommendation. This amendment will regulate solar energy systems within the city limits by categorizing solar systems with 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 agricultural, institutional, office, business, and industrial zoning districts, and agrovoltaic systems restricted to agriculture districts only. It also establishes comprehensive regulations 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. Staff is recommending approval of the recommended ordinance. Happy to answer any questions. Thank you, Mr. Hanson. Any questions? Mr. White? Yes, I'd like to make an amendment to the amendment. There's a section that says for ground, it's 100 square feet. I'd like to make an amendment to increase that to 200 square feet. And there's another portion that says for ground mounted. It's a height limit of 15. I'd like to move that to 12. We have a second. Mr. Hicks seconds that motion. And we are now discussing that motion that amended those two things that Mr. White has just referred to regarding the size of the ground mount and also the height. You're reducing it from 15 to 12. Is that what I heard? Okay. Any questions or comments or thoughts on that? Those things? Yes, Mr. Cheeseman. I think that's an excellent change. It's a compromise of an excellent plan that's in place that just tweaks it a little bit to make it advantageous for those folks that want to take solar energy and make it work in there to save money. And I think this is an excellent idea to do that. Thank you. Mr. Hanson. Yeah, Mayor, just to clarify as well, one staff anticipation of this reviewed have no objections to the recommended amendment to this particular ordinance. Also, it doesn't prohibit anything larger. It just requires them to go through a variance process. So for individuals within the city who may have multiple adjourning lots or, you know, out on the edges of the city have large lots, they can still exceed the 200 feet. limit as proposed, but would need to go through a variance process, which will give the Council and Planning Commission extra time to review and neighbors to have participation in the matter. So staff is recommending and agreeable to not only the ordinance, but the proposed amendments that have been put on the table. Thank you. Thank you. So I'm going to call for Mr. Hussall. You wanted to add? Yeah, please. Mr. Hanson, I've been wanting to ask a question about these solar panels after they're defunct. What do they do with them? I do not actually know what they do with the panels, but one of the purposes of this particular ordinances is to allow us to have oversight over the decommissioning of any proposed large solar or in also the case of wind. That's above my pay grade, Mr. Saul. Okay. So I'm going to ask for a vote on the amendment. first. So the amendment that Mr. White first and Mr. Hicks seconded, that's what you're voting on. So vote yes to move that amendment forward. Vote no to reject it. Hicks, yes. Hunnigan, yes. Miller, yes. White, yes. Achera, yes. Saul, yes. Cheeseman, yes. Seven vote yes, Your Honor. Thank you. Now we're back discussing the overall ordinance. I had a question related to The earlier delays that were set up, what happens to those, the moratorium? What happens to the moratorium if this passes? And also, I guess it refers to the wind as well. The moratorium was set to be a day or passage of the ordinances, so it should subside this evening. Okay, just wanted to clarify that. Anyone else have any questions about this ordinance? Seeing none, I call for vote on 25-10-12. Hicks, yes. Hunnigan, yes. Miller, yes. White, yes. Echera, yes. Saul, yes. Cheeseman, yes. Seven vote yes, Your Honor. Thank you. The next is 25-10-13. This is an ordinance amending provisions for wind energy systems. final reading. I need a motion and a second. Thank you, Mr. Miller. Thank you, Mr. Saul. Mr. Hanson. Thank you, Your Honor. The Planning and Zoning Commission recommend approval of an ordinance amendment to Chapter 152 of the Galesburg Development Ordinance relating to the regulation and development of wind energy systems within city limits. Staff concur with this recommendation. The amendment introduces new definitions, revises use permissions, and establishes regulations for both small and large wind energy systems. Small systems are permitted as accessory uses in all districts with specific standards, while large systems require special use approval in agricultural, institutional, and industrial districts with stricter requirements, including turbine density limits, increased setbacks, detailed site and decommissioning plans, and liability insurance. The goal is to ensure safe, effective, and well-sighted wind energy systems while minimizing adverse impacts to surrounding property. Happy to answer any additional questions. Thank you. Any questions? Yes, Mr. Chair. I apologize. I've had some family issues. I missed the last meeting. Can you tell me, will, therefore, any sort of the large wind energy devices, will we have to approve those, or what would be the procedure for such things being erected? I believe, and I'll defer to Mr. Gugliotta, but at a minimum... One, they would have to have at least 75 acres and then also go through the associated process to get the permit. Anything additional from staff? It would be considered special use, so it would go through planning and zoning. Okay, so staff would review and, okay, got it. Thank you. Okay, anything else? Seeing none, I call for a vote on 25-10-13. Hicks, yes. Hunnigan, yes. Miller, yes. White, yes. Achera, yes. Saul, yes. Cheeseman, yes. Seven vote yes, Your Honor. Thank you. And thanks to the city for moving forward so expediently on both of these ordinances. The next is 25-20-22. This is a resolution, a plat of dedication for Mayo Drive. We need a motion and a second. Thank you, Mr. Honigan. And Mr. Cheeseman, Mr. Hanson. Staff recommend approval of a resolution authorizing the acceptance of the right-of-way along North Seminary Street and across from Mayo Drive in accordance with the development agreement previously approved with Graham Hospital Association. The right-of-way is associated with the creation of a second entrance to the property at 2028 North Seminary Street. Aligned with Mayo Drive to improve vehicular safety and access, the developer has completed all public improvements outlined in the agreement, including the entrance and the sidewalk construction, which have been inspected and approved by city staff. With acceptance of this improvement by resolution and the plat dedication, the city will assume responsibility for ongoing maintenance and repairs. There's no budget impacts associated with the acceptance of Mayo Drive. Happy to answer any additional questions. Thank you, Mr. Hanson. Any questions on this item? Seeing none, I call for vote 25-2022. Hicks, yes. Hunnigan, yes. Miller, yes. White, yes. Achera, yes. Saul, yes. Cheeseman, yes. Seven vote yes, Your Honor. Thank you. Last item under ordinances and resolutions, another resolution 25-2023. This is the purchase of 224 South Seminary Street. We need a motion and a second. So moved. Thank you, Mr. Cheeseman. Second. Thank you, Mr. Saul. Mr. Hanson. Staff recommends approval of a resolution authorizing the purchase of property located at 224 South Seminary Street for $82,000, along with $1,400 in moving expenses and $1,000 in attorney fees for a total cost of $80,400. The property is currently owned by the Galesburg Serenity Club, which has agreed to the appraised value as the final purchase price. The seller's request for relocation and legal cost assistance is consistent with the standard practices for such acquisition. This property acquisition is a strategic component of the city's ongoing redevelopment efforts in that area. The city already owns adjacent parcels at 236, 238, and 240 South Seminary Street. Acquiring 224 South Seminary will complete the assembly of these contiguous properties, enabling comprehensive site planning and positioning in the area for future development opportunities. Funding for the purchase will be provided through the Tax Increment Financing District 4 Fund. Happy to answer any additional questions. Thank you, Ms. Hanson. Any questions about this item? The only question I have is what is the future, what's the possible future use of this property? I know we've talked about it in the past, but I just want you to refresh my memory. Sure. Obviously, this is the parcel immediately across or this area is immediately across from the existing Amtrak station. Also across the street from the what is believed to be the future side of the Railroad Hall of Fame and also neighboring adjacent to the and connected to the Children's Museum as well. This has long been on the city's radar. property acquisition plan as the report notes. We already own several parcels in that block and in that area. Could be parking, could be additional support development, but nonetheless, this was the last piece to kind of clean up that first half of the block. The parking lot right on the corner is still owned by the adjoining property owner, but the buildings themselves with this would all be owned. by the city all the way down to Penn Furniture. And then from there, the city actually owns the rest all the way to the corner. Okay, thank you. Seeing no other questions, I ask for a vote on 25-20-23. Hicks, yes. Hunnigan, yes. Miller, yes. White, yes. Achera, yes. Saul, yes. Cheeseman, yes. Seven vote yes, Your Honor. I didn't want to ask if Serenity will still exist in Galesburg after this purchase, but no one gets the joke. Anyhow, we'll move on. We're to bills, petitions, and communications, and we have two items. The first is a tabled item, 253023, the demolition of the former Maple Avenue fire station. Does anyone want to move to take this off the table? So moved. We have a motion to take it off the table. Anyone else? Seconding this? I heard Mr. Chair. And we have a first and a second. I turn it over to Mr. Hanson. Mayor, in conjunction with this item, I thought that I would, along with Mr. Guglielmo, provide some guidance to council, which you may or may choose to move forward tonight. with the decision or you may want to give it some additional discernment and then bring it back. The initial recommendation through the RFP for demolition still stands. The bid is still good through August, early August, and so that obviously is an option. A second option would be obviously the city to retain and get harder estimates on rehabilitation if we were so choose to use for a public purpose. Obviously, if we were going to have anything in there other than storage, we would have to bring it up to code. If it was going to be used for a public purpose, it would have to be ADA compliant and along with addressing all of the other items. I think clearly, I can say without hesitation that those costs would be in excess of a half a million dollars and likely closer to a million. It doesn't mean that we can't do it. It doesn't mean that we shouldn't do it. That's a perspective on what ultimately would occur. It's just giving the council facts relative to the work that's ahead in that particular property. The third option is to, that has come about and also I know council has received contact is the city sell it. That particular parcel is part of the park. So the parcel would have to be subdivided off. Also that parcel back in the early 1900s was actually deeded to the city from the school district. I believe there would likely be some additional steps that we would have to get to clean up that deed, although I'm sure the school would comply. I have no doubt that they don't want that building. But nonetheless, that's part of the process. And then it would have to be delineated relative to the neighboring property and the park and so on and so forth. And then anybody that would actually purchase that would have to be done through an RFP. The city can't just sell property directly to somebody who wants it. There has to be a process. And then, again, within a stated purpose would have to be brought up to code. Obviously, on the private side would likely be cheaper than what would happen via, you know, the government funding tax dollars being used, but nonetheless would still be substantial in cost. I'll turn it over to Mr. Gugliotta to provide any other additional specific updates relative to those processes, and then we're happy to answer any questions. Your Honor. Steve, before we start, could we get a vote on the tabling, please? Yes. So we just took it off the table, but in order to discuss it further, we should have a motion and a second. We have the motion and second. We have the motion and second. For that. We just need a vote. Oh, we didn't vote. Okay. So we need a vote on that. To take it off the table. To take it off the table. Sorry. We did it. Okay. So you're voting to take it off the table to further discuss. Please vote, and Kirk will call the roll. Hicks, yes. Hunnigan, yes. Miller, yes. White, no. Achera, yes. Saul, yes. Cheeseman, yes. Six, yes. One, no. Your Honor? And should we now move to the vote? So we need a motion to vote to further discuss. Yes. So we need that. Oh, we have to further discuss. Yes. Yeah. It's a double. Can we just talk about it or do we have to vote to talk about it? We have to, just like anything, we have to put it on the table. I mean, it's on the table. We need to vote to discuss it. So we need a motion and a second. This should have happened prior to his comments, but since we didn't make an action, it's not that big a deal. So please, I need a motion and a second to discuss further. Mr. Cheeseman and Mr. Saul. So we're further discussing. We've heard from Mr. Hanson. Mr. Gugliotta, do you have more to add? Just a couple minor items. He did an excellent job of explaining it. I will just mention, I guess, on the deed, when it was transferred to us, it does specifically state that the use is for a public park or a public fire station. So that's the reason why I would have to go back to the school district, because if it's used for some other purpose, they would have to vote to not take the property back for the reversion agreement. As far as the subdivision goes, the property lines on the north and south end of that building, the property lines would either end up being on the property line or very, very close to the property line, which, per the building code, means that there wouldn't be any openings allowed. If they're over three feet, which I doubt they're going to be, somewhere between three and five, then you can only have 15% openings. That needs to be taken into consideration too for anyone thinking of doing something with the building is they would have very limited options on the north and south walls. As far as the sale of surplus property, I mean, that's a process that could potentially take three to four months once we go through all the proper steps that we have to go through as far as advertising and ordinance and getting the bids out and returned and reviewed. And then going from a firehouse to firehouse storage, which is what it's been to some other use. That's considered a change of use, so an architect would need to be involved to design and submit plans for whatever new use would go in there. And, of course, the zoning is currently institutional because it's city-owned property, so any proposed uses would have to amend the zoning to meet whatever they're proposing to do in there. So there's a lot to consider if someone is trying to privately develop that property. Okay, just for clarification, what was moved and seconded is the demolition order that was provided to us at the last meeting. Correct. So we were discussing the issue in general, but when it comes to a vote here in a minute, we're either going to vote for that or vote against it. And that's, those are the options. I mean, Mr. Hanson gave us three options. The second two options would require further, would ask for a no vote on the proposed bid and then further you know actions later in future meetings correct okay now uh any counselor have a question mr hick first steve specifically and potentially eric but i'm aware of one person who i um i'm aware of the work that they do uh and he's an exceptionally gifted craftsman and he From what I understand, it was going to be $350,000 to $400,000, Mr. Woolsey. And he thought that at that price point of all the stuff that needed to be done, he just couldn't make the numbers work and has passed on it. Does that sound accurate? I believe, yes. The private estimates we've received are north of $350,000. That was my next question, besides Terry, who I personally know. There were other parties that also looked at it and they ran the numbers. Did they come to a similar conclusion? I've not heard from others, but I mean, people have been through it. Have you gotten any numbers? No, no numbers specifically. Okay. I mean, if I were going to have any property that I own remodeled and Terry had the bandwidth to do it, he would be the one I'd ask because I've seen a couple of his properties actually remodeled I didn't sell them, but I showed them in my capacity as a realtor, and he does incredibly good work, and I trust his numbers. So I'm just wondering if anybody else came up with the same. I will say, of the comments I've heard of people with interest, Terry's the only one that reached out to actually look at the building. Okay, thank you. Any other questions? Mr. Cheeseman? Just a thought. I'll hold no on this because I'd like to explore options two and three and see where it takes us. I know that our staff will explore options and hear from our community, and I certainly would like to hear from our community as well, plans. The idea of just to save it or just to do this or that, I'd like some specific things. I really would like guidance here on what to do. I know the last thing that I would like to do is demolish it. But with that being said, we have to take a look at what are real, potential types of solutions or options to this with number two and three, either from our city standpoint or from private serious interest folks here that would like to do something with that. So I'll vote no, but based on those two things, I'd really like to see what people have as a plan or an idea here so that we can move forward with something that would make the best use of this. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Chief. Mr. Hunnigan. I didn't quite understand the restrictions on whether north and the south wall or something like that about remodeling it or strengthening it. There are restrictions on that because? Proximity to a property line of exterior wall. You want to have some type of fire safe barrier when you're too close to a property line. So if the property line on the north and south are going to be right on the property lines or less than three feet, which they would be, per the building code, they wouldn't be allowed to have any openings. Because if there's some type of fire event in there, you don't want it transferring to neighboring properties. So it's too close. It is too close to a neighboring property. Is that the issue there? If we were to subdivide it to sell it to a private owner. Okay. I think I understand. Yes, Mr. Chair. I just want to express that I definitely have a love for historic buildings. Anybody who knows where I live understands how much time and sweat we put into restoring ours. However, I'm with Mr. Cheeseman in that I would like to see if we could explore further things, although I'm... Frankly, not terribly optimistic given that experienced contractors have at least one that we know of has looked at it and said this is going to be entirely too expensive. Also, with those restrictions in terms of the property line, again, I'd like to see something come about. I also would be very cautious about just selling it to someone, a private... owner with no particular plans as well, because the last thing we need is somebody just sitting on a building and letting it, you know, erode further. So I do also want to say there is, I think Mr. Wyke would mention, we don't have any fire stations being prepared. preserved. Actually, there is one privately owned on Brook Street, and it's being preserved, restored, and while it will be private, the intent of that individual is to restore it with artifacts from over time, and so that is something that will be occurring. Finally, it's a bit of a tangent, but I do welcome the opportunity to have contractors, such as the one we spoke with earlier, to investigate how some of these properties might be potentially turned into housing. For instance, my husband and I were on a walk and we walked past LT Stone, which is in, that grade school is in terrible shape, but perhaps that can be turned into condominiums. We need housing. Again, it takes a special sort of individual or entity to be able to do that, find the resources, grants, et cetera. But I would certainly support a bit more time to see what other alternatives there are for the fire station. Thank you. Any other further, Mr. White? I went through it the other day, last Saturday, and I think the fire chief explained to a lot of people the problems and the downfalls or the problem they'd be running into. But there was a couple, two or three gentlemen that seemed like they were still hanging around even though, you know, it might be costly. I'm in the boat with Mr. Cheeseman. I like to explore options two and three. to give somebody an opportunity if they'd like to buy it and give them the cost, let them know what the problem is, because we still have the opportunity to still demolish it. So I would like to see, I'm going to vote with Mr. Cheeseman in order to look at option two and three. Thank you. Any other comments? Mr. Henson. Mayor, based on this discussion, I might offer up the following suggestion. Mr. Mugata can jump in. If ultimately council is considering those options, rather than voting no tonight, I might encourage you to put it back on the table. If you look at the bidding circumstances, the next closest bid is almost double the cost. If ultimately we end up going in that direction because there's not a viable option, the council ultimately will expend significantly more tax dollars in all likelihood to bring this building down. The one way to stave that off and buy yourself some time, and I believe it's good through the 24th or so of August. Is that correct, Mr. Gugliana? So we basically have about a month from today to go through this process before we would have to, before the bid would be null and void. But if you vote it down tonight, the bid goes away. We go through this process again. The likelihood of the city expending additional money would be, I would say, highly likely. And so I would encourage council at least consider putting it back on the table, directing staff to spend some more time trying to vet this further. We can come back to it at the second meeting in August and still have time. I believe that fits within the schedule. I think it's 7th and 21st, if I'm not mistaken. that would still give us that opportunity to hold the bid, but do some additional due diligence and obviously communicate with the public. But if you voted down tonight and then ultimately we're not successful, there's no doubt we're going to spend more money. I just want to clarify, I think the second council meeting in August is August 18th. Is that what I'm looking at? That's the third Monday. Okay, just for clarity, and that would be before the 24th, so that fits within that. Yes, Mr. Miller. I would like to table this again so that we can look at further options until the 18th of August. Please. It's in a motion. And generally, if we're... Putting in a specific date, it has a slightly different ring to it. It's a motion to defer till August 18th. So Mr. Miller, make a motion to defer till the 18th. Till the 18th of August. Okay, do we have a second? I second. Okay, I hear Mr. Chair first. So we have a motion and a second to defer this item to August 18th. We need to vote on that. So vote yes if you're in agreement with that. If not, vote no. Hicks, yes. Hunnigan, yes. Miller, yes. White, yes. Achera, yes. Saul, yes. Cheeseman, yes. Seven vote yes, Your Honor. So the community should have heard, right? They got the marching orders. If folks want to save this in some form, you've got about a month to assist in providing outlets for those different options. The second item tonight in this part of the meeting is 253031, City Hall Building Maintenance. Need a motion and a second? Thank you, Mr. Miller. And Mr. Saul. Mr. Hanson? Thank you, Your Honor. Staff is recommending approval of the proposal submitted by Hein Construction Incorporated in the amount of $38,400 for the design and renovation of a multi-purpose meeting and break room in the City Hall. The existing cabinetry and countertops are original to the building and have exceeded their useful life. The scope of the work includes removal and replacement of deteriorated cabinetry and stained ceiling tiles, expansion of the countertop and lower cabinet areas, installation of new electrical receptacles and plumbing modifications, new flooring, As well, the painting was completed in 2024. Four proposals were received with Hein Construction submitting the lowest and best bid. Work is expected to begin on or after August 1st of this year and be completed by November. Funding is available through Fund 19-1910, City Hall Buildings and Grounds. Happy to answer any questions. Thank you, Mr. Hanson. Any questions on this item? Seeing none, I call for vote on 253031. Hicks, yes. Hunnigan, yes. Miller, yes. White, yes. Achera, yes. Saul, yes. Cheeseman, yes. Seven vote yes, Your Honor. Thank you. We now move to City Manager's Report. Ms. Hanson, anything to add? Just briefly, I want to thank all the staff who are participating in the service and welcoming home of... Is it Captain? Corporal Hoots. Korean War veteran. But also, as you may know if you're paying attention, excessive heat warnings this week, Wednesday and Thursday, are looking like heat in excess of 110 to 115. Staff are taking some additional steps, but want everyone to be safe and be cognizant of this activity. Obviously, I think there'll be a lot of folks out and participating and we want everyone to be safe. But to public safety staff, the park staff, the public work staff, a large number of our folks are involved in the process. I appreciate what they're doing and all the efforts that they're making to help make this happen with HPW and all the other groups that are involved. And just be mindful of The projected weather and make sure everybody stays safe. I believe that GHAS is going to have additional staff on site and we are as well. But there's no getting away from 110 plus heat index with humidity. That's a dangerous situation and encourage people to be vigilant. Happy to answer any additional questions. Thank you, Mr. Hanson. Any questions for Mr. Hanson on his report? Thank you. We move to miscellaneous business. And it turns out there are no items. So we can move on to town business. But first we need a motion to sit as a town board. So moved. Okay, all those in favor? Aye. Anyone opposed? We are sitting as a town board. We have two items under town business. The first are the bills, 20-59017. Need a motion for the bills. Thank you, Mr. Miller. Second. And Mr. Cheeseman. All those in favor say, I guess, any questions about the bills? No questions about the bills. I ask for a roll call on this 259017. Hicks, yes. Hunnigan, yes. Miller, yes. White, yes. Achera, yes. Saul, yes. Cheeseman, yes. Seven vote yes, Your Honor. And lastly is 259018. This is receiving the FY2024 Annual Comprehensive Financial Report. We need a motion and a second. So moved. Thank you, Mr. White. Second. And Mr. Saul, any questions about this item? Seeing none, I call for a vote on 259018. Hicks, yes. Hunnigan, yes. Miller, yes. White, yes. Achera, yes. Saul, yes. Cheeseman, yes. Seven vote yes, Your Honor. Thank you. We need a motion to resume as the City Council. So moved. Thank you, Mr. Saul. Second. And Mr. Chair, all those in favor, say aye. Aye. All those opposed. We are sitting as a City Council. We have reached the closing comments section of the meeting. And I will, given someone just got up, I'm going to ask Mr. White to lead us off tonight. The The gentleman, Mr. Jowers and Ms. Wade, I'm in the ball court, baseball court with them. Ms. Wade put it really very nicely. Everything grows from the roots. And if we neglect our roots, the top of the tree of the plant doesn't grow. She's saying our roots are our youth. It's important that we work with our youth. volunteering, mentoring, any way that you can talk to them. I know Mr. Cheeseman does a great job working with the youth that he works with. I know there's other people that do great jobs when working with youth. They are very, very important to our city. They need to have memories that they will keep forever, and that'll keep them here in Galesburg. Because if you don't help them make memories here, they'll go someplace else and make new memories. That's why I'm back here for the memories. And I'm back here trying to do what the other people did for me. The guy that was sitting here, I can't even think of his name right now. Mr. Jackson. Yeah, Mr. Jackson. Ms. Willabel Williams. Those people are the ones that make me do what I do today. And so I've got to do that for somebody else. We've got to do that for some of these other youth. So let's get together and try and work on helping our youth out in any way we can. Sports, literacy, whatever it is, whatever you're good at. Find a program, get youth into it, and keep working with it. I know Mr. Chair used to have a group of young men. And I know it's rewarding. So please, get involved in the youth. help grow our roots in Galesburg, and they will make a beautiful well-watered tree about 100 years from now. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. White. Mrs. Chair? Thank you. Yeah, I definitely agree. I work a lot with youth. I am responsible for the state's Student Human Resources Conference, so that'll be coming up in March. So I love working with students to help explore careers, both at Knox, Sandburg, wherever. You know, it's all about giving back and being of service. I had the pleasure of doing so. People are like, why you missed a meeting? You never miss meetings. But I had a business obligation. And then I was blessed in that my baby granddaughter came six weeks early. So I went to go help her. And that was really a blessing to be able to do that and help them out quite a bit. And then, unfortunately, Circle of Life, my very sweet mother-in-law passed away this Friday. So I'll be heading back up to to be with the family for that. But just blessed to be able to be here and try to make a difference however we can. Thanks, Mr. Chair. Mr. Saul? My condolences, Mr. Chair. I'm glad to hear you bring that up about working with youth. I've been doing that for the past 25 years with the Great Balloon Race. This weekend, it comes up again. We have the Great Balloon Race again. Mr. Hansen said it's going to be very hot. Try being underneath a 44 million BTU burner when that happens. It's extremely hot. So it's going to be tough on the pilots out there. I hope everybody comes out to see them. I hope we get enough help to have them be able to put their balloons up. That's the important part of volunteering that Mr. White was talking about, that they need to volunteer. We need to get our community involved in events like this, and I hope that comes to fruition this weekend. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Saul. Mr. Cheeseman. Thank you, Mr. White, for mentioning those things. You yourself do a wonderful job with that. And I think that so many people do a nice job. And I think that it's absolutely imperative that we tell our youth how much they mean to us, that we care about them, and both show them and tell them that. And it does matter. Thank you, Mr. Hansen, for mentioning that. the ceremony this week. I think that's a critical thing for our community and for those that can help and show their respect however they can do that to our fallen soldier from 75 years ago. I think that that's something our community will do and I hope that they do. That's an important event on Wednesday with the flags and the service on Thursday and then the flags being taken down on Thursday. I want to also... uh... give thanks or or also just just to to take note of uh... thank you mister gavin and his staff and the folks at lincolnshire for working together in a in a city private kind of uh... away where uh... the pillars that enter into lincolnshire from both the west and the east for very poor shape in the folks at in lincolnshire came together as a as a neighborhood to raise money to replace those And our city staff under Mr. Gavin worked to help them in ways that they could. And there is a nice new product coming up there that will mark the entrance to both of those areas. So that's a nice, nice example of both the private sector and the public sector coming together to help one another out. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Cheeseman. Mr. Hicks. Just a couple of things. Anna and I express our condolences to Heather and Mike on the loss of their mother-in-law and mother, respectfully. And then I wanted to reiterate what Greg said. My wife and I are going to be volunteering for the weekend for the hot air balloon race. We've done this in the past, and anybody that's on the fence will think about doing that. It is a blast. It's a lot of fun. You get to interact with the pilots. If you're lucky, you get to take a ride up in them, which is... If you're not scared of heights, it's a great thing. If you are scared of heights, I suggest you stay on the ground and get in the vehicle. Yeah, you can't be scared of heights, Greg. What we should be scared of is the first time I flew with Greg, I don't know when it was. It was like 1999 or something like that. When we landed north of town, north of Henderson Township, we took out a fence, which caused the basket to go like that. Well, we took out the top of the fence. The fence took us out and dropped us on the ground. But it was fun. But anyway, yeah, if you have the opportunity, at the very least, go out and enjoy it. There's a lot of activities, and it's a lot of fun. The night glow is amazing when you've got all those balloons lighting up at the same time right at dusk. And if you do have the will to, volunteer and get up with Greg, and he'll put you in touch with a pilot that needs some help. Excuse me. Mr. Higgs, I've got paperwork to go up. I don't know if I'm going to go up for you. You keep talking about getting taken out. As long as you don't go up with Greg, you'll be fine. Touch and go here. Mr. Hunnigan, bring us down safely. Okay. Well, I want to thank Greg Salf for the opportunity to go up into a balloon this Saturday. So I'm looking forward to that experience. So thank you. The other thing I want to mention is that we had an open house at the Maple Street fire station on Saturday. And I was just impressed with how many people came out and showed their love for that building. And we're in the process of making a very important decision sometime in August. Anyway, I've never seen the community galvanize to really protect what they consider to be an important landmark in this community, even though it has a lot of strikes against it. The other thing I want to point out is the fact that a new family-style restaurant has recently opened up on the Galesburg Gateway. on Main Street. It's called Two Brothers. It's open seven days a week. It is Galesburg's newest family restaurant. They serve lunch, dinner, and have a special coffee window. And what I love about this restaurant is that they took an old abandoned building built in 1975 and completely remodeled it. And if you drive by it, the parking lot is always filled. And I think it's become a great asset, will become a great asset to this community. Again, the name of it is called the Two Brothers Cafe. And it was named in honor of the owner's sons. Thank you, Mr. Hunnigan. Mr. Miller. I'm going to keep mine short, Dwight. It's a lot of fun. I've been up I did not, I wanted everybody on the council that could go, I wanted them to go. I have been up twice, and it's a lot of fun. This balloon race, I've been up in a balloon, I've been up in a plane, I've been up in a parasail. This balloons is awesome. And Greg, you put on an outstanding show. So thank you very much for keeping Galesburg Balloon Race going. I know it's a lot of work, so thank you. But people go out and help. I've helped in the past. I've had two back surgeries. So that kind of limits me a little bit to what I can do. So I will try to be out and help as much as I can. Also, this last weekend, the farmer's market kind of got washed out. It's a shame. Right now, sweet corn's coming on. It's awesome. We've got it at the farm, and it's good. So everybody get to the farmer's market, buy sweet corn, buy their vegetables, fruits. That's about all I got tonight. Thank you, Mr. Miller. There are a few things to report on, some good, some not so positive. I mentioned last time my father passed on July 1st. There was another great father in Galesburg that passed about a week earlier, June 25th, Craig Johnson. He was the owner and operator of the Galesburg Electric for over 50 years. I got to know him through his basketball playing days. and met his sons and his daughter, and some of his children I did not meet. But it was a great loss, a great person, and definitely somebody who contributed a lot to our youth as well. I want to mention that we had a big victory, a young woman named Leah Barraza Sloan. She was crowned Junior Miss Illinois 2025. A couple Sundays ago, and although I'm not one that familiar with pageants, my daughter competed in one a few years ago, and I learned that modern pageants often are very, require a lot of skill and a lot of practice and a lot of stage, just competency. And so I'm very thankful that we have the Miss Junior Illinois missed Illinois in Galesburg. We also have a new ag tech incubator. You must have read about this, a $1.8 million project in the downtown area. That's going to be a really, really vital addition, and thanks to all at Carl Sandburg for getting that established in our downtown. I think I mentioned last meeting that I was going to... have a meeting on the unhoused. That meeting was conducted last week with about 30 different organizations participating. It was a very, I think, a very good opening meeting to kind of set the bar where are we and where are we going in the future. And I'll have a public statement on that topic in the next week. But that conversation continues. We didn't solve all the problems, but we believe we brought the folks together who can do so. in time. And lastly, as noted by Mr. Hansen, we have a really wonderful opportunity this week. U.S. Army Corporal Paul Eugene Hoots, who was lost in 1950 in South Korea, and his body and remains will be returning to Galesburg this week for a big, big celebration. honoring him and his family. He grew up in Galesburg, and 75 years later, his remains will be returned. So if you haven't read about that, I'm sure there'll be quite a bit of press on that subject. Mr. Hoots, again, raised in Galesburg, and we're honoring him this week. With that, I'll ask for an adjournment of the meeting. I need a motion and a second. Thank you both. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Anyone opposed? We are adjourned. Everyone be safe this week.