Well, you guys are a good class. You got quiet right at the exact moment. So we're about to start our meeting tonight, February 16th, 2026. City Council Galesburg. Ms. Benowitz, can you call the roll, please? Council Member Mangieri? Here. Hunnigan? Here. White? Present. Achera? Here. Saul? Yes. Cheeseman? Here. Mayor Schwartzman? Here. Seven are present, Your Honor. Thank you. We're going to have a pledge of allegiance and then a moment of silence, I believe. item for approval are the minutes from the February 2nd, 2026 meeting. I ask for a first and a second. So moved. Thank you, Mr. Saul. Second. Mr. White, thank you very much. Any questions about the minutes? If not, please call the roll. Ms. Benowitz? Manjeri, yes. Hunnigan, yes. White, yes. Achera, yes. Saul, yes. Cheeseman, yes. Sixth vote, yes, Your Honor. Thank you. I'll turn this over to our legal counsel. We have a ceremony. Oh, it's you, Ms. Benowitz, then. Let's do it. Raise your right hand and repeat after me. I state your name. I, Charles Reynolds, do solemnly swear that I will support the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of the State of Illinois and the Ordinances of the City of Galesburg and that I will faithfully discharge the duties of the office of the OF CITY COUNCILMEMBER. OF CITY COUNCILMEMBER. AND TOWNSHIP TRUSTEE. AND TOWNSHIP TRUSTEE. ACCORDING TO THE BEST OF MY ABILITY. ACCORDING TO THE BEST OF MY ABILITY. THANK YOU. WE'RE GOING TO HAVE ANOTHER ROLL CALL THEN, MS. BENWITZ? YES, PLEASE. OKAY. Council Member Mangieri. Here. Hunnigan. Here. Reynolds. Present. White. Present. Achera. Here. Saul. Yes. Cheeseman. Here. Mayor Schwartzman. Here. Eight, our president. Thank you. We've reached public comment. If you came for public comment, please step forward. You have three minutes to address the council. No public comment today, okay. All's well in Galesburg. Yes. Okay, we'll move on to consent agenda 2026-04. All matters listed under the consent agenda are considered routine by the City Council and be enacted by one motion. There's quite a few things on this agenda. I'm required to read them, at least the headline. 26-2004, is 2026 Railroad Days Resolution. 2020, excuse me, 26, 2005 is also Resolution Funding Resolution South Lake Story Shared Use Path Phase One Construction. 26, 2006 is also Resolution Funding Resolution South Lake Story Shared Use Path Phase Two Engineering. 26, 4, 0, 1, 3 is 2026 Water Meter Supply. 264014 is 2026 water meters for resale. 264015 is Knox College transit service contract. 264016 addendum business park cash rent lease agreement. 265000 is record applications and rates for 2026 rotation list. And lastly, 8,003 approval and warrants drawn in payment of same. I need a motion to consider. Thank you, Ms. Chair. I'll second. Thank you, Mr. Cheeseman. Any questions about any of these items? Mr. White. I get a lot of questions about Southlake Story Path. Can you go over briefly 26-2005, 26-2006, just for the public that are listening. can we explain those a little bit please sure happy to those are the resolutions that are related to our portion of the funding obviously there's a few items down below that are the actual actually related to the to the total project but the these two items are related to the city's share portion the first one being the construction phase which starts essentially the entrance at Carl Sandburg and runs all the way past the entrance to Lakeside, so from west to east. And then the second is the shared resolution related to the final engineering that gets us all the way around. So that's those two items. And obviously we'll take additional action below related to moving forward with construction and final engineering on the rest of the path. Thank you very much. Thank you. Any other questions? Seeing none, I ask for a vote on the consent agenda 2026-04. Manjari, yes. Hunnigan, yes. Reynolds, yes. White, yes. Achera, yes. Saul, yes. Cheeseman, yes. Seven vote yes, Your Honor. Thank you. Under passages of ordinances and resolutions, we have one item. It's on first reading 261002, remove class A liquor license. We need a motion. Well, actually, no, I'll just turn it over to Mr. Hanson to tell us more about this. Thank you, Your Honor. Staff recommends approval of an ordinance amending section 113. of Chapter 113 of the Galesburg Municipal Code to reduce the number of available Class A-1 liquor licenses. Craft on Seminary Street ceased operation in December of 2025, resulting in one Class A-1 license no longer being in use. Adoption of the ordinance would remove this license from the City's inventory. Interested parties may apply to the Liquor Commissioner and the City Council for approval of a Class A-1 license in the future, should circumstances warrant. There is no budget impact associated with this amendment we can either bring it back another time or if someone wants to make a motion to move this to second reading you can also do that as well either is fine with staff thank you mr. white make that motion move it to second reading okay mr. white has made that motion we need a second Thank You mr. Saul any discussion of that we need a vote to to move it to second So please vote on that. Yes to move it to second. So we vote on the actual ordinance today or not. Manjari, yes. Hunnigan, yes. Reynolds, yes. White, yes. Acera, yes. Saul, yes. Cheeseman, yes. Okay. Do we need a motion to consider? Yes. We need a motion to consider. Thank you, Ms. Acera. Thank you, Mr. Saul. Any discussion of this item? Seeing none, I call for a vote on 26-1002. Mangieri, yes. Hunnigan, yes. Reynolds, yes. White, yes. A cherry, yes. Saul, yes. Cheeseman, yes. Seven vote yes, Your Honor. Thank you. We have one item under bids, petitions, and communications. That's 263004, enterprise scheduling and time entry software. Need a motion and a second? So moved. Thank you, Mr. Cheeseman. Second. Thanks, Mr. Chair. Mr. Hanson, what are we voting on? Thank you, Your Honor. Staff is recommending approval of the purchase of enterprise scheduling and time entry software from TCP Software. TCP Software pricing includes hardware, software support and licensing for a seven year term. The initial cost being $49,829.83 with $32,633.01 due the second year with a 5% annual increase in the subsequent five years. The total cost for the software will be $269,133.57 over the seven year contract. The city currently uses multiple systems for scheduling and time entry across the departments, and this purchase is intended to improve data accuracy, streamline reporting, and provide a unified solution for all city employees. Following research demonstration and a formal request for proposals, seven submissions were evaluated based on municipal-specific requirements. TCP software was selected over the remaining finalists due to lower cost. A mobile app offering, full compliance with RFP specifications, waived implementation fees, and a proposed 20- to 24-week implementation timeline. Sufficient funds are budgeted across the city funds to cover the expense. Happy to answer any questions. Thank you, Mr. Hanson. Any questions on this item? Seeing none, I call for vote on 26-3-0-0-4. Manjari, yes. Hunnigan, yes. Reynolds, yes. White, yes. Aceri, yes. Saul, yes. Cheeseman, yes. Seven vote yes, Your Honor. Thank you. City Manager's Report. Anything to add, Mr. Hanson? Obviously, one, welcome, Mr. Reynolds. Great to have you here. Great to have the dais full again. Happy to work with you and the rest of the council. Also, obviously, normally I don't speak much about the TAC report. Obviously, it's in there. There was a story out today. The recommendations have been made, and we're just waiting for county action before anything comes to council. So assuming they move forward and move that item, then we'll bring it to council for a final enactment probably in March. That would be my guess. It kind of depends. on them as it's their road. So I haven't answered any questions about that, but I think things are progressing along those lines. Ms. Donegan. Yes, what is the actual proposal for the road right here? Yeah, so as outlined in the report, making recommendation for advisory to lower the curves to 25, as well as reduce the stretch that's basically from the top of the hill first curve on South Lake Story Road back to the east to US 150 Henderson to 35, which would make that entire stretch through there the same limit. The rest of the roads, we evaluated traffic counts as well as looked at MT... You, right? Isn't that the guideline? MT something, right? The engineering guidelines relative the recommended speeds to make sure that we were in compliance with supported regulations. The only advisory I have, having driven that road for many, many years, I know every nook and cranny on that drive. And I like for... the city and the county to consider yellow lights in the curved area, flashing lights, which will make that curve much more dramatic because a lot of people who come down that road have no idea about how perilous those curves are on Lake Story Road. So that would be my... I hope you would consider putting some lights there as well as the 25 per hour speed limit. No, I appreciate that. We actually had that discussion. Again, all of the things that we'll do on this road are in conjunction with the county and making sure as it's actually their jurisdiction. But we actually discussed that very thing at TAC as well as additional... potential safety measures if needed so first things first certainly want to get that the speed reduced but certainly happy to take that under advisement and share that feedback with the county as well it doesn't have to be done immediately but I would like that in a long-range plan of having lights to warn them of how dangerous that curve really is Really, really, really is. And believe me, I know that road. Okay, thank you. Will do. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Honigan. Anyone else? Mr. Cheeseman. Mayor, this is not a question for Mr. Hanson. Thank you for the information. It's just an additional point that I'd like to make. IDOT keeps the research on accidents, and there's no question, I think most of us would know this anyway. but there is a direct proportion in the amount of accidents based on speed versus lesser speed. I mean, it's clear that there are more accidents when the speed limit is higher. Also, there are more accidents, unfortunately, with younger people and you're having younger people go out there. The neighbors have said this. We've had a terrible accident there and the neighbors have supported a change in this. I just think that all of the evidence and the information that comes our way, shows me without question that I support a change in this speed limit. And for all of those, because it's a county situation, there's a county board meeting next Wednesday night that you can show your support for this particular new ordinance or law within the county. I just think that it's one of those, and I've heard a number of people talk about, well, that what triggered this was an accident where the speed didn't have anything to do with it. Well, That's true there, but I think that all of us would agree, again, as you just said, Mr. Honigan, that that particular road is very, very, very dangerous, and no one would know better than that than the people that travel that on a regular basis, as well as those residents that live in that area. And they clearly say the speed should be reduced, and again, the research says the same thing. So I think it's really a no-brainer, and too bad we didn't do this before some way or the other. it will have my support, and I'm also going to try to either attend or get some kind of a letter or email sent to those folks at the County Board with my views. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Giesemann. I would like to be able to see data on all accidents on Lake Story Road all the way around, not just there, but all the way around. Can we get that data? Yeah, we did some analysis. We're happy to share that with you, Mr. White. I can reassure you that there is substantially more traffic on South Lake Story Road than there is on West and North Lake Story Road. But we have data for all the way around. I understand that. But, I mean, I'd just like to have the data if it's possible. Mr. Hunnigan says he's drove it many times. I'm 74 years old, and I've been driving it since I was probably about 13. And so, you know, I remember when there was a place called 13 Curves out there also, which Mr. Hunnigan probably doesn't know anything about. But so, I mean, I would like to just see data on it, if I may, please. Yeah, we're happy to get that for you. Mr. Cheeseman? I think this is a critical point as well. And by the way, I think the statute of limitations is, you're okay with that. That none of this matters at all if we don't have those areas patrolled as some type of a proof of some kind of way that we are doing our part to make sure that the speeds are kept and train the people, so to speak. Whenever you get a new rule somewhere, there's always a difficult adjustment period, but then folks adjust to that. And I think that we need to have a lot of patrol. And I know that Chief Legate will have that done and we'll get that taken care of in terms of a deterrent to people going those speeds. And I think it'll make a difference in a big way. Thank you. Thank you. All right. We will move on. Miscellaneous business, we have seven items to consider this evening. First is 264017, maintenance contract with downtown council. We need a motion and a second. So moved. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Second. Thank you, Mr. Saul. Mr. Hanson. Thank you, Your Honor. Staff is recommending approval of a maintenance contract with the Galesburg Downtown Council to provide defined maintenance services in targeted areas located outside of the downtown special service area. The city has a longstanding partnership with the Downtown Council for maintenance services within the SSA, largely funded by a special service area tax levy and city funds. Through this arrangement, the organization has developed staff capacity, equipment, and expertise in streetscape maintenance, landscaping, litter control, and seasonal services. In response to identified needs for consistent supplemental maintenance in high-visibility areas adjacent to or outside the SSA, a separate agreement is proposed to allow services to be performed beyond SSA boundaries by clearly defining service areas, expectation, and compensation. The annual cost of the additional maintenance services will be $15,000 and will be funded through Fund 24, the Economic Development Fund. Happy to answer any questions. Thank you. Any questions on this item? Mrs. Zoll? Yes. Have they ever considered cameras in the downtown? So people from stealing the flowers down there? Well, I mean, there are cameras downtown. That I can reassure you. I mean, are they everywhere? No. But, you know, I think... By and large, we're pretty fortunate that the damage actually tends to be pretty minimal year in and year out relative to other communities and some of the things they've experienced. But yeah, that's probably a question for someone else to answer. But I do know that, you know, for the most part, I think they have pretty good luck with the plantings, but probably not 100% as your question points out. Right, right. Ms. Jarrett? I just want to recognize a great job that they do. Now that I have a small dog and I'm always walking around downtown, I just think they do a beautiful job and I support this. Anyone else? Mr. Honegan. What is the city responsible for? What are the businesses responsible for in this partnership that we have with these merchants? Well, so I want to be clear. The special service area is not the actual merchants. It's actually the property owners. So know that the special service area is actually a property tax that's taxed on the ownership of the building. And those folks have an appointed board that kind of oversees that. And I think it goes back to the 70s. Is that close, right? So they have a long standing history. My guess is this had something to back in the day to do when the mall came and there was growth out and they were trying to protect the downtown and reinvest in the downtown and the city and the downtown council have a long successful history that dates back 50 plus years. And they every 10 years have to vote to allocate an additional tax on themselves for the purpose of the special service area not to get too into the weeds but to try and answer your question so these these property owners within the designated area voluntarily tax themselves additional dollars above and beyond their assessment too do things like not only the maintenance but the facade programs snow removal so on and so forth uh... this proposal And all of the dollars that are obviously generated inside the SSA have to be spent within the SSA. This proposal, so the city's responsibility is to pay the bill, the additional $15,000, but to utilize the excellent service that they do, that Troy and his team do, to extend the area where the planters are to where the flowers are, the litter pickup is. This does not include the snow removal piece because some of these blocks aren't as busy. although we may look at that in the future depending on need, but really it's to create a more consistent gateway essentially from the library moving back to the east over to Chambers, over to like where Discovery Depot is because there's areas that aren't currently inside the SSA. and then north up close to the railroad tracks. And the map is in there, so you can see kind of the blocks that are picked up. But it's essentially just to expand the good work that they do in an effort to continue to drive, hopefully, redevelopment in the downtown. Who takes care of the flowers? There's actually a team of employees that belong to the downtown council. You'll see them running around in the gators, and I can tell you that they are exceptionally good at what they do. What about the decorations during Christmas? Who's responsible for that? That is a combination of your city staff and the downtown council employees, but the city staff help significantly not only with that, but obviously some of the light maintenance as well as helping put up the banners as well. But the banner program is actually a downtown council program with assistance from the city. As I said, all of the things that kind of go on in and along Main Street on both sides, or a cooperative partnership between the SSA and the city team. And I think it's a longstanding, very positive relationship. And what trash? Same crew. Okay. Same crew does all of that. There's two full-time folks in the summer and then it adjusts seasonally for the snow, I believe is the current arrangement. Thank you. Thank you. Mr. Cheeseman. This is a terrific area. It's run beautifully. I salute these people in a big way, and I think that it is truly a sleeping giant waiting to continue to be developed. and be a really an important part or cog of our city. And I think that all of us, and I can't speak for all of us, but I know I'm one that feels like we wanna continue to try to think outside the box and be supportive of helping these businesses and these building owners and do things to continue to make this attractive for other things to come in. So this is something that it's important to me and I certainly support it. Thank you. Thank you. I'll ask for a vote on 264017. Mangieri, yes. Hunnigan, yes. Reynolds, yes. White, yes. Achera, yes. Saul, yes. Cheeseman, yes. Seven vote yes, Your Honor. Thank you. Next item, 264018. This is Engineering Services for Public Safety Building Electrical Upgrades. Need a motion and a second? thank you mr. white and mr. chair mr. Hansen thank your honor staff recommends approval of the IMEG proposal for engineering services related to the public safety building electrical upgrade project and the amount of sixty eight thousand five hundred the public safety building which is over fifty years old has outdated electrical infrastructure that currently limits power capacity and provides no room for future expansion or technological growth The planned upgrades will replace aging equipment, improve distribution in inadequate areas, and add generated backup power for all non-dispatch areas with the long-term goal of providing reliable backed-up power for police and fire department operations for the next 30 plus years. IMEG services will include preparation of electrical designs and plans, general designs with contract documents suitable for bidding and construction, and assistance during the building and construction phase. Sufficient funds for this project were included And the 2026 budget. Happy to answer any questions. Thank you. Any questions on this item? Seeing none, I call for vote. 264018. Manjari, yes. Hunnigan, yes. Reynolds, yes. White, yes. Achera, yes. Saul, yes. Cheeseman, yes. Seven vote yes, Your Honor. Thank you. The next two items were alluded to earlier today, 264019. That's the joint funding agreement, Southlake Story shared use path phase one construction. Need a motion and a second. Thank you, Mr. Cheeseman. Mr. Chair, Mr. Hanson. Thank you, Your Honor. As you said, both of these next items are related to the actual construction Moving forward, and for those of you that have been waiting for this for a while, this is where we're finally here. So I'm happy to recommend approval of a joint funding agreement with the Illinois Department of Transportation for the construction of the first phase of the Lake Story multi-use path project. The agreement provides $1,794,975 in Illinois Transportation Enhancement Program funding for the construction phase. with the city's estimated total share totaling 117,943.95, reduced from the previously approved 230 due to the lower than expected bid. I haven't said that in a while. The first phase of the project includes construction of a multi-use path along South Lake Story Road from West Lake Story Road to Woodblock Road. with a second phase extended from Woodblock Road to the Gatewood Lane to complete an entire loop around the lake. The previous agreement expired due to land acquisition delays that postponed the state letting. Bids have now been opened and construction is scheduled to begin this spring. Sufficient funds are available in the grant funds, Fund 13, and Utility Tax Fund, Fund 59. Happy to answer any questions. Thank you. Mr. Cheeseman. Sorry talking a lot again, but this is such a great project and as Mr. Hanson said, we've been waiting on this and government sometimes doesn't move as fast as we would like and that's to none of their blames, but this is exciting to see this finally come together and what a complex we have out there. It offers so many things and we've been a part, all of us here, of adding more things to it and it's a place that we should be proud of and we're always looking to improve upon it and all the different options and experiences we have. I'm glad to see this get going, and it's going to really be a great thing when it's done. Thank you. Anyone else? Call for vote on 264018. Manjari, yes. Hunnigan, yes. Reynolds, yes. White, yes. Cherry, yes. Saul, yes. Cheeseman, yes. Seven vote yes, Your Honor. Thank you. We move to 264019. Is that correct, or I'm one behind? 20, oh, 40, yeah, 40, sorry, 26, I called the wrong number before. 264020, Joint Funding Agreement, Southlake Story, Shared Use Path, Phase 2 Engineering. Need a motion and a second. So moved. Second. Thank you. I heard Mr. Cheeseman and Mr. Chera. I'll move to... Mr. Hansen for any further information. Thank you, Your Honor. Staff recommends approval of a joint funding agreement with the Illinois Department of Transportation to provide ITEP funding for preliminary engineering services for the second phase of the Lake Story multi-use path project. The second phase extends from Woodblock Road to Gatewood Lane on the north side of Lake Story, completing a loop around the lake in conjunction with the first phase. Pulmonary engineering work, including preparation of final plans, specifications, and cost estimates will be performed by Hutchinson Engineering, which also completed engineering for the first phase. Total cost of the engineering work is estimated at $79,433, with $62,433 reimbursed through the ITEP grant and the city responsible for the remaining $17,000. Approval of the joint funding agreement will allow reimbursement of eligible costs and construction for the second phase is anticipated to begin in 2027. Sufficient funds are available on the grant fund, Fund 13. Happy to answer any questions. Thank you. Any questions from the council? Mr. White? The second phase is going to go across the, I call it the bridge right now. It's going to narrow that down to one lane, am I correct? That's correct. IDOT has agreed to let us narrow that lane down to one over the bridge, and then there would be a concrete barrier wall on the bridge that would separate path users from the traffic. Has anybody done any studies on, you know, you're going from 50 miles an hour, I think it is right now, 45 or 50, down to a one lane, back to a two lane for another few hundred yards, then back down to one lane. Is that going to be very effective or is there anything that they're looking at that they might have to change all that, at least from the corner? or you turn into North Lake Story Road, were there anything consideration on how that's going to affect? So they're actually going to extend the one lane that's up by North Lake Story Road all the way down across the bridge. So it'll be consistent, just one changeover from one lane to two lanes. All right. Thank you. Okay. Anyone else? Seeing none, I'll call a vote. On 26-40-20. Manjari, yes. Hunnigan, yes. Reynolds, yes. White, yes. Achera, yes. Saul, yes. Cheeseman, yes. Seven vote yes, Your Honor. Thank you. Next item, 26-40-21, Farm Lease Agreement. Need a motion and a second? So moved. Thank you, Mr. Saul and Mr. Reynolds. Mr. Hanson. Thank you, Your Honor. Staff recommend approval of a farm lease agreement for city-owned property west of Bunker Links, identified as Parcel 534... 5-34-101-002 the property purchased by the city on june 2nd has been farmed for many years by hawkinson brothers who have requested continue farming the land the lease will allow the land to remain in productive use until a future city use is determined under the agreement the leasee will pay 200 per acre annually for the five acres lease revenue will be deposited in the economic development fund this is that small parcel of ground between 150 and um whole eight at Bunker Lakes that we either will at some point use to, you know, relative to the golf course or expansion of the park. Happy to answer any questions. Thank you. Any questions on this? Seeing none, I call for vote on 264021. Manjari, yes. Hunnigan, yes. Reynolds, yes. White, yes. Acharya, yes. Saul, yes. Cheeseman, yes. Seven vote yes for honor. Thank you. Next item, 264022, other post-deployment benefits contributions. Need a motion and a second. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Second. Thanks, Mr. Reynolds. Mr. Hanson? Thank you, Your Honor. Staff is recommending approval to submit the budgeted 2026 contribution to the city's OPEB trust account in the amount of $149,340, excluding the library and township. Many states and local government employers provide other post-employment benefits as part of the total compensation offered to attract and retain the services of qualified employees. The city has proactively contributed to the OPEB trust since 2013 with contributions averaging $143,451 annually, helping reduce the city's long-term liability and supporting favorable credit ratings. Sufficient funds are budgeted for this annual contribution. Happy to answer any questions. Thank you. Any questions on this item? Mr. Chair? Could you speak to the delta between the net liability and the contributions we're making year over year? Because, you know, if you're just looking at this, it seems a little daunting. Yeah, it's a fair question. I think if I remember right, and I'd have to look at the report, or Jen can jump in, certainly, Ms. O'Hearn. We've actually made progress, I think, as of the most recent report, we're up over 3 or 3.3 million. I think the estimated maximum delta is right around 14 million, but that assumes that all, I mean, actuarially you have to assume that you're going to pay out all the benefits, but we are definitely making Pretty substantial progress. And obviously with the market returns this last year made additional progress beyond just the contribution. But it certainly has and will continue to put the city in a much better long-term financial as well as helps our bond rating as well. All right. Good answer. Get the approval. I got the thumbs up from down on the end, so I think I did all right. That was very subtle, but very important. Any other questions on this item? Seeing none, I call for a vote on 264022. Mangieri, yes. Hunnigan, yes. Reynolds, yes. White, yes. A cherry, yes. Saul, yes. Cheeseman, yes. Seven vote yes, Your Honor. Thank you. Last item here is 264023, Second Amendment, Airport Solar Site Lease Agreement. Need a motion and a second? So moved. Mr. Cheeseman and Mr. White. Mr. Hanson. I think last item for me tonight. Thank you. Staff recommends approval of the second amendment to the community power group lease for community solar garden on unutilized airport property. The original lease approved in 2018 provides for a 2.0 megawatt solar array on approximately 17 and a half acres. with initial annual lease of $1,200 per acre and a 1.5% annual escalator over the 25-year term with options for two five-year extensions. A prior lease amendment in 2024 extended the required start of the construction by two years. Due to FAA approved requirements, approval requirements construction has not begun and CPG requests an additional two-year extension. CPG has made substantial progress and anticipates FAA approval soon with construction planned for the summer. The amendment does not change the lease terms. However, we will receive an additional $5,000 in compensation for this extension in lieu of the monthly payments until power generation begins. Happy to answer any additional questions. Thank you. Any questions? Seeing none, I'll call for a vote. 26-40-23. Mangieri, yes. Hunnigan, yes. Reynolds, yes. White, yes. A cherry, yes. Saul, yes. Cheeseman, yes. Seven vote yes. Your Honor. Thank you. We need a motion to sit as the town board. So moved. Second. Thank you. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Anyone opposed? We are now sitting as the town board. We have one item in the town business, the bills. 269003. Need a motion for the bills. So moved. Thank you. Second. Thank you. All those in favor? Or I should say, any questions about the bills first? No questions on the bills? All those in favor, please vote by pushing the button. Well said. All right. Manjari, yes. Hunnigan, yes. Reynolds, yes. White, yes. A cherry, yes. Saul, yes. Cheeseman, yes. Seven vote yes, Your Honor. Thanks for saving me there, guys. We need a motion to sit as the City Council. Second. Thank you. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Anyone opposed? We are sitting as the City Council. We've reached closing comments. The most exciting part of our meeting. So who wants to lead us off? It's a lot of pressure. First I want to say congratulations and we are very happy to have you. I just want to remind the general public that I am making myself available every fourth Thursdays in February, March, and April in the CBI bank room at the local library to talk about concerns, ideas, anything that you want to bring to me or the council later. And that is from 5.30 to 7. So, thank you. Thank you, Ms. Mengeri. Mr. Hunnigan, you're up next. There was a terrible fire in my ward just a few days ago. And it was at 53 Duffield Avenue, right off of Main Street. And the family, of course, that was living there lost everything. I mean, every possession in the house was burned. And they lost, basically left the house only with the clothes on their back. And the fire was so bad that the fire department decided to demolish the house because it was so weakened by the fire. And basically they use the firefighters not to extinguish the fire, but to protect the houses that were around it. There are so many houses in my ward that are like that. But there's a GoFundMe page, which I'm going to contribute to, to help this family get back on their feet. And they are truly, truly in need. And if you want help getting on that page, I will give you the information that's necessary to contribute to this family. Literally, they came out of this fire with absolutely nothing. Thank you. Thank you for that information, Mr. Hennigan. Mr. Reynolds. Well, I just want to say I'm happy to be here. I want to thank everyone for their warm welcome tonight. And I hope to contribute greatly to the betterment of the city of Galesburg. Fantastic, Mr. Reynolds. You clean up now, Mr. Reynolds. Okay. 1967, Pittsburgh Black Hill District. Some gentlemen got together, African Americans in Blackwood neighborhood, and they started their own or the first emergency paramedic system. in 1967. It was founded at the Freedom House Ambulance Service. They started it, they built it up, and then when people found out it worked good, they didn't let them do it anymore. And after that, it was extinguished. A gentleman by the name of James Durham, he was born into slavery. And He was owned by three different doctors at one time or another, when one of them encouraged him to study medicine because they thought he was a pretty smart guy. And he did, he practiced medicine. Though he was skilled, well-known, and his practice flourished, the New Orleans passed a regulation in 1801 that prevented him from practicing medicine since he had no formal degree. He was disappeared and 1802. Some think he was lynched. There's another gentleman that I talked about a lot before. And he worked on a program or a disease called Tetality Ophalo. And let me get it again. I want to get it right. of fallow. Some people, if you look it up, it's called blue baby syndrome. The gentleman that came and started this or worked on this, he was actually a carpenter, a very fine carpenter. He had a high school education. He worked for this gentleman by the name of Bullock. And He almost got fired at one time or another from this guy because he wasn't subservient enough. Frederick Dr. Alfred Bullock was a white surgeon who together pioneered the heart surgery, developed the blue baby syndrome to treat infants with congenital heart disease. That's what that disease was. Vivian Thomas was the gentleman's name. He developed all the surgical equipment, all the tools, designed them and made them. But Dr. Bullock, Alfred, got all the credit. When they performed the surgery, Bullock couldn't do it. So he had to call his assistant. the guy that was actually hired as a janitor to put stent on a box and show him how to do the surgery. This gentleman also never had a medical degree. You can find his picture in John Hopkins School of Medicine. He eventually taught surgical procedure without a medical degree. Vivian Thomas. The thing about it is that's history. It shouldn't be during Black History Month. It should be American history because it is American history. Learn and share and find out what people of color, ex-slaves, ex-indenture service, what they've actually done for this nation and the things that they started. The First Ambulance Service, Harriet and Lax, they still use her DNA to cure all kinds of diseases. But we've been contributing. So start learning about what people of color have done. the United States of America, this country. We're not German. We're not Swedish. We're not Mexican. We are American. So wherever you come from, or your ancestors come from, and you live here, you were born here, you're not of an ethnicity. You're of a nation. You are an American. And everybody's history should be taught through every area of the school system and college. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. White. Mrs. Chair? Thank you. Definitely try to do that, educate myself. In fact, this weekend I watched a movie with my husband on Angel Network. It was called Cabrini. If you've never seen it, I really encourage you to check it out. My husband's of Italian American descent, as I know a couple people are in this room. And I'm telling you, if it's only a few generations past, most people do not have any idea what Italians went through when they came to this country. was even surprising to me to see it depicted in that manner so a lot of a lot of different immigrant groups of course many people that were brought here as a result of slavery but others came here because they were just so impoverished in their in their home country that they they came here to look for a better a better way to be and and this was not always the case when they arrived so Francis Cabrini really reached out to these children and formed orphanages and then the political structures that she also you talk about people being sort of what's the word conspired against so that they can't achieve as she encountered quite a bit of that as well but eventually she created one of the largest worldwide networks of charity including hospitals and so forth but it's a beautiful film and it's entertaining as well as educational so I'm going to start watching more of those Angel Network they have ones about African Americans on there too so at any rate that was positive also a few more positive things I want to say about our young people in in Galesburg I had the opportunity to go see some jazz we have friends who have kids who are still in high school and we get we got to go see them play jazz at smoke and Willie's and Knox College had some jazz groups there as well so it was delightful to see them doing so well and I also want to call out our high school Scholastic Bowl in Galesburg won the Western Big Six so they are the champs so God bless. They really work hard. So I was just really pleased to see that. So lots of positive things happening here. And thanks again. Have a good night. Mr. Soule. I too got to go and see some live music the other day out at the vineyard out in Knoxville. A young man who possibly may be performing out at the balloon race. So I'm not going to give out his name or anything just yet. He's a 17-year-old from Rova, so we're kind of excited about having him possibly online. Congratulations, Chuck. Welcome. Good to see you here. And to Mr. Hunnigan's point, those people, I can't imagine losing everything in a fire. That has got to be the worst. feeling in the world, standing out on the street, watching your house go up in flames. I just can't imagine that. And I would like that information on that GoFundMe page. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Saul. Mr. Cheeseman? Again, so many outstanding comments and topics that are covered here by every one of you. There's so much to be taken from that. Again, I also wanna welcome Chuck and look forward to working with him and he will add so much to our council. An individual that spends a lot of time or has spent a lot of time downtown passed away. He was on the city website. He's just the epitome of being a friendly human being and a person that made the world a better place because he was in it. His name was Larry Brown. There's a picture, I believe it was on the city website. Larry was just a wonderful, wonderful human being and one that the world was better because he was in it. And finally, I think that all of us here and you're seeing each meeting, we have so many different things that we're dealing with and almost every one of them are moving the city into a positive direction. And I've said these things a number of times, but they bear repeating. that we want to continue this great momentum. We've got a lot of folks here that work hard, work together, and have their own ideas that we bring together to bring forth to our citizens to make our city and our citizens have a better life. our roads, our sidewalks, our infrastructure, the services that we offer. We're working a lot of stuff right now on housing and more affordable housing and cleaning up houses with the grants that Mr. Gugliotta and his department have done such a good job with. Economic development, working on downtown things, beautification, just trying to do things to make our city get the most out of what it has to offer. And I think we've gotta continue this push. We've all gotta continue this push in a big way. The iron's hot, so to speak, and we want to keep this momentum going, and I say let's just continue to forge ahead and go forward. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Cheeseman. I think that's everybody. I'll keep this brief. I want to thank Mr. Reynolds for stepping up to the plate and serving his community as he's done in a new capacity. I think the vote was unanimous, so the council is very eager to have you assist them. They're a group of seven. And so that keeps me from voting. So they're all happy about that, I'm sure. Yeah, it's all the wonderful things that were said about some of the local positive movements, winning teams, academic teams. There's no doubt, Ms. Cheeseman, there's a lot of investment to be made in the next probably year from this council regarding housing, regarding centers for... people to meet and gather and move forward. So it's all well, 2026. So all of that is terrific. And I mean, I think the weather today kind of bodes well for what's coming. It's amazing what the earth does when it tilts a little bit one way versus the other and where the beneficiaries of it. So looking forward to that in the coming months. I mean, as things warm up, just be very careful. There will be more people out and about. People have been pretty much hermits for the last three months. So, you know, especially children, look for them running across the street, throwing balls and things like that. Slow down, especially when you're driving through neighborhoods. It's very important we can all take heed in that. And I want to thank my mom. She said she's watching tonight. She just had a birthday recently. And I want to wish her publicly a happy Valentine's Day as well. So with that, I'll call for an adjournment of this meeting. All those in favor of adjourning, say aye. Aye. We are adjourned.