Peoria approves $99,950 water system assessment contract despite fiscal concerns, 6-4 vote

may I have your attention good evening everyone it is six o'clock P.M on Tuesday June 13th 2023 I'd like to call the meeting of the Peoria city council to order I'd also like to welcome everyone in our city council audience as well as our listening audience at wcbu I'd also like to welcome the audience watching on cable channel 22.

Adam clerk the council mics are open please call the roll mayor Ali present councilmember Alan council member seer council member Gordon Young council member Grant council member Jackson here council member Kelly council member Euler here council member Reagan back here council member valpulla president and council member Vespa here we have a quorum president Madam mayor thank you madam clerk please join me everyone and stand for a moment of Silent prayer or silent reflection followed by the Pledge of Allegiance foreign we are at proclamations we have three proclamations today the first recognizes the 30th anniversary of enhanced 9-1-1 we have Brandon Blaney the director of city of Peoria emergency communications center and although he couldn't be here we want to also acknowledge David Tuttle the chair of the Peoria Stark emergency telephone system board uh welcome Mr Blaney thank you last year the 911 let me let me read the proclamation first and then thank you very much we'll hear from you whereas tonight we recognize the 30th anniversary of enhanced 9-1-1 service in Peoria County and the dedicated effort over the years to implement this service and whereas basic 9-1-1 service was first available in Peoria in 1976 and expanded into other municipalities throughout the 1970s and 80s and whereas in 1989 a county-wide referendum passed in which voters overwhelmingly agreed to pay a small surcharge to gain enhanced 9-1-1 service the Peoria County Emergency telephone system board was soon created to implement and manage the new system and whereas enhanced 9-1-1 was turned on for all Peoria County residents on June 15 1993.

the technology provides the caller's name address phone number and a listing of emergency responders for that address and whereas in 2022 our dispatchers began answering phase one Wireless calls which allowed the dispatcher to see the caller's phone number and in 2023 Peoria County became one of the first counties in the nation to receive phase two wireless calls which gave the dispatcher approximate location data as well whereas in 2016 text to 9-1-1 was implemented with the tagline call if you can text if you can't giving residents yet another option to reach emergency services and whereas census implementation 30 years ago this month telecommunicators have answered more than 3.1 million 911 calls for Peoria County and they continue to answer calls and text messages every day of the year and every hour of the day now therefore I read Ali mayor of the city of Peoria Illinois do hereby recognize the 30th anniversary of enhanced 9-1-1 in Peoria thank you mayor and Council last year the 911 telecommunicators of the Peoria emergency communications center fielded over 109 thousand 9-1-1 calls and texts are about 300 per day throughout my time at the Peoria ECC I have seen the gradual change of those calls from initially being mostly landline to now mostly cellular while that technology has changed over the last 30 years the main objective of our telecommunicators has stayed the same to Serve and Protect the residents and visitors of Peoria as well as its police fire and EMS responders 911 telecommunicators are known as the first First Responders we are the calm voice in the darkness we never know what will be on the other end of the phone when we answer the 911 call well what we do know is the person will be in distress most often the caller is in a panic and it's one of the worst moments of their life it is our duty to stay calm Under Pressure so we can gather the necessary information and disseminate it in a clear and concise manner for our other First Responders I would like to recognize not only our current Peoria ECC staff but the former staff that helped pave the way for our department to be a leader in the 911 industry none of this would be possible without their hard work and dedication both past and present thank you welcome thank you for your leadership our next Proclamation recognizes pride month and we have Amy orwig from uh P flag Peoria as well as Derek kimmler from Central Illinois friends welcome foreign the city of Peoria Illinois recognizes and proclaims the month of June 2023 as lesbian gay bisexual transgender and queer lgbtq plus pride month and whereas on June 28 1969 the riots at the Stonewall Inn in New York City have been acknowledged as the beginning of the lgbtq plus rights movement during pride month we remember the events of June 1969 and celebrate and honor our lgbtq plus neighbors friends and family whereas the city of Peoria celebrates diversity and is committed to supporting visibly dignity and equality for lgbtq plus people in our community and whereas lgtb TQ plus individuals have made immeasurable impacts to the cultural Civic and economic successes of our country whereas celebrating pride month influences awareness and provides support and advocate for advocacy for the city of Peoria's lgbtq plus community and is an opportunity to take action and engage in dialogue to strengthen alliances build acceptance and Advance equal rights the city of Peoria supports the rights of all citizens to experience equality and freedom from discrimination now therefore I read Ali mayor of the city of Peoria Illinois do hereby proclaim the month of June as pride month [Applause] thank you mayor Ali and council members for the past 50 years pflag National has been working to create a more caring just and affirming world for the lgbtq plus people and those who love them our local chapter P flag Peoria is so thankful to share this Vision with other lgbtq plus supportive organizations leaders such as Central Illinois friends Peoria proud and acorn equality to name just a few we are all grateful to Mayor Ali and the Peoria city council for this Proclamation evidence that we are all working together to create a more caring just and affirming Peoria for the lgbtq plus community and those who love them thank you Madam mayor and this in the council I would also like to thank all the shoulders that we stand on as an lgbtq plus community you see for hundreds of years we've existed even though we've been expunged from many history books and many of the trans and non-binary individuals who have fought for our rights today and lgbtq plus individuals who unfortunately never had the privilege to stand in the in front of the likes of people like you we stand on those shoulders and I know myself and many of us activists here in our community don't take that lightly and we thank you for being a part of creating a society that is so accepting especially in a time where many of our surrounding states and locations are pushing people out that check certain boxes we are accepting them in as a community and it's not easy we like to think that equality is easy and it's not diversity is not easy and it starts with having hard conversations and the realization that the lgbtq plus Community has intersectionalities because the lgbtq plus Community is poor there's lower socioeconomic it's middle class they're black brown white hispanic they're non-english speaking they're immigrants they're all boxes we all are affected by the hate that is spewed by the lgbtq plus Community but we also all Thrive when lgbtq plus people thrive and so with that I'd also like to point your attention to the fact that because of your support and because of support of this community supporting the lgbtq plus Community Central Illinois friends is proud to announce that we closed on a building this week on Tuesday well what's that yesterday or what yesterday and we're proud to announce that we'll be opening up Peoria's very first lgbtq plus Community Center not just to support all those that are lgbtq plus but to provide a safe place for those who aren't that are just wanting to learn and do better and become more accepting and so thank you congratulations and thank you for your leadership [Applause] our last Proclamation recognizes Juneteenth and we have Carl Adams from the Lincoln uh excuse me he's a Lincoln historian all the way here from Washington DC but he's actually from Peoria from what I understand and we have Bob Hofer with the freedom and Remembrance he's the committee founder I'd like to remind everyone that both of these men will be speakers tomorrow at the freedom and Remembrance Memorial naming event it takes place at 10 A.M tomorrow at the corner of Griswold and Montana streets uh gentlemen if you could come forth whereas Juneteenth also called emancipation day and Freedom Day commemorates the traditional observance of the end of slavery in the United States it is observed annually on June 19th whereas on June 1st 1863 President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation to end slavery in the United States and whereas more than two years passed before the news reached enslaved black people in Texas on June 19 1865 Union Major General Gordon Granger and his soldiers arriving in Galveston Texas and spread the word that slavery had been abolished whereas Juneteenth is a day for all of us to reflect upon on what has happened since 1865 and to celebrate the social economic and cultural contributions of African Americans in the United States and whereas on June 16 2021 Governor J.B pritzker signed House Bill 3992 naming Juneteenth as National Freedom Day and designating it as a state holiday whereas on June 17 2021 President Biden signed legislation into law establishing June 19th as Juneteenth National Independence Day and whereas Juneteenth is the oldest nationally celebrated commemoration of the ending of slavery the city of Peoria stands in solidarity with our African-American community and we encourage the public to attend one of the many celebrations on this day now therefore I read Ali mayor of the city of Peoria Illinois do hereby acknowledge and celebrate the 19th of June as Juneteenth in Peoria Illinois [Applause] Mr Mr Adams is the author of a book called Nance Trials of the first slave freed by Abraham Lincoln thank you let's hear from you I'm originally from Alton Illinois where I was raised but I lived for 25 years in this area my children were raised here the children attended Peoria schools and uh I was as a lifelong fan of Abraham Lincoln I followed the travels and the trials through all three Illinois capital cities of the first slave to be freed by Abraham Lincoln whose Journey ultimately ended right here in downtown Peoria on April 6th of 1892.

and for 20 years I searched for her grave and could not find it thanks to Mr Hofer and the contributions of other genealogists they found the grave of Mrs Nance leggings costly in the old Moffat Cemetery following that Adventure I was asked to join the National Juneteenth observance Foundation as their historian since I had traced Nance through the travels of Illinois and I also traced her oldest son first son private William Henry costley through Peoria Pekin roadway down through Springfield through the battlefields of Virginia and then on a 2000 mile Journey around to the coast of Texas and they landed in Co in Galveston Texas on June 19 1865.

so as a historian for the national Juneteenth observance Foundation I bring to present to the mayor the city council and the city of Peoria National June 8th flag thank you thank you we are thank you this is to be flown at the freedom and Remembrance Memorial Park which we will dedicate tomorrow I thank you thank you we are so honored thank you very much Mr Adams [Applause] Madam Clerk we are at the approval of the minutes councilman rigabot I moved to approve the minutes of the joint Town board and city council meeting held on May 23 2023 as printed I get a second segment by council member valpulla comments or questions please cast your ballots motion passes unanimously Madam Clerk we have one town item 23-200 is a request from the town officials to approve the May 2023 actual expenditures and to approve the June 2023 anticipated expenditures for the town of the city of Peoria council member Grant Mayor Lee a move to approve as outlined for a second seconded by council member Allen any questions or comments please cash your ballots motion passes unanimously Adam Clerk we are at the consent agenda 23-201 is a communication from the city manager and director of public works with a request to approve the tree purchasing and planning contract from D.A hair and Sons Inc in an amount not to exceed fifty thousand dollars to purchase trees to plant on city property in rights of way 23-202 is a communication with request to approve and authorize the city manager to execute change order number two to the storm drainage repair annual contract with JC Dillon Inc for an increase not to exceed 460 thousand dollars for a new total amount of two million eight hundred and ten thousand dollars 23-203 is a communication with request to approve the low bid and award a contract to Stark Excavating for the old Big Hollow Bridge rehabilitation in the amount of 350 315 105.50 with an additional authorization of thirty one thousand five hundred and ten dollars and fifty cents for contingencies for a total amount of 346 616 dollars 23-204 is a communication with request to approve the low bid and award the seal coding contract 2023 to ra cullinan and Sun a division of UCM Inc in the amount of 381 489 with with an additional authorization of thirty eight thousand one hundred and eleven dollars for contingencies for a total amount of 419 600 dollars 23-205 is a communication with request to approve the low bid and award the high quality aggregate polymer modified slurry seal contract 2023 to microsurfacing Contractors LLC in the amount of 445 361.23 with an additional authorization of 44 538.77 per contingencies for a total amount of 489 900 23-206 is a communication with request to approve the low bid and award a contract to nap concrete contractors Inc for the riverfront entrances in the amount of 153 054 with an additional authorization of fifteen thousand three hundred six dollars for contingencies for a total amount of 168 360 dollars 23-207 is a communication with request to approve an amendment to the agreement with Phoenix Community Development Services regarding the emergency Solutions grant covid funding 23-208 is a communication with request to approve the site sign application for a class H temporary outdoor liquor license for an event to be held by Steamboat classic NFP on Southwest Water Street at State Street near Kelleher's on June 17 2023 and on your desk there is a handout it's a letter from the police chief and a certificate of liability insurance 23-209 is an appointment by mayor Ali to the land bank board with a request request to concur of council member Michael P Vespa and that concludes our consent agenda thank you madam clerk are there items to remove from consent agenda can I get a motion to approve the consent agenda move by council member Sears seconded by council member Euler any comments or questions please cash your ballots motion passes unanimously I think councilmember Vespa had a question on whether he should abstain from the item with his name and I would ask corporate counsel to advise I don't think that's necessary okay thank you we will move on Madam Clerk we are at regular business 23-210 is a communication from the city manager and chief of police with a request for the following a approve the sole source purchase of a thermo scientific Gemini handheld analyzer and true narc Unlimited Model from thermoscientific portable analytical instruments Inc in the amount of 164 504 and this item requires a two-thirds vote of council members voting no less than six and then Item B is to adopt an ordinance amending the city of Peoria 2023 revised budget relating to the use of opioid settlement funds for the equipment in the amount of 164 504 and this too requires a two-thirds vote of council members voting no less than six and we need separate votes on each it's a manager thank you madam mayor I'd like to ask the police chief to come up and talk about this item and just explain the rationale behind it thank you good evening mayor council city manager uh in short this is a technology and we want to be able to use technology to keep our officers and the community safe this is a technology that can permit the identification of fentanyl heroin cocaine and a variety about 700 other items to include explosives uh materials remotely without removing material from the container this utilization of such technology can rapidly provide critical information to our First Responders that may prevent an exposure that would affect the health and safety of personnel operating in the vicinity and it falls right in line with the the opioid settlement we did our research and made sure this was an item that we could purchase otherwise we would not be able to have been able to purchase this without this settlement okay any questions for the chief councilman valpulla thank you mayor mayor this is one of the I would say integration of science into detection is one of the most Innovative thing that I have seen but I have a couple of questions so if you look at the this is an equipment you're going to buy a piece of equipment yes sir so and then do you do you have any um you know plans to see how much how many times it needs to calibrate you need to calibrate every machine after certain use so do you know how to do this I'm gonna ask Sergeant Johnson who did all the research on this for me the Step Up I keep back up with me for this reason the machine is calibrated every use it has an internal calibration feature and we were able to have some experience with that during a test and evaluation period we actually had with both units and I see that we all we have to buy it by a test kit the the solution kit which allows you to do 100 tests yes so the the low dose identification kit would allow us to basically observe Trace Amounts of fentanyl or suspected illicit substances in a solution so we're seeing we can just see those minuscule amounts with that technology right but the idea is to have a have this kit being barred after every 100 Test season right uh we would have to buy some more solution or some more of those files right that's it thank you you're welcome council member Sierra thank you madam mayor move to approve file number 23-210 letter a is our seconded by council member Allen any other discussion please cast your ballots motion passes unanimously stick around chief Madam Clerk we are at Item B oh Item B uh council member seer thank you madam mayor uh move to approve file number 23-210 letter B seconded by council member Allen any questions council member Gordon young I'll be abstaining from this vote I serve on the Illinois remediation Advisory Board okay very good please cash your ballots motion passes with one abstention Gordon Young Madam Clerk 23-211 is a communication from the city manager and chief of police with a request for the following a approved the sole source purchase of 45 Pico mvs ballistic body armor systems from Tire tactical body armor in the amount of 126 829 and this item requires two-thirds vote of the council member's voting no no less than six and B adopt an ordinance amending the city of Peoria 2023 revised budget related to the use of asset forfeiture funds to purchase equipment in the amount of 126 829 and this too requires a two-thirds vote of council members voting no less than six and we'll need separate votes on each okay council members here thank you madam mayor I moved to approve approve file number 23-211 letter A seconded by council member Gordon Young any other discussion please cash your ballots motion passes unanimously council member Sierra thank you madam mayor move to approve file number 23-211 letter b seconded by council member Val Pula any other discussion please cast your ballots council member valpulla motion passes unanimously Madam Clerk 23-212 excuse me is a communication from the city manager and director of public works with a request to approve a contract with Woodard Curran in the amount of 99 950 for a water system assessment and technical support Mr manager thank you madam mayor it's that time every five years again where we move into the process where we discuss uh whether or not the council wants to proceed with doing the due diligence the formal due diligence and and starting the process to evaluate the price on the water company and whether or not they want to buy the water company as we discussed this several years ago councilman Euler mentioned that we should set aside some money in our fund balance to plan to do some of the preliminary due diligence work we have solicited and just for background for everyone the um the deadline for the council to act is is six months in front of the anniversary of when the water company was sold and when the water system was sold that comes out to be November 3rd of this year is the six months ahead of the the May date so what we have to do really is probably by the end of October the council will have to make a decision whether or not you want to proceed with the process to buy the water company and it's it's really a valuation process that will take potentially up to two and a half to three years to go through that process um what what we're doing this evening and asking you to consider is a Consulting contract with Woodard Kern and Jennifer Berger from Woodard Kern is here one of the principals from the from the firm to begin the assessment Pro or begin the some of the initial analysis so that when you make that decision in October you're going in with eyes wide open so we're really thinking about how we can come up and analyze some of those larger policy considerations you need to think about before you have to make that decision because once you make that decision it's going to be significantly more expensive there's going to be more more dollars that we're going have to place in order to do that but this will allow us to start to do that some of that leg work so the contract itself has three phases or three tasks that we've built into that first um that the that Woodard and Curran would help us to develop some operations and Engineering considerations for owning the water company um that second they'll summarize some of the the buyout process considerations you know identifying in better detail what are some of those costs that we might incur uh what are the range of costs to purchase uh all of that and then lastly that they would come back to the city council and present their findings uh in time for the council to make that those decisions before that deadline which is really um for lack of a if we meet on a Tuesday night it would be Halloween Eve we'd have to do that so that would be the last Tuesday we'd have before that six-month deadline so um that's that's it in a nutshell as I mentioned Ms Berger is here as well as director powers and Corporation Council Hayes is here as well if there's any legal questions that any members of the council may have okay just one side point there in your packages counselor there is the subset within phase one two and three it looks very abbreviated we did that for brevity because if we were to break out each individual task in the background you'd be on like three pages so you do have in your packet the actual task or subsets from each phase which are quite in depth so if you want to read them they're there for you to approve pleasure thank you mayor you're welcome I'm sure we have some questions I I know I do a council member Euler thank you madam chairwoman this is effectively what we set the money aside for in the budget cycle so I would move to approve seconded by council member seer did you also want to comment council member Sear just a second I I just wanted a second from I will make some comments later okay all right okay thank you uh questions and comments for either the manager or director powers and I'll start with some questions that I have when I look at the tasks associated with the effort there's three phases of course the last phase is the presentation to the council but the first phase task one is a review of the background information of the franchise agreement and develop information detailing the steps and timeline of water system buyout this task includes summarizing the history and results of past attempts to buy out the water system and background information about Illinois American Water Company and the demographics of Peoria's system first I question why we have to pay for that seems that we should have the background information related to the franchise agreement and could I think successfully get background information on Illinois American Water Company and their their system demographics um as it relates to specifically phase one it seems like we've done this before and so I'm wondering why are we doing this again and I've been just off and on for the last six years studying this issue as it relates to the water company buy out and I know it's complex and I know it's controversial I have some concerns on on spending a hundred thousand dollars on a study if we're not leaning toward a purchase of the water company and paying Force I think some items that it seems like we've we already have that information or we've went through this exercise again so I guess I I want to throw that question out to you director powers or to the mandra as it relates to some of these tasks and gathering information and it just seems that we've done some of this uh due diligence or exercise previously uh mayor I would I would concur that yes we have put together a lot of of that information in in Prior discussions from a staff perspective we've we have summarized some of that history I don't think each one of these tasks is is that's necessarily set up to be equally costly it could be just a simple task one is going to be a short summary of that to document that for you some of the larger detail in the very first section or their first phase is what comes after that which are some of those operating considerations some of those issues surrounding the engineering considerations that we need to be thinking about it's very complex because now there are a lot of other communities that are involved with the water company that's not just the city of Peoria so we would be buying assets that are outside of the city of Peoria as well so all of that is is part of that discussion and I think that's where the complexity comes in for this first phase is in that component not really in the summary section of that okay okay and then there's been some past due diligence efforts right we're quite a bit of money was was spent on some initial uh maybe more than a hundred thousand dollars oh it it was and and that would have been probably in the 2002 period of time when when really Council that was the last time they went through the valuation process itself um so I mean a lot has changed since 2002 so some of that at least initial work I think we're looking at it as we need to give you fresh information to think about as we go forward okay and then some of those changes especially in recent years seem to be changes related to higher demands for water quality and those expenses that might be related to assuring water quality in terms of that infrastructure absolutely in in the pipes um in in task two under phase one um one of the the or task three excuse me under phase one um they talk about some of the regulatory requirements and and there's emerging regulatory requirements that are coming out we know that the water company is embarking now on lead service line Replacements throughout the city and we have literally thousands of them there's a there's a website you can go out to On The Water Company's website and look at the map and see if your own home has a lead service line which mine does so as you start to look at that you you can you can see the amount of work that it's going to take for for uh whoever's running the water company to have to to make those those Investments in addition there's other regulatory requirements that are coming out that are are noted in the the task list that are going to have some significant cost implications as well for the water company thank you um I have more but I'll I won't be greedy here council member regenbach thank you madam mayor I think this is probably going to be the best hundred thousand dollars this council could appropriate this year as I sit around this horseshoe and councilman grab and I visited on this topic earlier having voted on this topic multiple times we consistently hear from dare I say the special interests involved in this whether it's the water company it's and itself or or the community activist groups that that think we need to buy it at all costs of all the things that we vote on this is probably one of the most complex because the vote tonight is not to move ahead with due diligence because that's a very specific thing in the contract that we'll be voting on in November but this is setting the groundwork to give us some unbiased information as to the actual costs involved to do the full due diligence as well as what the repercussions will be moving forward so I I would strongly encourage my colleagues to to support this for for those very reasons this will give us the 30 000 foot view of what the next phase will look like if we choose to do that in the years I've served on Council we've never taken that next step and I think it would be premature to say that approving this indicates a desire one way or the other on the council this is a fact Gathering proposition before us and I think we need to view it as that and then in the October time frame we will have that full discussion that will take us to seek a full valuation of it or decide that this is not the time to do that so I I think we would be very short-sighted not to approve this tonight because this will give us some very critical information that clearly has changed since the last valuation process in the early 2000s and frankly there's been a lot of changes in this industry in the last five years as well so I will be supporting it and encourage my colleagues to do so as well thank you madam you're welcome council member Allen uh thank you madam mayor and uh thank you for your comments councilman reagenbach always a voice of reason um I do have some questions for the manager uh sir can you talk about when was the last time this preliminary assessment was done for the water company uh I I can't recall us hiring another outside firm to do this in 2018 staff wrote up some information the council took into consideration we had hired outside council at that time because we were in discussions with the the water company about some franchise negotiations at that period of time in 2013 there was a small subcommittee uh public committee that was appointed that looked at this issue and provided some recommendations and then after that that goes back before I was here I know I do know that in in the the 2002 range when when it was serious about the uh the serious discussions about the water buyout at that point in time there were Consultants that were hired because you were in the midst of that valuation process that was the last time that we got a a true number on the Water Company valuation it was I think 227 million dollars so the last time we had a true evaluation question it was estimated at 227 million dollars and that was 2002 so my assumption is it's probably substantially more now but I'm not a mathematician or esthetician there um one of my favorite phrases that a mentor says to me is keep the main thing the main thing and uh I think we need to do that in this aspect right now uh continue to focus on basic core Services of Public Safety improving our infrastructure and our overall quality of life um I do appreciate the comments that were shared by councilman rickenback because I do see the Silver Lining and doing the due diligence but I think we know the answer to the uh to this question without needing to spend a hundred thousand dollars for the crystal ball so I'll be voting no on this thank you council member Jackson thank you madam mayor um I was just kind of wondering uh I was listening to some of the comments and I do appreciate all of them I I would really be interested in knowing uh what we paid back in 2002 to begin this process because it sounds like uh even at this initial phase if we decide to go forward uh our cost to proceed in this due diligence process will get even more expensive uh and um I would like to be as careful as possible about how we move forward especially considering uh we this is taxpayers Monies and um I I I'm seriously not sure yet that the benefits outweigh the costs will have to pay if we continue to proceed down this path so I am very concerned about the amount of money the city would put forth to pursue this process at this point uh knowing that we spent more than a hundred thousand dollars in 2002 I just don't know that we have the fiscal wherewithal to move in that direction given uh what we've got to do with regards to our pension costs and things of that nature I don't know that we're in a position to uh just spend money increasingly without knowing the benefits whether or not they will eventually outweigh the costs we're going to have to put forward in this process thank you madam mayor you're welcome council member seer thank you ma'am mayor I believe my colleague Mr rigenbach had the nail on the head and I want to applaud our city manager last time I was part of this uh this journey it was really very very messy and we really all of us got a lot of different information and trying to make a decision to the best of our knowledge so I applaud you Mr manager for suggesting a third party to help us so that all of us have the same information when it's time to have intelligent conversations about this process so to me I see this money as an investment it's not money spent it's it's money invested for our constituent so that a few months from now when these reports are coming back that we can number one have all the same information and have an intelligent conversation based on all the information that the third party we have gathered for us so I will obviously be supporting this motion thank you madam mayor you're very welcome council member Kelly thank you madam mayor I some of you know my thoughts on theoretically uh buying out the water company uh but I think that this move is responsible the the thing that is going to weigh most heavily on my mind as we move down the road is what does this do the rate payers whether this utility stays in private hands or it goes into public hands what's going to happen to the rate payers assuming assuming that the system is maintained that's one of my bugaboos and I I could talk about it tonight but I I'm not going to I I would just like to say that um I think this is a prudent step doesn't commit Us in any way to an outcome but it starts to lay the groundwork so we can see what we're actually talking about so I'll be in I'll be in favor of this Madam mayor thank you council member Euler thank you madam chairwoman I appreciate the discussion on both sides of this but to respond to some of the apprehension I guess I I would have to kind of liken it to the discussion that we had about Rail and we're spending money to really understand what it is we're even looking at and where we would want it to go and that's the votes that we've already taken on the rail Investments that we've made with little to no opposition was to spend money to see what the effect was of that decision and that's exactly what this is is what does that path look like what do those decisions look like and and the same discussions we had on that topic we invested money in evaluating that without much to any question about doing it and I would say that's exactly where we are at here is that it's an investment in understanding what we're even looking at so an educated decision can be made and we've already made commitments of dollars to do the exact same thing in other places thank you you're very welcome I you know I'm big on studies studying a problem in order to um make a decision that has you know the information needed to uh to make that decision in this case it is an issue that I've studied off and on for the last six years and think that I agree with you council member rigenbach that we will have some new information from this study and it it appears that we're going to adopt that but I will be voting no because I honestly don't believe that the city can afford to purchase the water company for one thing I think that the cost will be astronomical I don't believe that we should be taking on that Astro astronomical astronomical expense I think it's very risky perhaps the study will come back and and say that I I can't relate it council member orler to the rail because we're not talking about another entity that will be providing uh most of the funding for that um for that operation we're talking about the city of Peoria assuming the costs and you know taking out bonds for the purchase of a water company so I am not a proponent for moving in that direction and I think that this is a step toward that direction so I I respect everyone who is voting yes and supported the study and and it looks again like that's where we're that's what we'll be doing and I'll respect that entire process but personally I have to vote no today council member Vespa thank you madam mayor um I will be voting yes on this particular item because simply we don't know it we don't know um I think I've heard very good arguments on both sides of this um what I don't like really in principle is a private company extracting profits from the citizens of Peoria and putting it in the pockets of shareholders many of whom live outside of here or using it to build out their infrastructure and other communities at the same time we do know that there is potentially going to be quite a bit of expense rebuilding these lead pipes replacing these lead pipes that's going to be expensive if we were to buy it that would be our responsibility also borrowing costs at our are right now very high interest rates are very high and if we were to issue municipal bonds we would we would probably not get a great rate and it'd probably be a lot higher than the treasury rates right now which I think are you know many points so I mean there's there's a lot to consider here I I want to know the margins I want to get a better idea of the margins the profit margins at the solenoid American water is extracting out of this but it it's going to have to be considerably High to justify the purchase this I mean we are talking about taking on hundreds of millions of dollars in bonds at a at a high interest rate um so the margins have to be very high but we don't know what we don't know at this point so I'm spending a hundred thousand dollars to make a better informed major decision I think is a good idea thank you we have a motion and a second to approve let's say is it one or two approve the uh contract with wood Woodard Quran current please cash your ballots motion passes with four Nays Ali Allen Gordon young and Jackson Clark 23-213 is a communication from the city manager and Director of Human Resources with a request for the following a approve existing property and Commercial Auto Insurance coverages with Liberty Mutual insurance through Alliant Insurance Services Inc at a one-year cost of 380 343 dollars inclusive inclusive of fees and B adopt an ordinance amending the city of Peoria 2023 revised budget relating to the payment of insurance premiums in the amount of one hundred and sixty thousand dollars and Item B requires a two-thirds vote of the council member's voting no less than six and we need two separate votes Mr manager thank you madam bear I was just quickly scanning the audience looking for Ed Hopkins from our human resources department who's here that can can talk about this this is a an approval of our uh liability excuse me our property insurance uh and unfortunately and I and I may ask Mr Hopkins to come forward to the podium just to give you a snapshot of what the market looks like uh it is higher than than where it's been in years past unfortunately the property Market Insurance Market is just moving in that direction but Mr Hopkins maybe if you could just share kind of what the state of the market Insurance Market looks like which isn't pretty good uh it's pretty bad yes um it's probably the hardest Market that we've seen probably in 20 years um although we were able to get a decent uh increase rate on this particular year just over eight percent which isn't a bad increase but the problem is in addition to all the uh the hard markets and a lot of the insurers and reinsurers are leaving the market and exiting the public sector market so there's a lot less players and so it drives the cost up but in addition to that this particular year we ended up having an appraisal done we were overdue for an appraisal in the values of our properties went up by 30 percent so we now have property values in the range of 232 million dollars worth of property we are well below 200 200 million last year so with an increase of uh 30 30 percent in values obviously that drives the uh premium up quite a bit as well so uh given that and the fact that we we saw a hard Market as well on the liability side we ended up spending a little more than we would have normally spent on the liability side so we're we're needing the budget exception to have enough money to renew the property side questions for Mr Hopkins I get a motion to approve move by council member Kelly seconded by council member grab any discussion this is on item a please cash your ballots motion passes unanimously council member Kelly sorry about that council member Kelly uh thank you mayor mayor I move to approve Item B of 23 213.

seconded by council member Grant any discussion please cast your ballots motion passes unanimously Madam Clerk 23-214 is a communication from the city manager and director of Community Development with a request to concur with recommendation from staff for the following a adopt an ordinance annexing property located at 9601 North Allen Road Peoria Illinois designated as lot one this item requires a two-thirds vote of corporate authorities eight votes and B adopt an ordinance rezoning property to class i1 industrial Business Park District for the property located at 9601 North Allen Road Peoria Illinois designated as lot one and we will need two separate votes Mr manager um thank you madamera this is a annexation agreement that we actually took place in in February it's coming in in phases assisting community development director Leah Allison is here and she can explain it in much better detail than I can so I'll turn it over to her thank you manager so this is correct in February of this year you approved the annexation agreement for about a 17-acre parcel the action before you tonight is executing the actual annexation of lot one which is about just under three acres of the property so the first step is to Annex and then the second part B is to actually Zone this three acre lot to Industrial one I won and then hopefully in the near future you may see development come before you for this lot any questions that I can answer see here no question but I just like to move to uh to accept item number 23-214 letter A it's a second to buy council member Euler any discussion please cash your ballots motion passes unanimously council member Sierra thank you madam mayor just before I make my motion to work I want to congratulate Leah and all the the work you've done is the Project's been great so thank you very much for all your efforts uh moved to uh accept file number 23-214b goodbye discussion please cast your ballots motion passes unanimously thank you Miss Allison Madam Clerk we are at unfinished business 23-181 is a communication from the city manager and director of Community Development with request to concur with recommendation from the Planning and Zoning commission and staff to adopt an ordinance amending an existing special use ordinance number 17543 in a class R for single-family residential district for Town Homes to include a short-term rental for the property located at 824 West Moss Avenue Peoria Illinois manager uh thank you madam mayor director Doolin is here and I think he can outline some of the steps that were taken in the intervening period since this was deferred uh thank you mayor thank you Council thank you Mr manager uh this came before you uh two weeks ago and councilman grabe asked for a deferral to give the applicant time to meet with the neighborhood association uh to discuss the project they did the neighborhood association let us know that after that meeting it went really well and they'll be supportive of this project some of the staff's initial concerns were taken care of with some past uh Hotel taxes that have been paid so with that we would ask for approval council member Grant yes thank you Mayor Lee the Brownstones on Moss Avenue represent a wonderful development was well received a number of years ago by the West Bluff and by the Moss Bradley residential Association for those of you familiar with this this development is in an area that is bounded by the Main Street corridor moving south to the edge of the Illinois River this area is exploding with almost 275 million dollars in development just during the past six years the Moss Avenue historic district is an attractive place for many of our citizens to live including some from the high-tech creative arts fields the street where the Brownstones are located is one of our historic streets it is in one of our historic districts and after the Moss Bradley as director Doolin points out after the Moss Bradley executive board met with the Lewis it has determined that this would be a positive step forward and they recommended approval of this short-term rental at 824 West Moss and I moved to approve is there a second seconded by council member reagenbach any discussion glad things worked out councilman please cash your ballots motion passes unanimously Madam Clerk 23-196 is a communication from the city manager and chief of police with a request for the following a have proven authorized the city manager to execute an intergovernmental agreement between the city of Peoria and the Illinois Secretary of State Police under the Greater Peoria Auto crimes task force Grant in the amount of 2150 700 and B a proven authorized city manager to execute an intergovernmental agreement between the city of Peoria and County of Peoria includes Peoria County Sheriff's Office and State's Attorney's Office under the Greater Peoria Auto crimes task force Grant in the amount of two million one hundred and fifty thousand seven hundred dollars and we need two votes these may look familiar to you from our last council meeting Mr manager uh thank you madam mayor yes this is the uh the two missing agreements that we didn't have at the last meeting you you've already approved the budget and and established the funding so this is really just the two agreements that we have with the Secretary of State Police and with the sheriff's department and representatives of both entities are here as well can I get a motion on the floor councilmember Allen moved to approve seconded by council member Seer any discussion council member Sierra thank you madam mayor just a few questions and some clarification uh our conversation Mr manager page one just want to make sure we clarify everybody who's listening looking this is a four-year agreement correct that is correct this is anticipated to be a four-year agreement and for uh I can't see it right now of over three million dollars but says the first three years 2.5 2.15 million dollars so where's the fourth year basically uh it will there will be an additional need for each year we're going to have to appropriate that as those Grant funds come to us so there'll be separate actions for those items probably in the budget process just as we anticipate that those funds come through if I could ask just a couple questions our our police chief would be great also thank you Chief I've been in some meetings with you obviously there's a lot of uh dealers car dealerships in the fifth district with a lot of these problems can you explain to us uh I don't know if it's a fair question or not what do you think is the biggest problem uh with uh people stealing cars uh well we're seeing quite a bit of juveniles involved and I I think that's the biggest issue for us when when we talk about the law enforcement side of who's doing it is the juveniles um this doesn't only apply to just the stolen vehicles we're also talking about stolen vehicle parts right the catalytic converters have been an issue for us this will allow us to have the resources and Manpower if you will to be able to follow up with with our salvage yards Etc uh in this in these steps so there's a there's another I think it's a difficult question to answer but what do you what do you want to accomplish I mean we're going to spend a lot of money or millions of dollars what do you hope to accomplish how will we know if we're successful or not or not three or four years from now well I think we're we want to see a reduction we want to see a reduction in the amount of stolen vehicles right we want to we want to be able to how much have we been able to educate the community how much have we been able to reduce the numbers um how much have we been able to reduce the numbers of catalytic converters being stolen and how many people have we been able to prosecute on the flip side of that that did commit these uh you know if we can't find them now in comparison are we able to close out these cases thank you very much Chief thank you madam mayor council member Allen uh thank you madam mayor just just a comment um this is definitely a step in the right direction so I definitely will be supporting this tonight um I recently had a constituent who car was stolen from their apartment complex um when he saw that his car was moving from his parking spot um he has a young family he came outside with his firearm to protect himself and when he looked into the car he saw that they were juveniles and so he attempted to tell them hey get out my car and they still just took off and he didn't have it in him to fire or hurt he didn't want to hurt these kids and I appreciated his empathy and compassion um not everyone is going to have that and when we have juveniles and even adults who are participating in these activities when you play Silly games you win silly prizes and I hope that we don't get to a situation where we have someone get hurt or killed over one of these vehicular uh times and so I really hope that we can start curving this negative activity that is occurring in our city because um I'm afraid that that may be in the forecast in the future if we don't get this under control so thank you Chief and thank you to everyone involved and if you're listening to this the city of Peoria has taken this very serious and we really need you all to stop doing this because I'm afraid that someone's going to get hurt or killed over one of these acts thank you thank you councilman foreign seconded by council member sear looks like we have no more comments or questions please cast your ballots for item a motion passes unanimously councilmember Allen except for B uh move to approve seconded by council members here please cash your ballots motion passes unanimously thank you chief Adam Clark 23-197 is a communication from the city manager and chief of police with a request to approve and authorize the city manager to execute a memorandum of understanding between the city of Peoria and Cara Health Services Under the co-responder unit for a six-month period utilizing grant funding from the Illinois criminal justice information Authority providing the co-responder unit in the amount of three million sixty eight thousand dollars and again you saw this information at the last council meeting without the agreement any questions for the chief council member sir thank you madam mayor uh sorry I was not here last meeting but I'd just have a few questions or comment for our chief also again this is a over three million dollar uh budget this is a new creation correct Chief yes sir creation and uh can you tell us a little bit if you can we've got over a million dollars of equipment for the first six months what kind of equipment are we getting so uh this was on obviously on the last councilman there's a uh some response vehicle for our swap Medics to be right up on scene and be able to triage and care for victims of crimes there's two other vehicles that are if you will mobile mobile offices we in policing we oftentimes have to speak right with a witness with a victim and we have to put them in the back of a squad car because we have nowhere else to put them what we want to change that uh a feeling of being re-victimized by being put in the back of a vehicle of a squad car with a cage we want to put them in a mobile office if you will where we can talk to them keep them out of the the lens of the cameras that are out on scene video cameras or the cell phones be able to talk to them privately get more information triage get them mobile to a place where we need to keep them safe while having another vehicle that continues to talk to suspects if we have a suspect still inside the building so because because this is a new creation is there's any uh track record past track record from from peor or any other cities that has this type of unit no sir not not the way we're doing it no okay so uh the next question really just a comment from Mr manager uh I get offended a little bit here under impact if denied I don't know who wrote that but so department will lose out on a critical component of community safety I mean if this is a new creation I'm not sure I mean obviously I'm 100 behind this but I just don't like the way how you write things where it's a critical component of community safety I mean it's a brand new unit right so we just don't know so I just don't like the way this is written and I don't know who writes that Mr Manchester just a comment site comment on that but congratulations on I mean this obviously I'm 100 behind this and I hope it makes a big difference for Cedar PR so thank you Chief and thank you madam mirror we have a motion on the floor and we have a second move by council member Allen second by council member Sierra is that correct no no we need emotion we do not have a motion this is a different council member Allen seconded by council member Euler um any additional comments and thank you Dr Booth for attending on behalf of of coral health please cast your ballots motion passes unanimously Madam Clerk we are at new business is there any new business council member Graham thank you mayor I think that most council members who are in touch with their constituents know that there's a great deal of tension in this community especially as it relates to very public displays of criminality very public displays of juvenile delinquency that are repeated and that we read about over and over and over again are watch TVs some time ago when Chief arrived in town given my background as an educator one of the things I wanted us to look at mayor I talk to you about this as well and you agreed that it'd be a good idea to do PSAs to remind parents that they are responsible for their children and knowing where their children are and when we read some of the reports that come across our desk in the morning it's very disheartening to see type of criminality but especially young kids running rampant repeatedly the same kids doing aberrant things hurting each other stealing and victimizing I believe we're at an inflection point and I do believe that we are going to come out of this as a city stronger than ever before we've approved numerous items tonight including addressing mental health issues however I want to quickly point out that I do not believe every youngster who steals a car is mentally ill I believe there have never been consequences for some of these kids we need to provide consequences the time for equivocation and risk slaps is over in Peoria and the question I have to ask is when we have all these kids out two three four in the morning Shooting Guns Etc is where are the parents where are they what is their responsibility under our state statutes Corporation Council Hayes could you provide a report back to this body which would outline the potential for recovery from parents or Guardians for damages caused by their minor children under the Illinois parental responsibility Act could you do that in two weeks thank you thank you mayor councilmember Hayes did you have anything additional I'm sorry I didn't recognize your light thank you your honor no I'd be happy to report back in two weeks on that issue okay thank you new business councilmember Jackson uh thank you madam mayor I would just kind of like to continue along the vein of uh council member uh gray about I too have been uh Disturbed um I don't know for the last couple of months and uh I'm just kind of at wit's end and I I would like to see the city take the lead in this effort and I thank you council member grab for your request um I think I've mentioned to the chief we have a curfew ordinance on the books is there some way we could uh enforce this Chief um it's not we know there are juveniles out we also know that there are large numbers of people over 20 or 21.

um I read just about a couple of months ago Peoria is not the only city dealing with these issues and I believe it was Columbus Ohio uh there was such a uh uh such a large amount of violence occurring that they decided to shut down their business district a little bit early uh because some of the businesses had gunshot bullet holes in their Windows as a result of all of the violence that was going on I would like to know how many bars are have four o'clock licenses uh is that something we could get a report on uh Corporation Council Hayes because I think until we can get a handle on what's going on large crowds down on Main Street overnight uh just hanging out I think we as a city have to be a little bit more intentional in our efforts and I'm not advocating shutting down bars but I think we need to consider all options because we're at a situation where we need all hands on deck I've reached out to men's groups I remember reading the report from the assistant chief talking about just recently uh the fact that they they need help they need help with some of these crowds and so I'd like to know how many bars have 4 AM licenses I don't think it's unrealistic for us to if this is a way to get these crowds under control and stop some of the the shooting that we've seen going on downtown maybe we could consider the possibility of at least temporarily seeing if they could shut down a little bit early earlier rather than later until we can get this situation under control they're not all juveniles council member grab we've got a lot of people 20 and 21 hanging out whether they're in vehicles whether they're on Main Street whether they're on Richmond Avenue behind high schools in parking lots we've just got too much activity going on overnight and it's not it's having an adverse effect not only on those impacted but you know I know I'm I'm bothered by it so I would like to get a report back on the number of bars that have 4am licenses uh maybe we could have a discussion as to what we could do to temporarily get a handle on this situation until we can get this crowd situation under control and um what what Chief maybe you can help us out in terms of what we can do to try to enforce our curfew because we've got to do something about this and I think uh we as a city should take the lead and I hope um parents are listening because as I said we need all hands on deck thank you madam mayor thank you councilwoman uh Corporation Council yes ma'am there are 10 class one licenses those allow entities to stay open till 4 a.m and serve liquor there are a subclass of 2 am licenses as well and I can report back to council with a complete list of those next next meeting with uh so you know all the different licenses I'll just mention that the 4am licenses are only available right in the downtown area so I would also add that the chief will tell you that's where we're having the issues so I would be happy to provide that information for your consideration thank you thank you Council Hazen and if we could get those before the next meeting that would be even better I believe I can forward them this evening okay thank you council member Allen uh thank you madam mayor um I want to just State a couple of things first off I want to shout out the Peoria Park District for uh their efforts see we have trustee Sierra in the building uh for parka palooza that occurs this past weekend as well as the Drone show uh Parker palooza with the bouncy houses and everything was amazing I'm proud to report back that my achilles is still intact after trying to jump with my kids but no in all seriousness no uh it was just a beautiful time on the riverfront you have thousands of people downtown for that event there was a concert there was a drone show and then when you looked over while the Drone show was happening you saw the fireworks occurring over at Dozer Park after the Chiefs game and so which is uh Peoria Bliss if you will so I definitely want to shout out the park district and state representative John Gordon booth for her effort and bringing that opportunity to our River friend and hopefully we can bring that back next year I definitely would love to support it again and then the next thing I want to announce is this Saturday the annual June T Fest will be occurring down at Carver Center from 11 to 8 PM presented by the Yanni Collective our very own councilmember Bernice Gordon young will be the Madam of ceremony there uh great event if you haven't been a lot of different Community vendors and resources and activities will be present it's just going to be a great fun time celebrating Juneteenth so I definitely want to shout out to Yani Collective for their effort in creating these quality of life opportunities for our community so get out there and support the Juneteenth Fest this Saturday thank you thank you two things from me the first is to ask for a report back from the manager regarding the process for consideration of Juneteenth as a city holiday it's a it's a national holiday it's a state holiday why not let it become a city holiday so I would like to look at the process for sure making that a reality for next year and then secondly I want to thank everyone for their participation in the strategic planning kickoff that occurred last uh Thursday and Friday we had over 400 individuals Peoria stakeholders to participate in that process we've gotten nothing but positive feedback from those the two-day kickoff I'd like to thank the our project manager for that event assistant city manager Kimberly Richardson and I know that the process continues that was the kickoff of two days but the process continues there's also a need I think to convene all of the city council for a a six hour session that might occur over one day it might occur over two days you know three hours and three hours or six hours but I know that there's some challenges with getting the dates aligned can you um just kind of give us an update Miss Richardson regarding the process and uh how we hone in on securing the date for Council as well thank you madam mayor and city council I would say that we are working on the timeline working backwards and so we're trying to get this strategic planning completed by October we were wanting to make sure that we can give time for the council to review the documents and also we have this community process as part of it looking at the schedule that we have in place right now we have a community Forum that's supposed to take place on July 20th and July 21st that is to help inform the conversation that will take place with the council which is what we're now looking to address with the time and date we had initially looked at a weekday recognizing that for some that would have been a little bit of a challenge however right now I think we have to look at it weekday so we can have a quorum to meet the obligations of us having a meeting and discussing the Strategic plan so what I will do is work with our Administrative Assistant for the council to present additional dates that will be in August we need to try to keep this contained in August if we want to keep on our timeline if the council sees fit to move the timeline then that's when we can look into September but in order to ensure in October adoption we will need to make sure that the session that takes place with the city council occurs in our in August and then once that occurs in senior leadership staff will be able to then provide feedback as well but your meeting needs to occur first in order for that to take place how can the public engage in the strategic planning process now and not have to wait to one of those meetings that they may not be able to participate very good answer and actually have cards here tonight to pass out but as of tomorrow we will have a live our Peoria 2023 uh webpage which will allow for a community to provide feedback electronically as well as there will be non-scientific surveys on that website and additional information where they are able to provide feedback we do have opportunities for us to have smaller Community Gatherings where we are putting together a packet for individuals who are interested they will be able to request that information also on our peoria2023.org website it's a it's a One-Stop shop for information updates as well as times and dates of any inconvenience that we do have related to the strategic planning process and we're going to push that information out I take yes okay great thank you for your leadership in this effort thank you mayor I'm a clerk we are at citizens opportunity to address the city council we have one two three four five five cards the first is Rose feral good evening Madam mayor good evening Peoria city council as many of you have heard by now the library and the bargaining team took the contract we have been to go to negotiating into mediation on June 7th and June 8th although we cannot speak on what occurred during mediation we can say that we did not come to an agreement as the offer we received was unacceptable laughable even we are not crestfallen however because we refuse to give up we have been negotiating this contract for over six months into put into perspective how long we've been doing this I like to give a brief timeline of events on September 1st of 2022 the union sent a letter to library Administration start negotiation for a new contract as the current one expired on December 31st 2022 November 11th 2022 the bargaining team from both the union and the library met for the first time since February of 2023 Peoria Public Library employees patrons and retirees have been coming to board meetings and holding peaceful informational pickets to show support for Library staff and to demand a fair contract on June 7th of 2023 mediation began due to both sides being unable to come to an agreement on June 8 2023 mediation ended with both sides still being unable to come to an agreement that brings us here today asking for your help in place of our director and the Board of Trustees that you the Peoria city council appointed yourselves and we know you have seen us in the news and we know that you utilize our facilities we're not asking for much quite the contrary we know it's possible within the library's current budget to give us more than they are offering we know that annually two hundred thousand dollars or more is left unsubmit and rolls into Capital development but remains unspent we find that to be a gross mismanagement of taxpayer money We are continuing to fight for our fellow employees to make more than minimum wage and have a salary that provides enough income so that 16 percent of our staff aren't working a second job to make ends meet under an expired contract We are continuing to provide programming We are continuing to provide Heating and Cooling facilities during extreme weather free Tech help and another number of other services that we provide with a smile despite poor pay however vocational awe does not put food on the table the message we have received from our library Administration throughout the negotiation process is that they don't care if we find a better paying job many of us hold post-secondary degrees and many of us hold post-secondary degrees specialized specializing in the field of Library Sciences but we still get paid peanuts there is a banner on Peoria Public Library's website that says our collection is worth millions but our expertise is priceless are we Priceless show us our staff cannot afford the benefits that we are offered our staff cannot afford to eat more than one meal a day our staff are on government assistance our staff are housing insecure and our staff cannot afford to work here thank you [Applause] thank you Nancy long there and city council members I'm not a big speaker I don't get up much and talk but I am a library user um came here 35 years ago immediately located the McClure Branch Library kind of made it our second home after school and in the summer my kids met other kids there who were doing the same thing and by using the library when we didn't have much money to work with we could reinforce what they were learning at school this is how libraries have always worked in my history it's embarrassing to know that these wonderful people who devised the games the activities story hours consultation they are just not getting paid what they're owing and naturally I was inquiring about one staff person who had helped me with an issue six months ago and wondered if he was still at the the branch unfortunately he had obtained obtained a position in Chillicothe and he's probably going to stay at that library for a while it's disappointing um in my professional career I work with children we were primarily working with DCFS involved children taking them in groups and having activities my first place to get new updated library books and to consult about the quality of them has been the libraries what's going to happen if all these wonderful people who know there's the opportunities available are willing to do research for us what if they're not there what if people who just barely are learning have to be the leaders that's just not fair to the current staff certainly not fair to the community finally I like many of you aware of the use of the library by our homeless population a lot of times in the winter they're waiting at the door for a warm place to go from wherever they spent the night uh they're always received with courtesy if there's an awkward situation the staff are right there to help figure it out I frankly don't mind if somebody's taking a bath in the in the bathroom there because I know that they don't have a safer place to take a bath so the the library is just serving in so many ways to keep Peoria a home where people can survive and I think it's only fair that the staff who are working hard at doing that get a better pay grade thank you we have Heather mcmeekin hello hi I'm new to Peoria having just relocated here a few months back I'm a small business owner of digital media advocacy Consulting and Services I come with the expertise of someone who's worked in service education and on the web having spent the last 15 years as a webmaster a civil servant at a major university here and I can't speak to the library usage because I haven't used them a whole lot yet but I do want to bring up sort of a a lot of concerns I have because I do understand and have some experience fighting extremism online right now our nation is experiencing an unprecedented Challenge from white supremacy white nationalism Christian dominionism and extremist fascist authoritarianism attacking our systems of government service and the good faith public servants such as yourselves trying to serve our people this is done in service to limiting access to knowledge to history to to what is equality to aspirational material to the functioning and Govern of our government and services when our press isn't able to report on things in our outer regions and the Press goes down what is the repository of how a government is functioning it is the library archives a lot of people aren't quite familiar with this but after World War II after the Nazis lost there was not a lot of American Appetite for accountability it's it fell upon people like Simon wiesenthal to go into the libraries to find the facts which form the basis of hunting down these Mass murderers and bringing them to justice at Nuremberg we know during the pandemic we have had people do things that they shouldn't be doing and that has been recorded in people's journals and Diaries who's the repository of this much very necessary data that is our Librarians it's also about being guardians of what our culture is what our historic truth the functioning of how we do our lives here at this point in time and those repositories are what will inform future Generations about how we made it through this time assuming we do so libraries are under attack from anti-intellectualism anti-government and anti-accurate representational history fear-mongering austerity is a tactic of white supremacy and authoritarianism austerity budgets I'm not saying that's what's happening here I'm saying this is what it looks like when we have an executive director and a library board who have taken it upon themselves apparently to tell others that they're just not going to offer any more when they come to the table and I'm a big supporter of unions go ask me I will just say that that is hypocritical it is bad faith bargaining who appointed the executive director or asked him to make a decision to hire a lawyer to sit on the opposite side of the people who live here and serve our people and tell them they aren't even worth a cost of living rage at a time of unprecedented inflation that is harming their families and their ability to care for their own doing something like that is a tactic it is a tactic to destroy the quality of lives of workers it is a tactic to make them give up and to leave and to stop watchdogging the things that we need Watchdog it will harm the services you our libraries here and I say our um but the ones that you have here are an amazing gem you have wonderful people I've seen them in action they are caring they deserve to be treated like we value them and that includes having an executive director who will come to the table and do his bargaining and not hire a legal firm who doesn't even live here to tell people they aren't worth even a little bit above minimum wage bring a fair contract Our Workers are that are the best protections our libraries have in our services if they are not protected they won't be able to fit right now they make up the Gap in our education they provide tutoring they provide other opportunities for change challenging and helping children get caught up and we have wonderful Library volunteers please tell your library board to either step up and your executive director to come to the table with a fair contract offer or to step down or remove them thank you [Applause] Nick Hall um hello um following kind of the same line of support for the librarians you know I I moved to Peoria about two years ago and since then I've spent a lot of time at the libraries I go there pretty regularly I've actually been to the Lincoln the McClure Lakeview and um the North Branch on multiple occasions one of the things that I have noticed is that every librarian has been extremely friendly and helpful um and there are stewards they are stewards of amazing programs ranging from things like live music book clubs which I love participating in because I'm a bit of a nerd and meeting spaces for the community programs on foraging and gardening which I've been unfortunate to not be able to attend but was very excited to share with my friends that that was going on um they're also stewards uh stewards of our history we have a wonderful uh history room which The Librarians there have helped me look through and I've learned a lot of really cool things about Peoria that I otherwise wouldn't have been able to know um I think it's important that we keep the wonderful Librarians who make our community a great place to live with the work that they do here um and that if we don't make an effort to pay them appropriately then we're going to start leading talented individuals we're going to be losing them to other libraries around the area which would pay them better than what our current Library board is willing to offer them so I am asking you to preserve that quality and take action where you can to improve the offers that they're getting because from what I've seen from what I've heard doesn't look like they're getting a fair deal thank you [Applause] dalry's coaster foreign honorable council members nourish and South Side Community United for change or scuc are the groups I represent we partner with the city council with every partnership there are strengths and challenges so I want to start with a glaring strength thank you very much for the five thousand dollar mini grant that you approve for nourish I came here tonight to say thank you so very much appreciated for how your um giving dollars to improve the south end of Peoria you not only gave my non-profit organization that amount but you generously approved every Grant application and all of them represented the south side of Peoria thank you this is it's encouraging um and it's building a good strong relationship between us so um and those are the the Bob the items you had that's from our South Side members I'm also here to speak of a challenge right now um Madam clerk I would like to give mayor Ali and the Peoria city council this packet of 151 individually signed requests in support of a moratorium on the carbon dioxide pipeline it's being presented to the city council to urge you to move forward with Drafting and considering a moratorium on carbon dioxide pipelines we urge the moratorium to be in effect at least until the U.S pipelines and hazardous materials safety administration completes its current reviews and have updated regulations in full effect I also have copies of a sample drafting of a resolution to protect citizens and First Responders from the dangers of high pressure carbon dioxide Pipelines carbon dioxide is colorless and odorless it is usually a gas but can be solid or liquid there may be amounts of carbon dioxide Trace Amounts in the air we breathe right now but when liquefied it becomes many times more volatile upon an explosion carbon dioxide robs the air of oxygen any gas powered vehicle will not operate I repeat carbon dioxide robs the air of oxygen whatever human being needs to live scucm members of the south side of Peoria became aware of a proposed carbon dioxide pipeline in March of 2023 we were appalled at the idea of a proposed pipeline containing highly pressurized and explosive liquid carbon dioxide beginning in Cedar Rapids Iowa running through the south side of Peoria and ending at a sequestered site in Decatur Illinois where the liquid carbon dioxide would be put into the ground surely something so dangerous would not be allowed underneath the ground in the most vulnerable and underfunded part of Peoria at that time we believe Peoria leadership would not even entertain this effort please know that the proposed wolf ADM pipeline is being discussed right now companies have approached the Illinois Commerce Commission for approval in the next 17 days they would like to break ground in 2024 oh my I just want to I just want to uh begin with this pipeline as I wrap up one two three four five six seven eight counsel eight seconds eight seconds is how much time satosha Mississippi victims half a mile from the explosion site had before they lost consciousness tens possibly hundreds of millions of dollars stand to be earned from this carbon dioxide pipeline yet it is not worth the value of one life of one single Peoria resident please strongly consider a moratorium thank you for your time [Applause] Madam Clerk we have an executive session I would like to invite a motion to adjourn and to convene in closed session immediately following a German of the city council meeting pursuant to the open meetings act 5 ilcs 120-2 C 11 to discuss pending litigation and pursuant to the open meetings act 5 ilcs 120 2c21 for approval by the body of closed session minutes uh motion moved by council member Allen seconded by council member Gordon Young please cast your ballots councilmember Kelly okay motion pass is unanimous thank you for your service