Peoria approves $10.68M Wagner mixed-use development, $1.25M Church View Gardens despite minority contractor participation gap

e fa everyone can take their seats we're going to get started with our meeting thank you El good evening it is 6 o'clock p.m.

on Tuesday January 23rd 2024 I'd like to call the meeting of the Poria city council to order I'd also like to welcome everyone that's here in our council chambers and those that are listening on uh wcbu I'd also like to welcome the audience that's watching cable channel 22 Madam clerk the Council mics are open please call the rooll mayor Ali present council member Allan pres council member sear here council member Gordon young council member graab here council member Jackson here council member Kelly here council member Oiler council member riggenbach here council member velpula present and council member Vasa here you have a quorum present Madame mayor thank you very much everyone please join me and stand for a moment of Silent prayer or silent reflection followed by the Pledge of Allegiance Pledge Al flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liy and justice for all Madam clerk we have one Proclamation our Proclamation recognizes national radar action month and here to join us in receipt of that Proclamation are Jim emanuels and Debbie emanuels can you come to the podium please right there whereas ridon is a colorless odorless radioactive gas that may threaten the health of our citizens and their families January is National radon action month and all Illinois citizens are strongly encouraged to test their homes for raidon and whereas raidon is the second leading cause of lung cancer in the United States and the leading cause of lung cancer in nonsmokers the US Environmental Protection Agency estimates that radon is responsible for approximately 21,000 lung cancer deaths each year and whereas one in 15 homes across the United States has an elevated radon level and 41% of homes tested for Radon in Illinois have high radon levels and whereas any home in Poria may have elevated levels of radon even if neighboring homes do not and elevated levels pose a serious health threat to Residents and whereas Illinois Law now gives tenants rights regarding testing Illinois statute recommends all Illinois school districts test their school building every five years and identify radon problems excuse me identified radon problems can be fixed and whereas the Illinois Emergency Management agency and the office of Homeland Security and the US Environmental Protection Agency are supporting efforts to encourage homeowners to test their homes for Radon mitiga elevated levels of of radon and build new homes with radon resistant materials and features now therefore I Rita Ali mayor of the city of Poria do hereby acknowledge January 2024 as National radon action month in Poria welcome thank you mayor Dr relli and councilman my name is Jim emanuels and I am the vice president Midwest arst and on the Illinois radon task force um thank you so much for this Proclamation it's important to get the word out as you said radon is an odorless colorless tasteless gas it's the second leading cause of lung cancer and the only way you'll ever know that you have an indoor radon problem is to test for it fortunately we do have the cure for Radon induced lung cancer by diverting the radon gas to the outside it's called a radon mitigation system the story I hear way too often is a loved one has come down with lung cancer and the doctor asked them to test their homes for Radon and it came up high and usually at the end of the conversation it is why didn't nobody tell me and that's what this Proclamation helps helps do according to the EPA the Action level is four four peal curies per liter which is equivalent to 5.3 cigarettes in an 18-hour period Poria county has a distinguishment that we need to acknowledge according to Ima the Illinois Emergency Management the highest recorded radon ever tested in the state of Illinois was3 107 Pico carries and actually we actually own the first spot and the fourth spot in the state of Illinois we do have a ridon issue in this in this city here so thank you again for this Proclamation and um I would urge you to go back to your constituents and advocate for them to test for it um the pure County Health Department the good news part of this is they have test kits and they actually have grant money for the mitigation systems thank you again thank you for making us aware thank [Applause] you Madame clerk we are at the approval of the minutes council member riggenbach thank you Madame mayor I moved to approve the minutes of The Joint City Council and town board meeting held on January 9th 2024 as printed seconded by council member graab any questions comments please cast your ballots motion passes unanimously Madam clerk we are at the consent agenda 24-19 is a communication from the city manager and director of public works with a request to accept the low bid of D Joseph construction company in the amount of 1,79 $2,000 and award a contract for the public works Dre Lane remodel 24-20 is a communication with request concur with recommendation from the Planning and Zoning commission and staff to deny a request to rezone property from a class R3 single family residential district to a class C1 General commercial district for the property located at 3616 North Sheridan Road 24-21 one is a communication from the city manager and director of Community Development with a request to concur with the recommendation from the Planning and Zoning commission and staff to adopt an ordinance approving a special use in a class B1 Central business district for a class 2 tobacco or alternative nicotine product sales use for the property located at 311 Main Street and on your desk there is a revised communication 24-22 is a communication with request concur with recommendation from the Planning and Zoning commission and staff to adopt an ordinance approving a special use in a class C1 General commercial district for a massage parlor for the property located at 4410 North Knoxville Avenue 24-23 is a communication with a request to concur with a recommendation from the Planning and Zoning commission and staff to adopt an ordinance approving a special use in a class R3 single family residential district for a short-term rental for the property Loc located at 5601 North University Street and 24-24 is a communication from the city manager Corporation Council and director of public works with a request to adopt an ordinance proposing the West Lamont Avenue special service area and that concludes our consent agenda thank you madam clerk are there any items Council to remove from consent council member grup uh council member Jackson uh well I was going to say 2419 as well okay thank you council member sear thank you madam mayor move to uh approved seconded by council member Allen any discussion please cast your ballots motion passes unanimously man Clark 24-19 is a communication from the city manager and director of Public Works to request with a request to accept the low bid of D Joseph construction company in the amount of 1,792 th000 and award a contract for the public works Dre Lan remodel council member graa yes um this is an overdue uh expenditure um um many of us were very unhappy when we kind of got styed in our efforts to design a new office layout out on Dre Lane for our public works department back in U 200 16 or so when the funding was withdrawn after completion of just one phase so we have a lot of remodeled space that needs to be finished and made usable for our staff and certainly with all the infrastructure projects we've had uh in this community it's vitally important that we have a good working environment that can adequately accommodate our employees director Powers I wonder if you could add on or embellish to what I've already said here because I'm going to be so thrilled to vote in the affirmative for this particular expenditure well it's not often I don't think a director gets something pulled from consent that they're going thank you thank you counselor I think you did a really good job in providing somewhat of an overview it actually started in 2012 the planning um if actually this is a good opportunity just to invite any and all of you to come to Drees and to see the space we would love one we like to tell you what we do because a lot of people don't get to see that again we often quietly do what we do but again when I came here four years ago hard to believe that space that you're talking about that we undertook in 2016 has been in that condition because frankly we didn't have funding we hit Co there's no one to blame there's a budget matter we had to address and hence we've had staff in spaces that were never meant to accommodate a person they were meant to accommodate Labs vehicles uh and it's only because it was conditioned space it was the only place we could find the space that we had started we basically disqualified because we didn't have it conditioned so a very large right in the center of our building is uninhabitable because of that so it's that along with a just a complete functionality of the building as you know we're growing the utility there's just a number of things that have happened since 2016 councel that Council mayor all of you just um that frankly we need to do to accommodate workflow a more welcoming environment you know on the exterior side we've taken on a green infrastructure project as a model for the city we would just like the compound to reflect really I think the first public building that you see when you come to Poria if you think about it you're coming 74 South and what's not really South but you're heading south and you look to your left and you see our salt barn and then you see our building especially in the winter so we need this work done and it is well overdue I could not concur more sir thank you thank you you're welcome council member Jackson thank you Madame mayor um well first of all I just want to start my comments by saying I it it's it sounds like a much needed project but I uh what does disturb me is um and I think I brought this issue up a couple years ago about the lack of minorities um that um are not involved in this project as a governmental entity we have a goal of 15% minority participation and I get it uh you know [Music] um sometimes companies smaller companies are not in a position financially but what I am not sure is whether or not this uh particular contractor has put forth a good faith effort at least uh you know there's documentation but um with 3% minority participation that that does not indicate to me that there was a good faith effort uh put forth and my question is when I brought this issue up two years ago Mr manager um we changed have we done anything differently with regards to how we approach this process because um for reasons uh unbeknownst to me I'm sure maybe some may have to do with the law uh minorities and women are not in a position to even uh compete uh especially if they're a smaller company well uh thank you councilwoman for bringing this um up yeah in in this bid um this was certified by our um our chief diversity inclusion officer who runs the EO program um they they had six minority and women owned businesses biders on the project they selected three one minority bidder and two women-owned businesses to participate as Subs on the project um with it it does total 3.6 of the total percent of the project 2.6 to a minority contractor and then 1% to women-owned businesses uh our goals are 10% and 5% they're goals they are not requirements and we can't require uh under under the law we cannot require that you meet a certain percentage to be minority owned or women to Owned businesses as part of that project we have been working we've been working very closely um with the NAACP with the Poria Black Chamber uh our purchasing team our Public Works team um we're planning on an event in March where we're going to be at the Civic Center to talk about how we can try and grow more minority businesses and more minority contractors this project actually had two minority businesses that submitted as primes for the project they were not selected because they were not the low bid in this and and when we're doing when we spec out construction work we do have to go with the the lowest responsible bidder um so in this instance staff feels that this was an appropriate bid uh we feel that the good faith effort was met by the contractor uh as they tried to fill certain slots much of this work by D Joseph is going to be self-performed anyways uh as they go through that work uh and then lastly um you know we're continuing our efforts as a city to try and grow the number of minority contractors I think um that's one of the challenges if you talk in the construction Community they would say um for Public Works jobs for people that that are participating in the uh the state's apprenticeship program which is a requirement for for us in terms of uh doing this work you have to be not only uh do you have to be a minority contractor but you have to be part of the the uh State's apprenticeship program um to do Public Work jobs over $100,000 that becomes a challenge is finding a number of contractors to do that work well I don't disagree with you but 3% and you said you have met with the NAACP that does not uh indicate anything has changed and this problem has been going on since before we hired uh Miss green so I cannot put that on her this is a uh this is a this is a systemic process that I believe needs to be changed I mean two years ago when I brought it up nothing has been done to to rectify it so I cannot support this in good conscience 15% goal and we only have 3% participation I it just doesn't I can't support it okay thank you uh Council woman Jackson for your inquiry I I do think that manager that Council needs to be bought up to speed at with some of the developments that have taken place in regard to minority procurement efforts not just the event that's taking place in uh March at the Civic Center in conjunction with local Partners like the uh black business Alliance the Illinois Black Chamber the uh Small Business Development Center at Bradley University and the NAACP but that work that staff has done in in being able to have a system that now gives us information that tells us where we are are with regard to minority procur procurement and all the different categories of procurement and so I think Now's the Time sometime fairly soon maybe Miss green uh Chief green can make a presentation and give bring everybody up to speed happy to if I may uh Madame mayor I would like a report back um with the amount of money the city is spending on capital projects uh has spent will spend over the next year or two um 3% is just uh incredibly low and very disturbing could we get a report back on minority participation uh if we haven't done much better than 3% we've got work to do no we'd be happy to put than thank you Madame mayor yes and and you know I think through with the help of director cratty that information is now at our fingertips but you don't know how to get it so you need to be provided with some some direction on how to really access that information thank you uh councilman greb did you have a motion uh yes I would so move seconded by council member riggenbach any other discussion C your ballots motion passes with one nay Jackson Madam Clark we are at regular business 24-25 is a communication from the city manager with a request to approve a spending plan for the remaining $1,200,000 of American Rescue plan act funds for violence prevention activities manager uh thank you Madame ER at council's request um we said that we would come back to you this evening evening um with our uh recommendations regarding the um violence prevention funding and I'd like to turn the uh floor over to our community development director Joe Duan who's worked with the police department and um the administration to just put together some of the recommendations we have for you here this evening uh thank you manager thank you mayor thank you Council uh So based after the discussion of the last policy session uh and looking at where we're at with the current programs that we had funed in round one and round two uh City staff came up with a recommendation to try a different approach with this next and final round of funding uh specifically looking at projects and programs we can roll out to the neighborhood um you know we've had a lot of funding that's gone to no nonprofits they still have those funds that they haven't spent even though uh that we originally intended for them to last uh through the end of 2023 the funding is still there so the programs will continue through 2024 uh while they wrap up and finish their progr programs uh but specifically we want to look at what could we do a little different uh to try to uh help with crime in neighborhoods uh so the recommendation in front of you really looks at kind of ways specifically focused around environmental design that can reduce kind of crime in neighborhoods uh while this won't necessarily kind of be the the end all to anything it just adds uh to all the additional efforts uh specifically the request put a uh $500,000 over the next two years into alley and porch lights and neighborhoods um we are going to look work in conjunction with the police department to look at the different hotspots throughout the community those with the high crime rates and really go door to door trying to encourage people to sign up for the program to get uh a new porch light brighter porch light if they don't have one uh a back door light and then if they have a detach detached garage and Alley light on top of that uh and think when you think of all the people that could sign up if a large percentage of the block does it can provide a significant uh much much more lighting for the neighborhood so we will be doing that over the next two years uh while we indicated in there that the program will last for two years we're going to try to spend it as quickly as possible to get the lights up as quickly as possible then the second uh aspect of it is really kind of looking at uh vacant properties uh and kind of vegetation that is causing uh issues in our neighborhood um you know this might be something that you don't think of that will necessarily deter crime uh but when you think about overgrowth trees scrub weeds things like that it provides a huge opportunity uh for those who want to break the law to be able to hide to be able to get away from things it distract it takes away from natural lighting that could come into the neighborhood and the community uh so we will be working kind of uh with staff to clearcut vacant Lots we've already taken down look to see if there's trees or things like that blocking uh street lights that are already up uh clear cut back some of the vegetation in the alley so people don't have a place to hide really trying to light light up an area light up a neighborhood uh make it less appealing for someone who wants to go break in for cars have an easy getaway uh so that's what will be specifically focused in those hot spots as well so uh with that happy to answer any questions council member Allan uh thank you madam mayor um and thank you director duelan for for bringing this forward I think this is a a good uh reflection of of where the council wants to go in his next series of funding as we look to combat violence in our community um I hope our listening audience uh show demonstrates and understands our holistic a view of trying to address this issue U we've invested previously in programming and really trying to invest in our citizens to address this issue and now we're looking at some environmental ways in order to combat the complex issue that is violence in our community so I just want to commend you and your staff for the Innovation and bringing these forth and look forward to seeing these implemented through the various uh hotpots in our city as we look to combat violence in our city thank you thank you madam mayor welcome C council member Kelly uh thank you Madame mayor uh a couple uh questions director Dulan uh first of all the U these vacant lots that you speak of are these city-owned vacant Lots or county-owned vacant lots a large majority of them probably will be yes are there any private ones uh I think we'll focus on I mean most of the vacant lots that we've see in our community unfortunately we own now uh which is a strategy one you with the land bank uh which is good uh so majority of the ones that we will do the work on we own um just because unfortunately we own them uh I I understand that and I I appreciate that I was a little I was wondering whether if there are private vacant lots that present a problem whether we can go after them or not yeah I think uh specifically in the hot Poots in the hotspots we'll take an approach where uh there are within the code things we can require a property owner to do uh I think this money gives us the flexibility I mean the reality in the code enforcement world we deal with every day our trees are incredibly expensive to take down and someone who uh is of even moderate income sometimes doesn't have the 1500 $2,000 $2500 to take a tree down that might really open up a neighborhood I think with this program allows us to make those uh decisions not necessarily uh based on the code but maybe working with some of those individuals but for the most part you know the the investor owned properties things like that if there something they should be taken care of uh we will just make them take care of it but I think this gives us the flexibility and the hot spots with the ultimate goal of what can we do to to to clean it up to make sure that the natural lighting gets in and if we have to take down a tree on a private lot because uh maybe the person who lives there can't afford it I think that's what we'll try to do with this money as well uh thank thank you for that I'd also like to say that uh as uh our council member uh Allen said I think uh that the uh many of the many of the programs proposed and funded and whatnot that we have as soon as the money runs out it's done uh what you're proposing here tonight are uh except for fast growing trees uh uh we will spend the money today but the effect will continue on for quite some time and that's uh uh I'm I'm just very much in favor of that and Madame mayor I would move to approve is there a second second to by council member Allan thank you council member seir thank you Madame mayor just a few questions director duelan number one is um how much money have we invested so far in this program uh in the one proposed to you tonight before tonight um very little I mean we maintain vacant Lots now no that's not my question how much uh money we've had votes before this meeting tonight what was the total package for the the U prevention the violent prevention activities the first round we approved $700,000 and then the second round was 1.5 million okay okay so that my question so we're looking at $2.2 million basically so far right so it' be 3.4 total so let's talk about The $2.2 Million last report I saw uh very small percentage of the money has been invested so and when I talk to my colleague about that I mean we're all seeing the numbers uh talk to us a little bit about how much time they have to uh invest the money or spend the money and and uh what will be the Matrix to to determine the success of this money invested $3.4 million um well I will answer that question but it the programs are being managed by the police department I think kind of going back to the original thought in the application process uh they put specifically in the RFP what sort of metrics that they need to report on to Ser the success of the program and so they have that data from them um your first question about kind of how much money has been spent and a very small percentage of the money has been in invested so far correct and and I think probably an underestimation on kind of City staff's part about how quickly you know specifically in the application we asked for new programs uh we wanted something that people weren't doing in our community because we didn't want to just to fund be a funer of existing things and I think we probably underestimated uh the ability for nonprofits to get approved launch a program hire people to do the work uh I think kind of what what the police department would tell you they're starting to see that money going out they're starting starting to see those programs in place because they've have the staff that's been uh hired to do it now um I think that it was very lofty of us to enter in a grant agreement and think they would spend the money in a year when they launched a brand new program uh that just probably wasn't a real expectation we could have put on them and now that they have those going I think we'll start to see more results uh from that so does your staff share information with other cities of our size for these types of program um because I'm just questioning a little bit okay seriously how much qu how much success will we have when I look at okay we're going to spend I don't know $350,000 on REM REM excuse me removing trees uh I'm having a hard time answering those questions from my constituent that calls that what how do we uh uh fight crimes with just by no removing know clean up or or baking lot basically yes I I think my counter to that would be uh if you are worried about your safety would you rather kind of walk in a really dark dense area of a forest or would you rather walk on a soccer field and I mean I think that's what we're trying to do with with this money is to take down the ability for people to hide behind things to lighten up an area is it something that that drastically uh impacts something overnight with violence crime probably not but I think the crime you're seeing in our community specifically related to car theft I mean they and the Chief can jump up if he wants but criminals look for areas that are attractive to commit crime and dark spots places where you can hide places where you can get away easily that's what they're looking for by clear-cutting these Lots you're doing a multitude of different things you're not only impacting crime but you're really improving the character the look of the neighborhood people take more pride in their neighborhood they want to be more involved they report things uh it's why we have code enforcement it's it's bringing that Pride to the neighborhood so when they see issues they report things uh and then your your first question about kind of the measure and the success of those programs unfortunately with with crime it doesn't not something that happens overnight and the programs that that were launched a lot are trying to address some of those root causes I mean so you're not going to see a drastic impact overnight it's really investing in a lot of the programs invested in Youth and it's hopefully the long-term impact where you can see track the youth that were in the program six seven eight years from now to see that that that they made progress and these programs helped it's hard to hear from that corner but I think the question you were asking about is crime prevention through environmental design yes I think it's very important again it's it's another tool for us but it's more importantly is really educating our homeowners our landlords our property managers in what that really looks like not just in lighting but I'll give you an example when you have a sidewalk in front of your home that walk that goes up to your steps when you have flowers set on the side of them or planter set on the side of them in your mind it tells you I have to walk on the side sidewalk and not walk through the grass right so you're controlling access to the design of how you designed your landscape that's part of all of that lighting again is very important again it's just another tool but we got to educate one educate those key people that I've talked about landlords Property Owners um property managers and uh I it's just it's just part of the bigger picture of lighting cameras uh neighborhood are good neighborhood are goodness ations all of that falls into crime prevention through environmental design and what we would call part of our landlord training and and nuisance properties and ab bement thank you Chief thank you director Duan thank you madam mayor you're welcome council member reinbach thank you Madame mayor and thank you director douan and chief for the comments thus far and I just um want to offer my enthusiastic support for this concept I think the report we got from the police department two weeks ago on the violence prevention to date shows that we have a lot of a lot of good things in the mix right now and you look at some of the names of the organizations involved Dream Center um the health department Big Brothers Big Sisters Goodwill friendship house um the YMCA goes on and on these These are organizations that have a proven track record and director Duan if you would just reiterate the fact that the round one the $700,000 that went out first was to be spent by the end of last year correct uh the I think the grant agreements yeah were about a year correct so we are allowing them um another 12 months um to to continue the work that they've begun correct sir and I think that's important to note because doing my math and um take that for what it's worth there's still a little over 4 $400,000 in that first trunch to be spent so actually councilman can I correct you on that I mean updated numbers as of today there's only about $660,000 left so the timing of when sub documents have been submitted there's only about $61,000 left the most recent report we were presented had 400 so I understand I'm saying that as of today because because you got that report I would appreciate seeing who how how that's all been gone out because that's I think one of the frustrations that some of us have is that we haven't been kept up to speed as the money has been going out so my point is there's still money to be spent it's still going out what about the second trench then Mr manager do you got numbers on that too there's there's I don't have the the data on the second trench because that data that that is still open but uh we'll get you upto-date numbers on those as well well on the report we got from the police on January 8th the funding was 1.5 million and and there was about 200,000 had been spent so there's more than that you think I there may be I again I part of the the the largest chunk that came in was from the health department that had exhausted all of their $250,000 from the first round so that was that was exhausted that changed that number considerably from that period of time there was others from some of the other other um other agencies that received funding in that first trunch but we'll get you updated numbers this week for what's been spent to date that has been processed well maybe when you get those big um expenditures you could inform us live instead of waiting till we ask for it because that that exasperates the frustration and I'm trying to be supportive of it and now um you're making it more difficult um my point was we have money allocated we have good organizations doing good work I think my two colleagues on either side of me are the other council members who work in districts that have alleys that have a lot of these problems that perhaps aren't as evident in the neighborhoods north of war memorial and I think it's really important for us to see that concentration where the hotspots are and we got a report from Jacob musan in the police department immediately after that last meeting when we talked about some of these environment Al things and I think this is really going to let the people in the neighborhoods know that we hear their concerns that we see the frustration and and what a Perfect Analogy um director Duan I'd much rather walk across a soccer field in the middle of the night than through a forest so if if any council members at large or other District members would like to see what a difference in impact this can have I think the three of us would be happy to show you firsthand that the alley lighting is going to be critical and that scrub tree removal that that sounds you you please don't roll your eyes at that because that's going to be an impactful thing for the folks in the neighborhoods and appreciate the the um the action before us tonight and I definitely will be supportive thank you madam mayor you're welcome [Music] council member vesa thank you Madame mayor um I am a little bit conflicted about this proposal and it's not because I don't believe in environmental design detering crime I found it I found a meta study from the American Journal of preventive medicine finding that uh the these can decrease robberies between 30 and 84% and it makes sense it's called The Broken Window Theory neglected uh properties um are often seen as opportunities uh for people looking to commit crimes uh not only to to you know commited out of sight but then to hide after um so I mean that this does make sense um but I don't like uh getting away from you know trauma informed counseling um mentorship uh programs like that that are designed to help people um I think that's what we've been mostly allocating funds toward in the past um that's you know it's kind of a New Concept it's a newer concept um in terms of anti-violence funding uh the city of Philadelphia is doing it right now they've allocated a lot more money than we have uh they did just um have an evaluation of their results and 75% of people involved with those programs felt safer in the community 77% improve their situation after participating 86% were satisfied with the programs of the of the counseling and the mentorship um so I I mean you know I I don't think you I don't think they're at odds with each other but you know one one can prevent people from being R ret traumatized you know by being a victim of a crime again whereas whereas the counseling um you know helps helps people recover and you know what what you see often is Revenge killings you know you killed my friend you killed you killed my family member uh and you know people don't know how to how to process that trauma and so you know hurt people hurt people they they often um act out because they don't know any any other different way um so I mean I I see uh what we're doing here I understand the utility of it I I think it will work um and I encouraged that we still have a lot of funds yet to spend from the first couple tranches um for you know the uh the counseling aspect um I think these have to work in unison um but yeah I I mean it's a good idea uh and through the rest of this year we we will see the rest of that money spent uh I think I think both of these are are going to work uh for a better PR and I you know I will say that you know counseling obviously um when it runs out you know the the effects of it don't run out necessarily because these are people who are going to go on with the rest of their lives uh you know in a better spot better position so um so I will be voting yes thank you thank you councilman clearly we need both councilwoman Gordon young thank you madam mayor I just wanted to commend the work that's being done um and I am a huge proponent of course of counseling but also think that we need a holistic approach and if we're going to cite research uh the research there's a plethora of research that proves that green spaces or Environmental Protection helps our citizens not only removing some of those barriers but also creating a higher quality of life and so when we're removing trees or removing brush we're removing those blind spots and that's important I do have a question in terms of the um the process I know that we're talking about hotpots but I'm also concerned and maybe that's going to be later on about residents who perhaps their house is not a hot spot but but they have those areas that are dark um or could potentially you know be a location that uh people who are committing crimes would move to is there a process for that yeah I mean I think when we looked at this uh unfortunately we don't have enough funds to put alley lights and street lights for the whole uh alley lights and porch lights for the whole city so really focusing on those hotpots I think the reality is you know we will try to get this money out the door in those hotpots but if funding still exists I think we'll expand the hot spots I mean I don't know how crime mapping works but I'm sure there's a hot spot and then a hotter spot and I think you know keep going from there trying to find to get that information out there uh I think that if it works we see some changes I think it's definitely something for us next year in the budget when we're making budget decisions about uh programs like this uh to open it up larger um 10 12 years ago we used to have an Ali light program that was Citywide and then uh funding it goes away comes back um so I think you know with this funding we thought to focus on the hotpots but absolutely look at if if we go everywhere in the hotpots we'll expand that until we get all the lights out okay and then I just one more comment I was really pleased to hear the inclusion of um accommodating people who may have private property but can't afford to remove those trees or whatever that barrier is I think that's important as well thank you thank you madam mayor you're welcome council member grup thank you mayor um I think this council is able to walk and shoe bubble gum at the same time most nights we can do that and that's why not only are we going to probably pass this by a pretty good margin but we also weighed in with our state lawmakers just a few days ago about what we're going to do about the relatively small number of people in our Community who repeat offend and that would include both adults and juveniles and we ask for strengthening of penalties to get these vicious criminals off our streets because the vast majority of people in this community are law biting We are failing in a very important duty and that is removing people who are dangerous who prey on others effectively removing them and that's why we didn't call for a repeal of the safety act we asked for some amendments to be made to that and also strengthening of other laws as it relates to vicious CR criminals who repeatedly offend I've talked to the Chief and we've heard from him about some of the wave of juvenile crime that we've had uh just in the past few months number of shots fired Etc we have an honor role maybe I should call it a dishonorable role of about three dozen kids who are completely out of control who will kill you and kill one another so I don't want you councilman s I'm not singling you out to be surprised that this will not do a miracle however it's one more tool we can add uh to our Arsenal in dealing with the crime in this community and we have the money to do it I think I think it's a great opportunity to find out if some of these programs will actually work for us um but we have sent the message to our state lawmakers I hope they're listening to us we gave them a laundry list and I'm going to vote for this and by the way councilman besta I appreciate the fact that you brought up the Broken Window Theory for a while there were pseudo intellectuals in this country that said oh there's nothing to that it doesn't matter if you have everything ramshackle broken down broken windows um you name it broken down cars everywhere Etc doesn't matter Optics doesn't matter at all it's meaningless you shouldn't be talking about broken windows you're imposing middle class values yeah I've seen that argument before and it carries no weight with this councilman and so yeah the Broken Window Theory is real and we're trying to address some of these things and there is something to environmental design and we're going to be doing environmental design I'm not going to wander downtown as well at trying to stimulate business so designing our spaces and cleaning up our spaces does have a psychological impact and you know we had horrible people who are responsible for the deaths of millions who understood the concept of environmental design it was no accident that we had people like Adolf Hitler having his rallies at night lighting very important people will do things under the cloak of Darkness that they would not do if under the full um view of everybody and with a lot of light so I I think we're we're doing the right thing here thank you mayor you're welcome council member Kelly uh thank you Madame mayor just uh another question or two about I I'm I'm just thrilled about the lighting and the uh uh the uh the vacant lot thing I I W I hadn't thought about uh very much and uh but I asked my question I had prepared but since um first of all is maintenance of um uh city-owned properties normally the province of the Community Development Department uh the public work department handles public uh properties okay um is it safe to say that many of of these city-owned properties are out of compliance with our environmental rules no uh I mean the public work staff I think two years ago Council made the decision to increase the mo uh up to a pretty significant point so they cut them every two weeks uh very thankfully uh we like to keep our Lots uh in compliance so I don't hear from private property owners so we make them cut their Alliance I think what we don't do the best job uh is kind of removing scrub trees trees we don't clearcut Lots we've never had the budget to and this will allow us to do that okay so I guess what you're implying there is that once this money runs out uh we're we're going to continue to have a problem of scrub stuff and uh you know overgrown things in our city own Lots you know beyond the mowing uh yes and know uh it's much cheaper to cut a lot that doesn't have a tree in it doesn't have scrub trees I think if I think what we'll do with this money is the lots that we go through in clearcut uh I don't want to speak for Public Works uh but you can do some treatment to get them so they don't grow back and so the goal would be going into uh to make sure that we're not having to do it every year you can make sure to spray you can make sure to uh keep it maintained so you're just cutting the grass so you're not having to go back and remove scrub trees uh you know most most of the time with the city own Lots the scrub trees that exist or the overgrown trees that were scrub trees at one point we inherited uh they were there when we got the house demolished and abandoned uh and just did not have the funding to really dedicate to clearcut the lot uh and so this kind of gives us that ability to go back and fix that okay I uh um thank you thanks very much thank thank you Madame mayor you're welcome council member Jackson thank you Madame mayor I just had a quick comment and I just wanted to Echo what my colleague council member grab said um this is money that is well spent this is a anti-me fighting efforts is a long-term comprehensive approach that will take years to do but I just want to add uh two years ago when I got elected I was uh um complaining hollering and screaming about the amount of tires that were dumped all over uh Parts all over the county but in particular the problem was uh epidemic on the south side and since that time I have been talking and the mayor and we've uh the city's collaborated with Amron the alleys have been lit we have not seen the problem at least to the degree we had seen it two years ago uh and that's and I and I can attest to that because I've gone out with uh kids during the summer but it was not unusual for us to go in an alley and find 25 tires we had a situation uh on tree wi uh this was a few years ago when I was reporting somebody had broken a window in a abandoned house and I got this information from code enforcement Glenda before she retired there were tires in every single room on every floor of that two-story house so what I'm saying is this is by lighting the areas by keeping the brush cut that sends the message to folks that we're paying attention we're watching and don't think you can come in here and just dump on our community because we're paying attention and so I just would like to applaud you all uh I don't think we have enough money to do do what we need to do but I've as I've always said a clean neighborhood a safe neighborhood is conducive of a healthy neighborhood so I would just like to commend you on uh your job that you've been doing and I hope that uh this won't take away from your efforts uh in those parts of the community where we have an enormous amount of vacant Lots areas where houses once stood are now darkened and unsafe if you come out and drive in some of these areas at night so I just appreciate the work that's been going on over the last two years and I hope that um for the sake of our seniors and and others who don't have garages that are attached to their homes that we can make them feel safe once again uh when they're able to go out and put their garbage out or go out and get in their car at night thank you Madame mayor okay no more Lights director Duan I like what I see here from you and your team I'm a big promon proponent of environmental uh changes or designed to improve crime reduction I think it is a long-term game but it certainly has to be a holistic approach and uh this is going to help we don't have any more discussion it's been a great discussion we have a motion on the floor and a second so I think we're ready please cash your ballots motion passes unanimously thank you madam clerk 24-26 is a communication from the city manager and Chief Information officer with a request to approve a soul Source four-year license agreement with it Savvy for bar Barracuda email protection Cloud archiving and impersonation protection software in an amount not to exceed 8,678 this requires two-thirds vote of the council member members voting no less than six Mr manager thank you Madame May I'd like to turn the floor over to our information systems director Jessica mcken oh good day um so this is uh to protect us the the uh so we've had this before but we're at add in a couple new features and we're signing a long-term agreement to maintain the pricing um I and one of the most important things I think we're adding is impersonation protection everyone on this Council has emailed us about getting gift cards discret emails sent to maril Lee so this will help us prevent that Council Hayes thank you uh is this a sole source and there's 10 members present it'll require seven affirmative votes to pass the matter today okay questions from Council Council councilman Seer thank you madam mayor just to remind everybody a little bit tell us uh Mr Hayes or Mr manager tell us about this this money is in the 2024 budget why does it take six vot or seven or eight votes if it's already in the budget thank you thank you madam mayor you're welcome thank you councilman here uh the council rules provide that when we don't put matters out to bid there's certain exceptions uh but if one of those exception if those exceptions don't apply in order to award a soul Source contract it requires two-thirds of the members voting and not less than six if there's fewer here so this is why it requires a super majority it's part of our uh purchasing ordinances and vote ordinance uh that within the council rules thank you thank you Mr Hayes good question thank you any other questions council member velpula thank you Madame mayor just a quick question on the the code that you received so the so is do we have 35,000 computers is that how we have to interpret that 35,000 so it says in the quotation on oh that's um the per year PR like it's the per year price is that what you're asking so the quantity is what so there are we're getting agreement we're getting three services with uh with um Barracuda and the annual price will be 49,679 for those Services I'm I'm I'm I'm referring to the the quote itself do you have the quote the quote itself is the quantity is it's a monthly subscription so there's about 3,000 computers covered with the the monthly subscription so I think that's what it what it references is there's 35,000 monthly subscriptions that are being purchased so B basically we are purchasing per system that means per user you're going to purchase does this system don't give a a group plan yeah this this is the plan and uh we already have Barracuda in place to protect our email and to store it in the cloud and to back it up so this is just um adding additional features and then a long-term um commitment thank you um this is only for my clarification because it's so confusing to see one user one user one user then you have multiple quantities you know multiplied with the unit price so I just wanted to make sure that I understand correctly thank you madam you're welcome council member SE move to approve Madame mayor seconded by council member Gordon young please pass your balance motion passes unanimously thank you thank you director mcken Madam clerk 24-27 is a communication from the city manager and director of Community Development with a request for the following a approve a grant award in the amount of $1,250,000 in home funds to Poria opportunities foundation and church viw garden homes LLC for the construction of church viw Gardens and B adopt an ordinance approving the Redevelopment agreement with Poria opportunities foundation and church viw garden homes LLC to be located in the South Village Tiff district and on your desks there is a handout with a revised Rd a page thank you guess we go directly to director dlan uh thank you mayor so as many of you recall uh a while ago uh Pei opportunities and pivotal uh came to the city of pora for zoning changes specifically related to the projects that they were submitting to Ida for tax credits uh the great news is that they received the 9% tax credits for the church View garden homes I think in the earlier discussion about violence prevention one thing we really didn't focus on or mention is quality affordable housing and what that can play in a role with violence prevention uh and this returns uh and adds 47 units of quality affordable housing uh to the 61605 area uh it's located in the South Village Tiff and when you look at the history of the Tiff uh it hasn't seen any major development since it's in uh it came about and I think this represents uh private development funded with with uh some taxpayer dollars obviously uh for affordable housing project uh but it's a property tax paying uh property that will be in the Tiff generating increment in the future then once the Tiff's over generating increment uh for the taxing bodies after this I think when you specifically look at this project and the journey it's come it it really shows the the Fantastic work uh of of my staff uh from the land banking efforts to the code enforcement efforts to get us to a point where we've accumulated property enough to attract a developer uh from our planners to work with Ida uh on the housing study that gave the additional points to attract the affordable housing development so it just really shows the work that that the Community Development staff has done uh throughout the years to bring affordable housing to the city uh the specific request is for 1.25 million of Home funds uh because the city of porori is an entitlement Community we get an allocation of Home funds every year that's specifically has to go towards affordable housing projects and that's what that money is uh Part B is is the RDA with the developer because they're a property taxpaying B uh property uh they're requesting a tiff financing deal this one's slightly unique to the ones we traditionally do uh due to the way the financing works with the tax creditor projects uh this is kind of an upfront payment so they can um close on the property uh but over the life of of the Tiff that exists they'll actually end up paying uh over 600,000 in property taxes back into the Tiff uh with the money so um happy to answer any questions Jane gonel for p opportunities Foundation is here she's the local partner in the project uh I think Jane's work in the East Bluff to bring affordable housing up there uh speaks for uh the quality that that will be created with this uh and hopefully uh if any developers or housing developers are listening to our meeting uh they know that that with the land making efforts that continue uh throughout Poria we hope to have many more opportunities in the future for these tax credit projects to bring more quality affordable housing to Poria happy to answer any questions I think Jane would as well thank you director and Miss ginel for being here and you and your entire staff I've followed this project very closely uh from the very beginning and I'm excited about the result um that we're moving forward the we saw during map restructuring 5,000 residents left the first district to move to other areas of the city moving North and I'm convinced that part of that migration came came from the lack of affordable housing that was available on the south side of Poria so this is an opportunity for family housing new construction um within the south side of Peoria so I'm very excited about this project council member Jackson thank you Madame mayor I just would like to Echo your sentiment and uh say that uh this is uh will fill a much needed void uh we have people who don't necessarily uh want to move too far out but as you had mentioned uh with the lack of um a affordable housing stock uh this will begin to address that need so uh with that Madam mayor I would like to go ahead and make a motion item number 24-27 a uh be approved is there a second seconded by council member graab um continued discussion council member riggenbach thank you Madame mayor um director Duan I just want to offer um my thanks also to the land bank team with Matt Smith because that's that's something that when we established that was very much an unknown and there's lots of questions and people wondering what the benefit is going to be of that I think this project shows a tremendous value so I'm hats off to Matt and his team there and also um councilwoman Jackson I have to say congratulations this is really exciting to see and seeing Jane gendel in the back just makes me smile the work that POF has done under Jane's leadership in the East Bluff has been so impactful and affordable housing is something that we still are wrapping our arms around as a community I think but projects like this go a long way in reaching that goal that we've set as a council so thank you POF thank you Jane thank you director Duan again congratulations councilwoman thank you madam mayor council member grup uh director Duan uh I believe the council uh moved this forward before we had two new members elected or two new at large people and I believe they made a presentation that night and they provided some very interesting information about how they remain involved in the project after it's built they just don't build something and then go away and they had some statistics for us as to where they've done development in other communities across our country and where they continue to be managing those those units that impressed me a great deal and um I know uh councelor Jackson knows this we have a tremendous amount of private investment just a stone throw from here right down by uh Lucas steel one of our oldest um familyowned businesses down by the bridge uh by one of our fantastic South Korean investors and so this is all moving in the direction that the council wants this area to move and as our mayor said we can't continue to lose thousands of people to that part of town we need to repopulate it this is a huge step councelor Jackson in that direction and thank you for your efforts on this yes thank you mayor you're welcome council member Gordon young thank you madam mayor uh a comment and then a question um first I think this is a a wonderful project and a much needed project to have quality um affordable housing in uh on the south side of Poria I know that there's been a lot of concern of area resid with there not being um quality single family homes can you speak to the specifics like the requirements of this particular money or this These funds for this project just for some clarity yeah so uh part A the home funds we do every year uh set aside some of the home funds for a single family uh it's a it's a chto application where they specifically uh build single family that's where you've seen the habitat houses over the years um we plan uh to release that same funding uh and specifically talk to our partners who are doing that to build uh homeowner Habitat for Humanity with with that group of funding uh haven't released it yet because we are hoping the federal government would pass a budget and there's an earmark in there that will help with the program uh so we're hoping that will come down uh in 2024 um so we try to approach both uh unfortunately uh with single family housing the subsidy needed to make a project worked is much larger uh sometimes than an apartment building or tow houses like this project um and Ida doesn't fund a significant amount of single family home uh projects because the costs are just so much higher than can be recouped uh so that's where it comes in with um you know probably we've averaged three or four Habitat homes over the last uh six or seven years if you go through Madison Monroe down in the North Valley and then uh in the East Bluff to we put up quite a few habitat and the good thing about that project is they are owner occupied so hopefully the federal government will keep the earmark in there and then we'll be able to add our our home funds into that and to uh hopefully get some new owner occupied single family homes in this area as well thank you director Duan thank you Madame mayor you're welcome possibly near McKinley School very uh not near anymore there is no McKinley School any longer so the the former space McKinley scho right thank you for that council member reinbach thank you Madame mayor as I was extending my thanks I missed someone I see Katherine Murphy sitting in the background and she is the one who makes these home funds make sure they're spent appropriately and accurately and the work she and her team do I think is often times underappreciated so I saw you back there Catherine I want to make sure we tell you thank you for your participation in this project as well thank you Miss Murphy is amazing okay we have a motion uh to approve item a please cash your balance motion passes unanimously uh council member Jackson thank you Madame mayor I would like to make motion that item number B uh under 24-27 be approved as uh mentioned and that seconded by council member graab please cast your ballots motion passes unanimously congratulations congratulations councilwoman Jackson mam mclark 24-28 is a communication from the city manager and assistant city manager with request to adopt an ordinance approving the Redevelopment agreement with Wagner Properties Inc for 101 Southwest Adam Street to develop a commercial and residential mixed use development in the warehouse District Mr manager uh thank you Madame mayor we have with us our economic development manager Debbie vanle and she's going to walk through this proposed Redevelopment agreement thank you this proposal is for the former chick manufacturing building at 101 Southwest was uh Adams which was the largest manufacturer of uh women's aprons in the early 1900s but it has been vacant for years um the developer is proposing the original 40,000 square ft um to be 22 residential condos with balconies Garden level um uh space private parking um then the vacant lot adjacent to that building um they're proposing what would be the first new residential construction from the ground up in that area um they're proposing floor four floors of residential uh units with 62 bedroom apartments 16 one-bedroom apartments two garages over 100 parking spaces gym space and some retail space their total project cost is estimated to be 27 m747 th000 with 11,660 th000 in Tiff eligible expenses and we are looking at a reimbursement of in the amount of 10,678 281 which is 100% of the Tiff increment um and the reason for that is due to the scope and the magnitude of this being the first significant new residential um uh build build in the warehouse District happy to answer any questions thank you council member Kelly thank you Madame mayor um this sounds like a wonderful project uh but sometimes I can't help but keep myself from beating a dead horse this really looks like tax abatement and uh or it's the same as tax abatement except that with tax abatement the city is not as involved with in a tiff the city's all over the project uh I'll be voting for this but it seems as though we have an allergy to a market driven tax abatement program uh uh in in in our city in favor of Tiff Tiff districts Tiff projects that um okay so thank you Madame mayor you're welcome and I will move for approval oh great uh is there a second seconded by uh Dr Gordon young Council member Allan thank thank you Madame mayor um I'm very excited about this project so thank you to those involved making this significant investment uh in our uh downtown Warehouse District just two clarifying questions um regarding the reimbursement schedule of the Tiff uh when will that begin for this project it won't begin until both projects are completed uh thank you and do do we know when this Tiff is set to expire that was 43 I think was the last payout so some other opportunities from additional investment as well too then so hopefully uh this will be the uh beginning of uh additional investments in this area thank you and thank you Madame mayor you're welcome council member Jackson thank you Madame mayor well I I would just like to Echo the sentiment of uh council member Allan this is uh this is fantastic um I just had one question uh with and I was trying to take notes um parking how many how much did you say we would have enough to accommodate it does meet the minimum standards for that area so for the apartments it was 109 and for the um for the condos it was I think it's in there and our our Mark Wagner from Wagner properties he's the developer he is here 39 about 39 parking spots for the for the condos well I'm excited this is wonderful I think this is going to do an awful lot in terms of the economic impact that it's going to have downtown and I I with that Madam mayor if nobody's made a motion I would gladly like to make a motion we already got a motion in a second okay all right thank you madam mayor I'm excited this is Wonder just excited this is going to be a great addition to Peoria Poria Warehouse District Poria uh downtown area so uh thank you for your investment yeah thank appreciate it thank you thank you okay I think we're ready to vote on this Miss Debbie um please cast your ballots motion passes unanimously okay you we wish you much success Madam clerk 24 4-29 is a communication from the city manager and fin Finance director com troller with request to receive in file the month ended November 30th 2023 un audited financial report oh are you I am our our finance director has a new addition at home so um he is not going to be here tonight for the presentation so uh just very quickly with regards to this uh monthly financial report this is through November um the their revenues they're showing is being down 7% um but that was anticipated as we anticipated that we were going to see those coming down they're still at budget uh expenditures are up 3% but they're still at PACE to be below budget um across all funds I think between the timing of capital projects and Debt Service um we're seeing that that we're in a a good financial position but as we look at December when we we pay out our Debt Service uh we should see a big jump in some of the expenses going out across all funds and I'd be happy to answer any questions any questions council member SE thank you Madame mayor I don't have any question I just got a comment I mean I I know a lot of us around the hor should like to lead by example I'm just want to say I'm a little disappointed that our city council and our city manager budget are way over uh what we uh we uh we said we were going to have so 130% and 183% so there's no question there but I'm just disappointed that we're not leading by example thank you thank you madam mayor okay Madam clerk unfinished business I'm sorry we need a motion on this I believe oh receive and file yes move by counc counc member sear seconded by council member Allen any other discussion please cast your ballots motion passes unanimously mam clerk we are at unfinished business we do not have any items so then we would be on to new business new business I'm going to start out with a recognition that Peoria city council member Andre Allen was selected as a delegate to the to National convening this is called local government 2020 uh council member Allen was selected as one of 13 elected City and Council official delegates to attend local government 2030 action for future a national convening of practitioners and elected officials uh January 26 through 2 7 2024 at Phoenix campus of Arizona State University Mr Allen was selected from city and county official applicants Nationwide to participate the elected official delegates will join 50 local government practitioners delegates all under age 40 from cities counties and Regional councils the charge of the delegates to break silos and create groundwork for change um just a quote from a member of the convenient organizing committee we are honored to have council member Allen as part of this important initiative to help chart the course for the future of local governments the delegates will leave Phoenix with a blueprint for change congratulations councilman Andre Allen we're proud to have you represent Peoria any anything you have to say about that uh thank you so much Madame mayor I truly appreciate it uh it's an honor and a privilege to represent the city of Poria uh at the convening um I'm sorry that I will leave the ice and snow behind for sunny Phoenix Arizona here in a few days but you all have my regards here and I promise to give my best foot forward and uh represent the city of Poria and look forward to bringing back some things that we Implement to move our city forward thank you and also want to give a shout out to our assistant city manager Kimberly Richardson who is a part of the convening uh planning committee uh she is a rock star in local government if you do not know she is known in all spaces and places locally and throughout this country so I definitely want to give her a big shout out and her flowers we have an amazing rock star in our city manager's office great thank you thank you other new business uh council member Kelly uh thank you Madame mayor uh I'm uh in my redundant mode I would just like to congratulate uh councilman Allen I I resent the fact that uh I'm way too old to go but um uh congratulations sir and uh bring some of that weather back with you would you please thank thank you madam mayor you're welcome if there's no more new business um let's go on Madam clerk we are at citizens opportunity to address the city council and we had one card tendered okay Mr Chris hamr can you approach the podium please good evening my name is Chris hamri and I'm here uh because some time ago the city failed to to repair its covert and it flooded my neighborhood flooded my home I repaired repaired my home but the city also did not repay me for those costs uh I've been a lifelong Poria resident and um uh but I'm I'm not a very political person this is the first council meeting I've been to I was aware of the five minute uh restriction I've got something that's about seven minutes but after being here this evening I also wanted to commend everyone here um public has a pretty bad perception of government in general and what witnessed tonight was a group of people with Peoria and its citizens at the Forefront of its decision-making and I just wanted to say from my point of view no matter what our potential um discrepancies are I appreciate it so uh I wanted you the council to hear the facts what happened just from me specifically so on April in April of uh 2020 during covid the covert next to my home uh it flooded the street it flooded it and it and it eroded ground I called the city a month later Jim Sharp called me back City employee told me that the covert was uh in need of repair but it wasn't in the budget and it was covid so there wasn't anyone to repair the covert over the next year I kept in touch with Jim advising him on the ground erosion and advising him also on uh asking him actually when the cover would be repaired so in March of 2021 I called Jim and told him the erosion is much worse it's 45 fet long it's 5 feet wide it's 15 feet deep at its deepest point and it's dangerous to my family it's dangerous to the kids in the neighborhood uh a week later f came out and they agreed with me they told me that they were going to advance the repair of that covert um to ahead of 200 other projects and repair it may end of May 20201 May 9th and May 18th it rained the street flooded the covert failed my my yard flooded my driveway flooded my garage flooded my basement flooded it's surrounded my home it trapped my family and I in the home and I I noticed the flooding in the basement on May 9th called Jim immediately on his cell phone and told him you just flooded my house so uh the next day May 10th my insurance company came out and did a partial assessment of the damage the city had just done to my home and the reason it was partial is because I didn't have coverage for damage to my house caused by the city I had coverage for a broken sump pump so they did a partial assessment so I could get $10,000 and I got $10,000 May 18th during the second flood I spent some time in my yard with Jim and asked him what am I going to do yeah this isn't my fault and he told me it isn't your fault and the city should pay for it uh and to file a claim with sedick so I told him I would repair my property and file the claim and I also asked him uh to look at my driveway my driveway was buckled and he said he doesn't know if the driveway was caused the the driveway buckling and damage was caused by the flood but he asked me to to to reach out to one of his employees uh works for the city who is on site during May 9th saw the flood and has a side concrete business that's Millo concrete and Jim's son works for Millo concrete as well so that's exactly what I did I had Javier Millo come out he told me he was there during the flood he knows the FL flood ruined the base of my driveway and it had to be replaced he also wrote a letter uh basically to that effect uh so I hired him to replace the the uh the driveway so it took a while to repair everything it was covid it's difficult to hire a contractor it was expensive I turned in all of my receipts to Sedwick in April of I phoned them I phoned Tanya ball over and over and over again I emailed her didn't hear from her so I in August months later I called the city to speak with Mr jurk and I got uh Ed Hopkins who told me Tanya would call me back the next day she did apologize to me for her being unprofessional and she uh told me that the reason it was taking so long to respond is because the city didn't respond to her her request for the investigation no contact at all so uh by September I'd had it and I emailed her and said Pay this claim by the end of the year or I'm G to sue the city so I I've never heard from Tanya ball since uh August of 2022 so January through June of 2023 I tried to hire an attorney to sue the city but the statute expired that's when I learned the statute was one year instead of two years the statute expired no one would take the case I attempted to hire an attorney as recently as last week same situation in August through October of 2023 Mr Allen and I conversed many times and he told me he'd get to the bottom of the situation the result of that is I received a denial letter from Mr Hayes you can read the letter yourselves but it basically says you can't sue us so we're not going to pay the statute had expired so after years of warnings by my neighbors and I Poria chose not to fix the Culvert before it damaged my property and now Poria has refused to repay me for the damages it caused you can take 30 more seconds only Mr all I need According to Jim Poria didn't repair the covert because it wasn't in the budget and it was covid-19 so do you think it's right that Poria gets a pass because of those things and I don't so Poria wasn't required to act expeditiously but I have to sue in accordance strict accordance with the statute with no consideration for my budget or covid and I'm here tonight to ask this Council to reconsider to either pay my claim or told the statute let me Sue the city and let's let's see what the court thinks is fair anybody have any questions thank you Mr Co thank you Mr Hamry thank you we have an executive session I would like to invite a motion to adjourn and to convene and close session immediately following adjournment of the city council meeting pursuant to the open meetings act 5 I LCS 120 2c1 to discuss the employment of legal councel for the city pursuant to the open meetings act 5 IC C s120 SLCC 2c1 to discuss pending and probable or imminent litigation and pursuant to the open meetings act 5 i l cs120 2 c21 for approval by the body of Clos minute Clos session minutes and for the semiannual review of closed session minutes um okay and seconded by council member velpula Madam clerk um who Mo who made the original motion I apologize council member s so we just need a a a v vote correct roll call Mayor Ali yes council member Allen yes council member sear yes council member Gordon young yes council member graab yes council member Jackson yes council member Kelly yes council member Oiler council member riggenbach council member velpula yes and council member Vasa yes it passes unanimously Madame mayor thank you we adjourned to close session thank you for your service