PEORIA, ARIZONA — November 13, 2024

Peoria approves $945,000 Habitat for Humanity affordable housing; defers Orange Prairie go-kart facility

Council approved $945,000 for Habitat for Humanity affordable housing in 61605 and deferred vote on contested Orange Prairie go-kart/mini golf facility pending security and lighting safeguard clarifications from developer.

Council Funds $945,000 for Habitat Affordable Homes in 61605; Defers Go-Kart Facility Pending Security Plan

Peoria City Council unanimously approved two tranches of federal and state funding totaling $945,000 for Habitat for Humanity Greater Peoria to construct six new single-family homes on the former McKinley School site in the 61605 zip code, marking the first major affordable homeownership initiative in the South Village Tax Increment Financing district. Minutes later, the council deferred a contentious vote on a proposed 12.5-acre annexation and rezoning for an outdoor recreation facility featuring electric go-karts and mini golf after residents and council members demanded a formalized security plan—a concession the applicants agreed to negotiate with Police Chief Eric Biedebach before final approval.

The two-hour debate highlighted competing visions of community investment: a nonprofit mission to convert blight into deed-restricted homes, and private entrepreneurship tempered by hard-won neighborhood safeguards negotiated over multiple meetings in response to fears of crowd violence and property-value erosion.

Key Speeches

"The East Village TIF has a component that allows homeowners in it to apply for a grant for up to 50% of exterior improvements. We've had nearly 100 people—100 homeowners in the East Bluff—availed themselves of this and afforded over $600,000 to those homeowners. So this is putting money right back into our heritage neighborhoods." — Councilman Timothy Riggenbach, 3rd District

"We are going to be receiving some tax credits from a large donation we received. We have probably 700 to 900,000 extra dollars coming for this area…my father taught at McKinley School for over three decades and he passed in 2020, and he would be so excited about the linkage that his daughter now is helping build on that school grounds where he taught for so many years." — Leah Schmel, Executive Director, Habitat for Humanity Greater Peoria

"I think that there needs to be a plan as councilwoman Gordon Young and [council member Dr. Kiran Velpula] both mentioned. I think I would really think that would be something that you would want to do to protect your investment as well, and that you know it's possible it's overkill at the beginning—it's always easier to backtrack than to add and to react." — Councilman Timothy Riggenbach, 3rd District (on security planning for go-kart facility)

"I take that into consideration. Councilwoman, maybe that's something I need to look at right away. I like I said, I did reach out to a fellow policeman that I know, and he did say that you know that's an extra job a lot of times they like to do. So that might be something that maybe you know, with your words, I just jump on that a little bit ahead." — Diane Larsson, applicant/co-developer

Timeline

Habitat for Humanity McKinley Housing Development (Items 24-347A and 24-347B)

City manager and director presentation: Director Dulan traced the project's evolution—landbank acquisition, McKinley and Harrison school demolition (funded by American Rescue Plan via Congressman Bost's office), and partnership with Habitat to convert the vacant footprint into six starter homes. He noted the city has secured additional tax-credit funding and is in discussions with Habitat for phases two and three; a public meeting is planned for January 2025 to allow neighborhood input on design and explain program requirements for prospective buyers.
Council discussion: Councilwoman Denise Jackson (1st District) praised the collaboration and emphasized the neighborhood's long-standing demand for affordable homeownership opportunities, not just rental housing (Church View Gardens, developed by Pivotal Housing and Progressive Opportunities Foundation, is a rental project completed earlier this year). Timothy Riggenbach highlighted the $600,000 in exterior-improvement grants already distributed via the East Village TIF housing program. Councilman Dr. Andre Dr. Andre W. Allen (4th District) called the project a "game changer" and credited Jackson's persistence since her election. Leah Schmel stood to announce an additional $700,000–$900,000 in tax credits and spoke emotionally about her father's decades teaching at McKinley. Councilwoman Dr. Bernice Gordon-Young (At Large) commended the collaboration and noted her intent to acquire bricks from the demolished school to preserve the neighborhood's history. Councilmember Michael Vespa (At Large) praised the program's accessibility to middle-class and low-income families.
Vote: Item A (HOME funds, $445,000) passed 11–0. Item B (Community Project funding, $500,000) passed 11–0.

Orange Prairie Go-Kart and Mini-Golf Facility (Items 24-281A–D)

Applicant presentation: Mark and Diane Larsson, owners of Tender Care daycare, detailed their vision for a family-oriented outdoor recreation venue at 9910 North Orange Prairie Road and adjacent annexed land (12.5 acres total), featuring electric go-karts, mini golf, ice cream, and informal seating areas. They explained that a similar 2017 approval for gas-powered go-karts and other amusements had expired (special use permits lapse after two years if not built). The current proposal modifies the 2017 footprint and accommodates community concerns raised in stakeholder meetings by switching to electric-only vehicles, capping go-karts at 12 per track, limiting light poles to 30 feet (with downlighting), imposing a 10 p.m. closure (security lighting only thereafter, shut off within an hour), and adhering to a 85-decibel limit at 50 feet per city code Section 1568. Mark Larsson emphasized the facility would operate April 1–November 15 (nine months), with hours varying by school calendar, and stressed that the facility is a quarter-mile to half-mile from all neighbors except one (Kevin Hearn, 537 feet away, who supports the project).
Staff recommendation: Assistant Director Allison presented the planning staff's analysis. The 2017 approval included gas-powered go-karts, batting cages, and a smaller footprint; the new proposal retains go-karts and mini golf but drops batting cages and expands to 12.5 acres. She outlined the neighborhood concerns—noise, lighting, property values, and traffic/safety—and itemized the concessions: electric-only go-karts, 12-kart limit per track, 30-foot pole height, 10 p.m. operational closure, and decibel restrictions. She noted that the annexation agreement and special use ordinance would be revised to incorporate these limits.
Public comment: Five speakers, totaling approximately 25 minutes:
- Nathan Miller (attorney, representing his daughter and family living on Route 91, quarter-mile away): Acknowledged council and applicant willingness to negotiate but objected to the project's fundamental impact on residential character. Raised concerns about property values, commercial/residential incompatibility, traffic safety, and land-use fluidity (comparing the expanded footprint to the original 2017 nine-acre approval, now 12.5 acres). Urged clarification of the decibel ordinance language—the annexation agreement states 85 decibels at 50 feet from the property line, whereas city code Section 1568 applies to measurements from the source of sound (the go-karts/speakers), not the perimeter. He submitted written objections with signatures from multiple neighbors.
- Dan Hale (homeowner, quarter-mile away): Praised the Larssons' openness to dialogue but expressed two critical concerns: (1) crowd-control and security planning, citing his teenage daughter's frightening experience during Northwoods Mall riots when round-one violence spilled into the mall and she was locked in a store room; (2) the "fluidity" of project details—original proposal was 10–12 go-karts with small-cart track, then shifted to no electric vehicles citing cost and weather damage, then Friday evening (two weeks after the second meeting) the Larsons announced a supplier for electric carts and expanded to two tracks with 24 carts. He urged council to impose tight restrictions in the special use ordinance to protect property values and ensure quality operations, asking rhetorically whether council members would accept a racetrack next to their homes.
- Kevin Hearn (landscaping contractor, closest homeowner, 537 feet away): Expressed confidence in the facility, comparing it favorably to existing noise from Louisville Slugger Baseball Complex (whose patrons and equipment create significant traffic and sound on Orange Prairie Road). He operates brush chippers and multiple mowers on adjacent properties for city maintenance and does not perceive electric go-karts as problematic noise. He supports the project.
- Diane Larsson: Described the vision as a family gathering space with community seating pods ("where families can come together"), ice cream, light food, and birthday parties. She emphasized the design by Farnsworth Architecture and noted that COVID and personal circumstances had delayed the 2017 approval. She expressed openness to learning and adapting as operations begin.
- Mark Larsson: Reiterated that the 2017 blueprint remains identical; the only modification was acquiring additional land to secure boulevard frontage (the city recommended the annexation expansion). He reaffirmed conversion to electric go-karts after consulting a third supplier (post-second meeting), highlighting their near-silent operation (~40–60 decibels, equivalent to a refrigerator). He noted lighting consists of 25-foot poles with 3-foot pedestals (net 28 feet) with downlighting, well below the 30-foot limit. He stressed that neighbors are quarter-mile to half-mile away, not adjacent. He acknowledged learning as operations proceed and welcomed input from the community and local teachers.
Council discussion: Councilwoman Dr. Bernice Gordon-Young (At Large) commended the Larsons' investment and community commitment but emphasized the necessity of a formal security plan before opening, not reactive after incidents. She urged hiring qualified police or professional security personnel, not retirees, and suggested consulting with the police chief. Mark Larsson agreed to meet with the chief.

Councilmember Dr. Kiran Velpula (At Large) seconded the security concern, noting that a proactive plan protects both the business and neighbors' property values. He urged documenting rules and safeguards on paper before operations begin, citing the precedent of risk-assessment work done with the Tilted Tent nightclub at Northwoods Mall.

Councilman Timothy Riggenbach (3rd District) praised the project as an opportunity for family recreation (citing his own son's enthusiasm at the world's largest go-kart track in Louisville, Kentucky) but reiterated that security planning must precede opening. He emphasized that one negative incident can permanently damage reputation (as happened with Round One following mall riots). He urged the Larsons to meet with the police chief and develop protocols identifying potential security risks and staff training. Diane Larsson acknowledged this perspective and stated she would approach the planning with the same rigor she applies to Tender Care daycare staff training.

Councilman John Kelly (At Large) complimented the creative business plan and applauded the Larsons' willingness to invest without city financial support. He asked about downlighting—the Larsons confirmed they had purchased 25–28-foot poles with downlighting (not candle or shadow uplighting), with an additional brief mention of ground-level security lighting post-closure.

Councilmember Michael Vespa (At Large) wished the project success and endorsed the desire to provide families with outdoor entertainment but concurred with the security recommendation.

Councilman Dr. Andre Dr. Andre W. Allen (4th District), who had deferred the item to allow stakeholder meetings, summarized the concessions: conversion to electric go-karts (a significant additional expense), reduced lighting height, and now agreement to formalize a security plan in partnership with the city and police department. He noted that compromise satisfies no party fully but represents reasonable mitigation of competing interests. He praised the collaborative mediation process and, with no objection, moved to add a formal security plan as a condition of the special use permit. The Larsons agreed immediately.

Councilman Douglas Richardson ... [no additional council comment recorded for this councilman on this item]

Council member Joseph Sear ... [no additional council comment recorded for this councilman on this item]
Vote: Item A (Annexation agreement) passed 11–0. Item B (Annexation ordinance) passed 11–0. Item C (Rezoning ordinance) passed 11–0. Item D (Special use permit for outdoor recreation), as amended to require a formalized security plan, passed 11–0 (with one council member abstaining or not voting; transcript shows all votes passing unanimously, but a note on Item D indicates Sear as a "yes" vote, suggesting a brief moment of uncertainty resolved by affirmation).

Opposition

Number of speakers: 2 formally opposed (Miller, Hale); 1 neutral/concerned but not explicitly opposed (Schmel as proponent); 1 proponent (Hearn); 1 applicant team (Larsons).
Main concerns:
1. Property-value erosion: A quarter-mile go-kart track and mini-golf facility will deter residential and medical-office development and lower adjacent home values.
2. Noise and lighting impact: Despite applicant claims of silent electric go-karts and low-level lighting, neighbors fear ambient sound and light pollution affecting sleep and outdoor enjoyment, especially given the expansion from a nine-acre 2017 approval to 12.5 acres now.
3. Decibel measurement ambiguity: The annexation agreement states "85 dB at 50 feet from the property line," but city code Section 1568 (Motor Vehicle Ordinance) measures from the source of sound, not the perimeter. This discrepancy creates enforceability questions and potential loopholes.
4. Lack of crowd-control and security safeguards: Youth-oriented recreation venues (Round One, Northwoods Mall) have experienced violence and riots. No formal plan was in place to manage potential incidents, control crowds, or protect employees and patrons.
5. Project fluidity and shifting commitments: The applicants changed course multiple times (gas to electric, single to dual track, 10–12 carts to 24), suggesting inadequate pre-application vetting and raising doubts about final operational parameters.
6. Incompatibility with residential character: The zone is residential-to-commercial transition; a racetrack-like facility conflicts with the neighborhood's residential expectations and aesthetic.
7. Proximity to schools (implicit): The facility's April–November schedule aligns with school calendar, implying use by unaccompanied minors who may congregate unsupervised.
Most compelling arguments:
- Northwoods Mall riot precedent (Hale): Direct personal testimony about his teenage daughter being locked in a store room during Round One violence spilling into the mall—visceral, immediate, and grounded in Peoria's recent experience.
- Property-value concern (Hale, Miller): Developers and homeowners universally fear proximity to recreation venues perceived as magnets for youth disorder; comparative loss of home equity is a material, quantifiable harm.
- Decibel-ordinance inconsistency (Miller, attorney): Technical legal critique exposing potential unenforceability, suggesting applicants or staff may not have fully thought through compliance mechanisms.
Organized groups: None explicitly named, but Miller referenced "numerous signatures from people" opposing the project in written submissions to council.

Support

Number of speakers: 1 homeowner (Hearn); applicant team (2).
Main arguments:
1. Minimal noise impact: Electric go-karts operate at ~40–60 decibels (refrigerator-level), inaudible from quarter-mile distance, especially compared to existing landscaping/brush-chipping operations and Louisville Slugger baseball complex traffic.
2. Existing commercial compatibility: Orange Prairie Road already hosts multiple businesses (Louisville Slugger, others); adding family recreation is consistent with the corridor's evolution.
3. No documented crime at comparable venues: Louisville Slugger generates thousands of weekend visitors with no reported criminal activity, suggesting such facilities can operate safely under proper management.
4. Significant applicant investment: The Larsons are investing private capital (electric go-karts are more expensive than gas) without requesting city subsidies—evidence of commitment and financial skin in the game.
5. Community need: A safe, outdoor family gathering space is lacking in Peoria; the vision of intergenerational pods (grandparents, ice cream, conversation) addresses social fragmentation.
6. Concessions demonstrate good faith: Switch to electric, downlighting, 10 p.m. closure, and willingness to hire security show responsiveness to resident concerns.
7. Distance mitigates impact: At quarter-mile to half-mile separation, residential impacts are minimal; only one neighbor (Hearn) is within 537 feet and supports the project.
Most compelling arguments:
- Louisville Slugger comparative safety (Hearn, Larsson): Existing precedent on the same corridor with high weekend traffic and no reported crime; implies the facility type itself is not inherently problematic.
- Concessions as evidence of reasonableness (Timothy Riggenbach, Gordon-Young, Dr. Andre W. Allen): The Larsons' willingness to absorb higher capital costs (electric vehicles) and submit to operational constraints (hours, lighting, decibel limits, security vetting) suggests genuine intent to be good neighbors.

Project Details

Case number: 24-281 (four separate ordinances: A, B, C, D)
Applicant / developer: Mark Larsson and Diane Larsson
Attorney: Nathan Miller appeared as speaker/neighbor advocate (not as applicant counsel); counsel for applicants not named in transcript
Location / address: 9910 North Orange Prairie Road and North Illinois Route 91, City of Peoria, Illinois (annexation area includes additional parcels along Route 91)
APN: Not stated in transcript
Current zoning → Proposed zoning:
- Part A (9910 North Orange Prairie Road): R3 (single-family residential) → C1 (General Commercial)
- Part B (North Illinois Route 91): Unincorporated (external to city) → Annexed and rezoned to C1 (General Commercial)
Density / units / square footage:
- Land: 12.5 acres total (9 acres from 2017 approval plus 3.5 additional acres)
- Improvements: 1 go-kart track (primary), optional future second track; mini golf; ice cream concession; light food service; outdoor seating pods
- Go-karts: Maximum 12 electric vehicles per track; two-track potential (not committed to second track immediately)
Changes from previous version (2017 approval):
- Original: 9 acres, gas-powered go-karts, batting cages, smaller footprint, special use expired before construction
- Current: 12.5 acres, electric-only go-karts, no batting cages, expanded seating/gathering areas, four-year gap necessitating re-approval

Vote Breakdown

Item A (Annexation Agreement, 24-281A): 11–0 (passed; two-thirds majority required; all council members voting yes)
Item B (Annexation Ordinance, 24-281B): 11–0 (passed)
Item C (Rezoning Ordinance, 24-281C): 11–0 (passed)
Item D (Special Use Permit for Outdoor Recreation, 24-281D): 11–0 (passed, as amended to include formalized security plan requirement)
Individual votes not named in transcript.

Outcome & Next Steps

Habitat for Humanity Project (Items 24-347A & B):

Both tranches approved unanimously (11–0 each).
Habitat to secure additional tax-credit funding ($700,000–$900,000) for phases two and three.
Public meeting scheduled for January 2025 to detail program requirements, introduce neighborhood to Habitat's model, and solicit design input.
Construction of phase one (six homes on former McKinley site) expected to begin early 2025, following HUD environmental review delays.
Continued land acquisition and feasibility studies for phases two and three on adjacent parcels in 61605.

Orange Prairie Go-Kart Facility (Items 24-281A–D):

All four ordinances passed unanimously with the condition that applicants develop and execute a formalized security plan in coordination with Police Chief Eric Biedebach before opening operations.
Applicants agreed to meet with the police chief to design protocols addressing crowd control, staff training, incident response, and risk assessment.
Dr. Andre W. Allen offered city support (resource officers, coordination with Biedebach) to ensure success and avoid reactive crisis management.
No timeline for police-chief coordination or security-plan finalization stated; applicants indicated intent to open with a "soft opening" (not publicly advertised) to identify operational issues before full-scale operations.
Conditions remain: electric-only go-karts, max 12 per track, 30-foot light pole height, downlighting, 10 p.m. operational closure, security lighting only thereafter (shut off within one hour), 85-decibel limit at 50 feet, April 1–November 15 operating season, variable hours per school calendar.

Controversies & Context

Habitat for Humanity: Rare Consensus The Habitat project generated no recorded opposition. Its approval reflects years of groundwork—landbank acquisition, school demolition (funded by Congressman Darin Sorenson and Congressman Eric Busch via American Rescue Plan), and coordination with nonprofits. The South Village TIF, created decades ago to spur East Bluff reinvestment, finally materializes in tangible homeownership opportunity rather than absentee rentals. Denise Jackson persistent advocacy for affordable ownership (not just rentals) and the symbolic closure of McKinley, where Schmel's father taught for 30+ years, lent emotional weight. The council and applicant base viewed this as an overdue investment correcting historical disinvestment.

Orange Prairie Go-Kart Facility: Neighborhood Alarm and Compromise

The facility reignited deeper tensions about land use, property values, and youth safety in Peoria's post-pandemic context.

Historical precedent (Round One, Northwoods Mall): The 2023–2024 riots at Northwoods Mall, with violence spilling from the Round One entertainment arcade into the mall proper, killing one person and injuring multiple others, set the tone for resident wariness. Council members and neighbors cited this explicitly as justification for preemptive security planning. The Larsons' initial reluctance to commit to security personnel (preferring optimism over prevention) struck several council members as dangerously naïve.
Decibel-ordinance ambiguity (legal risk): Miller's technical critique exposed a mismatch between the proposed ordinance language ("85 dB at 50 feet from property line") and the city code section it cited (Section 1568, a motor-vehicle noise ordinance that measures from the source). If enforced literally, the property-line standard would be more lenient than source-based measurement. This discrepancy suggests either drafting negligence or intentional softening of noise limits—a risk flag for future disputes and unenforceability.
Project scope creep: The expansion from nine acres (2017) to 12.5 acres and the shift from gas to electric go-karts only after multiple meetings signaled either inadequate upfront engineering or responsive pivoting under public pressure. Either way, it undermined confidence in the applicants' technical planning.
Residential-commercial interface: The site lies in a zone transition between rural/residential and commercial corridors. Neighbors invoked the principle that such transitions should favor land-use compatibility and existing resident expectations, not newcomer commercial ventures. The density of a go-kart facility (seasonally high attendance, loud events, youth congregation) clashed with the broader residential tone.
Police chief engagement as safeguard: Dr. Andre W. Allen move to condition approval on a formalized security plan, developed before opening, was a procedural innovation in Peoria land-use approvals. It elevated expectations for public-safety vetting of entertainment venues, likely setting a precedent for future youth-oriented projects. The applicants' initial reluctance (preferring staff training and soft openings) was overcome by council insistence—evidence that the body read the room and detected genuine community unease.
Equity and social fragmentation (applicant narrative): The Larsons positioned the facility as remedy for social fragmentation—kids on phones, intergenerational estrangement, lack of public gathering spaces. This resonated with council members (Timothy Riggenbach son's experience, Gordon-Young's nostalgia for neighborhood cohesion) but rang hollow to residents fearing crime and property-value loss. The tension between aspirational community-building and material risk reflects broader debates about public space, family recreation, and urban safety post-2020.

Duration

Orange Prairie item (24-281): ~90 minutes (including public comment, council discussion, and votes for all four ordinances)
Habitat for Humanity items (24-347A & B): ~30 minutes (presentation, council remarks, votes)
Total meeting: ~3.5 hours (including proclamations, consent agenda, town items, and other regular business)

Other Notable Items

2025 Tax Levy (Item 24-353): The council froze the municipal tax rate at 1.555 (a slight decrease from the prior year's 1.5551), avoiding a CPI increase. Councilman Douglas Seer voted no, citing concerns that property-improvement grants and home-rehabilitation incentives raise assessed values without coordinated levy freezes across all taxing bodies (schools, county, library, airport authority), meaning individual levy discipline by the city provides only modest relief to homeowners receiving tax-bill increases due to property appreciation. He urged collective discussion with other taxing authorities. The vote passed 8–3 (Dr. Kiran Velpula, John Kelly, Seer opposed). Context: Illinois allows municipalities to raise levies annually by the Consumer Price Index; Peoria has frozen its rate since 2021 by abating portions of debt-service levies. Council members debated whether such unilateral freezes, absent coordination with school districts and other entities controlling ~89% of property-tax bills, provide meaningful relief or merely shift fiscal pressure to the city's core services. The city manager acknowledged no formal multi-taxing-body levy-coordination mechanism exists, though the idea gained some support for future exploration.

Shell Gas Station Liquor-License Denials (Items 24-332 through 24-338): The council unanimously denied six site-application requests for package-alcohol sales at Shell gas stations operated or franchised by entities with a documented history of delinquent motor-fuel-tax filing and nonpayment. Corporation Counsel explained that seven Shell stations in Peoria, owned by Access, Inc. (Louisville, Kentucky) and previously managed by entities including one whose principal, Jender Singh, was indicted by Illinois for tax evasion (trial set for February 2025), accumulated $131,000 in back taxes and $800,000 in daily fines for failure to file and pay motor-fuel-tax returns from April–June 2024. New operator Bobby Singh applied on behalf of newly incorporated entities, but Corporation Counsel recommended denial under city code language permitting license withholdal when inconsistent with "the welfare of the city." The council concurred, with Corporation Counsel noting the denial could be reconsidered if the operators demonstrated compliance and established themselves as good corporate citizens. Context: This decision appeared to be the first en-masse denial of gas-station liquor licenses in recent Peoria history; Dr. Kiran Velpula sought clarification in his "new business" remarks to underscore that the denial was based on specific tax-compliance and corporate-accountability concerns, not anti-business animus, and to assure other applicants that future applications would be judged on merits.

Snow Removal Operations Presentation (Item 24-356): Director of Public Works Rick Powers presented the city's 2025 snow-removal plan, featuring 21 primary routes, four hill routes, tandem plow configurations for wide roads, and 24-hour operations triggered by 2 inches of snowfall. The plan is identical to prior years but benefits from new full-time staffing conversions (previously seasonal employees hired each winter) and potential route expansions. Powers emphasized priority-based clearing (arterials and hospitals first, neighborhoods on rotating ABC sub-routes to ensure no preferential treatment). He noted the department has ~30 snowplows and is replacing aging equipment via the capital-improvement plan. Timothy Riggenbach asked about GPS telematics on trucks; Powers acknowledged the department lacks real-time vehicle tracking but plans to solicit proposals for an asset-management system that may incorporate operational routing and work-order capabilities. He noted that Peoria winters have been unusually mild in his five-year tenure compared to his prior 13-county region near Lake Michigan. Context: This was a routine annual briefing; no notable controversies arose.

Wisconsin Avenue Ribbon Cutting and Children's Home Facilities (Timothy Riggenbach remarks): Timothy Riggenbach announced a ribbon-cutting ceremony on November 13, 2024 (the day after the meeting, at 11:30 a.m.) to reopen Wisconsin Avenue between McLure and Nebraska after construction. The project was completed ahead of schedule, funded partially by $3 million from Illinois Representative Gordon Bost. Phase two (Wisconsin from McLure northward to Forest Hill) is planned for the next two years. Additionally, Timothy Riggenbach previewed an upcoming Children's Home proposal for two supervised independent-living facilities on the organization's existing Knoxville Avenue campus to serve aging-out foster youth and prevent homelessness in that population—a project expected to be presented to planning and zoning soon and to council within a few weeks.

Native American Heritage Month Proclamation and Robert "Wolfi" Chef Remarks: Dr. Rita Ali and Councilwoman Denise Jackson presented a proclamation recognizing November as Native American Indian Heritage Month and acknowledging the history of the Peoria, Sauk, Meskwaki, Potawatomi, Kickapoo, Winnebago, and other tribes in the Illinois region. Robert "Wolfi" Chef, a Native American advocate, delivered an impassioned address wearing a red handprint on his face symbolizing missing and murdered Indigenous women. He criticized the lack of media coverage of missing Indigenous persons, the absence of voting and language rights for some Native Americans, and inadequate police response to his requests for help in investigating threats and desecration of his vehicle. He announced a Native American heritage panel and Q&A event at Bradley University on November 13 (featuring the Eagle Ridge Drums and a live discussion) and called for greater recognition of Native Americans as founding peoples deserving of justice and protection equal to other citizens. Context: This was a ceremonial proclamation with no votes required; Chef's remarks added substance to what might have been a routine acknowledgment, centering ongoing justice and equity concerns within the city's engagement with Native communities.

View source transcript ▼

Source: Peoria City Council Meeting November 12, 2024 — November 13, 2024. Auto-generated YouTube transcript; may contain transcription errors.

think for e e good evening if everyone would please take their seats we're going to get started with our meeting everyone please take your seats thank you good thank you good evening everyone it is 6 o'clock p.m.

on Tuesday November the 12th 2024 I'd like to welcome everyone who's here present in our historic city council chambers I also like to welcome everyone who's listening uh on our listening audience at wcbu and our audience watching on cable channel 22 Adam clerk the council mics are open please call the role mayor Ali present council member Allan present council member sear here council member Gordon young present council member graab 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 everyone please join me and stand for a moment of Silent prayer or silent reflection followed by the Pledge of Allegiance the United States of America and to the for stand one nation under God indivisible andice we have a pretty heavy duty agenda tonight um we're going to ask you to get us started Madam Clark we are at proclamations we have four Pro proclamations tonight the first recognize is Native American Indian Heritage Month and we have Robert Chef otherwise known as wolfi here with us tonight if you would join us at the front Podium councilwoman Denise Jackson will read the proclamation thank you Madame mayor whereas the history and culture of our great nation have been significantly influenced by American Indians Alaskan native peoples and Indigenous peoples and whereas the contributions of Native American Indians have enhanced the freedom prosperity and greatness of America today their customs and traditions are respected and celebrated as part of a rich history throughout the United States and whereas the name Peoria derives from the gonin language spoken by the Peoria tribe of Indians of Oklahoma while Peoria originally meant come comes carrying a pack on his back a more modern translation has defined it as to dream with the help of manato to and whereas we recognize the Native Americans who lived in Illinois and contributed to their community's cultural Legacy see we acknowledge those who made their home here first uh the sock uh the Miss swaki uh the PTO watomi kikapu Winnebago Cahokia casasia and Poria among many others and whereas Native American awareness week began in 197 six and recognition was expanded by Congress and approved by President George Bush in August 1990 designating the month of November as Native American Indian Heritage Month now therefore I mayor Rita Ali mayor of the city of Poria do hereby acknowledge November as Native American Indian Heritage Month in Poria Illinois dated this 12th day of November 20 24 [Applause] ad how does she do with those pronunciations um a B+ all right some the words are kind of hard but you also look the palami was also part of the Native of the Poria um Lake also part of the piia and also peak in um even on the other side of East Poria it's all Native am land or there to um dear people look up the histories so again I want to thank you mayor than you city council um you're probably wondering why um I'm wearing a red handprint on my face well if yall look it up it's mm I wsk Chief please listen murder missen individuals women kids sisters even here in Poria Illinois still missing kidna cases swept under the rug not being looked at not being monitored no Amber Alerts nothing zero NADA over now even in America we are now fighting more and more ever if you look at my vehicle there's handprints red handprints over my vehicle representing my ancestors my sisters my grandma everybody else that's been kidnapped murder but nothing ever mentioned pictures on the news about our kids missing or kidnapped that's one issue we've been dealing with another issue we've been dealing with is Justice even here in Poria as a Native American I still not getting Justice I still not being protected in Ned when I ask officers for help they tell me they can't help me until something happens why do I need to have something happen to me before I get help I have my wor will be to pray getting this year destroyed clo destroyed got threatened don't do it but next year I'm going to do it we got um I invite you guys all tomorrow Bradley University is having a Native American um speech where you're having the Eagle Ridge drums coming at 4:30 to 5:00 at Brady University we're also having a woman um doing a live um question and answer kind of thing we're also having um Rally's now more and more influence on the Native American history because a lot of the Bradley students are Native American and new people too so I'm glad Bradley finally jumped on board with that but again it's not be mentioned in the news we don't know why but we I want advertise that to you guys that that is their tomorrow um one more thing too um for Native Americans that I try to fight for every year um it ain't just here in Poria we still some of us don't have rights to vote some of us don't have rights to E can speak our own language like Spanish Latinos can speak their language I can't speak Cherokee I got told I can't so I had learn English so another thing we're trying to change is bring back the Native American culture why can't we have Justice why can't we be protected like everybody else this is America one more thing um C more things real quick um I am not an immigrant I am an American we were here first why should we have to leave America for anything that we were here first so in honor I want to be closing real quick um I had a good friend of my died today that was a big part of my life my mom my grandma raised me teach me about my Heritage and my culture but today I lost the best se My Life this morning her name was Jane and she really influenced my culture my Heritage so I ask you City Council Members today even mayor and any other City officials here today please acknowledge us as human beings because we are we put money in your businesses we put money on the streets we put money here in peor also all over towns so please respect us as we respect you thank you welcome wol I thank you for representing the native people our next Proclamation recognizes the community Festival of nativities and we have father the Theo theopus Rous from All Saints GRE orthodo excuse me Orthodox church and we have Donald mayor first counselor in the peor Illinois stake of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints gentlemen can you come for so I might have um mispronounce your names would you please pronounce your names my name is Donald mayor you actually did quite well mayor thank you okay thank you you're very close it's theofani okay thank you another B+ a minus a minus okay B minus okay A minus a don't be too hard on yourself yeah the proclamation reads whereas the story of the Nativity and the events surrounding the birth of Jesus are important in religious celebrations of Christmas and whereas the St Vincent deul Catholic Church Holy Family Catholic Church all saints greet Orthodox Church Peoria Heights Christian Church Mount Harley Community Church and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints have joined together to present the 9th Annual Community festivities Festival of nativities as a free gift to the community and whereas this unique exhibit aims to provide a peaceful place for individuals and families to to reflect upon the birth of Christ This Christmas season and whereas visitors will see more than 750 nativities on display including St Mary's historic Cathedral nativity scene and Diane leg's 3,000 piece font Fontanini collection whereas the theme this year is taken from the artwork of a new artist Brooklyn Swinson titled all is bright guests will also enjoy performances from local musicians children's activities and a live nativity and whereas the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is hosting this year's event at their place of worship 3700 West W reservo Boulevard on Thursday December 5th from 3: to 9:00 p.m.

Friday and Saturday from 10:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. through Sunday December 8th from 12:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m.

now therefore I R Ali mayor of the city of Peoria Illinois do hereby recognize the community Festival of nativities in Peoria [Applause] Illinois I'll go first I guess uh mayor Ali thank you so much we are really grateful for the acknowledgement and support that you uh provide in this in the city council as well it's a real honor to be here and and receive this Proclamation uh the community Festival of nativities if you haven't experienced it it's just a wonderful event the proclamation really set at best it's an opportunity for the whole Community to come together in a spirit of unity uh at this special time of season where we celebrate the birth of our Savior Jesus Christ and it's precisely what he would have is this unity in a time where there's frankly too much division so thank you mayor thank you city council for being good examples and and supporting that I personally have friends who um just as a side anecdotal note who bring people and family members from outside of the city annually it really has become a wonderful tradition so it benefits the community as well it's it's a it's a rare win-win right in these days so so thank you so much we we can't express our gratitude enough for that's great father Rous thank you and to Eko Donald thank you mayor Ali and to the council for this Proclamation and personally I'm a newcomer to Poria in the past year and my family and I have been very very moved by how welcoming of a community it is in general but I think about at our Parish we have many people from different countries and backgrounds from all over the world I mean not just Greece the Middle East Russia Ukraine all these different places and in talking with some of them they still have family in these areas the fact that we can do a festival like this as Christians is not possible in a lot of the places that their families currently are so the fact that as a city we can do this and our own city council is supporting us and acknowledging our faith and allowing us to share Christ in this way it's really really beautiful and it's a gift to all of us so thank you you're very welcome thank you [Applause] our next Proclamation recognizes National apprenticeship week and we have Michelle D'Or director of Workforce employer initiatives at Illinois Central College and Kelly Bay the manager of Workforce apprenticeships at Illinois Central College my former employer come forth ladies whereas National apprenticeship week is celebrating its 10th anniversary of raising awareness of the vital role of registered that registered apprenticeships play in our country allowing apprentices to earn while they learn and preparing a pathway to high quality jobs in Peoria and across the nation and whereas registered apprenticeship programs enable employers to develop train and expand their future Workforce while offering career Seekers affordable paths to secure high-paying jobs and whereas registered apprenticeships expand opportunities in our Workforce for individuals who have been historically underserved marginalized and adversely affected by persistent poverty and inequality and provid a path for all qualified individuals to become apprentices and contribute to America's industries and whereas the city of Poria recognizes that registered apprenticeships can help improve job quality and create access access to sustainable sustainable jobs for all while addressing some of our nation's pressing Workforce challenges such as rebuilding our infrastructure seeking Supply Chain Solutions supporting a clean energy Workforce modernizing our cyber security response and responding to care economy issues now therefore I re Ali mayor of the city of Poria and on behalf of the Poria city council to hereby acknowledge November 17th through November 23rd as National apprenticeship week in Peoria Illinois D'Or thank you Mar mayor ali um and thank you City Council Members we are honored to represent Illinois Central College and speak on behalf of apprenticeships since launching in 2018 icc's Workforce development department has been developing and expanding apprenticeships programs to support both employers and students to date we've enrolled over 180 apprentices it with 35 partner 35 employers partn partnering with us across manufacturing and information technology sectors we started with just five registered apprenticeships and we've now expanded to 11 we've added two to our manufacturing list and we have actually grown into the healthc care field and we've added registered appreneur ships in our our certified nursing assistant our licensed practical nurse our registered nurse and our surgical technology programs our goal is to continue expanding these opportunities across all sectors and to work closely with employers to design customized apprenticeship programs that meet their unique needs by offering flexible tailored Solutions were're able to ensure that both students and employers have the tools they need for Success so apprenti ships We Believe are the best model of Education we can provide for our community they uniquely focus on both the employer and the student creating Partnerships that build a foundation for lasting Success Through This model employers have the flexibility and autonomy to select the related technical instruction provided by Illinois Central College that can align perfectly with their industry needs ensuring that their incoming or in incumbent workers receive the most relevant and impactful training this approach helps strengthen businesses and enriches our local economy equally important apprenticeships are lifechanging for students um I worked in career services for eight years and it always felt a little backwards so we would Ed educate students and at the end we try to find them a job after they've gone through education well apprenticeships changes all of that it unlike the traditional educational Pathways they come with a heavy weight of student loan debt often times and apprenticeship fixes all that the employer assists with the educational costs thus reducing the student loan burden for these students and they provide them with a wage while they're going through their related technical instruction this allows the student to focus on their education at the same time achieve a positive C outcome that positions them for long-term success the benefits also extend beyond the individual and the employer they Ripple throughout our entire Community for people from economically disadvantaged backgrounds apprentic ships are a pathway out of poverty an opportunity to break generational cycles and create a future full of Hope and stability by investing in apprenticeship we Foster a system where both the employer and the student grow in unison employers find dedicated well-trained Talent students build promising careers and our economy our community gains a steady pipeline of skilled professionals contributing to a thriving local economy thank you thank you for changing lives through [Applause] apprenticeships our next Proclamation recognizes National Community Foundation week and we have Mark Roberts who is the Community Foundation of central Illinois president and CEO welcome Mark okay I've asked uh councilman Tim riggenbach to share this Proclamation thank you Madame mayor whereas community members neighborhoods institutions and organizations in the city of Poria have historically benefited from the ongoing generosity of donations from families business community foundations and whereas the Community Foundation of central Illinois also known as cfci has granted $140 million in Grants to nonprofit organizations since its Inception in 1985 and whereas one of the most significant ways to ensure a strong Community economic vitality and educational success is through the active presence of a Community Foundation in the 2024 fiscal year thanks to the generosity of donors cfci distributed over 800 grants totaling 5,151 355 with a focus on ending hunger equipping and developing a strong Workforce and fostering the local Arts community and whereas cfci as numerous funds and initiatives in including the women's fund of central Illinois that ensures the continued support of programs for women and girls and whereas our community is fortunate to have the Community Foundation of central Illinois as a resource for Collective giving their dedicated staff and volunteers work tirelessly every day to inspire philanthropy improve the quality of life strengthen nonprofits Foster collaboration and provide leadership in Central Illinois now therefore Rita Ali mayor of the city of Poria on behalf of the Poria city council does hereby acknowledge November 12th through 18th as Community Foundation week in Poria Illinois Roberts well thank you mayor Ali and thank you councilman thank you to the rest of the members of the council as well for this recog nition on behalf of our board of directors and all of the stakeholders and the staff of the Community Foundation it's my pleasure to accept this Proclamation on behalf of Community Foundation week uh across the the the country over 900 Community foundations are working every day to connect people who care with causes that matter and they work to build strong and vibrant communities like our Central Illinois Community uh we are celebrating this week the role of those Community foundations Nationwide in supporting essential services like healthcare and food banks and domestic violence shelters and volunteer fire departments and many other organizations in uh 2023 these foundations collectively granted over $30 billion dollar back into their communities to impact all manners of quality of life including the Arts and education and health and human services and in the environment and disaster relief and the list goes on and on locally as the councilman just noted a few moments ago the Community Foundation granted over $5.1 Million last year back into our community and we're very proud of that over1 140 million that we've granted back into this community since our Inception in 1985 we are growing rapidly and I want the community to know that we are now the fifth largest Community Foundation in the state of Illinois by asset size and we are the largest Community Foundation south of the suburbs we are the L largest downstate Community Foundation by assets size why I tell you that the larger that we get in that respect the more impact we are able to make via Grant making on this community so we're making an increasingly significant impact on the area through these programs as councilman mentioned food insecurity and Workforce Readiness and issues impacting women and girls and we Grant hundreds of thousands of dollars each year in scholarships to local students and along with our generous donors and our fund holders and our volunteers we're we're proud to play this role we know it Community foundations by aggregating the resources of individuals and families and corporations and others in our communities we can collectively address critical Community issues and by strategically working with so many others and through Partnerships we're helping to pave the way towards an Ever improving quality of life and we're doing that not only today but for decades to come and as I wrap up a quick aside in 2025 it will be our 40th anniversary as an organization and I'm going to ask you all to stay tuned as we finish planning and start to announce really interesting initiatives and interesting grants that will help to celebrate that 40th anniversary so on behalf of all the folks that I've talked about before and on behalf of everyone in this community we thank you for this recognition thank you thank you for your leadership Mr [Applause] Robert okay Madam clerk okay we have three town items the first item 24- 321 is a communication I'm sorry let's back up let's do the approval of the minutes okay council member rbot thank you Madame mayor I move to approve the minutes of the special city council and town board meeting held on October 15 2024 the minutes of the city council meeting held on October 22nd 2024 and the minutes of the special city council meeting held October 29th 2024 as printed seconded by council member velpula any questions or comments please cash your ballots motion passes unanimously Madam clerk now we're on to the town items 24- 321 is a communication from from the town officials budget committee with a request to adopt an ordinance leving and assessing taxes for the fiscal year beginning April 1 2024 and ending March 31st 2025 for the general assistance fund of the town of the city of Poria Poria County in state of Illinois in the amount of 1,221 190 trustee riggenbach move to approve as outlined seconded by trustee Jackson any questions or comments please cash your ballots MO passes unanimously Madam Clark 24- 322 is a communication from the town officials budget excuse me budget committee with a request to adopt an ordinance living and assessing taxes for the fiscal year beginning April 1 2024 and ending March 31st 2025 for the general fund and the Illinois Municipal retirement fund of the town of the city of Poria Poria County and state of Illinois in the amount of $356,000 trusty r Bo move to approve as outlined seconded by trustee Jackson any questions or comments please cast your ballots motion passes unanimously 24- 323 is a request from the town officials to approve the October 2024 actual expenditures and to approve the November 2024 anticipated expenditures for the town of the city Poria truste riggenbach move to approve as outlined seconded by truste Jackson any questions or comments please cast your ballots motion passes unanimously Madam Clark we're on to the consent agenda 24- 324 is a communication from the city manager and director of Community Development with a request from the cdbg Public Services Commission to approve the 2024 Community Development Block Grant Public Service find findings recommendations in the amount of $270,000 24- 325 is a communication with request to approve the reallocation of administrative funds from the Illinois Housing Development Authority to the emergency repair program in the amount of $115,000 24- 326 is a communication with request to approve a purchase with rarig Pacific company for 702 new 95g garbage carts for the replacement in inventory in an amount not to exceed $ 41,8 24- 327 is a communication with request to approve the purchase of one vehicle in an amount not to exceed $30,000 24328 is a communication with request to approve a Professional Services agreement with p habitat Restoration in an amount not to exceed 800 $855,000 for the native vegetation green infrastructure maintenance 24- 329 is a communication with a request to approve a resolution regarding the approval of closed session minutes 24- 330 is a communication with request for the following a approve a local agency agreement for the jurisdictional transfer of L Avenue from 312 ft west of North University Street easterly to the east edge of the pavement of the North Sheridan Road from the County highway system to the municipal Street system and B adopt an ordinance approving the transfer of a portion of Glenn Avenue from 312 ft west of North University Street easterly to the east edge of the pavement of North Sheridan Road from the County highway system to the municipal Street system 24-33 31 is a communication with a request to adopt an ordinance leving a special service area real estate tax in the amount of $48,600 against specified Parcels as described as in exhibit a for tax year 2024 for the Knoxville Junction special service area 24- 312 is a communication with request to adopt an ordinance modifying section 2-35 0 E1 regarding the public safety employee benefits act 24- 332 is a communication with request to approve the site application for a class B restaurant 50% Food liquor license with on-site consumption and Retail sell of alcohol for brienzo's pizza plaza West LLC doing business as brienzo's Pizza and Bar at 7713 North Orange Prairie Road with a recommendation from The Liquor Commission to approve 24- 333 is a communication from the city manager in Corporation Council with a request to deny the site application for a CG glass gas station convenience store liquor license with a retail sale of alcohol for Trace smart Inc doing business as shell number six at 3903 West bearing Trace with a recommendation from The Liquor Commission to deny 24- 334 is a communication with request to deny the site application for a class CG gas station convenience store liquor license with a retail sale of alcohol for Sterling Avenue Mark Inc doing business as shell number n at 4709 North Sterling with a recommendation from The Liquor Commission to deny 24- 335 is a communication with a request to deny the site application for a class CG gas station convenience store liquor license with a retail sale of alcohol for North Ville Avenue Mart Inc doing business as shell number one at 4310 North Knoxville with a recommendation from The Liquor Commission to deny 24- 336 is a communication with a request to deny the site application for a class CG GL gas station convenience store liquor license with a retail sale of alcohol for 1900 North Knoxville Inc doing business as shell number two at 1900 North Knoxville with a recommend a from The Liquor Commission to deny 24- 337 is a communication with a request to deny the site application for a class CG gas station convenience store liquor license with a retail sale of alcohol for 710 Poria Mart Inc doing business as shell number three at 710 West deweer with a recommendation from The Liquor Commission to deny 24- 338 is a communication with a request to deny the site applic application for a class CG gas station convenience store liquor license with a retail sale of alcohol for 1108 Main Street Mart Inc doing business as shell number four at 1108 West Maine with a recommendation from The Liquor Commission to deny 24- 339 is an appointment by mayor Ali to the downtown advisory commission with request to concur of dorsy Hill 24- 340 is an appointment by mayor to the East Village growth cell advisory committee with a request to concur of Kurt during 24-34 is an appointment by mayor Ali to the Housing Commission with a request to concur of Alexander Ortega 24- 342 is an appointment by mayor Ali to the mayor's advisory committee for Citizens with disabilities with a request to concur of mandar Pacar 24- 343 is an appointment by B to the tourism Reserve fund board with a request concur of Michael P Vespa 24- 344 is an appointment by mayor Ali to the Transportation Commission with a request to concur of edeline Muhammad and that concludes our consent agenda okay that was a lot of reading thank you madam clerk are there items to remove for consent councilman velpula madam 24324 can you read that again 24- 324 324 yeah thank you any other items councilman velpula I miss vesa uh thank you Madame mayor um item 24- 343 thank you council member sirar if there's no more thank you madam mayor if there's no more uh U numbers to get to uh be pulled off I move to approve the balance seconded by council member Allen okay we have a motion to approve the consent agendum those remaining items we have a second please cash your ballots motion passes unanimously Madam clerk 24- 324 is a communication from the city manager and director of Community Development with a request from the cdbg Public Services Commission to approve the 2024 Community Development Block Grant Public Service findings recommendation in the amount of $270,000 council member velpula Madame mayor I would like I would like to abstain uh because I serve on the board of Center for prevention of abuse okay understood uh can I get a motion to approve that item move by council member Allan seconded by council member Gordon young okay if there's no questions please cast your ballots on that item motion passes with one exstension velpula Madam clerk 24- 343 is an appointment by mayor Ali to the tourism Reserve fund board with a request to concur of Michael P Vespa council member Vasa thank you uh Madame mayor it's an appointment for me so I'm just going to abstain from this thank you okay can I get a motion to approve that item moved by council member Kelly seconded by council member V Pula any questions please cast your ballots motion passes with one exstension vesa okay thank you madam clerk we are at first readings 24- 345 is a communication from the city manager and finance director com controller with request to receive and file the first reading of an ordinance amending chapter 31 of the code of the city of Poria pertaining to storm water utility Mr manager uh thank you Madame mayor I'd like to turn the floor over to our finance director Kyle Kat uh the ordinance in front of you tonight is for the first reading uh this is to uh maintain was in the existing budget document that's in front of you tonight um to freeze the CPI increase on the stor with it for storm water fees for the 2025 budget year um the Council has been freezing the rates back to 2021 levels um because of the existing fund balance in the fund and staff is making that recommendation again this year um and so if anyone has any questions I'm more than happy to answer are there questions this is a receive and file item did you have questions council member SE uh no I just want to move to receive and file okay uh second it by council member Allen uh discussion please cash your ballots motion passes unanimously Madam clerk we are at regular business the next number was incorrectly numbered it's actually 24- 346 instead of 34- 346 so it's 24- 346 communication from the city manager and director of Community Development with a request to approve an amendment to the guidelines to the east Village Tiff housing program to reduce the property owner match for owner occupied properties Mr manager uh thank you Madame mayor I'm going to turn the floor over to our community development director Mr Duan uh thank you mayor thank you manager thank you Council uh the item in front of you is uh the East Village gross sale board had met about a month ago uh we were trying to they were trying to come up with ways to uh utilize the housing program that's available if you remember correctly the East Village grow cell was created with a housing component where a certain amount of increment goes back into a fund uh that homeowners uh and landlords can utilize for property repairs uh the program's been very successful in your packet you'll see all the different households that have received positive benefit from it uh but the grow cell Committee just wanted to find ways to keep that M momentum going forward so they proposed some changes um to lower the match a little bit for a couple different categories uh the major component uh households with 0 to 80% of Ami and 55 years or older uh could have exterior repairs to their program without a match really what we're trying to Target there is uh people who live in the East Bluff who might be on Social Security might have not have the disposable income uh but have lived in the area and want to make improvements to their household and then 0o to 100% of a uh 120% ma if you're not at that age group lower the match to 25% to get more utilization of the program as well uh so with that uh I would also probably defer it over to councilman riggenbach because I'm sure he would like to say uh more words about it as well yes council member Rian buug thank you so much Madame mayor and thank you director duelan for the the recap of that Economic Development and tiffs are often things that we get a lot of phone calls and emails about they're often times misunderstood they're often times very complicated but let me tell you ladies and gentlemen they work this East Village grow cell Tiff help facilitate osf's building of the jump trading center which is a a landmark in the um medical community now and in the East Bluff and if you look at page well it's either page eight of nine or page 294 of 562 depending on your perspective it gives you a breakdown of the rehab program projects that have taken place since this um Tiff was in put in place just to recap briefly and I swear I'll be brief um this Tiff has a component to it that allows the homeowners in it to apply for a grant for up to 50% of exterior improvements we've had nearly 100 people 100 homeowners in the East Bluff availed themselves of this and afforded over $600,000 to those homeowners so this is putting money right back into our heritage neighborhoods and something that the council has talked about making that is a priority for the council going back for years and I'm just so proud of of the way this has worked and continues to work and with these enhancements it'll make it even more accessible for those who actually need the assistance and so I'm proud to move for the approval on this item okay is there a second seconded by council member velpula any other questions or discussion council member vesa thank you Madame mayor um yeah I I appreciate the uh The Rundown uh director Duan too I I think this is great um it gives a break to people um you know our older uh constituents and um and people who are middle class and and poor and can't afford to match these These funds so I I think this is a this is a great move and I'm proud to vote Yes on it thank you thank you any other comments or questions please cast your ballots motion passes unanimously thank you director Duan I think you're going to stick around uh Madam clerk 20 4- 347 is a communication from the city manager and director of Community Development with a requests for the following a approve $445,000 in home investment partnership Community Housing Development organization funds to Habitat for Humanity Greater Peoria for the construction of new single family homes located in 61605 and B approve $500,000 in community Project funding Grant funds through the Department of Housing and Urban Development to Habitat for Humanity Greater Peoria for the construction of new single family homes located in 61605 and we'll need separate motions on each please director Dulan thank you mayor uh the item in front of you is uh very very exciting uh for the city for 61605 uh in the entire community so um I'll be brief but kind of you know tell a full story uh multiple years ago the city of poror approved the landbank uh through a joint effort with the Illinois Housing Development Authority uh through that the goal is really to acquire Parcels uh with the hope of spurring additional affordable housing in the future uh fast forward a little bit uh we through Congressman buos office and American Rescue plan money were able to uh finally demolish McKinley and Harrison School uh in 61605 um then fast forward a little more uh Church viw Gardens uh a joint effort from pivotal housing and P opportunities Foundation got Ida tax credits to build affordable rental housing in 61605 uh which would be some of the new first new construction that uh South Village Tiff has seen in a very long time and so with that you know the the biggest feedback we heard from residents are that's great to have additional affordable rental housing in the community uh but when can we see uh possible uh affordable home ownership opportunities uh we've had a wonderful partnership with habit cap for Humanity uh throughout the years uh for the most part they've concentrated a lot of their efforts in the North Valley and the East Bluff uh and I think if you drive in those areas and you see the new construction you can see what a wonderful job that they have done uh in those neighborhoods um lean schmel is here I'm sure uh can answer any specific questions you have but when we started this discussion um we wanted to see what we could do with the McKinley property it leaves a pretty big footprint uh Matt Smith has done a very good job as our land bank manager to try to acquire other property around there too um and then we got a $500,000 earmark that's Item B from Congressman Sorenson's office specifically for this project uh so this first phase should be able to put about six houses specifically where McKinley used to be uh we're in discussions uh and and habitat is working very very hard to try to uh secure some additional funding uh to do phases two and three in your packet uh and just continuing to build home ownership opportunities in that area for people who want to own their homes and live in that that area and build that generational wealth that comes with home ownership um I think that I also want to let everyone know that we're hoping to have a public meeting about this uh in January where you'll specifically have opportunity to learn about habitat learn up how to sign up for their programs learn how you might be able uh to to join their program to get one of these households and what you have to do for their program requirements we'll also get some feedback from the neighborhood on some Design Elements uh and just let them know about the project and that'll lightly be in January as um with HUD funds it often takes much longer than we would like uh due to environmental reviews so we had hope to get started this winter uh this late part of this year but probably won't get started to the early part of next year so uh this will will help us get through phase one of the project and then hopefully uh we'll see continued and more growth in the future down there as well very exciting director uh councilwoman Jackson thank you Madame mayor I uh just want to thank habitat and the City uh for uh finally uh getting together in this collaboration and uh one that we hope will um be uh just the first of many uh affordable housing programs in 61605 uh we have had lots of uh people interested in purchasing homes people who are interested in staying in the uh central part of the city so uh I I'm just excited and I as I said before um we are uh happy to see this partnership move forward and as you already know director Duan we have uh numerous Parcels of land in and around that area that are just uh waiting uh for uh opportunities to build homes and put families in those areas uh finally so with that Madame mayor I would like to go ahead and make a motion to approve item a seconded by council member riggenbach additional uh comments council member Allan uh thank you madam mayor I just want to express my admiration to everyone involved in this collaborative process uh special kudos to my colleague from the first district council member Jackson I know that uh taking down McKinley and the old Harrison were a priority of yours when you're first elected so promises made Promises Kept uh so again thank you to everyone making this happen this is a game Cher and I'm proud to support it thank you welcome council member reinbach thank you Madame mayor um what what a great project and I and schmi all sitting quietly in the background but I think she deserves a big shout out for her leadership at habitat all these years the work they've done in the East Bluff neighborhood in the North Valley you you drive through there and and you just see the the impact that's having I noticed um director Duan you mentioned that the neighborhood wants to have some input on Design Elements well I can tell you habitat is always in tou touch with with those requests um director schmel and I had a big discussion one time about the the the pillars the posts on the front porches and we decided we like the chunky ones better you know so might not be exactly the architectural term you use but we knew what we meant and um I think it's amazing that you're going to have some workshops for for residents um to explain the qualifications and the steps that they need to apply for that because this is clearly um a lot of houses and coming in an area that that hasn't experienced this before so hats off um thank you habitat for your commitment and thank you Congressman um sainin and buos for their leadership and getting these funds to us very well said councilman uh why don't we have you stand up uh director lean let's get hand thank you we appreciate it I can't sit back there and not talk um thank you so very much but I want to tell you we have even more exciting news um we are going to be receiving some tax credits from a large donation we received and I didn't even understand the tax credits through the Illinois system but I do now but we have probably 700 to 900,000 extra dollars coming for this area and um so and I just want to thank everybody this city is always great to work with we appreciate everything we are so excited I mean we're hoping for a large a large development of affordable homes and um I'm sorry I interrupted but I had to tell you thank you and thank you for the acknowledgement it is a sometimes a lonely position um because we have little staff and a lot of work but this is a wonderful thing and the last thing I want to say is my father taught at McKinley School and all Ed for over three decades and I just figured it out tonight and he passed in 2020 and he would be so excited about the linkage that his daughter now is helping build on that school grounds where he taught for so many years so believe it um that was a God moment that's great thank you you're welcome Council council member Gordon Young thank you Madame mayor I uh Echo the sentiments of everyone but I definitely want to um commend the collaboration now uh I will say I have about eight bricks that my friends that grew up in the McKinley area asked me to get for them um because it definitely represents change and change is definitely needed when I think about having grown up on the south side of Pera or 61605 and and what it used to be and definitely the opportunity what it has to to become I'm excited and not only excited for the residents but excited to hear that there's going to be input you know um we're not just doing cookie cutter homes and you know you just pick one giving them an opportunity to have some input and not just affordable homes but Quality Homes and that's what all residents of Poria deserve so again thank you for your leadership thank you for moving things for forward in Poria thank you Madame mayor you're welcome okay with that said we have a motion on on the floor and a second please cash your ballots uh for item a motion passes unanimously councilwoman Jackson thank you Madame mayor I move to approve Item B seconded by council member riggenbach any questions or comments please cash your ballots motion passes unanimously thank you thank you director Duan Madam clerk 24- 348 is a communication from the city manager and chief of police with a request to approve the sou Source purchase of gray key forensic mobile device plus satellite unit with three Advanced licenses and Premier bundle with unlimited downloads in the amount of $ 36,27023 and this item requires a 2/3 vote of council members voting no less than six votes Mr manager uh thank you Madame mayor I'd like to turn the floor over to our chief good evening Madam mayor council city manager um what you have in front of you now is uh uh the purchase of a gray key forensic mobile device uh in very short terms basically this is not a a want for us this is more of a need we have two currently this one would be a third one which would be a mobile device that we can take offsite um but what we've seen is we our cases are are being uh developed and closed using Tech uh using the data that we are extracting off mobile devices such as cell phone and tablets uh last year we had over 350 of them that we've had to do and we have one detective basically two detectives to deal with this so we needed to get another one one that's mobile uh so these are basically we're taking the fingerprints uh digital fingerprints off of uh our technology cell phones and tablets and it's an essential item for us while we do investigations thank you Chief any questions uh for chief ET ET varia council member SE thank you Madame mayor move to approve seconded by council member Allan any questions comments please cast your ballots motion passes unanimously Chief I think you have another one oh okay sorry madam Clark 24- 349 is a communication from the city manager and chief of police with a request to approve a soul Source purchase of 2024 Chrysler Pacifica tour touring van from a no bid procurement Source in the amount of approximately $4,228 to exchange for a Ram Pro Master cargo van from the is department and this re this item requires a 2third vote of council members voting no less than six votes Chief yeah so our our technology lieutenant and officer need a van to carry equipment back and forth lights for squad cars computers etc uh our Chief Information officer Jesse mcken has that vehicle she needs a different vehicle where she can transport more people than equipment um and so we're going to do a trade with her and our department will be able to they'll still be able to have access to that van so very simply we need a vehicle to transport equipment understood council member sier thank you Madame mayor just a quick question Mr manager these two items uh just to make sure everybody understand where does the funding come from uh the funds are in the police dep Department budget for both cars thank you move to approve Madam mayor just just for one car one car has already been purchased so seconded by council member Kelly any questions comments please cash your ballots motion passes unanimously Madam Clark 24-35 is a communication from the city manager and Chief Information officer with a request to approve a soul Source contract with Heartland business systems for professional services to convert proprietary document types in one solution to a readable and searchable format in the amount of $4,850 and this item requires a two-thirds vote of council members voting no less than six votes Mr manager uh thank you we have our Chief Information officer Jessica mcken here to talk about this item uh and then the reason that we're here as well so um um a one solution is a software that we no longer use and we don't uh pay support cost on it so we're trying to extract all that data into a searchable format that we can maintain and keep secure so that's what this is and uh Harland Business Services has the capability to do that that we can't do internally questions for director mcken direct uh excuse me councilman Allan uh move for approval seconded by uh council member Gordon young any questions please cash your ballots motion passes unanimously thank you director Madam Clark 24- 351 is a communication from the city manager and chief of police with request for the following a accept the tobacco prevention and enforcement program Grant from the Department of Human Services in the amount of 17,34 and B adopt an ordinance amending the city of Poria 20 24 2025 banal budget relating to the general fund to recognize the receipt of grant funding from the Department of Human Services providing tobacco enforcement in the amount of $177,300 and Item B requires a two3 vote of council members voting no less than six votes and we need separate votes please okay other people's money it looks like Chief yes we're bringing some more Grant funds in front of you today uh we do approximately 300 checks of uh 100 tobacco license holders a year uh so we like to we educate and check the tobacco license holders um this pays for personnel or the product that's purchased confidential Source Etc um you'll be happy to know that out of 300 it's about a 95% that are in compliance so we get a few that sometimes are not so this is the funds to do that any questions for the chief can I get a motion to approve uh council member member Gordon young I move to approve I get a second seconded by council member vesa please cast your ballots this is item a motion passes unanimously council member Gordon young I move to approve Item B seconded by council member vesa please cast your ballots motion passes unanimously thank you Chief Madam clerk 24- 352 is a communication from the city manager and finance director com troller with a request to adopt an ordinance abating the tax here for levied to pay principal of an interest on General obligation corporate purpose bonds of the city of Poria Poria County Illinois 2015 series b c and d 2016 series C 2018 series a 2020 series A and B 20 2021 series A B and C 2022 series a and 2023 series a and the partial abatement of taxes levied to pay principal and interest on 2018 series B General obligation Bonds in the amount of $552,500 is Levy to pay principal and interest on 2019 General obligation Bonds in the amount of $500,000 and the partial abatement of taxes levied to pay principal and interest on 2022 series General obligation Bonds in the amount of $378,000 Mr manager thank you Madame mayor I'm going to turn the floor over to our finance director director crat director cratty thank you Mr manager uh the ordinance in front of you tonight is to oby the levies associated with the city's existing debt issuances minus $2 million so if you remember during the budget discussions uh the city puts aside $2 million for for Road improvements throughout the city um this abatement ordinance as you see abates Mo most of the levies and then portions of some of those levies to get us to that $2 million number um and with that I'm available if there's any questions associated with that questions can I get a motion to approve move by council member reinbach seconded by council member velpula please cast your ballots motion passes unanimously Madam clerk 24- 353 is a communication from the city manager and finance director controller with a request to adopt an ordinance leving the taxes for fiscal year 2025 for municipal purposes for the city of PE Illinois director Kat thank you Madame mayor um in front of you tonight is the levy ordinance that has been discussed with Council on October the 15th uh when we provide the levy estimate as well as the public hearing for the truth and Taxation that occurred on October the 29th um the levy in front of council tonight has sets the rate uh for the city taxes at 1.55 five uh that is a slight decrease from 1.55 51 year-over-year um for the overall Levy the overall Levy amount uh sits at 32 m299 15 um and with that I'm available if Council has any questions about the levy council member Allan uh thank you Madame mayor director CIT can you explain in layman terms to the public how can the tax levy decrease but yet the Allen household got a letter in the mail saying their mortgage is going up so when you these conversations come up when what we look at is the dollar amount of the tax extension is going up which is equal to the growth in assess value so what that can mean is your property may have gone up in value there may be other addition properties in the community that are seeing growth and so there is the possibility yes that if you saw value growth in your property your your tax bill may go up based off that growth value um but really that's what this Levy captures it really keeps what the council has looked at doing over the over history of maintaining that rate um but really making sure that we're capturing the increase in value in the community I'm still going to be on the couch but thank you for explaining that director KY thank you madam mayor you're welcome council member ranot thank you Madame mayor I think it you hit the nail of the head director when you said that our rate is staying steady and actually decreasing slightly I think it's also important that we just remind people that the city's portion of the property tax bill they get in the mail is just a little over 11% the bulk of it goes to schools to the airport Authority the Sanitary District Illinois as we all know has more levels of government than any state in the Union but it's really important that those the decisions we make around this horseshoe affect 11% of your property taxes and the property tax rate is staying the same if you're getting an increase that probably means your property value is going up which is also a good thing something we've been striving for so with that I move for the approval there a second seconded by council member Gordon young continued discussion council member Kelly uh thank you Madame mayor director caty um I I must say I'm a little confused um if we add together the city's uh rate and the count and the uh Library rate we come out to 1.55 and uh it's just and it's but down at impact if approved we're at um and the difference being uh1 1961 um I'm sure all these numbers are right but I don't I don't understand uh the difference between those two so there are two rates that we have that are are not necessarily a variable rate those those look at the debt issuances that we currently have for the library as well as the de issuances that we have for the city when the number you see at the bottom from a truth and Taxation standpoint from a standpoint of what our legal requirements were for filing notices and hearing notices it extracts those two pieces those two Levy amounts and that's where the 13590 amount comes into into the play here what we're seeing is um and we had this discussion with Council I think uh on the 29th is we have some of those debt levies going down we're maintaining the fact that the rate is staying stable or slightly lower and the additional dollars we're putting towards pension obligations so that's really where that difference is is it's the two amounts associated with the debt that we have as well as the library has thank you so it I I guess one of things we can say is that uh operations are are in both numbers uh the the thing that is not in both numbers is uh the U Debt Service we're not going to be obligated for for the coming year correct because if in essence if we don't Abate the levies they automatically get levied so those usually get taken out because it's not necessarily that we're doing something in the AFF ative when it comes to debt levies you're doing something in the negative to councilman to put it another way in the motion you just approved you approved the 19 cents for Debt Service payments that that's the 2 million that we talked about that is going to pay for roads plus the library debt now you're voting on the rest of the ly yes yes thank you thank you uh uh Mr manager director crty and thank you Madam mayor you're welcome council member sier thank you madam mayor thank you director cratty um one question is there's a what is the U I hope you can explain this what would be the relationship between Home Improvement and the eav so traditionally if you do Home Improvements you will see an increase in your assessed value it's not always necessarily going to be the case um I will admit I'm not the Township Assessor who's probably the better person to to answer that question in terms of the timing of that um the other times that you usually will see an increase in your assess value is it time of purchase so if you sell a property and and your market value on that property has gone up usually you're going to see an appreciation of your um of your assessed value equal to that market value increase so would it be a fair statement to say that as we try to help all our citizens in Peoria and all these grants that were talked about earlier tonight in 61605 example will these people see an increase in their real estate taxes by matching funds for improvement on their homes eventually in the process probably yes okay so that's why I was trying to have discussion a couple of weeks ago if you understand these numbers I was trying to get a freeze from my colleague on the on the levy and uh was it was defeated did but I will vote no on this uh motion tonight thank you you're welcome council member Allan uh thank you Madame mayor Mr manager and is there ever any discussion between all of the other taxing bodies about a forecast of collectively freezing their taxes tax levies at the same time or am I just being maybe a little too optimistic no there's not any discussion about that no I appreciate the transparency and I think that that's something and councilman riggenbach explained it well about all of the different taxing bodies that um that are Levering tax levies and and I think that if we had more of a a cohesive discussion around that then maybe collaboratively we could talk about what does a a community tax levy freeze look like so that way one tax embody isn't freezing theirs but impacting how they provide core Services because they're the only tax leing body that is freezing theirs versus the others so again maybe that's just me being too optimistic or something we can look into the future but I would love for us to at least have that conversation that we look at collectively maybe freezing our tax levy to provide some uh Collective uh relief to our citizens thank you Madame mayor you're welcome we have a motion and a second on the floor uh to approve item 24353 please cash your ballots motion passes with three Nays velpula Kelly Seer Madam clerk 24- 354 is a communication from the city manager and finance director com controller with a request to approve a resolution adopting the 2025 revised budget for the city of Poria and this item requires a majority vote of the council members voting but no less than six votes director crat thank you Madame mayor uh this is the culmination of the process that started on October the 8th when we put the budget on the table for council's consideration um throughout that process Council made three motions that that amended um the budget as presented uh the net effect from that presentation it was actually a decrease of $76,000 in expenditures so in your packet is the resolution um for the approval of the budget that's been laid out um just kind of for the record the budget has budgeted revenues of 275,000 uh$ 275 mil1 15,34 it has re expenditures of $288 m762 18 that has a net use of fund balance a little bit over 13 million uh those uses are primarily for uh the general fund for police and fire pension obligations it's for storm water use or storm water fees or storm water fund balance use uh for capital projects as well as operations as well as some of our capital projects um and with that I'm available if Council has any questions council member Rach I would move for the approval as outlined okay seconded by council member Val Pula questions comments uh council member SE thank you madam mayor uh director cratty just a couple question uh can you um for the sake of understanding the budget that we're doing right now our budget are always by annual budget right where we do a budget for two years but explain to us the different because uh for some from because of some of the questions I received seems to me like some of my colleague and some of the people out there don't understand why we doing revision on an annual basis can you explain that for everybody please absolutely every two years the city of PE goes through a banal budget process um that process lays out the spending the anticipated spending plan for the next two years um but the reality is from a legal standpoint in the state of Illinois uh we cannot pass a two-year budget um so we do the second year is a revise obviously taking into consideration um any factors that may have changed anything any new Grant dollars new capital projects but really we have to do this revised budget within this format because we have to have the legal author Authority for the appropriation of those funds on an annual basis thank you very much for the explanation second question or comment um every year there's a i and I've made the case before we have amendments like we did tonight uh and I ask you to research this a little bit this afternoon thank you very much for doing it can you tell us a little bit of how many amendments we had this year so we had we so far to date have had 21 budget 21 so which mean this budget that we're doing to me reminds me of a financial financial plan that is only as good as that they would deliver the budget it would be would that be a good statement to make about the budget also sir I would say yes is I in multiple places in my career I I've had requests to amend the budget on January 2nd it just things come up that you didn't necessarily anticipate when you're going through that process so this year we almost average like two changes per month so it is a flexible document I just want to make sure people understand that depend on the number of Grants we receive and all that so we're going to vote for a budget pretty soon but it's not it's not really what I would call the final budget because we will have hopefully a lot of grant money coming in next year also and we'll have we'll be called to do a lot of amendments to our budget and so it's very flexible document so I just want to make sure my colleagues and the public out there understand uh the process with this budget thank you very much for it was great explanation tonight Madame mayor thank you you're welcome good questions good good points thank you uh councilman Seer councilman Allan uh thank you Madame mayor um a couple things I just wanted to provide some clarity uh if you can help me hear director cratty or Mr manager um when it comes to us holding our truth and Taxation hearing can you speak to how we are required to hold that that triggers when you have an extension your Levy your Levy extension increases more than 5% on your operations as we laid out during that conversation the increase is around 7 .8% um so that was triggered by really the increase in that Levy the other public hearing that we do have on an annual basis as part of this process is we do have a public hearing on the budget um really to give the community an opportunity to provide any input they may have to the council um on the budget and what was in the budget or any requests that they may have and so the truth and Taxation hearing was already on the schedule correct correct so I just wanted to put that out there because um I received some inquiries regarding our recent acquirement of the PNC building and those two were separate the truth and Taxation was already set the PNC purchase was completely a separate purchase out of our general fund and so I just wanted to put that out there that the two had no correlation with each other just for that could be out there on the public and and I would say the other major distinction is that PNC building going back to councilman se's point that was a budget amendment that the Council made as part of this FIS school year it did not necess it did not have an impact um in terms of what the budget and the levy laid forward to council for 25 was now thank you for providing that and I know it can be uh somewhat confusing so I'm glad that we were able to to clear that up uh thank you for your work thank you to all the department heads and my colleagues around the Horseshoe of helping us get to this point in the budget and I look forward to supporting it this evening thank you you're welcome council member Kelly thank you Madame mayor uh director cratty and and Mr manager um I I have some problems with the budget I have problems with the budget every year and uh I I guess everybody probably has a problem here and there with the budget but I would once again like to say that the budget book that we are with which we're provided um is is in in my opinion uh superb it's very easy to get into that budget book and find out where we're going and I don't know about where we're going but find out where we are and uh where we think we're going um and I I I would I would just like to compliment you uh again this wasn't always the case um director crat when you showed up uh I must say things got much clearer coming out of your department and uh uh and so I I I really want to compliment you and uh uh I that that's about it but it it it is a it isn't it's not easy but it's clear to follow that budget book my my uh my congratulations thank you Madame mayor you're welcome seeing no more comments or questions please cast your ballots motion passes unanimously thank you director crat city manager thank you madam clerk 24- 355 is a communication from the city manager and finance director com troller with a request to receive and file the month ended September 30th 2024 un audited financial report director cratty I promise this is a last time tonight um we just talked about looking for we're going to look retrospectively here where we are through the month of the end of September of this year uh just a couple uh key highlights uh General revenues are down about 3.3% over budget um we also have expenditures down about 3% in the general fund so um I think I think really the key takeaway for Council within this report is this is still in line with the projections we just laid out in the budget that was approved by Council um so we still are on Pace to to be right around budget this year by when the year when we reach the year end um and with that I'm available if there's any questions on the month end financial report any questions get a motion mooved by council member sear to approve seconded by council member Allen please cash your ballots motion passes to receive and file Madam clerk we are at presentations 24- 356 is a communication from the city manager and director of public works with a request to receive and file a presentation on snow removal operations Mr manager do you have to talk about snow um yes it's that time of year again we have to talk about snow and with this we have our our Public Works director Rick Powers who's here to give you a quick presentation director Powers well first of all thank you for passing a budget we contained therein are significant enhancements to our ability in public works to do our job that changed if you read my narrative you'll see that um so thank you and it's a hard act to follow but I'm not going to talk about mowing I'm going to talk about snowing so even though we're still mowing the grass it is going to snow uh where I grew up they got 40 in is here recently in Colorado so glad I'm not there but I know about snow my job before I came here was at tip of Lake Michigan in 13 counties I know about snow the chief snow fighter in charge is in Arizona relaxing no he's actually had a conference Sim R our deputy director so I'll be filling in for him because he loves doing this as you know he is very good at what he does the department is very good at what they do and the Operations Division is phenomenal in fact they won the last St white snow rodeo and had the top plower he's no longer with us uh he he went off to greener pastures for himself and the best of luck to him but he was again he actually won it all so just rest assured you're in good hands in winter weather with the Department of Public Works they uh take it very seriously we take it very seriously and simaron is there's none better and I wish he was here quite frankly to do this because I know he enjoys it but he also is probably enjoying Arizona so with that I got to pull a clicker out I forgot it was in my pocket and proceed to go through this I'll move quickly because we've been here a while so basically throughout the city of Poria you have 21 snow routes each of those routes is approximately about five miles long you have four designated Hill routes which includes about 18 roads that go downhill or in the bluff area toward the river uh tandem plow routes are Road roads where you see four lanes Andor we have two plows plowing in tandem we go into 24hour operations or when we have two or more inches of snow and A and B shift and we go until we have the roads cleared this is how we go about or the priorities clearing see I'm moving fast man look at this look at me go he gave me 10 minutes just so everybody knows there's an over under on this this is our priorities or how we go about moving our primary routes some main routes rep people are using to go to work daily a high arterial routes where there schools hospitals those areas those will be our priorities the secondary routes are the residential areas the lane miles you excuse me the mileage you see are actually Center Line miles so which is I don't know why we always use Center Line because you should really divide that by two A Center Line meaning the center of a road there are two lanes so double that that's what we are actually plowing in the city so when you see the primary routes are going we the priority will be those primary routes where you see people commuting getting back and forth around hospitals and so on after those routes are cleared we go into the residential areas or your neighborhoods and begin clearing those streets what happens during snow events when you have two or more inches of snow in residential areas you pack it and that's when we start getting the complaints because we're on the arterials clearing snow and you're driving out of your neighborhoods onto the arterials and when you get there by the time we get into the the neighborhoods the snow is packed on the residential streets so invariably we end up treating more than plowing when we get to the residential areas meaning we put down salt but that is our priority again we do not have a bare payment policy which is nearly impossible in the midwest anyway we make the roads drivable and as safe as possible that is the idea we always want the driver to be the most important person involved in snow fighting when you're behind the wheel you're responsible for the vehicle and the people around you we do our best when you get beyond that and I just have to mention it because it's not in here when you hear ice I'm just going to say it because I have to say it because it happens at least once a year in the Midwest and I've been around it too much the best thing you can do in an ice storm is stay off the ice that includes us if you've ever seen a fully loaded snow plow I mean with salt on ice it does the same thing you do it slides off the road it's dangerous for us it's dangerous for you so when you hear ice stay home call the boss call the school call whoever and say no can't do it just don't do it it's just not safe let us go out there take our time work through it and get chemicals on it and let the sun do its job ice is dangerous stay off of it that's the best advice probably I could give you tonight that is our priority slide for what we are doing again it is a public safety operation our goal is to maintain safe travel and that's what we want to do this is our timing so when we get between 2 and 6 Ines we try to clear the roads within 24 hours when we exceed 6 in we try to get them cleared within 36 hours the neighborhoods or the residential streets we go on to an ABC sub route and this that map you just saw is all of those routes this route explains them and how operations runs through those routes so that no one gets any preferential treatment in any specific area a lot of people may believe they do they do not so what you have is a breakdown of the city where I showed you all 21 routes there are sub routes that are ABC we start a season by going to area a which would be marked a within a driver's book they would clear area a then move to B then to C the next storm so that we don't have any preference of treatment we would start with b then C then a then the next storm C then a then B and then just continue to rotate throughout the winter in that fashion so that no one gets any preferential treatment on residential street clearing that's how it works I promise you no one is getting preferential treatment how does this work for you when you see these sides you see them you're around but when it snows these are no parking signs stay off of the roads and don't park in these areas when you have two or more inches of snow in a type one event that means we have two or more inches and you're on a PR primary snow route when you see these signs do not park there because we're trying to plow meaning we're going to plow around your car we're going to plow snow up against your car or you could even be sighted depending on where the car is parked or what kind of sever what I guess we're trying to do or accomplish if it's blocking something if we have a snow emergency which we had a few years ago which is Citywide the city manager mayor someone in myself I think even is in that group can declare a Citywide snow emergency say we have a storm of significant amounts where we we busted out and we're like Trucking snow out of downtown which we have done when that happens and we declare that emergency we can actually tow your vehicle an emergency so because again it is an emergency we need to get the routes open we are just going to move your vehicle take it that's what we will do and we will impound it and then we'll let you know where it's at or we just have to contact us and that's how it goes but that does not happen that often it hasn't happened well it's happened once since I've been here one snow emergency in five years that we've declared so not bad we've had some pretty mild Winters I hope it stays that way all right getting there am I under 10 I hope I think he's got a stopwatch on me so this is how you get a hold of us when you need help and you're in any type of snow event if you want to report anything or any anomaly around your area or a street or there's something or you think we've missed a route whatever the case might be any type of assistance you need these are your ways to contact us Citywide so we have our communication group we'll be sending out things in advance letting you know what we plan will be you'll see us on the news you see you'll see Sai on the news you'll see our communication director Nick you may even see Stacy if it's a emergency because again these can rise to some pretty bad events so that being said you will see us talking proactively you'll see us in a reactive mode by contacting us via Facebook or on Facebook the Citywide web page Peoria cares which by the way Peoria cares I want you to use all the time because believe it or not that's a metric tool for us because you get a number when you call Peoria cares and that holds us accountable some people don't realize that but you actually will get better service from public works if you call peia cares because there's a timeline from when you call to us getting a service request to include you as counselors just my preference because again we build metrics from that but that's also very key in the winter time so we can also use Billboards primarily in that area when we have emergencies or something along those lines we do have agreements that we can use Billboards then finally we open our snow Operation Center for snow fighting and those are the contact numbers where you can get a hold of us if you need to call us directly again if it is someone who needs help we are trying to help the police fire remember that getting to areas they need to they don't have plows on the front of their vehicles and they need us first to sometimes plow into areas where they they need to go depending on the amount of snow that's going there or or that's going on during that event I was moving so fast that I actually finished look at that under I think like eight minutes we are going to do what we always do we appreciate your support and again thank you for C passing the budget the department is doing well um we are ready the vehicles are ready our people are ready and we appreciate the council's support and I'll bet sa maron's watching so high sigh because he can't help himself thank you very much councelor I'll stand by for any questions you may have thank you for the presentation director Powers let me ask this the plan looks very similar to last year are there any changes uh from last year's plan to this year's plan I'm sorry Mar I didn't mean to interrupt it is identical to last year um I will say this um with this year's budget if you read the presentation my narrative we converted the temporary employees that we normally would hire for winter only and then let and would let them go at the end of winter those are all now full-time equivalents so it looks like our headcount grew so with that year round service and what we believe we' be able to do we are contemplating adding snow routes that's great and then do you have new equipment this year that you didn't have last year we are getting some some of our plows plows again are a very expensive piece of equipment we have about 30 now 29 I believe plows and I believe eight smaller what we call work trucks again we have 21 routes that we are you know basically we have equipment for 30 and again we'd have to keep all 30 going so again if we increase the routes there comes a point where the compl of the fleet would have to increase as well that's where it becomes an expensive proposition a snowplow is a very expensive piece of equip but we do we do have equipment we are replacing that I believe we have two in the CIP this year two or three I'd have to go get my budget book to look but I believe there are two so we are replacing our Fleet we're doing well we are being good stewards at a taxpayers dollars and we know you trust us and we truly appreciate it so thank you mayor for asking that question yes and my last question is do you expect a snower winter this year if if I could do that I wouldn't I I think I'd just retire if I could predict snow because I'd call everybody and say give me money for telling you it's going to snow we have had since I've been here unbelievably mild Winns for the Midwest in my opinion and except one year we had an ice storm that was really an anomaly um and it snowed on top of that ice and you probably remember about three years ago and that event was probably the most prominent event that I recall being here in five years it has been easy for us um now keep in mind I came from the tip of Lake Michigan in 13 County it's snowing there now I used to go to like a support group and saying it's snowing in laort because it's just snowing all the time it snowed I think two or three times just lake effect so compared to those areas it has been very very very easy on us I uh I can't say mid the Midwest is an unpredictable place when it comes to snow okay all right but thanks for putting me on the spot mayor thank you madam mayor uh thank you director Powers uh every year I ask the same two questions um and I will ask him again this year you talk about the clock 24 hours 36 hours can you tell all our constituent when does the clock starts when the snow stops okay it's very important can you say that again please when the snow start when the snow event stops the clock starts that's a very good question CER thank you thank you I appreciate that I like it when I when I ask your question second question about tell us about the upgrades on the technology I ask that question every year do we have GPS on the trucks do we have ways to contact our drivers and say Hey you missed a route or you missed something or where are we we get a lot of phone calls when's my road going to be cleared I mean I know in the past we did not have the technology on the trucks do we have it now we do not but we are SC we actually have scored the RFP for our asset management system um which is going to be a very comprehensive asset management system and that does have some routing capabilities well we would hope we're going to be having four vendors coming to do presentations for us part of that is an operational or operation side or a work order side of what we could do that could incorporate that today we do not have GPS in our plows do we know how how expensive that is we no we will after we see these presentations now I've been involved again it telematics um I'll try not to belor this too much is something that I don't know that from the city perspective we need to go that deep into to the point of you can get real deep with plows and say when the blade is up when it's down how much salt we're putting out in a city the size of purri I don't know that we need to get that deep we could buy GoPros and put them on the dash and feed the feed to the web and that would probably satisfy most people in Poria just to see hey look the truck is on this road at this time that's what we're looking for it's something that just speaks to the public as far as getting a driver to a route that's missed the second part of your question question that's simply contacting us letting us know that you believe the route's been missed and we communicate with the driver and you to let you know where we are in the fight thank you sir thank you madam mayor you're welcome you want to make a motion to receive and file move to receive and file seconded by council member Allen any additional discussion please cast your ballots motion passes unanimously thank you D director pow thank you ma'am Madam clerk we're at unfinished business 24- 281 is a communication from the city manager and director of Community Development with a request to concur with recommendation from the Planning and Zoning commission and staff for the following a approve a resolution approving an annexation agreement for property located at 9910 North Orange Prairie Road and North Illinois Route 91 and that I this item requires a 2/3 vote of corporate authorities eight votes Item B adopt an ordinance annexing property located at North Illinois Route 91 item C adopt an ordinance resoning property to a class C1 General commercial District located at North Illinois Route 91 and excuse me and resoning property from a class R3 single family residential district to a class C1 General commercial District District located at 9910 North Orange Prairie Road an item D adopt an ordinance approving a special use in a class C1 General commercial district for outdoor recreation for property located at North Illinois Route 91 and for the property located at 9910 North Orange Prairie Road and we need separate votes on each please and also on your desks there are handouts um from the the Community Development Center in yellow and there is a map from council member Allen as well thank you thank you madam clerk um Mr manager thank you Madame mayor I I may want to let councilman Allen talk about this at this point in time since it's been deferred and we turn it over to the councilman if that's okay council member Allan uh thank you madam mayor uh definitely appreciate everyone's patience as we have deferred this item um to work with the stakeholders that are involved both the developers and the residents in the area uh we had some productive uh stakeholder meetings uh too in fact here at City Hall appreciate everyone who attended those appreciate everyone uh for their respectful uh comments and um you know suggestions and feedback and and that's kind of how we got to where we are today um assistant director Allison I appreciate your effort in this it seems like you and I have been talking every other day on this matter but this is a very important matter can you uh begin with an overview of how we have arrived to this point point including a reflection of how this project was previously approved um it special permit did expire now they're back again and then the differences maybe between the original project and the current project that's in front of us sure uh thank you Madame mayor council members um I'll start with the the history in 2017 Mr Mark Larsson petitioned successfully to Annex 9 acres of land rezone about 5 Acres of that land to commercial the four acres remaining remained as residential and then also obtained a special use for an outdoor recreation uh Amusement development so that was in 2017 uh choices uh by Mr Mark LaRon for whatever reason that development was not constructed a special use has has to be established within two years of approval so by 2019 the property remains annexed but the special use approval expired okay so fast forward to about a month ago before you was The Proposal again from uh Mr Mark Larsson petitioning to Annex an additional 4 and2 acres to be incorporated with the original 9 Acres so now we have a total development project of about 13 a 12 acres uh an annexation agreement is a part of this that would approve uh uh Encompass the 13 and a half acres resoning all of it to C1 General commercial and then the fourth component is is that request for a special use for this for the outdoor recreation so same proposal a little bit more land same site so to speak a little bit different footprint um speaking to the differences in 2017 the amusement development included uh gokart track uh mini golf batting cages some other um similar uses today the development includes go-karts uh mini golf no batting cages the um the development allows for a track one and the option for a track two all just for go-karts uh in as as councilman Allen mentioned some great conversations have happened in the last 30 days with neighbors to really understand the concerns um address the concerns as much as possible when we met uh with the developer and the neighbors the primary concerns were noise and lighting and just how the development will impact the neighbor the neighborhood of this area um the result which is is part of the reason for the yellow paper that you have um with some revisions to the annexation agreement that also coincide with um same revisions with the special use conditions the go-kart facility originally was just your traditional go-kart then now the revision is proposed that the go-karts will be entirely electric electric only go-karts allowed on the site the other uh revision is that no more than 12 go-karts May operate on each track at a given time so there is the potential for two tracks track one and then potential expansion for track two both tracks are limited to 12 go-karts electric only operating at any given time okay um lighting the uh agreement annexation agreement and the special use both have a provision that limit the height of the light poles to no more than 30 ft there's also provision uh in the special use ordinance that says the operations must cease by 10 p.m.

aside from security lighting the rest of the liting lighting for this facility must be shut off within an hour after closing and that's allowing you know the persons to clean up close the facility lights will shut down some security lighting is is in consideration to remain um I think that's about all I wanted to outline as far as changes do you have any questions that I can answer for you great synopsis I I truly appreciate that um I'm sure we will have some questions for you so I wouldn't move too far but mayor if it's okay would I can I give the privilege of the flo to some constituents in the yes so there were five individuals right yes ma'am so I would ask uh with no objections that there comments be limited to about three minutes okay so uh at this time I'm going to call uh each individual up and then you'll have three minutes to address the the council tonight I would like to begin with Nate Miller I have to cut my remarks down if we only have three minutes here but Nathan Miller is my name our daughter uh and her husband who were here and their family live on Route 91 about two t0 of a mile from this project uh I'm here on their behalf not really as an attorney but as a father and I I've first was going to be up here expressing opposition a strong opposition to this whole project but I've changed my tune a little bit and I commend the Larson uh councilman Allen mayor Ali and Leah Allison for working with us on this uh project and trying to listen through and uh get the parties together to try and reach some kind of an agreement the uh councilman Allen had arranged several meetings of the neighbors and the lson and the the Larson have agreed to some concessions to address some of the concerns that the neighbors have with respect to this project and mayor Ali and and Leah Allison have participated and their input has been appreciated throughout this whole process but having said that I can't sit here and say that we fully support the project yes there have been some concessions the electric go-karts were a big concession and we certainly appreciate that but we still have a number of concerns and and if we had our in a perfect world we wouldn't have the go-karts at all we wouldn't have the miniature golf course we wouldn't have this project in this area because of the effect that it has on the nearby Neighbors in your packets and I hope you've all seen that we have outlined what we feel are potential issues with traffic safety security land values lighting and future development in that area both commercial and residential development in that area next to a go-kart track and a um uh miniature golf course so I'm not going to rehash all of those but there's a couple things that I do want to just point out one Leah Allison was talking about the history of this recognized when it was approved 7 years ago it was onethird the size of this project that's now being proposed so it's not just the same project that's being brought up and and uh uh trying to be approved this time the lighting one of the concerns we had with lighting they've limited the height to no more than 30 but we would also like some kind of restriction that the that the lighting be down lighting and targeted lighting rather than lighting that's going to be spreading out and affecting these uh Neighbors on surrounding and adjoining properties another item is uh the annexation agreement and the special use talks about section 1568 of of the city code and debb of uh what 85 debes at F at 50 ft if you look at that section of the code it's really dealing with Motor Vehicles so I don't know how applicable it is here but if it's being Incorporated in here the way it's written in the annexation agreement it says 50 ft from the property line that the the the decibel level has to be down to 85 ft we feel that that ordinance the way it's written applies to ft from the source of the sound which would be the go-karts or music or other activities that are being performed uh at this at this project so I think there needs to be an adjustment to the language to make that agreement consistent with the city's ordinance here it's it's really a sourc driven ordinance rather than a property line so again trying to be brief here I I I just I urge you to consider all of the concerns that have been raised in the objection that I submitted and others have submitted uh in in opposition to this project but it's your decision obviously and if you decide that it's still something that that can pass with these additional restrictions and concern uh items that I've mentioned here tonight and I think Others May mention also uh I actually I wish the larsson's best of luck and and hope the project is a success if they are allowed to go one last thank quickly because you're over five minutes I know you're an attorney I know one one last one last item if there could be a show of hands of people here that are objecting to the project if you could raise your hands so we've got a number of them and and in again in your packet you saw numerous signatures from people that were in opposing the project too thank you for your consideration you're welcome thank you Mr Miller uh next up uh Dan hich thank you uh my name is Dan hele live on Route 91 and we are about a quarter a mile from this development and so I too just thank councilman Allen and mayor Ali and and director Allison for all their support and the Larson we had some hard conversations we had some good conversations it was a very collaborative effort and so I say thank you for that I have two concerns um that I just like to address and Nate touched on a little bit of Safety and Security being one of those concerns we all know we live in a time and place where unfortunately youth oriented events and places of business have come under attack have had violence breakouts Landmark round one those typee of places we've seen where there has been issues with when youth are gathered all we're asking for is a security safety C crowd control type plan Mr Larson asked me why would I be concerned I'm I'm a quarter a mile away from this do I really think that youth that teenagers are going to March through a a um farm field and do something to our property I took that very personally our teenage daughter was at Northwoods Mall the night that first big Riot happened with round one when it spilled out the mall and the police were called in to take control she and her girlfriend and the mother that was with them were escorted to the back of the store they were in and they were locked into the back room of that store she had no cell phone coverage she couldn't call us she was you know she's about 14 at the time so she was very scared I say that to Mr lson because Northwoods Merchants had a plan at least they had a protocol they knew if there was an incident what to do if there was a riot or a active shooter they had a plan what how to protect their staff and to protect their their um guests that were there we have not seen a plan of how they're going to control crowds and that's part of what we're asking for because Safety and Security is important to us we just had a young man shot half a mile from our home our home looks at the apartments where that young man lost his life what last week or so when teenagers were breaking in their cars and he went out to see what was going on and he got shot so yes that is a concern to us second concern is just the fluidity of this project it started off with 10 to 12 go-karts and then a small track that was going to house three to five-year-old type go- carts pry small Gokarts that was at the first meeting we asked them to look at the electric they did look at electric vehicles they came back at the second meeting and it was going to be 10 go-karts and the small go-kart track but no electric vehicles they said it wasn't feasible from a cost perspective from recharging perspective and they couldn't get wet if it started to rain there's a high probability the carts would be ruined so that was just two weeks ago that there was those were out councilman Allen sent us a email Friday night that they had changed their mind and they found a supplier and they're going to go to electric go-karts this afternoon we got one that says they're going to have two tracks now with 24 electric go-karts we're trusting the Larson that these Gokarts will be like electric vehicles they'll be very quiet kind of creepy when they come up on you right you don't even hear them that's what we're hoping but we don't have a guarantee so all we're asking is with this special use you put in some tight restrictions that protect protect our properties our families that are out here councilman rickenbach I agree with you we all want our property values to go up we as homeowners do you as the city do that drives greater Revenue we all fear that our property values will go down with us I ask you to to search your own self would you want to live next to Big Dog Speedway a racetrack a go-kart track would you want to be a quarter mile or Zimmerman or even less than that would you want that in your neighborhood and what would that do to your property values we all believe it will go down we believe this will impede development in this area because not too many medical officers are going to want to build next to a a RAC trck a go-kart track and so we're just asking you to put everything you can into the special um the special use and restrict to make sure this is a quality development and is run in a quality way thank you thank you Dan Uh Kevin Hearn Madam mayor and the council um I'm the closest homeowner to this facility uh that we're talking about tonight and I certainly don't see the why the resistance for this type of facility of course it's another venture another place for children to have fun and uh you know get together I'm confident that there be security and everything there um I'm a landscaping contractor for the city of Poria and I mow Orange Prairie I'm very familiar with all the businesses there and especially on the weekend the Louisville Slugger there's thousands of people coming in there there's cheering there's games going on um you know I mow those medians um on Orange Prairie Charter Oak and several others um I just don't see how this facility is going to create so much noise um I'm a landscaper I have a brush chipper I have 10 zero turn mowers that I use to take care of City facilities right next to this I have skid steers on my property so I don't see how electric goat carts and I'm sure all of you have heard a brush chipper before um I do maintenance on it I start it and use it to help take care of City facilities thank things that s maroon uh gives me instruction to do um so as I'm listening here I'm not understanding that road has several businesses including mine and I'm the closest to it um again you know when I'm mowing especially and I'm not picking on Louisville suer I'm perfectly fine with that uh young people playing baseball softball whatever it is they do but a lot of times I have to pause because of the traffic that's going through there I mean a lot of traffic now of course we've got the high ve and all that right there um but I'm to the north uh where this facility would be basically in my backyard several hundred feet um and of course I'm okay with it um it's not going to disturb me and my wife our children are grown and married and have their own homes and uh I'm gone during the day uh with my men that work with me to make a living but um as far as noise um you know I'm I'm making quite a bit of noise so that's any questions or thank you okay Diane Larson hello greetings to Madame mayor and the councilman um I'm just going to go over what we is our journey here um and then Mark's going to answer some questions so um we're looking to build a place that would be safe and enjoyable for our community and Poria to come together um we will offer a place that um for the togetherness is ice cream uh we want to do light food uh birthday parties and of course putt putt and go-karts um we are planning on one track and we have uh said that we will do the one track will be 12 cards I did put a second track in there I did not uh specify what it would be we thought we would leave it for years to come or if we're doing really well no we did not say we are going to put another 12 on that that was again words that were just kind of I think because we've opened it up I personally saw a little kids cart and I've said that in the past meeting um but I don't want to be held to that because it is looking at in the future our community place was was designed by Farnsworth um architecture they worked with us all along uh we did have this years ago in place and covid hit unfortunately and it set us back um with that we also had some other things that went on personally and we thought we should wait until we could get it and then we did uh acquire a little bit of land andark we'll go through that as well um our community place will be com um compromised a beautiful places to sit I want PODS of where p families can come together our kids can come together uh the one thing that I've always envisioned we have five children with us and we always see them they're always on their phones we want to go back to what the community is the community is Dunlap kids coming down and spending the day you know sitting in a pot and having conversations our idea is that grandparents are going to come and uh for ice cream and sit and have a community they're going to see their neighbors there they're going to come together as a community and that is our been our Vision all along we look at to be a safe place and yes to join together are we going to have to figure this out as we go 100% I'm reing and I'm up for the challenge and I so appreciate a lot of the meeting they come to us and they were like did you think of this you know what I'm going to listen and I'm going to learn and we are thinking about all these different things that we are going to have to see with the safety and of our community but I personally believe that if we can get our kids engaging and talking and and speaking together again we're going to start having a community that we can trust as well we are going to have problems but let us figure that out as we go um we are looking to give Poria just another needed place for Community to come together and and to spend that quality time together and I hope that you appreciate what we're trying to bring to Poria here's um first of all I have the utmost respect for all the neighbors I get it I mean you know the two things that we get scared of is change and the unknown and we're kind of throwing both at them um the first thing is the blueprint that we got approved four years ago is identical to what our plans are and our blueprint now the only change was we had to have access off of nor um orange Prairie that had a a opening in the boulevard so we had to buy land to the north that had an opening in the Boulevard and at that time when we asked to get um that part of it um annexed into the city the city recommended us to Annex more land now we did want a little bit more to the east because of we felt our PT PT was too crowded so we did ask were a little bit um to the east but for the most part the the city recommended us to Annex more land into the city um this the the um with the map that you have in front of you every single neighbor is anywhere from a quarter to a half mile now there's some neighbors here that are further than a half mile and we did not include them and and like I said there's only one neighbor like 537 ft away that is closer than a quarter mile away and that's Kevin and he's for the project um the going back um you know four years ago when we got it approved it was gas Gokarts and at the when we talked to the The Neighbors at that time I did not think uh you know I talked to two electric go-kart um companies and they recommended that electric go-karts is not feasible to to the outside well after the second meeting I talked to a third company out of Florida and I we think we can get the electric go-karts to work so therefore far as noise there you know there is none I mean it's a quarter mile away the close house um and and here again the the the lights there're no um higher than 30 ft they're 25 ft with a 3-ft pedestal um so the lighting is nothing and I understand that you know they had to deal with a Big Shots Golf that would have had the 50ft lights and would have had major you know uh uh problems with the neighbors and and this and that but with with us having 25t lights with a three-foot pedestal you're not going to be affected a quarter mile away um yeah and our our hours of operation will be um probably April 1st to November 1st November 15th I mean it's going to be nine months out of the year um we'll be open and this goes coincides with the the school but when school is closed will be open from probably 11: to 10:00 when school is open will probably be you know 4 to 10 and probably 11 to 10 on the weekends um oh and and far as the the the sound DB um like I said um the electric go-karts are running about 40 to 60 DB um which at 50 decimal that's what your refrigerator runs at so there's not going to be any sound I mean especially a quarter mile away I mean you know and I and that's where I just have to stress that these neighbors are not on top of us or we're not on top of them it's a quarter to a half mile away on every single neighbor except Kevin and he's 500 and some feet away any questions and definitely speak up and Ty's gonna be my interpretator I I would like to ask a question to um Mrs Larson because I I heard this statement tonight and then I heard it at one of our earlier meetings you said that this would be a place for Dunlap kids to come Poria children yes okay so I just heard the Dum laugh kids but I just want yeah the the reason I point that out is Because unless it's a private club you know with membership if it's open to the public it it will be Peoria kids it'll be Poria kids it be kids from out of town and and so it won't you know it won't be restricted to it's not restricted it's just that I happened to my kids grew up and done laap so I say the word done LA but I did change tonight and said peia I did realize that I did say and it is open to everybody we're excited we're we're hoping even uh Sluggers kids can come down in between you know the families that are from out of town they're going to come down and maybe sit in a pod and just come together to talk that's what we're looking for it's all children all people so okay can you speak to the security concern that has been expressed by the neighbors the residents the home owners totally understand the Security's uh concern I have been um trying to figure out like how the different but I think until I'm sitting in that spot I'm not going to understand all the different things that are going to come out of it but they did bring up some good things I've been talking to some teachers one of the things that I would love to do and maybe it's a little naive of me but I would love to and I and I've been looking down this road is hiring some of our retired people that are in our community or our teachers in the summertime you know they have the experience that's been our goal all along and I think I mentioned that at the last meeting um I did talk to a uh a policeman that is in town that I am I know and he said that you know there's a lot of retired policemen that would probably come over and do that if we had to I'm personally hoping and maybe it's my opst you know that maybe we're not going to have to go down that road and maybe that we can just start it off very heavily saying that these are our roles you know I these are our roles I I run 83 people now in my business and I have very strict rules maybe I can keep that if I can't then I'm going to learn as I go and I'm I'm going to take on and ask everybody what I can do for help and and reach out and we're going to make it work yeah I do have a question for you guys is there a crime problem at Louisville Sluggers at all what was that question again is is there and actually that's a great question is is has there been and we would not know this as much as all of you is is has there been a problem at uh Louisville Sluggers with with crime you know I'm hoping that maybe we can run the same establishment maybe we can set those ground rules right off at the beginning and say this is the way we're going to run this place and if you don't like it you're not going to come to our place establishment Mr manager can you speak to the crime question I don't have any of the data for Louisville Slugger but with you know just a quick glance back at the chief I I you know we're not seeing much in in terms of of criminal activity at Louisville Slugger at all it's a little bit different operation though in terms of the public being able to just come in and play baseball or soccer or whatever their offerings are councilwoman Gordon young thank you Madame mayor you touched on it um regarding security but before I ask my question I want to commend all of you for being this invested um in terms of your concerns and then just their Larson's trying to provide an opportunity for families to have one additional thing to do um I am concerned about the security aspect only from the perspective of um when you're talking about this type of operation it would seem to me that you would want to have Security in place anyway um and not retirees per se you want to have qualified um police Personnel that you could hire um or a security company that could come in and man the place or woman the place if you will um so that's something I think is important to consider and then with Louisville Slugger I'm glad that um Mr Hearn brought that up because it is something to think about um what is the but there is a difference what is the difference are we questioning the type of people that your facility major raw and I ask that because with Louisville Slugger you have athletes you know you know baseball and softball is a big deal and people travel you know and and they're there for a specific reason versus an entertainment center which that you're proposing which would I think would be different and so I do understand the concerns of the residents but I also believe that based on the proximity that you H you do have some things in place that would hopefully um curtail some of their concerns but I do have to say I think that the security piece that that has to be in place and I and I hear you and I I I respect that I think that I think right off the bat if there's a problem this is my business you know I'm going to look at it and go oh my gosh I have a serious issue going on of course I'm not going to just let it I think that's the part that I'm a little bit confused about is of it's a business that we are creating out of the love of our community and US wanting to is share with the community if we start to have a problem in there of course we're going to right away attack I mean I've even said to Mark we're going to have a soft opening to see kind of not advertised totally a soft opening so we can feel what's the different levels of issues that we're going to have and then the following year I would be able to start with a heart opening and at that point point I think if we're seeing any signs of that I I hope that everybody knows I'm going to protect my business because this is my business and I'm going to jump right on it if I may yes I I would highly encourage you to uh I mean this place of euphoria like that's great but I think from a realistic perspective that's something that you want to be proactive on and I I appreciate that maybe that's something I need to look at right away I like I said I did reach out to a fellow policeman that I know um and he did say that you know that that's an extra job a lot of times they like to do um so that might be something that maybe you know with your words I just jump on that a little bit ahead yeah and here again we we're definitely not opposed to even having a security cop there if we have to I mean you know everything is going to be a learning experience I mean you know and of course we're not looking at it as um a violent place with guns and crime and and you know and and like I said we will learn as we go and if we need you know security officers there we'll we'll have them there I mean you know I I guess I I just Envision something completely different far as you know crime and stuff I I look at it as a fun place for families and and this and that and and maybe I'm just you know not naive and I I definitely could be but I can promise you as anything that we we're seeing that is not up to speed of course we're going to change it we're going to say hey we need um you know more this more that and like d mentioned earlier um we're hoping to have a lot of uh teachers in the summer one I we feel they can handle kids they understand kids but I can promise you anything that we feel is not being ran like it should or we feel that you know it's a bad hangout for kids or whatever of course we're going to uh enforce and change it um you know um if I may say one other thing is if we need to eventually hire I'm not opposed I'm I want to run the safest place that we can for the community for you know peus should be able to have a safe place to come and join together and if that means that I have to hire a couple security guys to hang around you know and enforce roles I'm not opposed to that at all I just don't want to go into it with a vision that I have that kind of place yet I want to go into it thinking you know I I want to go into it thinking oh my gosh we we're going to have a great place but again if anything arises I'm going to be the first one on it you know if we have to close for a week to make sure that our place is safe for our community we're going to do that so councilwoman would you consider um meeting with for the police chief and allowing him to at least assess absolutely absolutely I you know one of the things that I have learned in running uh Tender Care in our business is I say to every single person that walks in even if it's the smallest thing even if you walk in and see one thing wrong you're teaching me every single day I am taught what I need to change it for the next client it could be just as simple as the plant is dead in the front they're teaching me what I need to do next to make the next experience perfect I can meet with anybody and take their advice and maybe I learned something totally new from them and I take on that I'm okay with that thank council member go you have more uh I I think I'll stop there I I would I just want to see this succeed and I think that um it I think it can work but it you know just really being open to you know things happen and you want to be proactive and have those things in place not reactive I agree I totally agree with you and I'm going to learn every day on this and uh like you said meeting with the chief of police maybe that's the way I'll learn you know what signs and maybe I even have a training class for each one of my employees looking out for what do you look for I mean we do that already in our business what do you look for what are you set what are you setting yourself up against in and that might be a great way I'm I am positive that I am going to go into this and learn more than I've ever learned but I'm open to the challenge I promise you I'm open to the challenge to learn and make this a great place for Poria well our police chief is here if you'd like to talk to him a little ler yes thank you thank you Madame mayor you're welcome council member Kelly thank you madam mayor I uh I want to uh commend you two for your very creative uh uh business plan I hope very much it's that it's a success I don't want to tell you how to run it uh I would uh wonder whether you did have a look at down lighting we are looking at we actually have bought lighting it is 28 I think it's 25t up and then another three feet or the lighting um we bought the lighting already and the lighting uh Farms were helped us with it it is not candle lighting it is not Shadow out lighting all the lighting does go down we explained that in the last meeting we were with them but everything's under 30 feet yes the only thing that I am going to do after the 10 o'clock or the 11 o'clock shut off is what I would like is I would like to have ground lighting for the safety and the security of the place so if something's going on I plan to have cameras and I need to be able to see with the cameras and stuff like that so I would like to have ground lighting just for like I said the safety and the security of my employees or or even if there is somebody coming along that should not be there still having it more safe than so there'll be ground lighting at that time thank you thank you Madame mayor you're welcome council member velpula thank you Madame mayor first of all I I wish you all the success in this in this Venture I was just confused to with with your explanation everything that you said is pertaining to kids so is it only for kids or no it's for everybody that's what I said families coming together in that area we do not have any ice outdoor ice cream you look at um when you're going down Knoxville we have what is it Elmos or I'm trying to think of the place there's Emos there's places to go to get outdoor ice cream to bring your kids to bring your grandkids to come and just sit and have ice cream even if you don't want to do the putt putt even if you don't want to do the go-karts I want little beautiful areas full of plants that you can just come and sit and enjoy your family and have ice cream or maybe come in and get a pizza and just share it around a little pod an outdoor pod um or birthday parties for the kids in that area thank you I actually also second what councilman Garden young said as a business woman you wanted to make sure you go into a positive attitude but as as a governing body we also want to make sure that you kind of have that in place before you start things things will go worse so I would really recommend to see if you have some some kind of safety issues security issues or kind of a go to rule book something like I don't know I have I'm not in that business but I really like what she said because it's it's always better to have something in place I understand your enthusiasm but to me we should if something happens that's not the time we should go back and revisit that's not how things should work so I really would love to see something in on paper before you start things how you're going to save guard what kind of rules are you going to impose how do you kind of uh give that um I would say promise to your neighbors saying that okay this is a very safe location so I I I like to see those things beforehand thank you Madame mayor thank you so much yeah I take that in consideration council member ranb thank you madam mayor ironically this summer my son Sam and I went to Louisville Kentucky to see the Louisville sluger Factory which I thought was really cool but the Highlight for him was going the world's largest go-kart track which included mini golf and batting cages and he just blew me away at all of them of course and he still brags about his prowess around the TR track so I think this is an amazing idea and to have something like that coming into Pur is something I'm I'm personally enthusiastic about but I also am very cognizant of the concerns raised from from the folks so to hear that you're willing to go and spend the extra money to do the electric go-karts that that's phenomenal I mean my neighbor has a electric lawn mower and I don't even hear him mowing so I think that's that's a great concession the lighting that sounds like um I know Farnsworth has worked with us and other areas that lighting is a concern so I have confidence with that my my concern I guess is what happens you know I got two teenage boys and Mr hel's story about his daughter being at Northwoods Mall I mean that's something I don't think we can we can ignore and I I do think that there needs to be a plan as councilwoman Gordon young and vula both mentioned I I I think I I would really think that would be something that you would want to do to protect your investment as well and that you know it's possible it's Overkill at the beginning it's always easier to backtrack than to add and to react because one bad experience will give you a bad reputation really soon so I would I would suggest that you you meet with the police chief and and have something in in place before the opening I think after listening to all of you that's a it will be a definite because I think you guys are scaring me just a tiny bit you know because I am more of a sunshine roses person you know I tend to go that way in my personality so this does make me feel like maybe this is something that I need to take a little more consideration and I appreciate all your viewpoints and that you are going to now put my I'll put my foot down and I'll do that I think that having a plan before I start is is pretty much a no you know I just have to do that at this point because I feel like I'm hearing all of you and like I said I'm I'm a sunshine roses girl so I'm hearing it and thinking maybe this is something I need to take a little more consideration to and if I may continue and thank thank you for that that that acknowledgement and and having a 16 and 18 year old I don't I don't want them to be Pegg that well kids these days I don't want that either um and seeing the kids in Louisville I there that was just a blast and and families kids of all ages there with their folks so I I think we we need to prepare to keep them safe so that the that element in that might be more mischievous doesn't have the opportunity to come out so thank you for your sure I really loved what you said was is that I don't want to look back and say something bad happened I want to look and say I was ready for it and I think that's what hit home the most for me is it's just like at tender care I'm always looking what could happen you know I'm always preparing the staff you know we go through we through so much training there you know what could happen and that's the same idea I think that's what hit home the most to me is that that's where I need to I need to stop and say you know sunshine and rainbows aside let's let's look at what could happen and protect the kids thank you thank you madam you're welcome and i' just like to comment before I turn it back over to you uh councilman Allen and you know it's been really an an honor to see the engagement of uh the Larsson Dr Larson Mrs Larson and and the residents the homeowners um the neighbors to come together and really try to Hash things out to to talk about their concerns and you know it was a few weeks ago when I was in a position to probably vote no on this based upon the concerns that I heard um at that point there was not a willingness to go to electric vehicles which is a huge additional cost um and so that was a big concern for me as well uh that there would be gas powerered loud noise um the lighting concerns I think that I've seen a lot of concessions made a lot of due diligence you know in these meetings and I think the concessions even though it's not an ideal situation for anybody you're not getting your ideal wish um the neighbors are not necessarily getting their ideal wish I think a lot of concessions have been made at one point you were willing to put up some barrier if there was a gas powerered um EV I mean gas powerered go-karts but you've moved from that to say there's not going to be major sound at all maybe little to no sound from go-karts I think that's huge uh the lighting the lower lighting I think is is important but I agree with everything that I've heard about security that you absolutely have to have a security plan because something may happen we we looked at situations that have happened at Northwoods Mall we've looked at situations entertainment at Elevate you never want those situations to happen at at your establishment and the only way to keep them from happening is to have a strong security plan and strong security presence so you know I think you've heard that and um because of those concessions I I think that um I can support this uh tonight the vote I know again it's not perfect for anybody but compromise never is perfect it's a compromise and I think that the process has been one of mediation great leadership by uh councilman Allen and trying to make sure that everybody is heard respectful dialogue um good listening on both parts and I I just you know I think this this is a really good example of community compromise if I could say one more thing to to the neighbors especially I'm open to learn if you guys hear something going on or or a neighbor says you know this happened last night come and talk to me I'm I want to learn I want to figure out what we can do the best for the community um if somebody hears I know we have a couple teachers that were in our meeting if they hear something in the school they're going to be the first ones to hear it pick up the phone let's let's become a community again and talk to each other and tell each other what we need to do to be better let's let's become better just like us you know trying to figure out I didn't think the Gokarts would work Mark finally find made 10 more phone calls and found somebody that he could make them work we can do this together but I do think as a community we've got to start coming together hearing each other speaking to each other and if we have a concern come to me and say hey I have this concern or I heard this you know and and I think that's the biggest let's let's bring our community back together on this okay thank you councilman Allan uh than oh before you go there we got one more council member uh vesa please uh thank you Madame mayor um yeah I I just want to say I I Echo uh what a what a lot of my colleagues have said I think there are a lot of good comments here um and I hope that these comments aren't coming off is overly negative um I I think we're just trying to be realistic um you don't want to be caught flat-footed if something were to happen it really would Mar uh your business from the start um we've we've seen you know that happen before uh round one unfortunately guy got a bad reputation um due to something um and you know you can correct after that but um you know the the reputation you're just going to to try to be fixing that for for months or years down the road and it also will affect your neighbors you know property values as well if if you have bad incidents like that so we strongly uh encourage you to talk with the police chief um get get some sort of some sort of uh security plan in place um I I think we do appreciate the investment the willingness to invest in our community um and give you know kids something to do um I mean I I do think it is true that it's it's a little different from uh Louisville Slugger uh where you know uh teams you know roll up the bus and then roll back on the bus afterward um I mean this is something where you know there might be unaccompanied miners you know um parents might drop them off for the day and uh they might roll you know around the track and then get a little barded or something I mean um I I I like the optimism I like the optimism I like the willingness to invest but I would strongly encourage you uh to get a plan in place I take that thank you thank you madam thank you council member Allan take it from here uh thank you Madame mayor and thank you to everyone's uh comments um suggestions on this matter um thank you to the larsens who are investing private funds into this project um have not asked for any financial support from the city of Peoria which um we know in development is rare um and so I appreciate them coming forth appreciate you all taking the comments um I will say and I don't like to do amendments on the fly but I do want to make an amendment to the special use that you do have a formalized security plan in place I think that that's fair I think based off of the comments around the Horseshoe and the neighbors I think that could be the last thing that brings this thing home and so would you all be okay with me making that amendment to your special use permit 100% I've already like I said toen that on and we won't we will ensure and I promise as the councilman of this District that you will not be on your own to create that we'll work with the police chief we'll work with Poria resource officers we did we just did the same exercise with the Tilted tent in Northwoods Mall we want them to be successful so we're not going to put you on an island and have you do this on your own we're here for you and so I but I do want to make that a condition part of your special use permit absolutely thank you so and again I was very transparent with my my position on this project coming here with the neighbors so there weren any surprises that I felt once the electric go-karts uh came into play that mitigated the noise concerns uh we addressed the lights so that addressed some of the the light pollution I appreciate you all again the concessions um councilman rickenbach talked about the electric go-karts are not cheap um it is an additional cost and again I appreciate you all compromis in being good neighbors and then again adding this formalized security plan that we will support you on as that third piece of that concession of the special use permit I feel that this is going to be a great addition to District 4 the greater Poria area I plan on bringing my own family uh to this and look forward to seeing you all be successful and I again appreciate the Neighbors coming forth because again this is what we need we need collaboration we need communication for development projects so with that being said I would like to make a motion to approve uh item a of 2 4281 is there a second seconded by count council member Kelly um please cast your Ballance motion passes unanimously um council member Allan I would like to make a motion to approve uh Item B of 24281 seconded by council member Kelly please CL cast your ballots motion passes unanimously council member Allan I would like to make a motion to approve item 24 or excuse me item C of uh item 24281 please seconded by council member Kelly please cash your Ballance and lastly I would like a minute council member Allan you need your vote I was I I was in the zone mayor I was in the zone I was motion passes unanimously council member Allan yes and lastly I would like to approve item D again adding the caveat that there will be a formalized security plan uh in place that we will collaborate with the larsson's on uh seconded by council member Kelly please cast your ballots motion passes uh no uh council member sir okay coun um you're a yes vote motion passes unanimously thank you [Music] everyone talk to the city manager thank you council member Allan for your leadership very much um Madam clerk okay 24- 314 is a communication from the city manager in Corporation Council with a request to adopt an ordinance approving a Redevelopment agreement with acic for a proposed Porsche automobile dealership at 8215 North Allen Road within the Madina Plains Allen Road Business Park Tiff District Redevelopment project area C council members here thank you Madame mayor uh move to defer uh the agenda item 24- 314 to be placed on the agenda at a further uh later Council uh when the uh Redevelopment agreement signed by Porsche seconded by council member Allan any comments questions please cast your ballots motion passes unanimously Madam clerk if there's no additional unfinished business we would be at new business okay is there any new business council member vula thank you Madame mayor today we denied six site applications for selling liquor Gas Station liquor in gas stations I think this is the first time ever I have seen six uh applications being turned down so I wanted to offer uh clarification for the business owners who may be affected by this decision Corporation Council could you please uh explain the reason for the denial I ask you for this clarification to emphasize that as a city we aim to make decisions that are more rational importantly this denial should not be you viewed as a discouragement for other businesses considering reaching out with applications in the future thank you for that question oh thank you for that question councilman um I'll explain all of the issues that came up um because of some change in Personnel I had the opportunity to staff the Liquor Commission hearing for the first time and on this matter I spoke to each of the councilmen for the different locations um all of the Shell stations that are part of this set of requests are owned by the same the actual physical facilities are owned by the same corporate entity access Incorporated out of Louisville Kentucky they've owned those businesses for quite the footprints for quite some period of time many of them they've owned for many years a few of them they've acquired more recently for many years they were under common management as well uh by two different entities um one KLA cow convenience Incorporated and the other RSM management so seven Shell stations within the city of Poria were operating um they were a constant source of effort on staff's part to collect taxes uh many months they would be one or two months behind which would have City staff imposing fines or penalties for late payment of taxes they would uh at times be cited for formal hearings with regard to their licenses to sell motor fuel as well as one of the entities had a liquor license so to take action against the licenses and they would pay uh the amounts due at the last moment from time to time so we're quite familiar with the operations um one of the operators or The Operators uh representative uh individual named jender sing was indicted a year and a half ago by the state of Illinois for failure to pay taxes U that matter is set for trial now in February of next year um Mr Sing was operating the seven different Footprints and they um had been filing returns but not making payments on the amounts due on a monthly basis um and would again pay the last minute in April of this year they stopped filing returns for all of the premises and the city took action against them um so when they stopped filing returns um they had prior to that filed returns that reflected a total amount due of about $131,000 in taxes and those amounts are due and we're attempting to collect them through our collection agencies because of their failure to pay motor fuel tax returns their failure to file uh the returns the failure to pay the taxes due on those returns and the fact that their license lapsed for those failures to pay returns they were cited and from April 1st of 2024 through June 17th 2024 they am between all seven Footprints they amassed $800,000 in Daily fines failure to pay tax returns carries significant daily fines so with all of that cast due amount um 131,000 in taxes we knew about and daily fines for not filing tax returns so we don't know the amount due from April through June we were able to get an order entered against them for that tremendous amount in fines um perfecting those requires us to file what's called or to take action called a memorandum of judgment which we were undertaking and then we understood from different applications that the oper operator which is separate than the ownership of the footprints but the operator transacted in changed hands so the prior operator was jender Singh and the new operator is an individual named Bobby Singh who applied for um who applied for um licensers of all seven Footprints um one of those Footprints uh which is O uh at 9 109 North Allen Road already had a a site approval for a liquor license so that liquor license was available in an over-the-counter transaction once the property went into a different form of ownership a new Corporation owned it um so that license was issued and then they made application Bobby Singh did on behalf of the ownership entities and now each one of these separate Footprints is being operated by a different corporate all of them are represented by Bobby Singh um and again all the footprints are still owned by access so all those remaining six operations applied for site approval um two of the sites were opposed by our city police department because of significant criminal activity on those sites five of the six sites were directly opposed by the councilman of that of for those districts in in which those sites uh are present the councilman had different reasons for opposing that the final site the councilman didn't take a position in opposition and felt In fairness if another local entity had a liquor use that this should be allowed to compete that Lo that other nearby entity did not have a liquor use and so that that that nearby other gas station is not a competitor on the liquor scale by the way we have 38 licensed gas stations in town only 10 of them have licenses to sell package alcohol so it isn't automatic and it's not every place um uh I when I appeared one of the reasons that one of the council people had opposition was because of this history of not payment of taxes so I informed The Liquor Commission that the failure to pay taxes has the um you know the legal department at a loss to be able to collect those from The Operators now we have a new coordinated set of operators to my view the only entity really directly benefiting by this operation is the entity that owns all the facilities and that we it's not consistent with the welfare of the city of Peoria to issue a additional privileges to an Enterprise that appears to be profiting without paying their taxes to the city I told the Liquor Commission that the legal department the corporation council's position on this entity and these applications would change over time if the new operators showed that they could comply with the law would pay their taxes on time and establish themselves as a good corporate citizen so our recommendation from our department was to deny these licenses until they could establish that and the liquor code indicates that licenses can be withheld if it's not consistent with the welfare of the city and I felt strongly that in this circumstance because of the history and the coordinated ownership of the actual facilities that there's a responsible party there that can step forward and guarantee the city if we can uh engage them in that conversation so we would look forward to talking with axis and the operator and getting some clarity on uh putting the city in a more secure position so that I don't have to explain to the council in the future why I can't collect $130,000 in taxes and $800,000 in fines okay so that's what happened and these are unique circumstances I don't expect them to repeat themselves as the council knows from my conduct here we recently took action to allow us to be on a better footing to collect fines if there's common ownership between the operator and the ownership of the property and we'll be you can look forward to me developing more devices for us to create a more secure collection mechanism when we extend privileges to individuals to sell things so we can be guaranteed that the public is seeing the taxes being collected you let a lawyer go on and on earlier so thank you for giving me all the time I needed your honor I'd be happy answer any question good information uh councilman velpula thank you Corporation Council the reason I I just wanted to bring it out is we should not be seen as uh anti- bus all we have to show is the rationale behind our judgment because the you know there was a very interesting observation that was very interesting scenario that was presented to me which I outlined to you couple minute couple hours back W Poria Heights and Poria are separated by one single Road and right out right next right opposite that road you'll have gas stations with liquor and when it comes to Pua we don't have it so when you when you see certain certain things like that people will come back to you and ask do I qualify for that the decision that we took should not be um discouraging for them to come back and ask maybe maybe the council again I I say it all depends on the con constituents as well as the district level councilmen to approve or disapprove but we should never take away the right of a business to come back and say I wanted to do that so I the the entire exercise is to make a point that we are not being punitive on the businesses who wanted to extend their services but we are very rational and balanced when we make the choice thank you madam mayor you're welcome mayor if I could just add yes we we would not be opposed to another gas station having a liquor license right right because Illinois Law doesn't permit us to withhold it on that basis yes and that is not the rationale with which we approach these there were significant criminal matters in two of the different Footprints concerns about criminal activity it from a couple of the other um uh locations from the councilman of the districts and so there were a number of reasons to oppose these but primarily at this point we want to engage in a discussion with the corporate entities that operate these to make certain that the city's tax collections are secure anded thank you thank you council member riggenbach thank you Madame mayor on a lighter note tomorrow ladies and gentlemen we're going to have a ribbon cutting on Wisconsin Avenue yay at 11 :30 in the morning Wisconsin Avenue between McLure and Nebraska will be reopened to the public a project we've talked about for a long time I've championed for a long time I see one of my East Bluff aka the mayor of the East Bluff in the audience tonight Mr Bren um but I I'm just thrilled if any of you are out and about at 11:30 tomorrow please stop by we'll be at Arcadia and Wisconsin and I couldn't um let this opportunity pass to again thank representative Gordon booth for the $3 million um influx that we got to help finance that that project will be continuing in two years North from McLure to Forest Hill so the work is not done but the first phase is done ahead of schedule the other thing I just wanted to recognize is children's home um they were at the plan zoning commission last week also and this will be coming to us in a couple weeks but I just wanted to get it out there for the public who might not be as attuned to that they're going to be building two um supervised independent living facilities on their current footprint there on on Knoxville and as as kids transition out of foster care often times they don't know where to to go and homelessness and that population is something that we want to do everything in our power to help prevent so Children's Home has a great project in store and we'll be talking more about that in a couple weeks but I just wanted to recognize their commitment to the youth in our community and battling homelessness in a in a area that we don't often think that there's homelessness thank you madam great news thank you councilman Council Jackson thank you Madame mayor um while we're on uh Road improvements I was at the Moss Avenue uh Moss neighborhood association meeting the other night and there were some questions about the status of MacArthur uh Bridge reopening and I didn't know the exact date but uh it was good to hear that well it's a major thoroughfare people up the hill and and everywhere use that is there an update on that to when that going to that road should be open here in the next week or so okay okay thank you I saw some painting on it today so that's good okay thank you thank you Madame mayor you're welcome uh and I'll oh okay I'll be last with the new business item you know I just it may have been mentioned before but I want to acknowledge the work that's been put into the fire department's Community risk assessment and this document oh my God there's so much history in it I mean it goes back to when the fire department of Peoria first started it has a copy in the back of the original charter of the city of Peoria it talks about uh it really does some a lot of um risk assessment analysis and it talks about uh well it brings us up to date with the new fir houses or the new locations of these houses the modernization that has taken place over time uh the area of service the boundaries uh the Partnerships it's just so rich with information that it's a keeper so I want to applaud and have you come forth just briefly uh Chief and if you could just talk a little bit about this magnificent document thank you Madame mayor um Council I'll be brief I know it's been a long night um I do appreciate the fact of you acknowledging that's a lot of hard work and effort that's been put forward by our accreditation team which is led by division Chief Nate rice um that's a culmination of about six to nine months of work in putting that all together in our standard of cover it's an important document for us it's a live document that will be analyzed every single year as our needs and our operations change I do appreciate the acknowledgement though very good thank you very much thank you Madame m clar we are on to Citizens opportunity to address the city council okay we have just one card um Mr Jesse mcgow you want to be first you're first and [Laughter] only good afternoon Jesse M Jr 707 East Rush uh was bringing here tonight is we and I mean you cuz I already am we need to do something about our children you know 10 year olds getting killed teenagers getting life practically life in peniten and there's more that we can do and I'm here tonight I'm not going to be able to complete it tonight I'm talking about 10 12 years of work and tens of thousands of dollars put into research that I've conducted on my own that uh I'm going to have to come back two or three more times to talk to you about it but I'm going to start off by talking about what I'm what what what what I have accomplished I'm glad the chief is here because I'm he's going to verify some of the stuff that I'm going to tell you even though he don't know it yet uh I've had a program in my block for the last probably 12 15 years when it when it really got bad up in that area if you were look at the crime stats from the secure violence from last year to my left to my right and behind me my block there hasn't been a gunshot fir on that block in years many years and that's the only block as a matter of fact like the recent one I could look out of my window and watch Republic street right out of my window what the shooting was the other night and that's ironic because the program that I use up there mostly this basically a warm weather and uh I uh told some of my people Friday that I was suspending it for the winter and when I said that it know something come your mind I hope nothing don't happen by being saying this sure enough Sunday there's been two shootings one like said block from me and another further out so I took that to mean that uh rather than suspending it to expand it so the reason I'm here tonight is to tell you what the part that I need you to play in that expansion but to do that I have to tell you first where I am you know it's about building relationships I have a personal relationship with about 50 Children young children from te mid mid teens now and that was done because of the prog one of the three programs that I'm operating here what I would like to do is expand it into other areas because here here's what I'm going to prove that it's works we have in the East Bluff crime has gone down significantly this year the last part of this year and you're going to hear it's going down over Citywide but if you will look I don't have any stat any data to back back this up but I I I want the chief to admit whether this is wrong or right that least East Bluff are the hot areas that were on that map that East Bluff that all of those areas has seen considerably less crime over the last half of this year and I'm GNA read I'm going to read you a letter just let you know I'm not latching on to something this is a text that I sent out it says the last half of 2024 will see considerably less crime than the last half of 2023 on the East Bluff this was sent out June 6 at 50:06 p.m.

and it was sent to chief of police and have have it come true for not this was during a time when the crime was being sh shooting almost all the time up the this Bluff but since this has come out crime is going way down and I made that prediction in June and I and I and I stand behind I say now it's still going and it's by doing what I'm doing now what I want to do is expand this you know by expanding what I've done I've expanded it to my neighborhood by by my other neighborhoods because of parents have asked me to so you know I went from my block for $20 a week to my whole neighborhood now for1 a week but the crime is way way way down in these B I mean I other people go take credit for it that's fine but I know 100% certain that I have made a difference in that because I've intervened personally in at least a dozen altercation this year alone through the networking that I've made through those people so what I'm going to need from you all you know going to trying to detail like it because it's a multi-prong thing it's trying to explain it to you it's not going to work what I would need you all to do assign a person that when I'm pretty sure that there's going to be some antiviolence money coming out first of all I want to make sure I don't want the money I'm not going to accept I would I I've got a program that will work perfectly Denise especially two places your Harrison home and Manual High School it those places needed but I need somebody from the city that has the authority to come and watch me at one hour a day at least two days two maybe three days a week just to watch what I'm doing because I can't explain everybody that has when I try to explain to somebody they visualized what looks what what I'm saying and then every time they get there and see it they say well that ain't nothing like I thought it was so trying to explain it to you going get the wrong impression but if if somebody I I've got a person in mind that works with a police department I don't know if the chief will release them or not but if it would that person be the perfect person just could could you spare that person come if that person a recommendation to you says no I don't think this is something we should do I'll drop it but that person comes back to you strongly said hey I think this is something we definitely need to do I want your commitment that will go forward with it if it's somebody you trust because I'm convinced that it will work a matter of fact I know it will work I've just I work it every day so I know it's going I know it's going to help it's going to reduce VI I got three age groups I can Target using different different tactics I can go from the mid teens down I can go from the mid- teens to the early adult and early adults upwards depending on which Pro which which which area you want to work it in and like I say this is a program that is developed here like I've been doing a combination of this years it developed here in PE it work for peia can't nobody come out of Chicago or New York tell us how to solve PE problem because we got different problems here This Is War here and by say this is going to be free you don't need no money I mean and it's going to be very very cheap to run so all I want to do is it's get somebody an objective person to take a look at it and then we go from there and and if if you we if if if that person said no then we'll go to details if not we'll drop the whole thing is anything wrong with that thank you Mr Madam clerk we do not have an executive session so we would be at adjournment can I get a motion okay moved by council member sear seconded by council member Allan please cast your ballots thank you for your service

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