Peoria approves 168-unit warehouse redevelopment; defers tiny homes proposal pending policy review

Good evening everyone. It is 6 o'clock p.m. on Tuesday, August the 12th, 2025. I'd like to call our meeting of the Peoria City Council to order. I'd also like to welcome everyone who's here in our historic council chambers and also those that are listening uh watching on CA cable channel 22 or the YouTube channel. Madame Clerk, the council mics are open. Please call the role. Mayor Ali present. Council member Allen present. Council member Carmona here. Council member Seir here.

Council member Gordon Young. Council member Jackson here. Council member Kelly here. Council member Oiler here. Council member Rianbach here. Council member Velpula. And council member Vespa. You have a quorum present. Madame Mayor. Okay. Thank you. People out. Everyone please join me and stand for a moment of silent prayer or s reflection followed by the pledge of allegiance. I aliance to the flag of Americice for all. Madame clerk, we are at proclamations. We have one proclamation tonight.

Uh we are celebrating National Emergency Management Awareness Month and we have Jason Markx here. He's the director of emergency management and preparedness for the Puris City County Health Department. Thank you for being here, Mr. Markx. Thank you. The proclamation reads, "Whereas emergencies and disasters can occur unexpectedly, posing significant threats to lives, property, and the environment.

And whereas emergency managers across the country, including from the Peoria County Emergency Management Agency, dedicate countless hours to excuse me, to developing preparedness, excuse me, response, recovery, and mitigation programs to protect, excuse me, I've had a code. I'm going to ask Councilman emergencies unexpectedly posing significant threats to lives, property, and the environment.

And whereas emergency managers across the country, including from the Peoria County Emergency Management Agency dedicate countless hours to develop preparedness response recovery and mitigation programs to protect the lives and property of all persons. And whereas emergency managers are charged with establishing and maintaining the capabilities necessary to effectively direct, coordinate, and support emergency and disaster response and recovery efforts.

And whereas prevention protection mitigation response, and recovery align with the five mission areas of the national preparedness goal, which defines what it means for the whole community to be prepared for all types of disasters and emergencies. And whereas emergency managers have helped millions of community members across the United States recover, rebuild, and become more resilient in the face of adversity.

And whereas National Emergency Management Awareness Month presents an opportunity to coordinate awareness campaigns, highlight community partners, increase visibility of the programs and personnel who work year round to enhance public safety and resilience. Now therefore, Rita Ali, mayor of the city of Peoria, Illinois, do hereby recognize the month of August as National Emergency Awareness Month in Peoria, Illinois, dated this 12th day of August, 2025. All right. Thank you, Councilman.

Well done, Mr. Thank you, Madam Mayor. Thank you, and city council. And specifically, I'd like to just uh recognize city manager, particularly over the last several months.

Uh we've struggled with funding issues in emergency management with grants, and it's uh we've had a great partnership with the city manager, and we appreciate his assurance that uh as we struggle through some of these reductions that uh we can be assured that we'll be able to continue to maintain uh the same program that we've had in the past. So, we appreciate that and want to recognize him for that. So, thank you. Thank you. Thank you for your support. Much appreciated.

[Applause] Madame Clerk, we are at the approval of the minutes. Council member Rigenbach. Thank you, Madam Mayor. I move to approve the minutes of the city council meeting held on July 22nd, 2025 as printed. Seconded by Council Member Kelly. Any questions or comments? Please cast your ballots. Motion passes unanimously. Madame clerk, we have two town items.

25-214 is a request from the town officials to approve the July 2025 actual expenditures and to approve the August 2025 anticipated expenditures for the town of the city of Poria. Our liaison uh uh trustee Gordon Young is not here. Trustee Allen. Uh, I move for approval, Madame Mayor, or Trustee Ali. Okay. Is there a second? Seconded by uh, Trustee Jackson. Any comments or questions? Please cast your ballots. Motion passes unanimously.

Madame Clerk, 25-215 is a T town of the city of Poria financial statements, annual audit and supplementary information for year ended March 31, 2025 with request to receive and file. Trustee Allen. Uh, thank you, Trustee Ali. I move for approval of item 25-215. Is there a second? Seconded by Trustee Jackson. Any comments or questions? Please cast your ballots. Motion passes unanimously. Madame clerk, we are at the consent agenda.

25-216 is a communication from the city manager and director of public works with a request to approve a purchase with Rare Rig Pacific Company for the for 702 new 25galon garbage carts and 200 lids for replacement in inventory in an amount not to exceed 45,422. 25-27 is a communication with request to approve a contract with Waste Quip in the amount not to exceed 20,92720 to purchase 50 60gallon dome top litter containers to be used for neighborh neighborhood trash cans.

25-218 is a communication with request for the following. A, approve an agreement with the Illinois Department of Transportation for the city's participation in the Illinois 8 Farmington Roads Resurfacing Project in Poria. and B approve a funding resolution for the city's cost participation in the Illinois 8 Farmington Road resurfacing project in the amount of $3,82 with an additional authorization of $770 for contingencies for a total funding amount not to exceed $3,852.

25-219 is a communication with request to approve an inducement resolution for a proposed project with 1301 through309 Southwest Washington Street LLC to develop the property located at 1301 through309 Southwest Washington Street, the former international harvester headquarters in the warehouse district into a commercial and residential mixeduse development. 25-220 is a communication with request for the following.

A adopt an ordinance approving the redevelopment agreement with 800 Realy Partners Master Tenant LLC for the property located at 800 Southwest Washington Street to develop 90 residential units in the warehouse district and B adopt an ordinance approving a redevelopment agreement with 801 Realy Partners Master Tenant LLC for the property located at 801 Southwest Washington Street to develop 78 residential units in the warehouse district and 25-221 is an appointment by Mayor Ali to the Poria Civic Center Authority Board with a request to concur of Cynthia Oliviveres.

And that concludes our consent agenda. Okay. Are there any items to remove from consent? Council member Seir. Thank you, Madam Mayor. Move to approve consent agenda. Seconded by Council Member Allen. Any comments or questions? Please cast your ballots. Motion passes unanimously. Madame clerk, we are at presentations.

25-222 is a communication from the city manager and finance director controller with a request to receive and file the 2024 annual comprehensive financial report audited by Clifton Larson Allen LLP. And on your desk there is a handout with the bound audits. Mr. Manager. Uh thank you, Madame Mayor. We have with us Adam Pulley from Clifton Larson uh Allen who is going to walk through the uh audit results from 2024 and walk through a presentation.

So uh everyone should have a copy of the audit on your desk. Uh we did send out an electronic version of it as well. So Mr. Pul, thank you Mr. Manager. Good evening everybody. Thanks for having me. Um, again, my name is Adam Pulley, principal in charge of the 2024 audit. Uh, joined by John Nearorn, who is in charge of the fieldwork during the audit.

Um, I'm going to look to keep my comments to about 10 minutes, maybe a little less if I can, and really focus on the audit results and not so much the financial results. And so, I mean, I have a few slides. Honestly, I'm just going to focus on um probably this one here. So, at the end of the day, when all the dust settled with the audit procedures and whatnot, we did issue unmodified or in other words, clean audit opinions on all reports, all things that we issued.

Now, that did not come without a a wrinkle or a curveball here or there. And really, probably the main curveball that kind of made the 24 audit what it was related to the ARPA dollars. So, you may or may not recall that the ARPA grant um required that the city as well as all other communities that received the money um incur spend or obligate funds by 123124. So, you know, the city went to do that and intended on, you know, utilizing the rest of the funding with FY fiscal year $24.

there was not enough fiscal year $24 to use up that entire aotment that was left. So what the city did was retroactively claim some expenditures in fiscal year 23. Let me stop by saying that that is allowable. That's within the compliance of the grant. That is okay to do. So from a compliance standpoint, that's that's perfectly fine and other communities have done that.

um or presents a little bit of an issue is actually on the financial side because this dollar amount was roughly $1.5 million that essentially that funding should have been shown as revenue in FY23 because it was federal revenue covering grant expenditures that were now being claimed. So effectively there was a fund that had understated revenues in FY23 by a material dollar amount. So what's that mean for the audit purposes?

is that really we just had to do some additional procedures to make sure that the presentation FY24 properly reflected that fund for 24 and 23 so that the cut off of revenue was appropriate. Hopefully I didn't lose anybody there. Again, from the compliance side, it was fine. It was more on the financial. Now, the other piece with that about that $ 1.5 million being from prior year is we perform every year what's called a single audit.

This is auditing procedures, testing, grant compliance of the city's use of grant dollars. We did that in FY23. However, that $ 1.5 million would not have been subject to that testing. And because it's a significant amount of money, we had to auditing standards tell us that we need to reopen the FY23 single audit so that we can effectively test that additional population, right? Sample from it, make sure it truly is allowable, eligible, all that good stuff.

um and and reissue our audit opinion on FY23. When we performed the procedures, we did not come across any additional findings, any additional issues. The only additional finding that we had to put in the 23 audit report was again that financial piece of the cut off of the revenue. So that was a finding that got added as far as the compliance of the ARPA dollars. We did not come across anything. Hopefully I didn't lose anybody there. I'm going to fast forward here to fiscal year 24.

And as it relates to the audit results or the findings that we had in 24, there is really one, I'll call it anticipated finding and one that wasn't. So the anticipated finding is that each year we assist the city in um preparing the financial statements in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles, um proposed material audit adjustments, things of that nature. By virtue of us being external auditors, we cannot be considered part of the city's internal control structure.

Thus, we need to note that as a finding at the end of the day, the city reviews, approves everything we've proposed and ultimately takes responsibility for the financial statements. So, that was the anticipated finding. The only other note that we had is um when we went to perform the single audit in 24, again, this is compliance with grant requirements. The federal government requires that there is an internal control over all compliance requirements.

So um we came across one grant in which there were reports that were being submitted without an internal control. What that means is essentially there's not a second set of eyes in this instance. There was not uh somebody that was there to review and approve those reports before they got submitted to the grantor. Um there wasn't any issue that we came across in terms of the content, the timeliness of the reports.

It's it's sort of just an automatic finding if there's not technically an internal control. So we noted that is an issue. But otherwise we did not come across um any material weaknesses, significant deficiencies, other findings. Um that was the audit results. The only other thing that I wanted to touch on is um skip ahead here. No. Well, anyway, the only other thing I wanted to touch on is we do issue what's known as a letter to governance.

Um, this is our opportunity to express to the council if there's um any disagreements with management, significant delays, things like that. Um, the letter is largely boilerplate language or what I've just communicated to you this evening, so there's really nothing else to touch on. Um, that's really all I had to present to you all. I'm happy to answer any questions. Uh, perhaps before I do that, I would like to thank uh, city management as well as the finance department.

And uh this is very much a collaborative process to complete an audit takes a whole heck of a lot of time. Um and to be honest with you, when it was told to me about these changes in the ARPA dollars, I kind of thought that that might um extend the audit process a couple months because this has happened in other communities and we've been through that.

Um the city was on top of our requests um that to the point where you know really the issuance was maybe only a couple weeks later than what it would have been last year. So very much appreciate that. I think the part that really contributed is that city finance department came to us during planning. They told us upfront here's what's happening so that we could plan accordingly.

Um I will say that that I'll call it the attitude of not you know they didn't come to they didn't withhold that information out of concern of maybe having additional findings. You know there was an element of transparency being forthcoming with us um that really helped the audit process along. We very much appreciate that. That's all the comments I had. I'll I'll pause there. Hopefully that wasn't too quick, but happy to answer any questions anybody might have. Thank you.

Thank you for your presentation. I just have a couple quick questions. One, what was the time frame from or the time period from start to finish? How long did it take you to do the audit? Um, we start planning generally in the February time frame.

um we start doing our we call it final field work our on-site field work in earnest um it varies but usually maybe end of March April it's it's varied over the years um and that lasts for a while and then we start getting into the the report preparation stage and the reviews take a lot of time as well we go through several levels of review on our end so from February until I mean July July Okay. Okay. It's almost half a year. Is that pretty common? Typical. Yeah.

I mean, when when we a lot of folks that we work with, they sort of refer to they have audit season and then when they're done with audits, they go into budget season. You know, it's just it's kind of audit budget tends to be how a lot of folks operate. Okay.

And then just to help me understand relative to the changes to the 2023 financials, the 1.5 million that should have been revenue in 20 does that mean that you go back and you change the 2023 audit or does your information in the 24 kind of correct that? Yep. That's a good question. And effectively how it's shown is in the So we don't we didn't have to reopen the 23 audit.

There is a mechanism in which in the 24 audit we change the beginning balance and describe in the footnote disclosures here's what happened here's why here's what changed so it gets reflected in 24 we didn't have to actually revise okay 23 all right thanks for that clarification uh council any questions I knew you had one council member Seir thank you madame mayor excuse me I don't really have any questions thank you very much sir for your presentation just a Couple points or question for Mr.

Manager. Um, what is the currently or what will be the address of Clifton Gunderson? I'm sorry, Council. What's their address? What is the mailing address for Clifton Gunderson? The the main the main office main mailing address for Clifton Gunderson for for Clifton Larson Allen. Yes, it Well, it's currently the at the PNC Bank building. I understand that.

But are they still there or they're moving somewhere or Well, I think I think they've made an announcement that they're they're leaving at some point in time to move to Pure Heights, but Okay. And perh uh I will turn over to our finance director to answer that question. Thank you. Uh it can vary a little bit obviously depending on complexity. Obviously, there is a cost when we have to reopen the previous year's SEIFA, for example.

Um, we're averaging in the ballpark of about 125,000 to 140,000 is the cost of our audit. And then also, just as a reminder to council, um, because of the relationship with the Springdale Cemetery and how that flowing flow of funding works, we also are paying for their audit as well. Okay. And um I think I'll be it. Thank you very much. Thank you, Madam Mayor. Okay. Welcome. All right. Thank you very much. I think we need a a motion to receive and file.

Council member Allen has moved, seconded by Council Member Seir. Uh Council Member Seir, did you have another comment? Yes, sorry. I just want to ask that question. I mean what's the kind of contract do we have right now? I mean the Clifton Gunners has been doing our audit for many years I believe uh where we're at with our agreement. So we are on so we have been with them I believe about it's either eight or nine years.

Um this year is uh we have one remaining year on our existing contract with them. So they will be completing um the 25 fiscal year audit that's done in 26. Um and then we'll come to council kind of with next approach in terms of um looking at a new contract or doing an audit rotation and going out to RFP. Thank you sir. Thank you madam mayor. You're welcome. I would reiterate that this is a clean audit. This is what we want to see.

So thank you very much uh to uh director Katty and your team as well and city manager and your team. So um here we go. We have a motion second. Please cast your ballots. Motion passes unanimously. Thank you. Thank you very much for the presentation. Madame Clerk, 25-223 is a communication from the city manager and director of public works with a request to receive and file a presentation by Illinois American Water Company regarding an overview of lead service lines in the Poria service area.

And on your desk there is a handout of the presentation slides. Mr. Manager. Uh thank you, Madame Mayor. Um we had an opportunity recently to meet with Matt White, who is the senior operations manager for the Western Division, um to talk about the the recent news regarding lead service lines inside the Poria region. So we asked Mr. White if he would come to give a little overview and presentation to the council and to the community quite frankly uh about the situation.

So I'm going to turn the floor over to Mr. White and I want to thank him for being here this evening to come and talk about this important issue. Thank you very much for having me here this evening. Um so we were here a couple years ago to talk about lead. Um wanted to to come back give you guys an update. So, appreciate the invite and appreciate the the assistance loading the the slides for us this evening.

So, um so we've been talking about lead uh at least since 2023 in Poria uh and continue to work towards uh removal of of lead in the water uh specifically with the the lead service lines uh so water service lines going into the homes. Um the first slide that I've got for everybody is just kind of a a visual for uh what our definition of a service line is.

Um so historically uh Illinois American Water uh for most residential customers, we own that service line from the main up to the property line and then from that property line into the to the home. The customer owns that section of of service line.

Um for the purposes of removing lead in the Poria area, uh we're really considering that entire service line, both our side uh the utility side as well as the customer side of that of that service line and looking to identify anywhere that we've got lead or galvanized on those service lines um so that we can work towards removing those.

Uh so a lot of work has gone into trying to develop our our inventory of those service lines and then putting that plan together to actually remove those service lines. So um we've got a couple visuals of different service line materials. Um so really lead uh we started seeing lead around the 1920s through the 1940s. uh in the Puria area. Um we found that some lead uh service lines were installed up to the 60s. Um so working really hard to try to identify where those are at.

Um we've had a pretty good inventory on American Water side of of that uh service line. Um but with that this new regulation, we really haven't had a a good inventory of the customer side service line. Um so we still have a lot of unknowns on that customer side service line. Um so wanted to provide these visuals just to help uh people identify that a little bit more. Um but uh just to extend a little bit further um lead solder was allowed in plumbing until about 1986.

That's when it uh lead solder was banned in in interior plumbing. So, um, and then we've been working, uh, roughly for about 10 years, we've been seriously working towards removing that those lead service lines. Probably been a little bit longer than that. Um, but, um, uh, next slide here. Just want to talk about regulatory changes. Um, so this has been something that the EPA is constantly taking a look at what the regulation should be.

Um, they've changed a little bit since the last time we were here. Um, and even the way that we're uh documenting that inventory, just a piece of uh uh the utility being responsible for identifying the customer side service, that's a pretty big challenge and that's a change in that regulation that we've seen over the last couple years. Um, developing the the replacement plan, that that's changed a little bit over the the last few years.

Um, and then the EPA has increased the frequency, the volume, and the method of the sampling. uh for lead in the water lines. Um so our lead sampling program has has been enhanced over the last couple years. Um and then uh one of the big changes that I think a lot of people uh have noticed here in Puria specifically is the notifications of uh exceedences with lead. Um so one of our recent uh in January uh we did lead sampling.

We did have that have an exceedence of lead which prompted a systemwide communication. So all of our customers fed from uh the pure water system received a notification uh of that exceedence. Um which has drawn a lot of attention to to our lead program. Uh which quite honestly is is helpful because the communication we get back from those customers is really what we need right now to help identify where we have lead. Um so we've had some really good feedback from our customers here recently.

Um all right. Um so on my next slide here and there is quite a bit on these slides but uh I'll I'll try to uh run through it pretty quickly here. So um so we we test a wide range of contaminants. I think one of the misconception uh uh misconceptions from our recent communication is that uh there's lead in the in the water leaving our plants and our facilities.

Um the the truth is that the the lead that you're finding in that we're finding in the the sampling is directly related to the service lines or the interior plumbing of those homes. Um and it's due to uh that that lead breaking down and and finding its way into the into the water services. Um so there is no lead leaving our plants. We're pumping water into the system. Um um so this slide is really the the big message that that I wanted to get across to everybody.

So if you don't take anything else away from the presentation tonight, um this really is identifying what customers can do um to help identify where uh their risk of lead might be at at their property. Um, as well as, uh, we we ask customers if we don't know what that service line material is, uh, to to reach out to us, go onto our website, and you can help us, uh, identify what that material is coming into your home.

We obviously can't go inside of every home, look at the pipes coming through the wall, uh, or at least it's going to take a really long time to do that. So, um, we've got some, uh, resources. If you go to our website, it'll point you to the the service line inventory map. Um, and on that map, if you type in your address, it's going to allow you to go right to your home. You'll be able to see uh by color coding, it'll tell you what whether we know what your material is.

Um, both on the the utility side as well as the homeowner side. Um, that it'll show that service line material. And if it's unknown, there's a link there that you can report that service line material. Um, you can take a picture and it it walks you through with a couple different pictures. um but walks through how you identify that material and help us collect that inventory.

So um and then the other really important piece here on this slide um is the the leadfree Illinois at uh amwater.com uh website you can go to get additional information on lead um and uh some more resources there. So um and I know this one's probably hard to see but this is just a snapshot. I thought it was important to show that snapshot of what it'll look like when you go in to look at that service line material.

Um, so at each of the properties when you type in your property, it'll zoom you in a little bit closer than this picture. Um, but there's little circles at each property. Uh, you can click on that and it'll be a link to to show you what that material is as well as uh forward you to that link to be able to identify your service line material if you're able to to get us a picture of it. Um pretty busy slide here. I'm going to uh kind of focus over to the left hand side.

Um the communication that we've been trying to provide to customers over the last couple years. Um so through our website, probably the best resource to learn about lead uh specifically if you're a customer of Puria. Go into our website, logging into your account. Um you can get additional information there. Uh we've been sending emails to our customers. Uh we've got videos. um press releases. Uh we've got the map that we just talked about. We've been sending out bill inserts to our customers.

Uh social media and uh FAQs like the session this evening. Um so over the last couple years, we we've replaced uh little uh around 2,700 lead services in Poria. Um we're starting to as we identify more services, we're getting better at getting that plan put together and moving towards replacing those. So in 2025, uh we're on track to to replace 850 or more services that are identified as lead. Um so we continue to work to um replace as many of those as we can.

First step though is making sure that we're able to identify where they're at so that we can put a plan together and try to be as efficient as we can. Um, one of the things that we really look to do, uh, in Poria especially, is partnering with the city and where there's other projects going on, uh, road replacements, that type of stuff. Um, trying to make sure that we're identifying those lead services with those projects as well as main replacement projects that we do, uh, in our projects.

Um, one of the the key points that I want to uh point out, a misconception that I've heard from several different residents, um, when we find those lead services, American Water is is paying to replace those. So, all the way into the home from from the main all the way into the home. Um, so I've had a couple people say, "Well, I don't want to tell you what I have because I don't want it to cost me money." Um, we want to we want to know where that's at so we can get it in our plan.

it's at our cost to to replace those service lines. Um so want to make sure we get that message out there and uh um that that's that's at our cost to replace those. So um and then uh see if I can go back one. Um one of the things that I want to point out, I think I missed it on the previous slide.

Um but uh once we identify that there are exceeded um and the the exceedence by the EPA is identified by 15 parts per billion of lead or more um and just want to point out that no lead in the in the water is is good. Um but the exceedence level is once you get to 15 parts per billion or more um that's considered an exceedence.

Um anywhere that we do sampling and we find that there's an exceedence of lead, we're working with those customers directly to expedite those replacements, uh we immediately provide them with a pitcher filter um so that they can make sure that they're filtering that water um throughout that that process of the replacement all the way until we test that water and confirm that that they don't have lead in the in the water supply at that point.

Um, and then from there, I do want to shift gears, uh, since we're able to to be in front of you guys tonight. Um, another exciting program that we just recently rolled out. Um, in actually we just enhanced the program. Uh, we've had an income based discount program for a couple years now. Um, we just uh updated that to uh include customers up to 300% of the federal poverty level. Um, so pretty exciting news. It's a good program.

We'd like to see uh more customers participate in that uh incomebased program um and essentially save money on their their water bill. So, we do partner with Dollar Energy. Um so, got the contact info there for anybody who's interested. Um my team I've got some cards I can hand out for anybody who's interested in uh getting more information on that or you can go to our website and find out more info on that. So, um, with that, uh, I'll open it up for any questions. Okay, Mr.

White, thank you very much for showing up, uh, to our council meeting and and sharing this information and education to our community. Uh, it's really important. I I talked to you the day that that communitywide notice went out. I know it wasn't your best work day, uh, but it was important to get that information out. One question that I have is how do you prioritize uh your replacements? Uh you talked about the impact of the older homes?

Do you prioritize based on where the older homes are located in the city for example uh versus the county or other areas? But like in the city of Peoria, how are you prioritizing those replacements? Yeah. So, the the priority um really if if we identify that there's an exceedence of lead in that water supply, that's going to be our top priority. Um if we have service lines that are leaking, um that's going to be a high priority for us as well. Those will will get moved up.

But, um the likelihood of of lead, uh we look at a couple different things. Um but the age of the home is number one. if it falls in with that that time frame uh that they likely have lead. Um we also so we look at the construction of the home. We look at the age of our infrastructure when we installed our water man. Um typically we replace those service lines when we uh replace water manes. Um so there's a couple different elements that we look at there.

Um, but the the outside of the records that we have, the best tool that that we have going forward is customers self-reporting and letting letting us know what they have coming through the wall. Since we don't own that service line, um, it it's hard to tell whether work's been done there and that lead has been replaced regardless of the year of the home. So, um, right now the the big piece is trying to identify where we have that lead.

But absolutely looking at the age of the home is is one of the main things that we look at as far as putting that plan together. Okay. So if a homeowner or a tenant uh tests their water, they get one of your home test kits and they test their water and it seems to have high levels of lead. They contact you and then is is that made a priority then for you to to just give them a filter or are you looking to do more than that? So, absolutely.

And what we're asking is that they reach out to our Illinois lead team. Um, and we will provide that filter or I'm sorry, we we'll provide the test kit and we will send that off and we'll we'll test that and then we'll we'll communicate directly back with the customer if there is high levels of lead. Um, regardless of the results, we're going to communicate back with the customer. But if there's a high level of lead, we'll make sure that they have a pitcher filter.

We'll make sure that we start working with them to replace th those lines. Okay. Uh to remove that. Okay. Great. Lots of questions. Um Council Member Allen. Uh thank you, Madam Mayor, and thank you, Matt. Good seeing you again, and I appreciate you attending uh our monthly coffee with constituents last Thursday and fielding questions from uh District 4 constituents and beyond. Just a few questions that I have for you though, sir.

Uh how many uh municipalities are in the western uh division that you represent? Um I'm not sure how many municipalities there are. There's I probably should know that but I don't. Um so uh I cover Puria, Peacin, Lincoln, uh Andalusia and Sterling in in the Western Division. And based off of those and I know 14 of 103 uh homes were tested above that that level. Um would you say that that stat is comparable to those other uh municipalities as far as the percentage of that tested above that level?

Yeah. And um so yes, I I would um and I don't think it's a secret that we have a lot of lead in Poria. Um, so just the the age of the homes, the age of the infrastructure in Puria, uh, there is a lot more lead in Poria and and that's why it's important for me to get in front of the the group this morning wherever we can, all those different communication channels to try to to communicate with customers uh, the risk of life.

So it's I mean so essentially this isn't a problem that's unique to Peoria, but obviously older cities um that have this aging infrastructure are going to have um unfortunately these lead pipes. I would agree with that. Yes. Um when it came to the publication of the uh affected areas, I know that there were some calls that I received of of why don't we have a list of the addresses that were were listed. Can you speak to why uh that information wasn't shared with the public? Yeah.

So, there's a lot of variables that that play into the amount of lead that's in that uh in the uh in the water. Uh really those service lines is one of the biggest impacts. Um and that's why we're focused on replacing service lines that are either lead or galvanized. Um but just that lead solder inside the homes. There's different fixtures that that um may still have lead up to the to the uh 2014, I believe, is uh when some of those were changed out.

Um, so there's a lot of different things that could play into, but essentially the the issue with lead is it comes down to a plumbing from that service line into the home. So there's a lot of different things that could play into that. Um, so just because one person has high lead doesn't mean that their neighbors on either side have high lead. Um, and just to protect the um the customers who uh did have those exceedences, we didn't feel that the need to post that out.

um as as there wasn't much it didn't help uh resolve the um the questions and and thank you. And so for those who are a little uh maybe not as technologically savvy to get on the website, watch the videos or check out the landing page, they can call your their customer service line and then you all can look up their address to see if they're in an effective area and then provide that information to them. Correct. Yeah. Yeah.

So, if they call our our 800 number, which should be on their water bill, um it is on their water bill. Um if they call our 800 number, then they'll either answer the question there directly, or they'll refer them to our Illinois team who will reach back out to them and and help them with the questions that they have on that. Yeah. Thank you. And and I'll just conclude with this. I think that the biggest thing that I can stress on this was communication, communication, communication.

And obviously, there were some opportunities for improvement.

Uh I think we learned some things in this and so uh hopefully we can collaborate you know in the in the future of what's the best way to uh once one of these notices is going out then what is maybe the the follow-up steps of how we can empower our HOAs our neighborhood associations our not for-profit groups those who have that pulse on the community to get the information out because unfortunately it did create a lot of hysteria uh rightfully so in our community.

So, I look forward to working with you all on that. I'm sure the rest of the horseshoe as well, too, because we want to make sure that our constituents, they have faith in their water system. Thank you, Matt. Thank you, Madame Mayor. You're welcome, Council Member Rianba. Thank you, Madam Mayor. And thank you, Mr. White, for this information. Pretty pretty useful. And um as Councilman Allen just said, I I wanted to check how easy that technology is. So, forgive me.

I wasn't um on Facebook or anything here, but I was checking your website and put in one of my daughter's addresses and it really is very intuitive. So, um to help allay those concerns, if you're not tech uh savvy, the the map to get there to the map is pretty pretty straightforward and it's it's very telling. and it shows um what is on either side of the line on the customer's responsibility customer side or the um the supply line. So it's ve very useful and um very interesting I think.

And one question about the incomebased discounts that you have um I think that's something that we don't want to let go by without highlighting. Is that also there's dollar energy on on our PowerPoint it says apply online. Is it through your website again that they would do that? So, if they go to our website, it'll point them back to Dollar Energy. Um, but because that's uh some uh because of privacy reasons, we use Dollar Energy to to administer that program.

So, it's going to point them back to Dollar Energy, they'll work on identifying that federal poverty level for that specific customer. They report that back to us so we can apply the appropriate discount. So, I think that's that's very important information for us to know because as we have have constituents call us asking for that kind of assistance and I see our township supervisor here too.

So, I'm sure she's well aware of that that program, but um thank you for highlighting that tonight as well. Thank you, Madam Mayor. You're welcome, Council Member Carmona. Thank you, Madam Mayor. Uh thank you, Mr. White. It's a pleasure meeting you for the first time in person. uh you've helped me out with several different things, not only with lead, but um with other Illinois American water issues that customers have had, and you've always been very responsive, so I really appreciate it.

Um I had a quick question about Well, I have a couple questions. The first one is um I have some neighbors that have just received uh these pictures without having informed Illinois American Water about anything. Is it safe to assume then that they have some sort of lead problem? And the reason I'm asking that is because there's a lot of construction going on in my street right now. Uh and so I just wanted to see if if that was just an indicator to them that they do have a lead issue. Yeah.

So we do hand out pitcher filters um anytime we're we're doing work where we believe that it it could be lead um lead galvanized or unknowns. Um so um depending on what works going on, but typically when we hand out those pitcher filters, there should be a lead packet that goes with it. um which should explain pretty much uh the information that I was sharing on the slides tonight, but lead specific information for the customers. Quite a bit of information in those packets.

And if uh if you're hearing that people are not getting those packets, please let me know and we'll we'll make sure that we're we're getting those to them. But essentially, if there's um if we're disrupting that that lead, whether it's a a main replacement project, a meter change, uh we're dropping those pitcher filters off just uh out of precaution to make sure that that people have a way to filter that. Those pitcher filters are set up to filter out lead as well as as other stuff in the water.

I guess on that uh along with your remarks um my neighbors working well they didn't they were questioning it because um they didn't receive any of the lead test kits along with it. So I just thought I'd ask but thank you for that information.

Uh I also want to ask a question about um you know something that citizens could possibly do in the meantime because if they have an old house and they do have a lot of lead or galvanized in there obviously cost quite a bit of money to get a plumber out there to do something like that. How effective is like a reverse osm osmosis system for your drinking water in removing lead? Is that actually effective? Um I might defer to to my team here, but that one is a little bit out of my my scope.

Um what I will say from from my experience is um that that doesn't necessarily change because we're still talking about interior plumbing. Um, so even if they have a reverse osmosis system, it doesn't necessarily change the fact of what you're drawing out of that tap. You could have lead in the screens in in your faucet that you're drawing water from. Um, so my own personal experience. Um, I don't know that that necessarily completely eliminates the the risk of of lead. So, understood.

Uh, thank you. Um, yeah, I just thought I would ask because if you know, if it's a situation where somebody needs a bunch of money to um to replace several of their lines, maybe it's more cost effective at the for a certain period of time until they can gather the rest of the money to run new lines, maybe run a new faucet and a reverse osmosis system, which are not terribly expensive. So, um, I just thought I would ask you about that. Yeah.

And I I think on that piece, I would defer people back to the pitcher filters um the the the water they're drawing out that they plan to consume right now. That's that's a recommendation from the EPA and we're following that that guideline. Okay. Thank you very much. Thank you, Madam Mayor. Good Excuse me. Good question, Council Member Jackson. Thank you, Madam Mayor. Well, thank you, Mr. White, for uh meeting with me about a month ago and informing me of uh the situation.

Um, I just did have one question. Um, is there an update on those uh residents that were impacted um when we met? Will they be getting uh their the work done, the remediation work, and how long on average does it usually take? Yeah. So, and you're talking the so the customers with the lead exceeded that that were identified. So, the 14 properties in in Poria, um those all but one of those have been replaced. Uh the one service that we're waiting on, uh we need to get into the home.

So, we're working with that customer when they return home so that we can get that service line replaced. But, um we we worked as quickly as we can could to to get those services replaced. and with all the customers who are asking for for lead sampling going forward, um we're going to continue to to make those a priority and and get those replaced as soon as we can. Thank you. And one last question. Um you said there are a lot of unknowns.

Uh is what is there anything the public can do to help uh you all get those some of those unknowns answered in terms of identifying what they are and what you need to move forward? Yeah. So, going on to to our website, looking at what that service line material is at at their home.

Um, and if if it's showing an unknown service line there, following those steps to to identify that, um, that's that's probably the easiest way to to help us fill out that inventory and and identify where we don't know where those lines are. Um, that also has provided some of the customers I've talked to a little bit of comfort level.

if they're in an area and they're not sure what it is, then they can see if they've got copper, they've got plastic, um, and helps them identify what what kind of risk they have. So, um, and again, if they're not interested in on going to the website or or don't have access, reaching out to our 800 number and we can point them back to people who can help them out. Okay. Thank you very much. Thank you, Madam Mayor. You're welcome, Council Member Seir. Thank you, Madam Mayor. Thank you, Mr.

White, for being here tonight. Just a few questions. Uh number one, um are you aware of uh the boundaries for our five districts in the city of Peoria? I am. Okay. So I just want to try to make people feel a bit better. Uh if I watch your presentation, you're talking about 1986. Um I mean I've been I I moved to Peor in 1985. I've seen tremendous amount of growth in the last know 39 years.

Um, is that okay to assume that if your house was built after 1986 that you should not have any problem with lead? Is that is that a correct statement? There's much less chance that that you would have a problem with lead uh if it was constructed after 86. Yes. So, if you look at our constituent district four and five, which were most of the growth has been the last 39 years, I mean, all these new houses, they should not have problems with lead. Is that correct?

Um the short answer is that that is correct. Yes. Okay. In your presentation, you start in 2020 also. I mean what happened I know you you're fairly new in your responsibilities. What happened from 1986 to 2020? Any did the American water invest any money at all to make any correction in those 30 34 years or so? What happened basically before 2020? in and the reason we uh document 2020 is that's when we really started focusing on on lead.

Um we just don't have communic or we don't have clear documentation of lead service replacements prior to that. Now Mr. Manager or Mr. Hey, do we have any record anybody got sick lately or are we I mean what do we have are we liable or is American Water liable if anybody gets sick? So the lead liability issues wouldn't fall to the city because we're not supplying. I'm sorry. There you go.

We're not the water utility and I think Illinois American could deal with whether there's any exposure to liability there. I'll tell you that the the changes that um the 2020 stuff and there's been a lot of back and forth between regulatory authorities nationally about how to test for lead. Um uh he mentioned that they've improved their lead testing. That's because the lead and copper rule has changed a couple times over the last decade.

And so there's been a lot more activity both by our federal regulatory agencies as well as the state to push and to allow these rate controlled entities into an active phase where they can utilize their rate payer funds to remedy these issues. And those mandates have been ramping up. And the last ep set of episodes were very contentious between the federal regulatory agencies and a number of constituents about the timing of the replacement and whatnot.

And so there's been a significant change recently that has not only compelled but also authorized many of these utilities to start addressing this more aggressively. And so that's why we're seeing more of it now. Thank you, sir. Thank you, Mr. White, for being here. Thank you, Madame Mayor. Welcome, Council Member Kelly. Thank you, Madam Mayor. And thank you, Mr. White, for your presentation and the good work you're doing out there. Um, one question.

Do any uh do any of your mains have lead problems? Um, so I'm not aware of any lead mains that that we have um in Puria. Uh, the focus for the EPA as well as American Water is on those service lines. Um, so from the main into that that property. Um, do you have a perhaps you don't know it offhand, but does Illinois American have uh some sort of an inventory that would indicate that the mains there there is no lead in the mains or there is some or in this area or that area?

Yeah, we've got very good records of of the mains that we have in our systems. I I imagine so. So, um I I take it you're not compelled if you do have uh uh some leaded mains. Uh you're not compelled to place those as much as to uh individual homeowners or individual properties. So again, the the main focus is on those those service lines. that's where we have the the most uh potential for impact uh to our customers. So that's that's where the focus is. Okay.

It would be nice to know if if your mains are lead free. Um secondly, if you have a homeowner who um has uh uh lead solder, uh galvanized pipe, etc., etc., in their home? Do you does part of your service include doing a survey of their home, pointing out, okay, we got a problem here, we got a problem over there, this looks clean, you know, etc. Is that is that part of your service? No, that's that's outside of the the scope of of where we're focused right now anyway.

Um I I think if customers have a a concern with having lead in in their water supply uh in their home is uh asking us for that that lead sampling kit and and doing the lead sample and and then we can give them a definitive answer as far as uh lead levels in that uh the water supply. Okay.

So let's I I I'm pretty sure I understand your answer, but so we have uh let's say replaced the uh uh the supply line coming into the house and we still have a lead problem because of the test because the testing kit is that is that it then the homeowner then so American Illinois American water doesn't go any further than that. Is that accurate?

So, to my knowledge, we have not ran into that problem yet where we've replaced and there's no lead in the service line either the utility or the the customer side and that they've still had an issue with with high uh with lead exceedences. That's very interesting. All right. we did. That would definitely be something our team would work with that that customer to help them identify uh where there might be some other areas to look within that interior. Okay. Thank you very much. Yep.

Thank you, Madam Mayor. Welcome, Council Member Carmona. Thank you, Madam Mayor. Uh sorry, this is I I just want to hammer home this uh this reverse osmosis thing now that I think about it some more. Uh for the people who weren't listening, uh one of the team members back there said that it does remove lead from your water. Correct? Yes. Okay. So that is correct. And now that I think about it more because I installed my own, your water man goes to the kit. Basically, it goes to a set of filters.

The filters then go to a reservoir that comes in the kit that stores water and then that goes to a quarterinch line that runs to your sink that also comes with a faucet that comes with the kit. So everything you get from this kit is clean, brand new, and will, you know, help you out with this problem. Now, the reason I'm saying that again is please replace your pipes if you find them, but this is a in the meantime kind of solution if if it fits for your situation. So, thank you, Madame Mayor.

Okay. You're welcome. Thank you. Boiling the water does not work. Does not remove lead. I'm sorry. One more time. Boiling water does not remove the lid. No, it does not. Okay. Let's continue to work together uh to partner and to continue to educate our our residents. Uh so, thank you very much for being here. Mr. Manager, did you have any additional wrapup? Uh nothing at this time. Thank you very much, ma'am. M madame mayor. Okay. Can I get a motion to receive and file?

Moved by council member Carmona, seconded by council member Allen. Uh, please cast your ballots. Thank you, Mr. Matt White. Appreciate you and your team for being here. Thank you. Have a good evening. Motion passes unanimously. Thank you. Madame Clerk, we are at regular business. 25-224 is a communication from the city manager and finance finance director controller with a request to receive and file the 2026 2027 bianial budget timeline. Mr. Manager. Uh thank you, Madame Mayor.

I'm going to turn it over to our finance director, Kate, to walk through uh the proposed timeline with council and answer any questions if there are any. Thank you, Mr. Manager. As uh our auditor said tonight, we we live in two seasons. We live in audit season and we live in budget season. So, now that we're through the audit, um, tonight we have in front of you, uh, the anticipated budget timeline for this year.

Um, I think kind of the first thing I will say to, you know, the council members that have been around the hor horseshoe for a while. Um, the timeline is a little uh, forward in terms of, uh, dates. Uh, traditionally, we have been starting um, kind of that that really that first full meeting in October. Um the timeline this year we're looking to start uh by putting the budget on the table on September the 23rd.

Um so I just wanted to kind of have that out there first and foremost that this is a change in timeline. Um it does not change the number of meetings for discussion of the budget. We still have five opportunities during the process for uh discussion around the horseshoe. Um and really ends with us having looking for an approval of a budget um on uh November the 4th.

Um some of this is driven by uh and you might remember that we had to do kind of a alteration to the regular meeting schedule this year in November um because of how Veterans Day fell. Um and so some of the needing to move this up is related to really that inability to have some additional meetings in November because of some of the holidays uh during that time period.

Um in terms of some other highlights with the schedule, um I can say that we are well underway in terms of kind of budget review. Um we've spent the last month uh with with the directors um looking at creating those budget goals to create that direct alignment back to the strategic plan. Um so we're in the final stages of getting those completed um to provide to you during the budget discussion in September.

Um you know for the staff uh the f the first version uh of their budget is due this week. Um and then I meet with them in earnest beginning the following week. Um and then we have meetings with the manager and myself at kind of the beginning of se September so that we have enough time to prepare it to bring it to council. Um we are slated for uh the public hearing on the budget on October the 7th. Um there is a scheduled date for a truth and taxation hearing if necessary.

That is still an item we are waiting from uh the county that from the assessor's office to kind of see where uh EAV is going to land this year. We don't have a definitive number. We'll keep council in the loop on if there'll be a need for a truth and taxation hearing. Um, and like I said, really the the goal here is um to have the budget uh all the voting for the budget as well as the tax levy and other items on at the meeting on November the 4th.

Um, and with that, I'm available if council has any specific questions on the timeline. Thank you, Director Kate. Just looking at the calendar, it looks like council will be meeting on a weekly basis from September the 23rd through November the 4th. Correct. This would include special meetings as well as the regular council meetings. So, we will be meeting every week again from September 23rd until November the 4th. Any questions? Can I get a motion to receive and file?

Uh moved by Council Member Carmona, seconded by Council Member Allen. Please cast your ballots. Motion passes unanimously. Thank you, Director Karate. You're probably up again. Yep. Um, madame clerk, 25-225 is a communication from the city manager and finance director controller with a request to receive and file the month ended June 30th, 2025 unodudited financial report. The report in front of you tonight for your consideration is the month ended June 30th unudited financial uh report.

Um I'll go through a few of the highlights that I kind of usually go through every month as kind of those high those overarching uh discussion. Um overall revenues in the general fund are about 6% lower. Um not something to be overly concerned about. Um and you know really looking at uh revenue projections as to where they sit right now as we're preparing for the budget.

I anticipate us um being at budget or higher than budgeted revenues um based off of really the trajectory of the revenues we have right now. Um it is really just kind of uh the difference is really timing on things like grants and other items that it's hard it's not always easy for us to be able to pinpoint exact collection dates around some of those. So it can cause some of this fluctuation.

Um, but I will say I I do not have a concern about that amount being slightly lower than our budgeted estimate. Um, I will say the good news is it is up 2.8% year-over-year. Um, and so that is that is a good indication of, you know, I think really as you look through the the report. Um, we are really seeing sales tax numbers as well as income tax numbers be stronger than uh previous years as well as stronger than what the budget we had we had anticipated.

And I know we went over that a little bit at the last council meeting. Um but we're continuing to see that strength uh in this month's report. Um in terms of expenditures, we are down slightly about 3% um compared to budget and we are down 1.4% compared to last year. Um so another good trend that we're seeing kind of uh expenses being managed by the departments effectively to our budget.

Um, and really, like I said, that's really the the large items that I would uh kind of bring council's attention to. Um, and I'm available if there's any specific questions on the report. Okay. Thank you, Director Katty. Any questions? Council member Seir. Thank you, Madame Mayor. Director Katty. Thank you, sir. Uh, just a couple question again tonight. Tell us a little bit about the personal property replacement tax. I mean, it's going way down all time.

How can you uh how will you budget uh we with these revenues in 2026? Yeah. So we um that is something obviously we've been looking at really during this upcoming budget process looking at where we think we're going to end the year and and what I will say is that is one area that we do anticipate being below budget. Um we had budgeted around 11.5 million dollars um in PPRT estimates based off the most recent numbers released uh through IML as well as through the department of revenue.

I would say we're more in line to 9.8 to 9.9 million is what we anticipate actually receiving. Um the what has happened in the last year is the preliminary estimates that were out during our budget process last year um dropped by close to a billion dollars in total receipts across the state. That really has to do with um those true ups as well as the correcting the allocation issues that they've had over the last few years.

Um and so admittedly when we went through the budget process we were concerned that that was an accurate number to begin with. So we actually shot a little bit lower than what that estimate was and unfortunately the numbers are slightly lower. Um they are projecting a 7% increase for next year. Um they are claiming that the true up payments are supposed to be done. Um so we should get some of that revenue back.

Um, but I think to your point, Councilman, I think our our goal with this because of its volatility is we will, you know, look to be conservative in that growth. Um, because at the end of the day, that is a revenue source that we use heavily for things like our pension obligations. Um, and we don't want to overpromise uh a revenue that's that's as volatile as it has been the last few years. Well, you covered a little bit of my next question.

And what percentage of this $9 million will be applied towards pension? So about um probably about 90% of it goes towards pensions. We do have statutory requirements for part of it to go towards FICA as well as the library. Um and so that makes up um a little bit around 800,000 of the overall number. So whatever shortfall we have comes from the general general fund after that. That is correct. Tell us a little bit about I mean I know there's a new item on the budget the last few years.

We've never had that much cash before. I'm I'm calculating around a little bit north of $3 million in interest from our cash this year. Where does that money go? And what what will you will will you use uh these monies to the budget? We So last year in totality across all of our funds, we collected about $9 million in interest. Um this year I anticipated it being down slightly. Um just because one, we've had uh one drop in Fed funds. We anticipate at least another to a second.

So we've had some lower rates. Um we have also been using fund balance. So we also anticipate a slightly lower number. Um but the three million that you're you are discussing is the amount that we have in our general fund. So really every dollar we make in that market helps to offset um whether it's revenue reductions for loss of revenue or increases in our needs. It's helping to offset our general fund costs. Okay. Uh thank you again for taking my phone call on the Sunday.

You always have been very gracious about that. Um, I always ask you about specialy accounts that were uh in the negative. Yep. Any concern? Do you have any concern? Especially like capital fund is now down $8 million and we have some other ones that we talked about before. I'm not going to ask you again, but any concern with any fund that are negative right now? Uh, not from my standpoint. Um, the ones that we know are negative and potentially have been running negative.

I I know obviously we talk heavily about the garbage fund. Um I would say we have plans in place to get those back to the levels that they intend to be. Um I will also say one one item on here that I think can be a little misleading is the IMRF fund. Um right now that shows a $2.7 million loss. Um that really has to do more with your difference between accounting principles and how you budget.

So, if you remember correctly, when we did when we did the e early retirement incentive back in 2021, um we loaned money from the OPED fund to pay for that early retirement incentive so that we could pay 3% interest instead of 7.25. So, it was going to save us money in the long run to do so. From an accounting standpoint, it is booked as a loan, but it's not addressing the actual fund balances.

So when really the fund balances should be shown about $4.5 million lower on OPED because that money has been loaned to IMRF and IMRF fund should be more around 2 million on the positive. So that's always a review and calculation I do to make sure you know that really the requests in the budget are keeping the IMRF fund where we need it to be so we have those dollars to fund those pension obligations. Thank you sir. Last question for you. tell us a little bit.

You know, the most important account for me is our, you know, emergency fund, the general fund. We're down to $37 million. Uh, year-to- date actual was down $13 million. Tell us a little bit or tell people about our conversation on Sunday about that money, number one, and number two, what you hope to to be at by December 31st this year please. Yep.

So, you know, I think as we talked about a couple times during these discussions, a lot of that um that large negative amount that you're seeing in the general fund has more to do with the lag in revenue collection. So, we had almost three months of expenditures with no recognition of revenue because of really the timing differences on a modified acrruel basis.

Um, so what I anticipate kind of looking at uh trying to have my crystal ball out in terms of what how the year is going to go um as I anticipate us um if you remember we had uh we were intended to use about $2.5 million of reserves this year um due to the increase in police and fire pension contributions. Um I anticipate that's probably our worst case scenario this year. I anticipate that we'll probably be slightly uh better off when all is said and done.

Um so I am not overly worried that the number currently sits at a negative 13 million. I we will be back in line as we get closer to the the end of the year. Okay. And uh lastly, just a comment uh and I made a comment to city manager this report here. I think it's important for us that as we read this these reports and I'm I'm assuming they go out to the public, don't they? These reports, I think it's important that we have the accurate date.

You know, I do not manage any department that's that's our our city manager, but I would really appreciate if we pay a little attention to these reports and and have the the accurate date and on on these report. I think it's very important to me if I'm going to take the time to to know to review these reports, I got to make sure that this report should read the end of June. Correct. Not the end of May. That is correct. Thank you very much, sir. Mr. Manager, thank you.

And Madame Mayor, thank you very much. Can I get a motion to receive and file? Moved by Council Member Oiler, seconded by Council Member Rianbach. Any additional questions or comments? Please cast your ballots. Motion passes unanimously. Thank you, Director Katty. Madame Clerk, 25-226 is a communication from the city manager and director of community development with a request to receive and file a report back on tiny homes serving the unhoused population. Mr. Manager, uh, thank you.

I'm going to turn the floor over to Director Dulan to walk through this report back. Thank you, Mayor. Thank you, manager. Thank you, councel. Uh so, back in June, we held a policy session uh about kind of the um homeless situation in our community. Uh what we've done uh in the past, uh the current status since we adopted the ordinance, an update on the motel project, and some uh future solutions that that may come forward.

Uh one of the things that um council had asked us to prepare for that night was to kind of provide some briefing and background uh on this concept of of tiny homes uh kind of slash pel uh shelters uh and provide some feedback to council. Uh we had the dream center there who talked about uh different uh projects they've seen around the country, some things they might have interested to doing in Poria.

Uh part of the policy session though acknowledged that as of right now our code does not allow uh for these pallet shelters uh to be in place whether that's through the zoning code or the building code. Um so part of that policy session asked staff to go back and and look at what codes would need to be changed um if we were to move forward uh with allowing a future project like this in our community.

Um so tonight before you is kind of that first step to get direction from council if this is uh a path we want to continue to go down. Um essentially what this does uh the feedback we're getting specifically is do you want to allow them in Poria? If you do uh and ask staff what our recommendation was that's outlined uh in the communication.

It would be to add the definition of transient lodging uh within our planning I mean our zoning code uh amend the permitted use to allow transit lodging as special uses in R5 through R8 multif family residential uh CN and C1 um and then add specific performance standards around there.

Um what we would do if we get direction from council to pursue that path tonight or any other direction uh would be then to take those code amendments through the planning and zoning commission like we would through all uh zoning code changes. Uh at that point that would also allow for some additional public hearings is that process if the public wanted to weigh in uh about those changes and then bring it back to council kind of through the same path.

We'd be looking through uh bringing building code changes too to allow uh for those in Poria as well. So, uh, happy to to answer any questions, uh, as well. Director Dulan, does that mean I mean if the building code is amended to allow these dwellings, that means that it could happen anywhere? They would be allowed anywhere within the city.

Uh, no, they would specifically be allowed Well, I mean, if you look at what we we would recommend if you move forward, just in those uh specific zoning codes. So the right now the building code doesn't uh essentially allow for um kind of the pallet shelters type things like they don't have uh running water. They don't have like that. So there's two angles that they aren't allowed in the city of Poria, the building code and the zoning code.

So we still have to to work on figuring out with how to allow that to some degree in the building code, but they still would only be allowed to be built in the specific zoning code selected. Okay. Council member Rigenbach. Thank you, Madame Mayor, and thank you, Director Dulan, and to all those that have been working on this for the last couple months, and we probably should say for the last year.

And I think it's um always worthy of note to to remind ourselves that we have found permanent housing for 60 people um since the ordinance was passed last year. So that's that's a number that I think we can be proud of, but it's also um as as as we've seen in the last six months that that number doesn't seem to to go down either. So I really am encouraged to see this come forward tonight um to make these changes that would allow it.

And I think it's also worthy of noting that the the idea that the process that we're looking at would be a special use. So regardless of which zoning districts, it would still need to go to the planning and zoning commission, have a public hearing there, and then come to council for final approval. Is that the way you envision this if the decision is made to move forward? Director. Uh yes, that's yes.

like just like any special use we would have, we would do the the notice on the location, the outreach we do to people in the surrounding area. Uh it'd go through the plane and zoning commission which includes a public hearing. Uh and then come before council and because it's an allowed use in a district does not mean council is required to grant that use. Correct. because we we maintain discretion. Perhaps this is a question for corporation council.

Um could you just review that for us here as to the discretion we have in issuing special uses. And so the council, if they establish um a use as a special use within a zoning district, has indicated that that is an appropriate use subject to the conditions and review. And so you have a more limited set of circumstances under which a special use can be denied. and it has to relate to specific factors that are determined through the hearing process at the planning and zoning committee.

And then the council of course can take a different opinion on those factors. Typically, when we get into a situation where we're going to deny a special use, there'll be guidance from staff or yours truly about the specific issues we might articulate so that a disappointed applicant doesn't have a basis to sue us. And so keeping that in mind, when you establish something as a special use, you're you're basically saying it's permitted here as long as you meet the special conditions. Thank you.

Um before I get into what kind of conditions we could add, let me just ask you um you've been doing this for a number of years. I've been sitting around this horseshoe a number of years and I hear that caveat thrown at us. Well, you got to prove it or you're going to get sued. How how many times has that actually happened? And I don't expect an exact number, but I mean, yeah. Is is that the lawyer and you speaking with all due respect or is that something we really need to be conscious of?

Well, as a lawyer on behalf of all lawyers everywhere, we always like people getting sued because business is good for business. But, uh, our guidance is to try to get you to where the decision you want to create as little risk as possible of a bad outcome if we do get sued. Thank you. So, I don't necessarily mind being in a situation where we might predict we're going to get sued. What we do in that circumstances is put ourselves in the best position to be successful in any lawsuit. Thank you.

And I think if you look on the council communication, the performance standards that staff is putting forward is something that we will be able to weigh in on specifically um before the ordinance comes comes to us for final approval. But this is talking about separation. How how close can it be to a business to a a what whatever separation is a critical factor I think that that we want to be aware of. Screening is just something that will have a six-foot wall around it.

How how are we going to screen it? Um, Dream Center had some great examples um from other municipalities that have had screening that can be um enhanced to to match into the environment. The maximum number of units supportive services, what kind of supportive services would we um allow and perhaps even require? So I think tonight we want to issue a relatively broad brush to staff to go forward to put this forward um to the planning zoning commission without limiting ourselves too much.

So far, we've had one of our service providers um approach us about an idea. And I I'm just I would just caution us about making the the funnel too narrow that nobody's going to be able to do this because we do still have a problem. We still have, excuse me, let me reframe that. We do have people that are living unsheltered and I still I'm convinced in my heart that this is something that needs to be explored even further as we move forward.

And I would I I appreciate the um zoning districts, but I I don't think institutional should be ruled out and even be one with certain restrictions, I think, is something that I'm not prepared to rule out. And I would hope that we would allow staff the time to to see first of all if there's properties realistically that would be available and how we could frame them to meet the standards that the council wants.

So, um I would say I appreciate the effort so far and look forward to seeing this move on to planning and zoning. Okay. Thank you, Councilman Rigenbach. And I just have to respond that this just doesn't paint enough of a picture for me. Not yet. And I and I know it's still exploration, but I want in practicality. I want to see or know more about how it actually plays out in Peoria. Where it might play out in Peoria, how it might play out in Peoria.

We got the presentation from the dream center and I know what they want to do and I know where they want to do it. I'm not comfortable with where they want to do what they want to do with the tiny homes and I I just I'm not there yet. Councilman Rianbach, I I think that we have to continue to explore, but I don't know that that I'm to the point where we can have this kind of blanket change to the building code to allow these these uh tiny homes.

Certainly, there would need to be standards, but I I just maybe there just needs to be more discussion and meetings even outside of of this room for me to get a a more developed picture of how this would play in Peoria. Council member Oiler. Thank you, Madam Chairwoman. Um, first thing I want to get out of the way is there's been several comments about giving direction, but the item on the agenda is a receive and file of a report back.

So, how are we how and what exactly are we giving you in direction? I I think we'd want kind of some indication from council if the majority feels like we should bring this forward. So we so whatever the motion is shouldn't be a receive and file then if we're going to give some direction. Correct. Uh I would ask uh corporation council if he could help me with that answer. Um our clerk raised this issue for me earlier today too about how we express this in the agenda.

We're not looking for the council to give final direction. We've been in these conversations a few times where we talk to council about how staff ought to proceed and we get a a sense because the com the comments from the council members give us the context of where we might find a consensus of the council. So, we're not looking for a final yes or no.

Um, from the comments so far by way of example, uh, Councilman Rigenbach gave a few examples of areas where he felt this should be permitted and authorized.

Um uh the mayor indicated I don't have enough context right now to make a decision you know from that council's basically unless somebody alters that from additional comments indicated they want to hear back from us before we go to the planning and zoning commission with a set of ideas uh a little more context a little more depth of what the different options are. And so that's the exchange we're looking for here with council expressing their opinions.

You know, I'd be for this, but I would really be concerned about the setbacks or density or whatever the different issues might be in our typical zoning decisions that you might see. We had a lot of input from council about um how we were adjusting the the short-term rental ordinance in conversation with council that we then came back and and I think hit the mark at least in that episode of where the consensus was.

So, we're looking for input from you tonight from any or all of you, no matter what that input is, for or against or the different contexts. And then we'll um I think at this point, if Joe asked me what should we do, I said we better put together a little more information responsive to the comments we received and get it back in front of council before we go to planning and zoning. So, that's how I see that going forward. Thank you.

So, um, to that I think probably in my opinion a more appropriate way to handle this would be a policy session. And I'm in line with I think where the mayor's at on this is I I think the tiny home concept is great and probably where we need to go at some point with this. I also think that, you know, we need to have zoning and uh building standard changes to allow tiny homes in general is more of a real estate um option and attractiveness outside of this discussion.

But one of the concerns I have here with it right now is the wear plays a big factor in this and how we're going to actually execute it. I've been here a few years now and watched how some of this stuff plays out and the actual effect it has on the community. And one of the challenges that we have downtown specifically is that every time this topics like this when it comes to um subsidized housing, lower income housing, uh giving out um services to the community that are needed.

What happens is is a concept gets pitched out there of somebody wants to build this facility in this neighborhood and then we have a public discussion on it and then the public goes out and arms against it. And so the end result is every one of these locations ends up downtown. And so all of our supportive housing type services end up downtown because that's the one place that they are allowed to go without coming to us to have a discussion.

And I think for me to be comfortable continuing down this path, we need to have that discussion with it of where are we going to allow this to go? What is our community city plan and vision for addressing this? It has to be an all-encompassing plan, not just peacemealing things out there and then ending up with the unintended consequences down the road like we're currently struggling with.

So, as far as the issue goes, I think we've got to have the whole discussion before we can have parts of the discussion. But I do have a few questions on what's in front of us here. Uh, one of the topics is u housing that's less than 120 square feet and I guess how did we come to a number need that's you know less than 120 square ft and how does that really function and play out because that doesn't really seem like a livable circumstance to me.

So I think that specifically comes from the building code uh and that's something that we have to amend. Uh I think that the dream c center's proposal they were about 70 square feet. Um and just to to uh councilman Carmona asked me earlier I mean tiny homes are for the most part allowable in the city of Poria under the right parameters. What is being proposed in the transient lodging is more of your pallet shelters.

This is a uh 65 square foot uh four walls uh HVAC I mean not an H track, but a wall, air conditioning unit, heating unit, and a bed in it. It's not your tiny homes, the shipping container homes. It's not a a smaller kind of studio apartment that's on a lot. For the most part, in our community, those would be allowed to be built uh right now under the current uh zoning codes and um building codes. These are much smaller and aren't really considered dwellings because they don't have water service.

So, there's quite a few changes that need to be made to allow for that in the in the building code. Well, I can see t the effect of potentially taking out bathrooms and kitchens and having communal services and the size impact that that has, but I I really don't see how a 65 70 square foot um room is going to cut it here. So, I also have concerns with that when we come down to having additional conversation on this.

I I think I I had someone in the community take me out a couple weeks ago and show me a place that they thought would be a good site and give me some insight to a model that they had and and I can see how this concept could work. But I still think that there's some issues on the sizing and we really need to have a an all-encompassing parameter discussion than you know a blanket change.

And it indicated in the packet that kind of the allowable current situation is maybe 400 and some square feet and going from that to 70 is to me too big of a cut. So thank you. Okay. Council member Kelly. Thank you, Madam Mayor. U before I get into my remarks, I would just like to uh second uh the idea that uh Councilman Oiler has that we've got a lot of issues here and maybe we need a policy session on it. the things I uh had u uh in mind, a couple things.

Number one, I believe what you're saying, Director Dulan, is that our building code now allows 120 ft. 120 square feet. Under the right circumstances, yes, a a dwelling, not an apartment, but you could have a standalone dwelling. Correct. If it met some other parameters. Okay. All right. Thank Thank you for that clarification. I I was surprised at that, but I Okay.

Um, however we end up coming down on this, I think it is very very important to absolutely include a a special use discussion at council meeting. And I this uh Councilman Allen would uh caught me uh on my lack of consistency on similar issue with uh uh short-term rentals. I I don't want to set up or I don't look forward to setting up a number of parameters that we have come up with that somebody meets and then and in good faith they've gone through all this trouble.

they they're going to meet all these parameters and then come here and we say no can't do it but I want to be able to say in in this instance I want to be able to say that I want to be able to say no um this is so different this is so unusual um I I can't quite figure a place in Peoria where this could occur in practical sense. Uh we got a lot of open land out north but no transportation. We've got density closer in. Um uh but I don't want to put a burden on those neighborhoods.

Um and that's my prejudice. That may not be the case, but that's my prejudice. um related to that and this would not cover all of folks we're talking about but Mr. manager. I'd like uh do do you have a quick I didn't warn you on this, but uh do you have a quickie update on your discussions with a number of landlords on bringing in uh some of these folks for their uh for their rental properties where the rent is guaranteed, etc., etc. Or or director Dulan, I'm I'm sorry.

I mean that is what what Nicole Maro at our staff is doing constantly is reaching out to landlords having those discussions. Uh if any landlord is interested in working with us on the program uh the continum of care has explored uh different incentives and opportunities in the past. It's getting landlords who are willing to be a part of the program uh any program to to to get funding but also stay on it.

Um, unfortunately, you know uh the population that that everyone is serving has very high barriers to housing and sometimes they cause issues in in housing, um, without kind of, uh, enough support services wrapped around in there and so we lose landlords on it as well.

Um, I think their effort was very very strongly shown with being able to house 60 people through um, uh, the motel project, but a lot of that was based on uh, New Hope Apartment and Phoenix's work and the different uh, units Phoenix owned. Uh, and also um, Director Crawford at the Pory Housing Authority really stepping up and helping us get people placed in uh, Pury Housing Authority units with some changes made.

Um right now in the private market uh for the most part properties can get higher rent than most of the subsidies can legally provide. So that really also adds a huge detriment to our social service providers and trying to find housing uh because the income the rent needs to be guaranteed essentially uh while people continue to uh improve their lives to be able to get jobs in the future.

uh and a lot of the numbers set by the the federal government about what can and can't be charged rent uh landlords can get much higher on private markets. Okay, thank you. So, it's um it's not really working real well with private landlords. Correct. Okay, thank you. Um but if anyone's listening and would like to, please uh reach out to us. Yes. Yes, please. Um what occurs to me and I don't I don't know if this is practical or not um is that we don't have any we we we reverse the process.

Um we we don't have any rules. Somebody brings us something we have a look at it. This council says I like it. I don't like it. Whatever. If we do like it, then we change our rules backwards to accommodate this this developer. If I I I fear the the regular process which says we set up all the rules ahead of time. Somebody meets all those rules and then they come here and we've got to upset the apple cart and say no if if we feel like saying no.

uh sometimes, you know, I I just don't think that but I I would re I want this council to be able to say yes or no on any of these projects. Um I don't know how we roll that into a policy session. Um but I once again I do agree that we need perhaps a policy session on this. But at the same time, my number one preference is that this council gets the final word on on these things. They're they're they're they're a great idea.

I think they're attractive, but I don't know how practical they are for Pure Illinois. Thank you, Madame Mayor. You're welcome. Excuse me, Council Member Allen. Uh thank you, Madame Mayor. Um Director Dulan, thank you to you and your team's work on this. And uh also thank you to you, Councilman Rianbach. I know that you have uh been in um a lot of these conversations, so we appreciate your your effort and leadership on this.

Uh based off of the verbiage that is in the current proposal, was there any conversation with our social service agencies that you've been collaborating with to incorporate some of their suggestions or or language in this proposal that's in front of us tonight? Um we had some I mean we've had discussions with the Dream Center all along.

I think specifically what we looked at with with these changes are kind of what practices other communities have used and what we felt uh comfortable with uh as far as making sure if the project did come forward we would get public input. Um you know at the policy session we had in June I think that uh the social services agencies indicated that they would prefer it downtown. Uh obviously this does not include the downtown area because that's B1.

Um you know we felt that a lot of the the uh shelters already that are currently in town. I mean essentially what a tiny home village is is uh a more independent living situ but situation but ultimately a a temporary shelter with almost no barriers to allow people to to to live. Um and we felt the concentration in the downtown area uh was at a position especially with the Salvation Army uh expanding uh through theirs that that might not be the best location for it.

Um and so then we were also struggling to see what the locations we thought was best for it and we thought um areas that already zoned to have higher density because this would be more dense would be kind of the area that we'd look at. um specifically kind of with the commercial aspect that might uh make it more attuned to be uh kind of on a bus route or connected to services. So that's kind of where we landed. Thank you. And I know that you've been doing a lot of research on this.

Can you speak to the project that's happening in Bloomington? I know that um and kudos to them. they they're moving forward in their journey on this, but what's can you just talk a little bit about those, you know, how it was funded and maybe its location and how that kind of difference may be from this potential proposal? Yeah. So, I mean, I don't have a ton of insider details on it. It's just more what the media has reported about what they they are doing.

Uh, from what the last reports have, it's about a $2.5 million project for about 50 units. Uh, they estimate that the annual operations uh to run it, it's going to be about a million dollars. Um my understanding is a large chunk of that funding is coming through a sales tax uh in MLAN county uh that they have earmarked some of those funds towards it. Um it'll be run by a nonprofit with kind of similar to the the same kind of parameters that the dream center uh indicated when they talked to us.

Um and the the land I believe was donated uh whether it's from the city or the transit there. Uh and so a little bigger than kind of what the dream center originally talked to us at our policy session, but kind of the same concept of of uh kind of these pallet shelter homes that uh have a communal space for water and things like that. Thank you. Um appreciate that.

And you know, I believe that you know, right now we have made a lot of progress um with the motel project and I see representatives from Lula in the crowd. I appreciate you all's work throughout that.

uh appreciate the contin of care and those consistent meetings and we've been able to transition to 60 or so individuals into uh current housing which is a win but we do know that there are many others that are still unhoused and we know before you know it the weather will be changing and it'll be cold and we'll be having some tough decisions to make here soon. Um I do believe that we do need to explore all tools to go in our toolkit to address this issue for our community.

So, um I am open to the idea of learning more about what we can do with this potential variation here. Um as you take that back and you meet with our social service providers, if they have feedback or amendments or suggestions, we can have further conversation. um having my district council member hat on, I think we are going to have um some hurdles of finding the proper location just because of how Peoria is um geographically made up.

I mean, outside of downtown, it is heavy residential and I think that that's going to be uh a challenge for us. And so we may need to consider maybe uh doing this concept but maybe diluting it in a way where we don't have large um congregates of of of camps and maybe they're more diluted. So now you maybe have 10 or you know something along those lines. I'm just kind of spitballing ideas right now. But um look forward to just continuing the conversation.

But I'm glad that we're at least looking at other opportunities because again this is a consistent uh issue for our community and it's not going away no time soon. So we got to continue to keep looking at opportunities. Thank you, sir. Thank you, Madam Mayor. You're welcome. Council member Seir, thank you, Madame Mayor. Director Dulan, thank you for your presentation being here again tonight. I applaud your efforts over the last many years.

Uh you've been a real trooper for homelessness and and your staff has just been outstanding. Now, we had a meeting not too long ago at the Gateway Building and I still stand by my comments. I mean I am not an expert in this situation. I know many expert like yourself. You're one of my expert. I said before there's over 15 different nonforprofit that are helping us in Peoria. One thing we're terrible at doing in Peoria, we're just bad promoters of business we do.

I think Peoria has done an outstanding job with this problem. Outstanding. We spend a lot of money. We have invested a lot of money and people have been on board. But the numbers changes all the time. Now, even the last meeting we're here, you had some numbers and and uh uh um forgot her name. Sorry, Miss Oh, Ki had different numbers right there at the same meeting. So, tonight I'm interested in know what are the current numbers?

Uh because for me it was like we helped out 400 people last fall and then by the end by the spring we're up to 600 and then you ask money for the mo for the hotel project was like 20 left or 30 in case she talked about maybe 50. So where we're at tonight with our problem. Uh I'm gonna I would put Kate Green on the spot but I doubt she knows those numbers off the top of her head.

Uh, I think that the the last email I sent maybe about a month and a half ago that had an update from Kate had those numbers in it. I'm happy to provide that tomorrow back to you guys. Um, I think some of the discrepancy in the numbers for the motel project, we were looking at the number of people we were tracking that kind of at the time when we passed the additional funding is when we cut off new people coming.

Uh, I think uh, Ki through their efforts, they included uh, brought in additional people through their private funding. So, I think that's where she got her number. our number of specifically 33 when the project was over was those that uh were enrolled in the the part we were funding. So tonight, you know, if you're looking for direction, I have to agree with Madame Mayor and Councilman Oiler and I think Kelly said some word. I mean, we need we need more direction oursel.

I mean, to me, we're going to the to the budget session in a couple months and maybe a month from September and and we don't know exactly where we stand. Have we made progress? I mean, at the 600 numbers going down, is it going up? How many people we have on the street right now? And when I talk to you as one of my expert also, what what I'm very concerned about is we have 10, 15, 20% of that population that really don't want our help.

Basically, they want to stay on the street uh uh and they needs to be uh institutionalized. So my comment at the gateway building I stand by was listen we got a pie. Okay, our pie is actually getting smaller right now which is the money that comes in. We do not print money and we don't have grants and we don't I mean we just there's just we're not miracle workers. Our pie is getting smaller all the time.

So to me it's like okay last year we invested about $2.6 million I believe in some of these projects. Uh I'm looking at at my um specialists, my experts say listen there's 15 at least 15 16 different organizations. You guys tell me I mean we don't have any more money. Okay. How do you want us to prioritize how we divide your piece of the pie? That's what I'm looking for because I'm not the expert. I'm not an expert and I know how complex this is.

But on a personal note, I'm I'm these tiny homes When you read this, I mean, I wouldn't put anybody that I know in that home. 10 by 12 home with no kitchen, no sanitary uh uh provision for someone that needs some mental help and to put them somewhere. To me, it's almost like I I hate to say that in public, it's almost like a prison, you know? I mean, you you got a bed. You got a 10 by 10 by 12 little room with a bed. And I don't know what else would be in there, but it's like, wow.

It's to me it's like we're just trying to hide those people. And I hope I'm wrong when I say that, but to me it's like, are we just trying to hide? I mean, we don't want them downtown, so we're going to hide them somewhere. And like, let's give them a little room 10 by 12, no kitchen, no toilet, nothing. I'm not excited about that. I mean, somebody needs to teach me. I want to see where there's some success, you know? And if we're talking about Bloomington, $2.5 million. I know we have that.

That's we spent more than that last year just for the project. A million. I mean, we have these 15 people have all kinds of money. I know we we're very very giving community. So these budget are are way way above a million dollars. So I'm looking for my expert come back say hey you know those 15 people we raise $100 million a year. Maybe we can carve out 2.5 million to build 50 somewhere. And again, what's going to happen? We all know what's going to happen when we build those. Oh, yeah.

We know we're very giving community, but not in my backyard. I want to help those people, but none in my backyard. So, let's be honest about what we're talking about tonight. So, I'm not very excited about putting anybody that I wouldn't know in a small room like that. And then we're going to get all going to get a bunch of phone call. Hey, this is a great idea. Great idea. Let's help those people. But not in my backyard. So, I I cannot give you any.

I mean, it says file, none to receive and file tonight. But I agree with the madame mayor and all the people. We we need to have some adult conversation about this because such a complex problem, but also I want to make sure that the people we're helping are people I hate to say that there are people from Peoria because I want to there I think it's unfair for taxpayers in Poria to take care of people that are coming from somewhere else outside Peoria.

So, I'm looking for the expert tell me, okay, we only have whatever we have, $2.5 million. Here's how we we should carve out to help the that population. Thank you very much for all the work you do, Mr. Dulan. I would want to have your job, but I I know you got a big heart for those people. Thank you, Madam Mayor. You're welcome, Council Member Rianbach. Thank you, Madam Mayor. Well, I think it's it's pretty clear if you're looking for direction that there's a lot more to be talked about. Yes.

on this and I think it's really important for us as a council to be as united as we possibly can be going forward because this is something that we've been talking about for a long time and as Councilman Seir said we've invested a lot of money in multiple projects and I I think it's important for us important for me to keep in mind that the numbers aren't going away and this problem seems to be systemic throughout the country.

So, we're we're not going to come up with a solution that houses everybody, but I want to get to that functional zero, I think, is a word that I I hear a lot that that we we aim for that that that's our objective. And I think the building code changes um are are pretty logical. And and I would just quickly add that the tiny homes, if you look at the the communication, these are not going to be long-term housing solutions for anybody.

This is typically an emergency housing in building codes and contains only basic shelter elements without provisions for cooking and sanitation. And the one example we saw from the dream center included a a a a commissary, if you will, that there was a place that meals would be provided. There was a place for showers and and and sanitation.

So, so that's the stuff that I I apologize that I I have been trying to educate to get as much information gathered and I probably haven't shared it all appropriately and and we all we need to sit down as a group and figure out what we're comfortable with and how we want to move forward.

And I think again I don't want to rule out any zoning district as long as we have performance standards and that's something I think that we need to decide as as a group as regarding separation screening maximum number of units because those are the things that will help assuage those people that say not in my backyard but if we know it's going to look like this it's going to function like this that there's going to be supportive services that it it that's the stuff we need to to discuss in my opinion.

So, um, I I am just so happy to see our friends from Lula, Heather and Casey here, and Kate Green sitting back there from the continuum of care because this isn't something that we're going to solve at this horseshoe. But by working with the people who are on the front lines providing the service, we're going to find out what really works and what doesn't work, where it makes sense, where it doesn't make sense. So, um, let's get that policy session on the books sooner than later.

Thank you for indulging me, madam. Oh, thank you. We cannot stop trying. Councilman uh Carmona, thank you, Madam Mayor, and thank you, Director Dulan. Uh yeah, it seems like the general sentiment around the horseshoe and not not just here, but also constituents I've talked to is um you know, it is that not in my backyard mentality. Everybody's very concerned about where this is going to go.

Um, I think it's also important to think about the fact that although we've already done so much to try to improve the situation by adding more permanent potential fixes to the situation um will guarantee that we are helping more Porians, but we'll also guarantee that we're helping people as my colleague Dennis here said from outside of Poria because it's not necessarily going to solve the issue.

Um, but it will guarantee that the issue will grow with the amount of beds, with the amount of rooms, with the amount of lodging that we do create for this potential fix. So, we are in a very hard spot.

I agree that we need to have a serious policy session about a legitimate way to do this um where everybody can be on board and unified because the way it's kind of laid out here, you know, if a potential developer wants to put this somewhere um if you think you know your Airbnb down the street is controversial, wait until this comes knocking on your door. And so I think it's very important that we do have a much longer discussion about this. Thank you, Madam Mayor. You're welcome.

Well, I think you've heard really the sentiment of the council that we we need to um fill this out more, more context, more discussion. Uh we need to I I know we have weeks of budget meetings coming up, special meetings and regular meetings. So, we'll have to figure out how to fit this in.

I would just respectfully ask that uh if there's specific information you're looking for as part of that policy session, please reach out to staff and we're happy to to get that and do that that background and that research uh to be able to provide as as much information as possible to you guys. Okay. And and I think for me it is where are we talking about having tiny homes? It's hard to change the building codes without knowing where are we talking about having these tiny homes.

I I think I mean what comes first, right? I I think that's a a critical question. Where are the possibilities? I haven't seen that. I don't see that. I don't see that map. Where are those possibilities that it's practical? And I know we've seen one downtown and I'm totally against it, but we've seen that downtown and we heard the rationale for that. But I we've got a ways to go, I think. Uh, Councilman Seir. Okay. Seconded by Council Member Allen. Any other discussion?

To unlock your iPhone first. Oh, I am so sorry. How embarrassing. Please cast your ballots. Motion passes unanimously. Madame Clerk, 25-227 is a communication from the city manager and corporation council with a request to receive and file a report back on off- premise advertising billboards. Mr. Manager, uh, thank you, Madame Mayor. I'm going to turn the floor over to our corporation council that will walk through the report back. Okay.

So, we have a lengthy report in your council packet that is an inventory that's been updated. I'll just point out that there is a in the table of contents, you'll see that many of the uh a number of the locations is uh in on red font. Those are um items that were in the original inventory that have since been removed.

And so if you're curious about that and how this works, each of these locations is noted first by a red dot on a map and then the next page includes a photograph of either or both sides of the actual sign as well as the general information about the owner, property owner if the sign and property owner are different. Um and then um most of our signs are legal nonconforming. So how does a sign become legal non-conforming? The council has changed the code of where these signs are allowed.

And for a number of different reasons, almost 90% I think of our signs are legal non-conforming. They might be too close to residential. Now based on our updated code provisions they might be on a thoroughfare that is changed by way of definition as part of our comprehensive plan. Um the applicant who was uh moving towards the council had uh and would have been on the agenda tonight withdrew their request. That was the issue with that application from staff's perspective.

And so there's a number of our signs, and in fact, most of them no longer conform with our code because they've been up so long. And there's some places where new signs can go, but we have a cap, meaning that if somebody wants to put up a billboard, they got to take down an existing billboard to get under the cap. And so we will come forward in an update to this, but we wanted to present initially the inventory so everybody can take a look at this.

One of the issues that came up is that other communities have annual inspections of their outdoor advertising facilities. We don't presently do that, but we're working towards a set of regulations that would tell the the the industry what we're going to regulate and inspect for. And we'll be presenting that set of outcomes when we come back to council either two or four weeks now or at the latest six weeks from now and give you an update. We'll include in that how we're going to staff that.

Our existing staff will be able to accomplish the inspections. We'll have a a bit of a permit fee suggestion so that we can pay for those staff costs um and uh present to you based on a comparison of a number of communities that regulate in this manner what we think might be an appropriate approach for the city council to take. I apologize we don't have that ready yet, but there was a lot of work done on this inventory and I hope that's helpful.

It does for each sign tell you why it might be non-conforming if it is so that you can understand that over time the council has become more restrictive about where these signs can go and that's why so many of these are non-conforming. There are still options of places where outdoor signs can go in the community, but it's a lot less places than there used to be, which is why so many of these are non-conforming.

Um, I don't know if you've got any other questions for us tonight, but we'll be back to you uh to fill out um those additional elements, give you a a draft of a regulatory scheme and uh our recommendations for uh annual permit amounts. I don't know if there's any very helpful council that So, there was an an item uh that came to a prior council meeting where staff had recommend recommended to deny I think a waiver.

Did we defer that to another meeting or were that came off the agenda because the individual withdrew that application and I mentioned that just a moment ago. That was going to be at Okay. The request was for a an off- premise sign at 9900 North Knoxville, just beyond the intersection of Knoxville and Route Six. Okay. Um that would not be um uh that sign doesn't conform with our present ordinances because it's not right. It's it's not a major arterial there. It's a minor arterial.

And so um there's a um designation related to our comprehensive plan about where we're going to develop um different amenities. So this is just one element that was impacted by that set of decisions that council made previously. Um the council would still have the ability to grant a waiver. Uh but staff's position was that the uh wasn't supportive of that because council hasn't granted any waiverss, right, since it passed these restrictions.

So staff's reluctant to suggest a waiver until council sort of points the way over time. Okay. All right. So they withdrew their application. They did. Okay. Do we expect them to come back? Uh I have not received any other communication other than they were wanting to withdraw their application. Okay. Council member Rigenbach. Thank you, Madam Mayor.

When when you come back, corporation council, if you could include a um cliffnotes version of what our current ordinances are in this regard, I see references to monopoles and double stacked and whatnot and landscaping. So, if you could just give us an understanding of what what we currently require and then that'll give us a better understanding of how far off the mark these are as well. So, that would be helpful. Thank you. Thank you, Madam Mayor. You're welcome.

Council member Kelly, just a minor question. And I uh you know I first of all I appreciate all this information and the fact that u you're going to be coming back with more um just an oddball question. What's what's uh why monopoles only or what what's what's that about? Why not two two supports or is there a a reason that you know of? So the um one of the main elements of the comprehensive plan is how do we use our streets not just for moving vehicles but for moving people.

and the monopole is easier to fit into limited areas um but still allow for bike paths, pedestrian paths and those types of things. And so it's part of this comprehensive plan of creating a set of rules about how all these different things fit together in limited space. So the monopole is part of that. Okay, we'll we'll talk.

Um, I want to thank Josh Naven who was the planner who put together this comprehensive report because I don't want to receive those compliments and not direct them to the right place. So, thank you very much. Thank you, Madam Mayor. You're welcome, Council Member Seir. Thank you, Madame Mayor. Councilman Kelly. Landscaping is also very, very important for Monopol. That's why they that exists. Uh, move to receive and file. Madam Mayor, seconded by Council Member Allen. Any questions comments?

Please cast your ballots. Motion passes unanimously. Madame Clerk, we are at unfinished business. Nothing. Then we would be on to new business. Is there any new business? Council member Kelly. Thank you, Madam Mayor. I uh would just like to uh mind the council and the public. Uh we lost a a long long-term uh contributor to the city uh recently, Bernie Goine. Uh he was on the transportation commission, but and Bernie uh uh taught economics at Bradley.

Uh he's a staunch member of the Uplands neighborhood. uh and he's had to uh put up with my phone calls for the last 25 or 30 years. Uh but a really fine man and a and a great servant of our city. So just a remembrance for Bernie. Thank you. Yes. Thank you for sharing that. Any other new business? Council member Allen. Uh thank you, Madame Mayor.

Um, I would like to take a moment to shout out one of our colleagues around the horseshoe and that is uh our newest colleague uh Councilman Alex Carmana who was selected as a 2025 class of uh or excuse me class of 25 Edgars Fellows uh program uh recipient. A little bit about this program. It was established in 2012 and this program is a leadership initiative designed by former governor Illinois uh James Edgar to inspire respectful collaboration in addressing the state's major challenges.

The fellows selected for the class of 2025 reflect Illinois political, racial, ethnic, and geographic diversity. They included elected and appointed officials from all levels of governments, leaders of nonforprofit, labor organizations, and individuals who are influencing public policy in the business world. So, I just want to give you a shout out, sir. Congratulations. That's a major honor. Congratulations. [Applause] Any other new business? Okay, madam clerk.

We are at citizens opportunity to address the city council. I have two cards. Uh, the first is Miss Jacqueline Brown. Jacqueline Brown. She's still here. Carrie Alms. Thank you for this opportunity. Um, my name is Carrie Alms and I'm concerned tonight about the how the 25226 was queued up because it's really not a receive and file item if the council were to have taken action on the staff recommendation.

Um the city agenda clearly says that all the recommendations are outlined and you can tell on the agenda it says the communication with the request for the following to adopt in an ordinance or to pro approve um an agreement or something like that.

I would ask that there would be more care taken and that perhaps the language that could be used the next time when something a report back is instead of with a request to receive and file a report back on it should be with a request for direction on a report back. that seems more um transparent because if I were to take the time and I have before in the past and have gotten back opinions from the Illinois Attorney General that that would have failed the Open Meetings Act.

Additionally, your card here requests that someone put their address, their city, state, zip, and telephone um number, which is a violation of the Open Meetings Act. If you're going to include that, perhaps you would want to put another asterric that says optional. about the um tiny home village.

I'm very excited that you're going to have another policy session and I would ask that perhaps you've talked to staff, you've talked among yourself, you've talked with social service providers, but you haven't talked to any of the neighborhoods. And Mayor Ali, I would like to tell you that my neighborhood will be one of the areas that it will predominantly be in. Most of the residential area property in my area is zoned R six or R seven.

So when you do your policy session, perhaps you would consider asking staff if they would provide you a current map of the transitional housing. Most of the transitional housing in the city of Poria is located in the north valley or downtown. We're already saturated. We cannot keep trying to reweave the fabric of our neighborhood when we have many people that we as neighbors continue to reach out to and try to support. Um, Councilman Seir, it's not a 10 by 12.

The dream center proposal was for a 7 by10 room. 70 to 80 feet is about the standard size of a prison cell. on that map that was a 50 by 250 thing with communal bathrooms. And I get that it's more expensive to put a bathroom or a shower. I've looked at some of the tiny homes in other places. They're much bigger. It's it's probably more transitional housing than transient housing.

But I would just ask you, if I was on a parcel that was 50 by 250 ft and the bathrooms are at the at the zero mark and I live 250 ft away and perhaps I'm sick or perhaps it's icy or rainy or snowy, I'm going to really have to trapes 250 ft to use the facilities. I I I just I I've just been an advocate for people in my neighborhood and people that have less just that we think about them. We want to provide them dignity. We want to get them out of the thing.

But I've also heard word on the street that there are other plans out there that may not be considered because they may be a bigger price tag. Okay. So we need to also think about something is not always better than nothing. CJ Summers who used to have a great political bog he came up with that saying for Poria something is better than nothing.

Once we do something, and it really isn't the right thing, and we shouldn't be on the sidelines forever, but once we do something, especially with such a significant issue as this, and we're talking about human beings, we're talking about the human beings that are unhouse that we're trying to help, and we're talking about the human beings that live in neighborhoods that are trying to help others, but also trying to have their life.

We really need to have a very big tent and get everybody together and get their input so we can really come up with the best solution that helps peorans. Thank you. Welcome. Okay, that concludes the citizens residents comments. Uh madame clerk, we are at executive session.

I would like to invite a motion to adjurnn and to convene in close session immediately following the adjournment of the city council meeting pursuant to the open meetings act 5CS 122 C11 to discuss pending litigation or probable or imminent litigation and pursuant to the open meetings act 5CS 122 C21 for approval by the body of close session minutes moved by Councilman Oiler seconded by council Member Kelly. Uh, please cast your ballots. Thank you. Thank you for your service.