Committee of the whole meeting for the Elgin City Council for August 27th, 2025 to order.

Will the court please call the roll?

Councilmember Zalharo.

Present.

Dixon.

Good.

Here.

Martinez here.

Ortiz?

Here.

Powell?

Here.

Stefan?

Here.

Thorne?

Here.

Mayor Captain.

Here.

We have two meetings to approve minutes of.

The first one is the meeting of August 6th, 2025.

Move for approval.

Second.

Move the second for approval any corrections or additions.

Hearing none, please call the rule.

Councilmember Zalfaro?

Yes.

Looks good.

Yes.

Martinez?

Yes.

Ortice.

Abstain.

Powell.

Yes.

Stefan?

Yes.

Thorne?

Yes.

Mayor Captain.

Yes.

Motion is approved 7-0 with one abstention.

The other is a meeting of August 13th, 2025.

Move for approval.

Second.

Move the second for approval on any corrections or additions.

Hearing none, please call a rule.

Councilmember Zalfaro?

Yes.

Good.

Yes.

Martinez?

Yes.

Ortiz?

Yes.

Powell?

Yes.

Stefan?

Yes.

Thorne?

Yes.

Mayor Captain.

Yes, motions approved.

Date zero.

We have a number of people signed up this evening for a public comment.

First one is Sherry Liskey.

Hi, can you hear me?

Okay.

Good evening.

Uh Mayor, City Council members, staff, and folks.

My name is Sherry Liske.

I live in Elgin.

I'm here tonight to I'm here tonight to provide my own personal comment and observations regarding what is happening in Algin related to ICE.

Since the beginning of this year, there have been a marked increase in the presence and activity by ICE in our area.

Between quiet barricaded traffic stops, smashed windows, dragging people out of vehicles, intercepting people as they walk out of court, or pressuring employers to fire people in anticipation of workplace raids.

The community is being victimized and terrorized in a manner that most of us have not seen.

Armed masked unidentified personnel without warrants are literally snatching people off the street and putting them in unmarked vehicles.

Are these federal agents or bounty hunters?

Where is their identification?

Oh, but don't panic.

Your neighbors will just end up in a dark hole of the immigration detention system where their partners and families will have no clue where they are or where they will end up.

People like to say this is a federal issue.

Take it up with your Congresspeople.

Well, I say this is our community's issue.

Justice starts in this room.

Leadership needs to start in this room.

The least you can do is attend a know your rights training, lead a food drive, or perhaps stand up and speak out.

Call a press conference on the daily abuses of our neighbors, not to mention the Constitution and due process.

As students of history, we know that this isn't new, but it is happening right now.

On our blocks, in our neighborhood, in City Hall, and right in that hallway out there.

Our neighbors are worried about themselves and their family members just going to work, school, or the grocery store.

This is just wrong.

So is the excuse.

Well, ICE is just doing their job, and sometimes they have to do things that they don't want to do.

Well, I say, well, then don't do it.

Do not um work for a system that disappears people.

This is not public safety.

So for now, in conclusion, it's our it's time for our elected officials to stand up for our residents and say, ICE out of our community, ice out of elgin.

Thank you.

Thank you.

First one is uh Deborah Willis.

Uh good afternoon.

Good evening, City Council and community.

My name is Deborah Willis, and I stand before you tonight as an advocate and an activist on behalf of the Elgin community.

For decades, our city has come together to honor Dr.

Martin Luther King Jr.

Through celebration and service.

Over the past 40 years, this event has grown and it's changed.

And sometimes we have faced challenges, yet through it all we have passed and kept on going.

Because Dr.

King's vision remains just as vital today as it was then, as we move forward into the 21st century, we cannot limit ourselves to this is the way it's always been done.

Our celebration must continue to evolve, embracing new ideas, engaging young people, and bringing our community together in a meaningful way.

The community has expressed to me the importance of honoring all voices, all leaders involved in this effort.

Each chairperson and committee member brings unique skills and perspectives, and it's vital that we value and respect one another as we build this program.

I spoke with Mayor Captain some time back about bringing the Sunday program back.

It's a tradition that the community has done for quite some time.

Restoring it would strengthen the celebration and provide other opportunities to unite us as Dr.

King's message of justice, equality, and hope.

This celebration is more than an event.

It's a reflection of who we are as a city.

Let us continue to grow, adapt, and honor Dr.

King's led legacy by ensuring this tradition thrives for generations to come.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you for allowing me to speak at this time.

My name is Winfrey Cooper.

I was the former chair of the Elgin Human Relations Commission.

And one of the honors and privileges I had was being part of the MLK Martin Luther King weekend event.

For 40 years, the City of Elgin has performed the Dr.

Martin Luther King Junior weekend celebration.

For that weekend shows Dr.

King's message of love, diversity, and equality.

Over time, there has been some changes in how to properly operate under the Human Relations Commission.

We are asking the city of approval of the proposed draft of the Martin Luther King subcommittee.

We will stay under the Human Relations Commission.

We just ask that the draft the city draft adds a clause stating that if an appointed member's term expires and there isn't any applicants, that that individual stays on till there's a proper replacement.

Whether it's the food drive, the breakfast, or the Sunday event.

Those interim members are.

Sorry.

Carol Bailey, Stina Raglan, Michael Montgomery, Ms.

Jane McCuh Cutchinson, and Winfrey Cooper.

Thank you for your time.

Have a good day.

Thank you.

Janey McCuption.

Okay.

Mr.

Manager.

Thank you, Mayor.

City Council members.

The first item is the continuation of the local grocery tax.

Illinois is phasing out its collection and remittance of the 1% grocery tax beginning on January 1st, 2026.

If municipalities do not take steps to maintain their local grocery tax structure by October 1st of this year, they will lose this revenue stream entirely.

For Elgin, this will create a projected annual general fund revenue loss of about 1.2 million dollars.

Continuing the local grocery tax through a local ordinance enables the city to preserve this revenue stream without introducing a new financial burden for residents or businesses.

The proposed ordinance is consistent with action taken by over 210 Illinois municipalities.

Move for approval.

Move the secret for approval.

Any discussion.

I'll take the stab at it first.

So I reached out to Illinois municipal league for more data.

And so as of August 21st, there are 513 local municipalities that have taken this although has adapted the local grocery tax.

I think this is something that we should continue in order not to burden the community with property increasing property tax.

Something that was written in the memo.

I also think that there is a lot of hard decisions coming our way, given what's going on at the federal level with certain cuts.

Our capital expenses, if you read the minutes from August 6th, in the next five years, our capital expenses are going to increase.

There's a lot of infrastructure work that needs to be done.

There's a lot of things that are aging.

And so with that, losing 1.2 million dollars every year would take a big hit to our community.

And so I think we should keep this to make sure that our capital expenses and our capital projects continue to ensure that we have the infrastructure that we need here in Elgin.

Mr.

Thorne.

Thank you, Mayor.

Basically, my opinion on this is uh in line with uh Ms.

El Faro.

It's really not like initiating a new tax.

I mean I'm not a fan of taxes.

But this is more like a transition.

It's something that people have been paying.

Uh 1.2 million, that's a lot of money.

It's a very, very small amount to individuals, but it makes a big difference in the city.

With all the expenses that we have and the mandates that we have, um I would actually like to make a motion that uh that this tax goes towards the mandated uh lead service line replacement.

I'll second that.

It's been seconded to uh let this uh uh any increase in the uh or the I guess the resurrection of the food tax go directly to the uh lead service lines as an amendment to the I guess that is an amendment to a proposal that it be correct.

That goes on that service line, and then as a project that's done, it goes back to general fund.

Is that looking to amend the motion or actually I'd like to amend that that once the lead service lines are done, then it would go to general fund.

So I'm sorry.

You're you're your are you making a motion to amend the original motion?

The original motion?

Not your original motion, my original motion to approve this.

Yes, yes.

Okay.

My I'm um making a motion to amend my motion to include just restate it.

Yes.

Let me just restate it.

Will that work?

Yes.

So I'm making a motion that that we uh adopt this tax, but that the money goes to the lead service line replacements, which is required.

Um, and then once that is completed, then it will go to the general funds.

Uh the benefit will help people without having their water bill go up.

I'll still second that.

Okay.

Discussion on that motion.

Um I guess I might I'm gonna make my my uh I I know the council is waiting for me to say something because I'm gonna uh I'm gonna be the guy up here tonight that's gonna go countercurrent.

And uh I'm not gonna support uh putting the tax back on.

And uh I'm gonna start out and say what Governor Pritzker said in 2024 when he brought this to the state legislature, and the state legislature voted not to have a grocery tax.

He said it was the most aggressive tax regressive tax you could possibly have.

Taxing uh people on food.

Wealthy people, middle class people can afford to go to this grocery store and pay one percent.

Everybody else has a hard time.

Currently, 13 states out of 50 have a grocery tax.

70 percent of the voters in the United States are against the grocery tax.

Capital facts just uh uh uh published on the 4th of August.

50 percent of Americans say the cost of groceries is a major stress on their on their uh budgets.

Sixty-four percent of Americans with an income of less than thirty thousand dollars say grocery costs are a major stress.

Um have approved it.

There are 1,300 municipalities in uh Illinois, and I I've said from the beginning, every community is have to look at it uh from their through their own lens.

Everybody's different.

Some of the smaller communities are not home rule, so they can't add taxes.

This is an easy way for them to keep that revenue stream going.

Um for other communities, uh bigger communities like Elgin, it's not necessarily the uh the proper choice for us.

And I believe in this time that uh uh there are some other issues that are uh going to be hitting us.

Uh for the people that are at the bottom of our economy in the city of Elgin, they just got told they have uh electric costs are gonna go up.

Gas costs are gonna go up.

There's gonna be a dollar fifty charge on every package sent to your house, and this is one thing that the city of Elgin has some little bit of control over.

Uh 1.2 million dollars out of a $370 million dollar budget.

Currently, I'm looking at the uh the sales tax for the city of Elgin uh up to this year.

Uh we have set records for the amount of sales tax the last three months.

And uh there's concern around the country with uh tariffs uh coming on to uh uh becoming into into the into the stream now, I guess in the uh revenue stream for the United States, how that's gonna impact shoppers.

And the shoppers are being impacted by the sales tax.

We get a portion of that sales tax.

Our sales tax has gone up 16 percent so far this year.

16 percent.

The last three months have been record highs for sales tax ever in the city of Elgin.

Those are pretty significant numbers.

I think those are the beginning of a trend, and I think it's worth the chance for us to help the people and the poorer people in this community to meet their daily budget.

They're gonna have to go out and buy shoes, they're gonna have to go out and buy clothes, but they have to buy food.

And Bob Gilliam and I, when we talked about doing things for the block grant, the block grants, we looked at three things.

Number one at the top of our list was to make sure that people had enough food.

And we do it for doing fundraisers, we're talking about uh uh doing uh fundraisers and uh uh at the MLK.

We're talking about a crop walk coming up here in October to raise foods, and then doesn't it sound a little odd that we'd go back and then people that are trying to get their hands on and get themselves pulled up a little bit are going to have a proper tax put on the the price of the food they're buying, but we'll give them free food if they come out and ask for it.

I'd rather have them be able to let that one percent go towards the buying their own groceries.

That's Dave Captain's opinion.

Uh I'm not going to support.

I do agree that um it should be targeted money, and I'm very happy to see that this is money that would be going back into the lead service lines if it uh if it passes, and uh I think that's a great thing for the city of Elgin, but I can't support putting this tax back on.

Thank you.

Mr.

Good.

Thank you, Mayor.

Um, so I appreciate everything the mayor just uh referenced, and uh I think that was the uh immediate kind of knee-jerk when I heard this was coming down from the state.

Um and then starting to think about okay, if if uh a dollar amount is removed from the budget, what does that mean for the existing city budget, um our operations, uh short term, long term.

So as you know, just like a lot of other organizations, you have your operating expenses, you have a reserve on hand, uh, but the reserves are obviously limited, and it's it's public tax dollars.

So when considering 1.2 million, uh potentially folding out of the budget, you know, you start looking at does it come out of the reserves, does it come out of the water filling?

And what I think I landed on was this grocery tax does in some ways capture tax dollars from non-elgin residents.

Um that's just one thing that I want to bring up in this conversation is that uh if it was to be folded into general operating fees or uh general operating fund, um that would directly hit every resident in Elgin.

Whereas uh this proposal would in some instances consistently hit residents that are not within Elgin.

So I just want to add that to the conversation.

I'm curious to hear what my uh colleagues have to say on this and for the the motion that Mr.

Thorne made.

Um how many years do we have projected right now out that we're still gonna be paying for the lead service replacement line program?

We're about 12 right now.

Okay.

So that's what we're looking at if it were to go in that direction, uh it would be 12 years estimated before it gets rolled back into the general fund.

So um those are my comments for right now.

Anything else?

Mr.

Stefan.

Yeah, I I am also in favor of continuing this and um want to resist the urge to describe this as imposing this tax.

It's just a continuation of what's already there.

So I also listened to the mayor's comments and would agree with those if in fact we were adding an additional tax and and piling this on top of everything else, but that's not what this is.

This is just to continue what is already in place without any changes.

Um as far as the the amendment, I I can go along with that.

Um with my take on it that if we put 1.2 million dollars into the lead line because we're gonna dedicate this tax to that 1.2 million dollars that would have gone into the lead service line will go somewhere else, but that's gets us to the same point that I would like us to stay at.

Um and then after 12 years, it will no longer have that kind of shuffling around.

Um I think the point I want to make um is and want to avoid is what's going on with the county, which did try to cut taxes, keep taxes low, try to be the buddies of the taxpayers, and now they are facing I think it's a 29 or 30 million dollar deficit, and uh as far as I can tell, it's a structural deficit, it's something that they're gonna have a really hard time getting digging themselves out of, and I do not want to have that happen to us under the guise of telling the taxpayers we're gonna give you a break and creating a 1.2 million dollar hole in our budget that compounds, and then we're in trouble in out years.

So it's something we already do, it's something that we already get, it's something that we've already built into our budgets.

I would like to see it to continue and not stop despite the fact that the state's gonna stop collecting it.

So I'm in favor of passing it.

Anything else down here?

Ms.

Paul.

Thank you.

Um I agree with um a lot of that has been said, uh, namely uh my colleague councilwoman El Faro.

Um I am in favor of maintaining the tax that is uh currently in effect right now.

And while I recognize that times are tough for everyone, and especially um folks in our community um that are disadvantaged, I do want to point out that probably the most disadvantaged people in our community are not even paying this tax right now.

If you are a snap, if you receive SNAP benefits and you use SNAP benefits to purchase your groceries, you do not currently pay the grocery tax, and I think we can all agree that those folks are probably the folks that we're talking about that are struggling the most financially in our community.

So it's my understanding that they do not pay the grocery tax, and those are the people that I think the mayor is referring to.

Um granted that might not be all of the folks, but I think we can all all agree that those are folks that are clearly um you know needy in our community.

I also want to point out that the majority of our lead service lines are in some of the most impoverished portions of our community again on our east side of our our community.

So I I appreciate the amended motion that was brought forward by uh councilman Thorin to dedicate uh this revenue source to helping us further um the replacement uh program that we have uh replacing our lead service lines because again these are primarily in the most impoverished areas of our community.

My my concern um for you know if if we choose to not continue this tax, where are we gonna get another 1.2 million dollars?

And I'm not just talking about a one-time 1.2 million dollars, but ongoing in perpetuity.

And I recognize that I believe the mayor said that our sales tax revenue is higher right now than you know we anticipated, but that we can't necessarily guarantee that that's going to be the case next year or five years from now.

Where are we gonna get another 1.2 million dollars during a time where we're spending literally millions of dollars right now replacing lead service lines?

Where are we going to get another 1.2 million dollars in our general fund when we're very unsure of what is happening and what is going to happen at the federal level that inevitably rolls downhill hill and lands in our at our footsteps here at the local level?

Um so that those are my concerns.

Um I will be supporting this.

Um it's not a new tax, it's something that's in place currently, right now, that people are used to paying.

And it's not just Elgin residents that contribute to the 1.2 million dollars that we receive, it's folks outside of our community that come into Elgin and shop at our local stores that also contribute to this revenue.

That's the best kind of revenue where it's not property taxes, it's folks outside of our community that are helping to fund much needed services throughout our city.

So I think it's short-sighted to think that we can just afford to give up 1.2 million dollars.

Um I don't think we can afford to do that, and that's why I will be supporting keeping it.

Thank you.

Mr.

Dixon.

Thank you.

Um I will not be supporting uh this item.

Uh, and I actually went back and forth on this uh a couple of times.

Um, this is not a new tax, a new tax.

Um it's an existing tax, but I'm happy that the tax was taken away at the state level.

There are families who may not meet the Medicaid SNAP benefit standards here in the state that are going to be affected by this because there are everyday families who are above those income lines, who are really affected, especially in these times when rising housing costs exist.

Every family, most families in this community feel the pinch at the grocery store.

I know that I do, and I have a family of five, two working professionals in the home.

I feel it every time we go to the grocery store, and what used to what I used to be able to get for a few hundred dollars, about half of that comes home now in the grocery bag.

So I also I won't be supporting this as far as revenue is concerned.

Um I think that in general, like we have to adapt to the times and be creative and find some additional ways to find revenue re regardless of the 1.2 million dollars in the way that this vote goes.

That just needs to happen because we are um having to um because we are having to watch every single dollar, especially when we have this led service line uh replacement happening throughout the community.

So I I appreciate the the motion that was made uh you know, in sending this money towards that uh if that ends up being being the case, but you know, I'm not voting in favor of raising anybody taxes, even though this will be a continuation, is still a it will still be a raise technically, so I'm not going to do that.

That's all keynote.

Thank you, Mayor.

I'm gonna be supporting it because like it's been said, um, we're not raising taxes, it's either the state collects it or the city collects it.

When the city collects it, we have a say where it goes.

And um having these lead pipes, that's a safety issue, and I think that's where a priority is uh with safety, and is um my colleagues said here uh when this is collected, it's collected a lot of times from people who come to Elgin.

So it's not really Alginites that are paying for this, but we will be getting the benefit of it.

That's why um I support this.

Thank you.

Mr.

Ortiz, I believe you're the last person to uh have an opportunity, and we'll call the vote.

Uh I'm sorry to quote from Mayor Johnson.

Uh this applies to the city of Elgin.

The state of Chicago will not enact a new grocery their own grocery tax.

The tax already exists.

There's a process in which it's collected through the state and then given to the city.

All we're doing is changing the way it's collected and coming straight to the city.

And then I want to talk about a f a few points about the governor and the state.

It was easy for the state of Illinois to kill this thing.

It doesn't hurt them at all.

The only thing this thing did is hurt the municipalities and put us in the position that we're in now.

It was no-brainer when JB sat there in front of the General Assembly, the Senate and the House when he was talking about his budget to kill this.

Because he knows and the General Assembly knows this does not affect them at all.

They were a pass through.

This thing only affected the municipalities.

So to sit there and say that this is they agree with the governor.

The governor didn't give a damn about us because this does not affect them.

And then he could use that as a running thing for something bigger he wants to do in life.

So no, this for the state to kill this, it was a no-brainer.

It does not affect them.

It affects the municipalities and the and the county does not affect that.

So that I just want to bring that up.

But I I support this thing.

Okay.

We have a motion.

Do we need to reread the motion?

Uh maybe I can restate first.

Councilman Thorne's motion.

This is a motion to amend the proposed ordinance to provide that the uh revenue from the grocery tax would be dedicated to the lead service line program until such time as that program is no longer um in effect, and then it would go to the general fundamental.

Correct?

It's correct.

Just okay, uh with point of clarification.

Do I need to amend because I made the original motion?

Do we need to need to amend the original motion or no?

Well, we'll vote on the motion to amend, and then depending on the result of that, there'll be a vote on the motion to approve the ordinance either as amended or as originally proposed.

Okay.

Okay, clerk please call the roll.

Council Member Zalfaro?

Yes.

Dixon?

No.

Good.

Yes.

Martinez?

Yes.

Ortiz?

Yes.

Powell?

Yes.

Stefan?

Yes.

Thorne?

Yes.

Mayor Captain.

No.

Motion passes 7-2.

Now we have uh correct.

We have a motion to uh uh point just a point of question of clarification on a point, sorry.

So given that we already approved council member call just withdraw her motion if she was okay with that given that we approved.

The amendment supersedes the original one, doesn't it?

Yeah, right.

No, so what Mr.

Thorne's motion was in effect a motion to amend Ms.

Powell's motion.

So he was seeking to amend Councilwoman Powell's motion to approve the ordinance.

His amendment was to approve the ordinance with additional language inserted.

So there's a vote on whether or not the original motion will be amended.

That motion just passed, so now Councilwoman Powell's motion has been amended, but that's still the original motion to approve the ordinance.

So there hasn't actually been a vote to approve the ordinance yet.

That was only a motion to uh on councilman Thorne's amendment.

So if we approve hers, Thorne still stands his motion.

The motion is now to approve the amended motion with the correction funds, earmax or earmarked for that service lines.

Thank you.

Okay.

Please call a roll.

Councilmember Zalfaro?

Yes.

Dixon?

Yes.

Good.

Yes.

Martinez?

Yes.

Ortiz?

Yes.

Powell?

Yes.

Stefan?

Yes.

Thorne?

Yes.

Mayor Campton.

Yes.

Motion's approved 9-0.

Item B is an ordinance amendment formalizing the work of the Martin Luther King MLK subcommittee.

Uh, upon review of the history of the celebration of this event, city staff is recommending the adoption of an ordinance that will formally establish the Martin Luther King subcommittee as a subcommittee of the Elgin Human Relations Commission.

Each year, the Human Relations Commission takes great pride in presenting a weekend of activities celebrating the life of one of our country's greatest civil rights leaders, the Reverend Dr.

Martin Luther King Jr.

While this celebration event is conducted by the city through the Human Relations Commission.

A significant amount of planning and coordination for the event has been performed by an informal group of volunteers and community members, commonly known as the Martin Luther King subcommittee.

Again, this ordinance amendment will be formalizing the work that this subcommittee has been performing for so many years.

Move for approval.

Second, we move the second floor approval.

Any discussion.

Ms.

Powell.

Yes, thank you.

Um I see several members of the committee here.

Thank you for your patience as we work through this process.

Uh thank you for your continued work towards planning the uh Dr.

Martin Luther King events uh coming up in January.

Um the work never stopped, and I know that there was some weird rumor going around that the MLK celebration had been canceled for next year.

That was not true, never was the case.

Not sure where that got started from.

Um, especially seeing all the folks here in the audience that I know that have been working on that diligently.

Uh I know none of that work was canceled.

So thanks to staff for getting this um put together and on the agenda.

Um look forward to all of the uh celebrations that will take place during that weekend.

Um they're always great, and uh appreciate your volunteering your volunteerism and your work.

Mr.

Dixon.

Thank you.

Um similar, I want to say thank you to the MLK uh committee.

Um, you know, there it's been a tough road these last few months.

Um you uh have endured, I think some um unnecessary treatments and and words towards the the work that you've been doing for years upon years now, many of you.

And I just wanted to tell you that I I really do appreciate you and and to the members of the HRC who I don't think they're here right now.

Um, but I appreciate their work on this commission uh too as well.

And the hope here uh with this um with this with this item is that the HRC and the MLK work cohesively.

Okay.

Uh I met with the MLK committee, the leadership and a few others, and so this is this ordinance was drafted out of that meeting in conversations that councilwoman Tish Powell and I have had with the MLK committee and as well as the HRC committee.

So I think this is uh brings a great balance.

Um Mr.

Cooper brought up something I think I might have missed in the in the ordinance, and so I need to scroll to that, but we possibly may make a a motion to amend because that's really important, and what you brought up, uh Mr.

Cooper, were um that members stay on the commission until they're replaced, and so that when someone terms out, they just don't have to go away, they can continue serving until they're replaced, which will help keep quorum and so on and so forth.

So I think that just makes um actually really good sense.

So um, you know, unless there's an objection from you know corporate counsel for some reason or anything like that, uh I may make that motion to amend um so that we can include that, but I'll I'll wait for everyone's comment before I do so.

We can, but I think that's pretty much applies to every commission that we have.

That's okay.

So we don't need to put it in the middle of the year.

That was my ordinance in writing.

Okay, all right.

That's already the procedure, correct?

Okay, all right.

Okay, Ms.

Alfaro.

I have two questions for staff.

Um the last meeting, uh Denise Haben was here and she was asking about money about 30K.

Um, can you give a little?

I know we had talked about it privately, but can you share a little bit for the public so they're fully aware and transparent on that funding?

Sure.

Ms.

Haven was aware that the 39,000 represents funds not from work by the MLK subcommittee but funding to the HRC through the city council.

The budget was rolled over, the HRC's budget was rolled over for a number of years.

That 39,000 represents that balance.

There's also a full accounting of all of the work that was conducted by the MLK by the finance department's financial manager, and there were no improprieties that were determined.

So everything is in order.

Thank you.

Um more question.

In the ordinance, it indicates that um the subcommittee will have to take their own minutes, but to my understanding, each committee has a staff member that's a liaison that takes minutes.

So why does the subcommittee have to do their own minutes?

Well, I think every committee and in the corporation council can back me up on this, or or he can correct me if I'm wrong.

Every every body that is subject to the open meetings act has a minutes requirement.

Yeah, there's no requirement in the law for a liaison.

Minutes can be taken by simply having a recording and then somebody can create that afterwards.

So there isn't a need to have a liaison appointed just for the purpose of minutes.

So if they wanted to use AI to take minutes, that would be acceptable.

That would be acceptable.

Okay.

I was just trying to figure out how to lessen burden on volunteers.

Thank you.

Understood.

Okay.

Anything else?

Mr.

Ortiz.

All right, uh, Ms.

Alfaro asked my question about the money thing, so I'm not going to bring that up again.

Uh the committee members, you guys, if this thing passes, you guys understand that you now held the open meetings act.

So no more than two of you guys can meet everything has to be posted 48 hours before it's open to the public.

You guys understand all that?

All right, cool.

That's it.

I just want to make sure.

Yes.

Can you come up to the podium?

I apologize for one minor thing.

There are individuals beside the list that's interested in joining our MLK subcommittee if it passes.

One of them is also Ms.

Deborah Willis.

And we also have other individuals.

All right.

Thanks, ma'am.

That's it.

Thank you, Mayor.

Anything else?

Clerk, please call the roll.

Councilmember Zalfaro?

Yes.

Dixon?

Yes.

Good?

Yes.

Martinez?

Yes.

Ortiz?

Yes.

Powell?

Yes.

Stefan?

Yes.

Thorne?

Yes.

Mayor Captain.

Yes.

The motion is approved 9-0.

Sorry, yeah.

Mr.

Manager.

Yes.

Item C is an agreement with Midwest Veterinary Hospitals, commonly known as Gulf Rose Animal Services, and this is for sheltering impounded animals.

City is seeking to continue contracting with Midwest veterinary hospitals because the city does not operate its own animal shelter for impounded animals.

It contracts instead with this private facility.

The service allows for the housing and care of stray animals impounded by the police department, along with the housing and care due to animal welfare investigations.

The agreement with Midwest veterinary hospitals fulfills the requirements identified in the state of Illinois.

Humane Care's Humane Care for Animals Act.

Move for approval.

Second.

Move the second for approval.

Any discussion.

Mr.

Ortiz.

I don't know if there is a set time, but I I had a conversation with the police chief not too long ago.

We will take efforts to go through social media and the regular city police department's communication channels before the animals, stray animals, are brought over to Gulf Rose facility.

So I don't think that there's anything, there isn't a set time, but when we come across an animal that appears to be a stray, it isn't shipped immediately to Gulf Rose.

We do what's necessary to try to identify the owners in the community.

Thank you.

Maybe to help uh I just have fresh experience on this uh just within the last couple days.

And uh my neighbor found a stray dog and uh no tags, no uh collar.

And uh uh she uh we had her call the uh humane or the non-emergency number.

He came out, they have uh police have a uh thing they can check for a tag, see if the tag no tag.

So they're gonna hold it for a short time and uh then they'll take it over uh to the uh shelter.

And they did say that uh out of the ones that they that come in that way, uh about one third are are uh recovered by their owners.

They just get away from people, so that's a good thing.

So there is a process to do that, and then they would go to a no-kill shelter.

Okay, Ms.

Alfaro.

Thank you, Mayor.

I had two questions.

Um, first of all, I do appreciate that the shelter tries to if they can't find an owner, they try to um see if the animal is adoptable, and that I really appreciate that.

So they don't go and euthonize the animal if not needed.

So I really do appreciate that they try to keep the animals alive and find them a home.

I had a question.

So it's 75,000.

We have the contract until 2027.

So is seven is it up to twenty seventy-five thousand all the way to twenty twenty-seven, or is that seventy-five thousand per year?

Um have to go back and refresh my recollection.

I couldn't find anything, so I just wanted to make sure I was understanding it correctly.

No, and I apologize for that for not making sure that it's clear.

So this is an 75,000 dollars a year.

A year?

Okay, so it's a year.

Okay.

Thank you for clarifying that.

Um, and then I did have a question.

Um, it indicated if there is no space, um, they won't take the animal.

What happens if they can't take the animal?

My guess is that the police department will look for alternative locations.

For instance, there's Anton Animal Animal Shelter in South Elgin, but it isn't a 24 hour seven facility.

So they'll look for those alternatives.

Thank you.

Okay.

Anything else?

Court, please call the roll.

Councilmember Zalfaro?

Yes.

Dixon?

Yes.

Good.

Yes.

Martinez?

Yes.

Ortiz?

Powell?

Yes.

Stefan?

Yes.

Thorne?

Yes.

Mayor Captain.

Yes, motions approved 9-0.

Item D is a preventative maintenance services agreement with Brand of Communications for the city's emergency weather warning sirens and alerting system.

The city in 2024 purchased a new emergency weather warning siren and alerting system and added two additional weather sirens in areas recently developed on Elgin's west side.

This agreement continues the ongoing preventative maintenance of the 25 sirens system to ensure operational readiness.

To make it clear, this 165,000 agreement, that's over the course of five years.

Move for approval.

Second.

It's been moved and second for approval.

Any discussion.

Hearing none, Court, please call a roll.

Councilmember Zalfaro?

Yes.

Dixon?

Yes.

Good.

Yes.

Martinez?

Yes.

Ortiz?

Yes.

Powell?

Yes.

Stefan?

Yes.

Thorne?

Yes.

Mayor Captain.

Yes.

Motions approved 9-0.

Item E is a resolution authorizing the filing of an application for an open space lands acquisition and development grant, commonly referred to as Oslad for the Channing Park renovation.

Channing Park is an important community park located adjacent to the Channing Memorial Elementary School on the city's east side.

The park requires significant updates, including the current 17-year-old playground, which has exceeded its recommended lifespan.

Other amenities such as walking paths, parking, and sports play services need improvements as well.

To address these needs, Elgin is partnering with Upland Design Limited to apply for a 2026 Oslate grant, potentially securing $600,000 for this project to add these new amenities.

Park staff will be working with Upland Design, the Parks and Recreation Advisory Board, as well as local residents to develop a plan to renovate the existing play facilities and create a new overall park design that incorporates ADA elements and educational play features, such as as part of this OsLAD grant.

Staff is seeking the city council resolution authorizing the submission of the grant because that is a prerequisite for the application.

Move for approval.

Second.

Move the second for approval.

Any discussion.

Thank you, Mayor.

I had a question.

So um page 71 indicated that they had a public meeting on August 19th with the community.

Do we know any feedback from the community?

Or if that took place?

I'm sure that there's somebody in the parks department.

I don't have that immediate information though.

Okay.

Sorry.

Um may or may not have this as well.

They had a two-week turnaround for the survey.

I was wondering if we could hold um surveys.

It was really hard to get people to do surveys and a two-week turnaround seems pretty fast, and so I was wondering if we could extend that if possible.

Yeah, unless like it's tied to because I know the deadline is September 29th.

I don't know if that's the reason why it was a two-week turnaround.

Yeah, and I don't know immediately.

I know that the the this is a pretty well established process that the city has for going out and reaching community uh for soliciting the input.

I don't know if it's a two-week turnaround on the surveys in all instances, but I know that there's there's been a great degree of success in what's been happening.

I will have to find out whether this was a shortened time frame for soliciting that information though.

Thank you.

Anything else?

Clerk, please call the roll.

Councilmember Zalfaro?

Yes.

Dixon?

Yes.

Good?

Yes.

Martinez?

Yes.

Ortiz?

Yes.

Powell?

Yes.

Stefan?

Yes.

Thorne?

Yes.

Mayor Captain.

Yes, motions approved 9-0.

Item F is an agreement with Stantec Consulting Services for FRE for pressure and flow mapping.

When a water main is planned to be constructed in Illinois, whether it's a new main being installed as part of a development or the replacement of an existing water main in conjunction with a capital improvement.

An application for a construction permit must be filled out and submitted to the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency.

The IEPA recently updated the information required on the construction permit application.

The required information is not readily available without performing specific distribution system modeling to simulate the specific conditions for which the IEPA is seeking information.

This proposed agreement with Stantec Consulting Services will be conducting hydraulic modeling analysis for the city that will produce maps that can then be used by the water department whenever a water main construction permit application is prepared.

The impact of that is rather than conducting individual tests for each affected water main, we will be able to rely on the modeling in the maps to continue issuing the permits as quickly as possible.

Move approval.

Second.

And move the second for approval.

Any discussion.

Hearing none, Court, please call a roll.

Councilmember Zalfaro.

Sorry, I had to ask the corporate council a question about this.

Uh yes.

Dixon?

Yes.

Good?

Yes.

Martinez?

Yes.

Ortiz?

Yes.

Powell?

Yes.

Stefan?

Yes.

Thorne?

Yes.

Mayor Captain.

Yes.

Motions approved 9-0.

Item G is the first amendment to the Engineering Services Agreement with HR Green to add construction engineering services.

And this relates to the DePage Street combined sewer separation project.

Um the city is it recalls that the last meeting approved the construction for this work.

The construct the contract for the construction was awarded an amendment number one provides construction engineering services for the DePage Street Combined Sewer Separation Project to H.R.

Green.

Move approval.

Second.

Move to the second for approval.

Any discussion.

Hearing none, please call a roll.

Councilmember Zalfaro?

Yes.

Dixon?

Yes.

Good?

Yes.

Martinez?

Yes.

Ortiz?

Yes.

Powell?

Yes.

Stefan?

Yes.

Thorne?

Yes.

Mayor Captain.

Yes.

Motion's approved.

Nine zero.

Item H is going to be uh require some lengthy discussion, so I'm going to defer that till the end of the uh regular council meeting.

Um right now we can finish up with announcements from council and announcements from staff, and then we'll adjourn to the regular council meetings.

Any announcements from the council?

Mr.

Ortiz.

Uh one, I want to say good luck to Alg the Larkin's uh football team and have a game at Remower Field.

Hopefully it's one of the last until they get their new their new field over at Larkin.

Uh I'm not an Elgin fan, I'm a lurking kid.

And then I want to give a shout out to Mr.

Jones back there, being a stranger and finally showing back up.

It's like a unicorn.

He's sunshine and rainbows when he comes around.

So appreciate you keeping us safe back there, man.

Okay.

Any other announcements?

Mr.

Dixon.

Uh yeah, I want to take a moment to give condolences to the the friend the friends and family of Denise Haven who uh passed away uh almost a couple of weeks ago.

Um Denise was uh a warrior in our community.

She really stood up for the marginalized, she um was fair, she was even, she was one of the hardest working volunteers you're ever going to come across.

Um she didn't take any mess, and that's probably my favorite part about her.

So um I'm going to miss her.

Uh we're gonna celebrate her.

Um I'm hearing in October.

Um things are being arranged by the family, and so again, I just want to give a heartfelt um condolences to the entire community because we we lost someone that was very special.

Um, uh if you know anything about Denise, Denise also had um a dog named Barclay.

And uh Barclay was her best friend and was around all the time and she already she always posted uh pictures about him and told stories, and so it's my understanding that Barkley is in a a shelter in Schomberg right now, unless something has changed.

No, we shouldn't have to.

Oh, somebody's okay.

So I'm gonna leave that alone.

I was gonna make that announcement and make sure.

So um and um I'm gonna leave it right there.

So that's all.

Thank you.

Okay, Miss Paul Yes, I had a similar um statement I wanted to make uh regarding Denise Haben's passing.

Um as Councilman Dixon said, Denise was um a warrior, um an advocate, a volunteer in our community.

Um she was a personal friend of mine.

I'm going to miss her, but I think even more than that, Elgin is going to miss Denise.

Um I'm just gonna read something I posted on my social media site.

Uh Denise was more than just an ally for social justice in Elgin.

She was a bold and unapologetic accomplice.

Denise selflessly devoted her time and energy to various local nonprofits and causes she was passionate about.

I appreciated her candor, sense of humor, compassion, leadership, and our genuine friendship.

Denise was truly one of a kind.

Even after having been diagnosed with cancer and undergoing debilitating chemotherapy treatments, Denise continued to do what she has always done.

Courageously serve, advocate, and lead with compassion.

I will miss my dear friend who I could always count on for sound advice, support, and sharing her hilarious adventures about her beloved dog Barclay.

Elgin is a better place because of Denise and her passing leaves an immense void in our community that will not easily be filled.

Rest in power, Denise.

I'm really going to miss you.

Thank you.

Anything else from the council?

Anything from staff?

None, Mayor, thank you.

Okay.

I'd entertain a motion to adjourn.

So moved.

Second.

Move the second to adjourn.

Clerk, please call the rule.

Councilmember Zalfaro?

Yes.

Dixon?

Yes.

Good?

Yes.

Martinez?

Yes.

Ortiz?

Yes.

Powell?

Yes.

Stefan?

Yes.

Thorne?

Yes.

Mayor Captain.

Yes.

We are adjourned.

We'll reconvene at the regular council meeting at 7 p.m.

Call a regular meeting for the Elgin City Council for August 27th, 2025 to order.

Please join me in the Pledge of Allegiance.

I pledge allegiance through the flag of the United States of America, which is one nation under God, indivisible liberty, and justice for south.

I wonder what that is.

Pardon?

Is that your ice bag?

Yeah.

Will the court please call the role?

Councilmember Zalfaro?

Here.

Dixon?

Here.

Good?

Here.

Martinez?

Here.

Ortiz?

Here.

Powell?

Here.

Stefan?

Here.

Thorne?

Here.

Mayor Captain.

Here.

Approval of the Mets of the previous meeting of August 13th.

Move for approval.

Second.

Move and second for approval.

Any corrections or additions?

Hearing none, court please call a roll.

Councilmember Zalfaro?

Yes.

Dixon?

Yes.

Good?

Yes.

Martinez?

Yes.

Ortiz?

Yes.

Powell?

Yes.

Stefan?

Yes.

Thorne?

Yes.

Mayor Captain.

Yes, motions approved nine zero.

We have one uh communication this evening with Jerry Turnquist and Jeanette Mahalik meeting at the poll.

Whereas the new citizen recognition ceremony was launched in nineteen ninety-nine through the original vision of lifelong Elgin resident Jerry Turnquist in cooperation with city officials and a variety of community organizations.

During the ceremony, each honoree receives a certificate and congratulations by the mayor and other selected officials with one or more honorees serving as keynote speakers to share their journey to citizenship and whereas it's since its inception.

The ceremony is planned by the new citizen recognition ceremony committee with dedicated volunteers from the Chinese Mutual Aid Association, Gail Borden Public Library, Elgin Community College, Elgin History Museum, the Literacy Connection, Central de Informacion, YWCA, and the community at large.

And whereas special recognition is given to Jeanette Mahalik, a committee member since the second year of the program, and its current chair, as well as the Jerry Turnquist, who chaired the committee for the first 23 years.

And now, therefore, a David Captain, mayor of the city of Elgin, Illinois, to hereby recognize and commend the new citizens recognition ceremony for its lasting commitment to welcoming new citizens, celebrating diversity, and strengthening the bonds of our community.

And congratulations to you two.

Thank you.

I'm gonna ask Jeanette to come over here too.

I appreciate the honor.

We've done this for a long time.

And uh originally my two sons, Eric and Dennis, here are with me tonight.

They were their inspiration for the first couple years.

They were in our honoree group the first and second year.

So they're both born in Russia and naturalized citizens.

And we're proud to have recognized all the other citizens.

Jeanette's been with us since the second year.

She saw you're doing some great stuff, and she got involved, and it's been a great teamwork having her with us and all the other people that joined in and helped uh help us do that.

Jeanette, would you like to say something?

Well, I just like to say that it's nice being part of what many of you deem as your favorite city council meeting, which was in the past and your favorite event to participate in.

It's a it's it's definitely a wonderful statement how much Elgin celebrates uh immigrants becoming citizens, and uh we're very appreciative of all the support we've gotten from you.

I'm out of business.

It brings us to the portion where we recognize uh uh persons present for public comments.

First person to sign up is Demetrius Smith.

I come to address the city council.

Um I left y'all alone for at least two years.

I tried in my power to stay out of this, but the dirty games y'all played, Mayor Captain, John Stephen.

Y'all destroyed a man that's really trying to help the community that has helped the community using his own money.

And I know all y'all on the city council, not one of y'all besides Dustin that actually used your money to even create a community event where the community had come out and get involved.

What y'all do if y'all get elected, using taxpayers' money?

That don't count.

This guy that y'all real wrote and and black ball, which I warn Corey, and I warned Tish back in January and March, what y'all was doing.

Corey played dumb, tis claims she got the stuff to do to worry about that, and John keep lying to me.

John lied, and you still didn't fix that lie he made on to rail tomblin.

You cannot lie about somebody and then y'all sit up here and steal backdoor this guy off a lie.

John admitted he lied.

He admitted to the city council that he made a mistake, and y'all still backdoor to Rayo Tomlin by putting somebody on the on the human least commission that don't got no involvement in the community.

That guy, y'all done backdoor that's got to actually been involved in the community since he was in high school.

It's a damn skateboarder.

I understand the game y'all trying to play.

Y'all trying to make Elgin look good, but at the same damn time, destroy the black community.

And y'all got y'all safe havens in it playing dumb as well.

But I'm telling y'all this much.

So I told them at every election, the numbers we're gonna do.

We're gonna make sure a lot of people don't get elected next time.

And Rick, I give you my word, brother, that I know 80% of this racist shit that's going on in Elgin against the black community.

It is you.

It is you.

We can keep changing the clothes on your body.

But the problem is you are still here in Elgin.

Two city council members, I don't want to dress their name because I haven't been communicating with them, so I don't know where they stand.

They campaign on getting rid of you.

I promise you, this racist shit y'all keep trying to do, and then food is uh public.

Y'all know I'm involved in this community.

Y'all watch every election.

I keep sending y'all fucking friends home.

But I promise you this much, sir.

Y'all didn't ignite it, uh, a sleeping giant, and I'm gonna work way harder than I did to get these other ones elected.

I promise you that much.

Y'all backdoor that man on a damn lie, and giant lied again and said he fixed it.

Mayor Captain, I promise you, sir, y'all gonna stop disrespecting this black community like we some damn fools.

It's over with.

I had to stop my route just to come up here and deal with y'all.

And then y'all racist at EPD, put class X charges on me.

Class X's, Corey, what did I tell you from day one?

The video gonna prove everything they said was a lie.

Yes or no.

They try to give me a misdemeanor after justice for me saying to that cop, um uh I forgot what the word Jamie said I used.

This is the plea that they want to do with me.

A misdemeanor, Class A, and everything else disappeared.

No motion, not even a court date.

It was a meeting in Jamie office with Liam Dixon.

It was never a case.

Y'all allowed that racist, and I told Tish.

Everybody know me.

That every charge y'all fake falsified on me.

I didn't have to even uh argue it.

We never really had a court date.

Half of the shit I wouldn't even go into until it was a meeting with Jamie.

Everything was recorded.

Not one second was missing.

That whole incident that was lying about me out, it got better footage than the Epstein damn sale video.

Not one second was missing.

This racist shit this town that he pulling, I promise y'all.

I promise you, y'all done walk the giant again.

And Rick, I'm I I'm gonna keep it at that.

Y'all gonna see the better than I can tell you.

I promise you.

This racist shit finna stop.

Y'all backdoored a good man, and y'all put a goddamn skateboarder in there as the two black people.

Because Denise Haver came up here and complain about it.

And y'all keep using Denise's name, but she was a real fighter.

I don't know how the hell y'all let this even happen.

But one thing is sure, I don't want to smear Rory yet, but I promise you, everybody in the community gonna know who y'all using at this face for the community.

Cause they don't know.

I didn't know until I started receiving pictures of this damn guy.

And everybody in Elgin know I know everybody in Elgin from the business to the damn people.

Start wrapping your comments up, please.

And y'all ain't heard the last of me, sir.

Start wrapping them up.

Thank you.

Terrell Talman.

Yes.

Y'all ain't never last for me, I promise you.

What's happening, Mayor?

City Council, real quick.

Um, just to follow him, that's tough to follow, but a lot of it for real.

I've been here for years.

Um, and if I'm being honest, I thought it was definitely definitely way disrespectful how they went down.

I mean, I don't I don't care who should be where.

Me personally, I really didn't want to do this from the jump.

I'm in work at NIU.

I'm well accomplished.

Anything y'all ever tried to do, I stood 10 toes.

Everybody know that.

So the problem for me is the disrespect when this guy asks, hey, you want to do this to help the community?

Because I know you can do it.

And I'm like, I'm really about getting money.

I don't care about the community.

So he was like, nah, for me, do it.

So I'm like, okay, let me do it.

So I did it.

Now that I put my hat in, I hear it is it's crazy, but disrespectful to say the least.

The mayor, I reached out to you.

John, listen.

I tried to talk to you private, man.

I told you I was coming down here, man.

That's why it's funny to me because you're a lawyer.

And for you, and real quick, and I'm gonna talk to y'all.

Imagine what this dude did.

This guy is at a party and tells somebody that, yeah, I don't know if I can refer him because I think he left his dad dead at the house.

And I'm thinking, really, it's public document wherever anybody dies.

Outside of that, everybody knows I take care of my family, so for my mom and my family to have to hear this shit.

I mean, disrespectful to say the least.

And the only reason I'm even down here, because normally I don't care what y'all say.

I didn't have to do it.

I'm great without you guys.

But because the disrespect and the way this guy, I mean, think about it.

If I try to get a job with the city or on a specific council, they take this guy's word who's a lawyer, and he's defaming my character.

Clearly, not that it was not witness, he said specifically, and then he called me and said, Oh, must have been whatever.

I'll talk to the mayor.

Straighten it out.

He ain't straighten it out.

Now I'm here.

Really, I don't care, but I'm saying, like me see, look, whatever I gotta do.

I'm never that guy.

I wouldn't leave nobody.

I've helped way more people that I'm promised.

All of y'all promise you.

I'll spit my money in this city.

My own money.

I'm not on a board.

I don't care about a board.

I don't care about being an election.

I'm already well accomplished.

And I got money looking good.

Great glasses.

Look at my shoes.

Come on, man.

Listen.

Please do the right thing.

Whoever in there, listen.

So thank you.

It brings us to bids.

First item is bid number 25-043.

Mayor move reward the bid to golf construction for Spring Street parking structure maintenance repairs and center parking structure painting in the amount of 199,375 dollars.

Second.

Then move and second at any discussion.

Hearing none, Clerk, please call a roll.

Dixon?

Yes.

Good.

Yes.

Martinez?

Yes.

Ortiz?

Yes.

Powell?

Yes.

Stefan?

Yes.

Thorne?

Yes.

Mayor Captain.

Yes.

Motion's approved nine zero.

Item two is bid number two five-zero four five water treatment chemicals.

Mr.

Mayor, I recommend that we award this bid to Nalco Water LLC of Naperville in the amount of 104,940.

Second.

It been moved and second for approval.

Any discussion.

Hearing none, Clerk, please call a roll.

Councilmember Zalfaro?

Yes.

Dixon?

Yes.

Good.

Yes.

Martinez?

Yes.

Ortiz?

Yes.

Powell?

Yes.

Stefan?

Yes.

Thorn?

Yes.

Mayor Captain.

Yes.

Motion's approved nine zero.

Item three is uh bid number two five-zero four-six.

Randall ridge playground renovation.

Uh Mayor, I'll move that we award this to E.

Hoffman and the amount of 773,008 dollars.

Second.

Been moved and seconded.

Any discussion.

Mr.

Steffi.

I just want to raise what used to be raised by a former councilwoman Carol Rosenberger.

This is a playground renovation.

The images that we've got in the memo show that it is artificial turf.

I think our sustainability commission, and I see the chair Tom Armstrong in the audience, although I don't think he's here for this, but I think if I remember correctly, their recommendation was to make sure we shade these playgrounds because they are extremely hot and can be hot on sunny days.

So I just want to continue that urgency to the parks department.

That if we're going to continue to do these PFAS free, which is what they have found that the vendor that they have to be shaded or they're gonna get extremely hot and not be able to be used by kids.

So that's it.

Just that comment.

Okay.

Anything else?

Clerk, please call the roll.

Councilmember Zalfaro?

Yes.

Dixon?

Yes.

Good.

Yes.

Martinez?

Yes.

Ortiz?

Yes.

Powell?

Yes, Stefan?

Yes.

Thorne?

Yes.

Mayor Captain.

Yes, the motion's approved nine zero.

Item four is uh purchase of apprentice, Panasonic Computers, uh Southwell Coroperative Purchasing Contract.

Mr.

Mayor, I'll move that we award this bid to CDS office technologies in the amount of 176,720.

Second.

Been moved and second for approval.

Any discussion.

Hearing none, Clerk, please call a roll.

Councilmember Zalfaro.

Yes.

Dixon?

Yes.

Good.

Yes.

Martinez?

Yes.

Ortiz?

Yes.

Powell?

Yes.

Stefan?

Yes.

Thorne?

Yes.

Mayor Captain.

Yes.

Motion's approved nine zero.

Uh brings us to other business.

We have one item.

Uh it's a resolution authorizing execution of an agreement with Thomas Engineering Group, LLC for professional services and connection with 2025 parking lot and alley maintenance program.

Move for approval.

Second.

Move and second for approval.

Any discussion.

Hearing none, Clerk, please call a roll.

Councilmember Zalfaro.

Abstain.

Dixon?

Yes.

Good.

Yes.

Martinez?

Yes.

Ortiz?

Yes.

Powell?

Yes.

Stefan?

Yes.

Thorne?

Yes.

Mayor Captain.

Yes.

Motion's approved eight zero with one abstention.

Uh consent agenda.

Mayor Captain.

Ms.

Paul.

Can I ask that um item number eight on the consent agenda be ums Powell separated for requested that number eight has to be removed for further discussion?

For further discussion.

Further discussions.

Thank you.

We have to have a vote to uh remove number eight.

No.

Mr.

Mayor, there the consent agenda has to be unanimous unanimous, so any one councilperson can just ask that something be removed.

Okay.

Ms.

Paul.

Oh, just to whatever I had to say, I can't okay.

So we can do a motion to approve one through seven and nine through eleven of the consent agenda and then move on to the removed item.

Perfect.

Thank you.

Okay.

Motion to uh approve items one through seven and nine through eleven.

Move approval.

Second.

It's been moved and second for approval.

Any discussion.

Hearing none, Clerk, please call a roll.

Councilmember Zalfaro.

Yes.

Dixon?

Yes.

Good.

Yes.

Martinez?

Yes.

Ortiz?

Yes.

Powell?

Yes.

Stefan?

Yes.

Thorne.

Yes.

Mayor Hampton.

Yes.

Motions approved 9-0.

Brings us back to item eight.

Ms.

Paul, you had some comments.

I did.

Um, and obviously we had some discussion from some public um members of the community regarding um appointments to our human relations commission.

And um it some irregularities with you know, some things that happen, I think, with this appointment process.

There's some things I think we need to um, and I believe Councilman Ortiz um mentioned uh when we were talking about our council rules, uh making some changes about how we appoint.

Um, but there were you know, obviously, I think it sounds like some miscommunication or some erroneous information that might have been shared about um one of the propo um one of the members or someone who was applying to be a member um that caused them to no longer be considered.

Um it it sounds like that has since been corrected or cleared up.

Um and based on that, I would like to amend um the appointments being made uh being recommended tonight to include um Tyrell Tomlin in place of Rory Um what's Rory's last name?

Jenathan Jenaton so that the two folks being appointed to the HRC would be uh Tyrell Tomlin and June Wooten.

Second it's been moved and seconded to amend the human relations commission appointment from Rory to Terrell Tomlin and uh actually three on there.

June, correct?

Yeah, yes, there's a okay the student member would still be appointed.

Um that would be um Chloe Patel?

Yeah, Chloe Patel.

That wouldn't change.

No.

Okay, Mr.

Ortiz.

All right, uh well, I I heard the public comment there, the rest of us.

So the only guess negative thing I heard about Mr.

Jennington is that he's a skateboarder.

So why would he not be are we just switching because we got public comment or is this guy's is Mr.

Tomlin more qualified than Mr.

Jennington?

You're asking me well, you made the motion.

Sure.

Um nothing negative about uh Mr.

Jenetton.

I know Mr.

Jennetton as well as uh Mr.

Tomlin.

Um Mr.

I've known Mr.

Tomlin for a long time, and I I think the issue that was brought up is that there was some information that was disseminated um disparaging his character that turned out to be incorrect, and it's that information that influenced who moved forward initially in this process, and because it appears that that information that was disseminated was incorrect.

I'm just asking that he be considered reconsidered at this time to write that wrong.

Yeah, all right.

Well, I never heard whatever uh Mr.

Smith and uh the other gentleman spoke.

I never heard that removed.

I do know there's an email out there when this came out and the recommendations came out, and I seen his name, and I looked at the day he applied.

He had a plaque I told you on the phone today compared to all the other people, and they apply the other people waiting like two or plus years to get on a commission.

He applied the week before.

That's the reason I said no.

I never I don't know that guy, and I don't know.

I went to high school with Rory, but I haven't seen him in years, so the reason I said no is because just the date of the application.

I don't know who Mr.

Tomlin is.

I never met the guy.

So and to me, I think it's not just a matter of how long someone's been on the list.

Um I look at a lot of different factors.

Um I look at you know, their history, what they, you know, in terms of things that they've done in the community, things they've been involved with, he's been involved with a number of different um uh organizations in the community.

He's been a business owner here in the community.

Um so I'm I'm fine with moving forward with him, and I think you know, quite frankly, I think we we owe him that after having you know kind of put him through um what's happened over the past couple months.

That's you know, there will be other openings um probably very soon, additional openings on the HRC where um Mr.

Jenaton and any number of folks that are currently on the waiting list uh for HRC appointment can be appointed.

Um it's not that we're saying you know no to him right now, no to him permanently, it's probably just no right now.

And you know, like I said, probably in the next couple months, there'll probably be another opening, and we can you know, re um reconsider him or any other number of folks that are currently on that list.

But um this to me, this was just I'm making this motion to um correct a situation that happened.

You know, wouldn't that have the same thing apply to Mr.

Tomlin that the next uh appointment could uh we could look at him as well.

Mr.

I don't know that was part one of the comments that Mr.

Jonathan's been on the waiting list for almost two years.

And I think that uh always uh cares carries a little weight as well.

So I think it applies to both of them.

Mr.

Dixon?

Yeah, but it was it was you and John that made the original recommendation to put Tyrrell Tomlin forward, and that was when all the applications were out there.

So the dates of when those applicants applied, that was already known because that was in the package that was delivered to to you and John.

So, you know, my my my two cents, my my two cents on this is um we should absolutely appoint Terrell.

He was scheduled to be appointed months ago, and it was derailed because of a uh incorrect um uh it was it was derailed because of some incorrect information.

Um, I you know, I tried to correct it.

I know Tish tried to correct it, and we had some conversations, and uh we tried to figure it out as best as we can, but the appointment for the HRC has to come from uh from uh the mayor and the senior most city council member, which is uh John Stefan.

So um wires guy cross.

We ended up here, so hopefully this makes it right.

So that's why I'm going to be supporting this.

And uh I know Rory, great guy, you know, I don't have any issues, you know, uh with him, or you know, and I can't talk bad against his record, but what I do know about Tyrrell is that um ever since I've known Tyrrell, he's you know, he's been a business owner in this community, he's volunteered in countless things uh in our community.

Um he's always giving things away, been mentoring uh young men.

I mean, I I just can't say enough about him.

He's always been a good guy, and so um it's unfortunate that his name um was um um was mentioned not in a in a great light, and uh and so hopefully this uh this corrects some of that.

So make the record straight.

Mr.

Jenaton was one of the first people up on the he and he and Mr.

Tomlin were both recommended at the same time.

Right.

I'm just saying, yeah, I was just I was just wanted to be clear as Terrell was being recommended initially before before before the other people.

So okay, Miss Martinez.

Thank you, Mayor.

Mayor, I'm not sure what they're talking about because I too didn't hear anything bad about anybody, but I understand that when you and John make a recommendation, then it's uh to us to say yes or no.

Uh just because you make the recommendation doesn't mean that it's done.

And um I too looked at the dates and I saw somebody who was waiting for almost um two years.

Uh I think there was somebody else that was for a year, and uh Mr.

Tomlin applied this year, and then now I look at it and he clearly said he doesn't want it, and then he said that he only applied for it because that guy told him to.

It's not because he wants to.

So I don't feel that we should change it.

Thank you.

Okay, if not Mr.

Good.

Thank you, Mayor.

Um, so there's just a lot of information flying around, um, information I wasn't privy to.

So I I don't have an opinion for him one way or the other, but I just feel like I have a lack of information at this point in time.

Um, and I don't typically like doing stuff from the fly or on the fly.

So um just so I'm clear.

If we move forward with this, this is an item pulled from the consent agenda for an appointment.

Does this then come back in two weeks for additional consideration or is this final?

This was final.

Okay.

Okay.

Mr.

Stefan.

Yeah, I I guess I better talk since a lot of the comments were directed at me.

Um as has been said here, the it's the mayor's obligation or responsibility or duty to make recommendations, and he has chosen some of us to help him with those, including me on some of them.

Um the mistake that I corrected was that the recommendation went out, as Corey said, after I had realized that I had some personal information about Tyrrell and I talked to him personally about it.

And to my knowledge, that information isn't incorrect.

So I'm just gonna say that.

I I've actually talked to him about it, but um that involved something in our neighborhood, which I didn't connect when I first saw the applications, and then try to change the recommendation.

But the reason I am sticking with the recommendation, and as councilwoman martinez says, it's up to each of one of us to vote, is because they already came out by the time I had seen that.

And apparently there's no from the comments from other council people, nobody else had that understanding, and so this thing has been lingering for months, and I think it does deserve a vote.

So I'm still thinking about which way I'm gonna vote, honestly, but I think it's up to each of us to think about what we want to do on this matter.

Okay, anything else?

One other comment.

Um I just will point out that this has been lingering for months, and it shouldn't take us this long to appoint um folks to our boards and commissions.

Um I'm sure the comments that we heard tonight from um Mr.

Tomlin were out of frustration from the the process that took place and and how he felt he was treated.

Now we could easily appoint him tonight, and if he chooses to serve, he can serve.

If he he chooses to not serve and not accept the appointment, that's on him.

We appoint people all the time, and sometimes people get job offers and have to move within a few months of being appointed to a a commission and can't serve their term.

But as I stated, based on what happened and how it happened, and he had initially been notified that he was you know going to be you know recommended and um recommended for appointment, and then that was changed.

Um I I think we owe him that.

What he does with it at that point is up to him.

Okay, uh Ms.

Alfaro Um Thank you, Mayor.

So I'm trying to go back and look at things.

So it looks so I think I need a question of clarification to start off with.

So when applications come in, you know, Mayor and Councilmember Stefan take the lead in making recommendations.

Do you talk to the references?

Because Tyrrell had references, and Rory put himself on both those references.

So did you talk to like what's the process when you look at the applications?

Do you make references?

You call the personal references, are you just looking at the applications?

I think I need a thought process to understand how it worked through.

I can tell you mine.

I look at I look at their application and I look at the commission that they're going to be on.

And I try to put I try to find people that I think would be a good fit or fill the need that's on that commission.

That's how I like that's how I would do it.

And I looked at and I look back and see when somebody's been applied how long their application has been there.

And he was qualified.

So that was my record.

That was one of the recommendations when we started for for me.

But that's part of what my process, what my process is.

And I look at uh um uh certain needs, and uh uh I supported uh June Wooten because at this point we're uh trying to re-incorporate and uh bring the uh MLK back into that, and she's got a lot of experience dealing with both sides.

So I think that was important.

So I look at employ I look at importance, I look at how long they've been here, uh I look at their at their references.

Uh some people their references are um I won't say they're bad.

There, but there are people that may not they that that I would have no uh idea who they are.

You know, there were they may be their boss from Chicago or something like that.

So would I call them and check them?

No, probably not.

Okay.

No, I don't check.

John Next.

Yeah, I don't I don't call references, I just see who they have down.

I don't call them.

But I checked the rest of the application and what what commissions they put down because they can do first, second, third choice when they've applied.

Yeah.

I was trying to figure out how we could add all four potentially um in talking to corporate council, we'd have to change the ordinance.

Um there might be a vacancy coming up soon, so whoever we don't appoint, I think we should consider putting it in.

I will say, and looking again at their applications right now, um Tyrrell had this as his number one choice, whereas the other individual had either number two choice.

Yeah, I believe his Mr.

Jenaton's first choice was the heritage commission.

Okay, Mr.

Dixon, you had your hand up.

Yeah.

Uh yeah, I I think that just to be clear, like you know, why uh Mayor, did you change your recommendation away from Tyrrell Tom?

Uh it started with uh um the uh number of the council members had also said they looked at the they looked at the uh length of the uh other applicants that were out there and uh Mr.

Stefan.

We already had sent the letter out and Mr.

Stefan uh had uh commented to me that he would not support Mr.

Tomlin.

So that's how that changed.

Okay.

So it wasn't so it wasn't due to what councilman Stefan told you.

Uh yes, that was that was that was the change, yeah.

Okay, that's why it was already the letter had already gone out.

Okay.

And I told him that that that had there had been a change, and a number of the council members had voiced an objection to it.

And part of the purpose here is that we don't want to have to have this kind of a discussion in public.

So that was part of the issue.

Ms.

Martinez and Mr.

Thank you, Mayor.

Um I think this creates another problem too.

That um nobody should be notified that they are appointed until it's official.

And the way I understand, until we vote right now, it'll be official.

So how did somebody know that they were appointed when it wasn't even official?

And I think that creates a problem because uh we you need to have two votes on that.

Um in this case it created a problem by not leaving.

Thank you.

Mr.

Good.

Thank you, Mayor.

Um so there's been a few additional considerations thrown into this conversation, uh potentially expanding to try and accommodate the four applicants.

Um I don't like doing delays on anything, especially something that I am now coming to understand was delayed already.

Um but as it stands, I I feel like I have to absorb more information.

Um and I would be curious if the the group up here thinks that we should postpone this so that we can look further into this, whether it be for the specific appointment or for the consideration of adjusting the ordinance, um, because at this point I I don't have the time to go and fact check all these different documents in the process.

So um this has just become a moment where I don't feel like I'm operating with enough information to make an educated vote.

Um so I guess with that I would motion that we postpone this appointment with a very strict end time, like two weeks.

Well, I guess I'll just leave it at that a motion, Mr.

Good.

Yeah, that was a motion to postpone this for two weeks.

Well, we we already have a motion.

Are we amending it?

This is you can move to postpone that.

Yeah, yes, and this supersedes it.

I don't know if it's appropriate to table something in the consent agenda for two weeks.

Is that uh never had it happen, so I can't well I mean that certainly can be done.

Well, I mean, that certainly can be done.

So there's a motion postponed and there's a motion to table, which are sometimes used to the same thing, but they're actually different.

So a motion to postpone uh to a certain time is an order, both would be in order, but um it could be done.

There's no reason why you couldn't do that.

One quick question.

I mean we just approved um the MLK subcommittee adding that to the HRC.

We're already short to members on HRC.

Um everything that happens through the MLK subcommittee has to go through ultimately through the HRC for final approval.

We need a full HRC seated, appointed, operating, so that their work, the MLK committee, subcommittee work doesn't I mean so that it continues and does not get delayed unnecessarily.

I mean, again, none of these people are paid staff, these are all volunteers in our community that are devoting their time, energy, and effort to benefit our community.

Why we are why this is so difficult is beyond me.

These are volunteers, they don't get one dime for doing the work that they do.

We need a full human relations commission seated.

We have not had a full human relations commission seated for months, and now that we have added the MLK subcommittee under the HRC, right in the ordinance it says that any expenditures that they make, any of that stuff has to be approved, it has to be run through the HRC.

I'm concerned about their work continuing to be stifled because now they we we don't have a full HRC.

My my concern, legitimate concern.

Yeah, I agree.

I've been working with this since before Christmas of last year.

Exactly.

And and that's uh um we have uh three people that are applicants, and we have currently have two openings, and there is uh my understanding there will be a third opening uh the end of this month, and uh um the chairperson is uh moving to uh Los Angeles.

That uh is what he told me.

So we have to have a new chairperson as well.

So there are three people that are applying for three positions, it just depends on how we want to um uh that that's the way I'm seeing it right now.

And if you will how you want to move forward, I guess is the discussion here.

Ms.

Martinez, I'm sorry.

Thank you, Mayor.

I I agree.

I agree with what um councilwoman Powell's saying.

We need um a full board, and so to my point is we should just appoint to what we we're gonna do, because if we change it and we put Mr.

Terrell, and what if he doesn't want it anymore or doesn't show up?

That's gonna delay things.

Um there's we just mentioned there's an opportunity for another time.

Maybe that'll be the time.

I don't know.

But I think it is crucial that uh we move with um what we have now with the HRC to fill it so that the MLK committee could go ahead and move on because they're already falling behind, and I think that if we were to um change this, you know, who's to say we might not get uh um everybody there.

Thank you.

Okay.

Okay.

Hands are going up.

Mr.

Dixon, go ahead.

Okay, thank you, Corey.

Uh councilman Jackson.

Um so my understanding in approving the ordinance, we don't have an L MLK committee just yet.

We have to appoint those individuals.

My recommendation will be we would appoint those individuals in two weeks.

That way the committee can move forward and get things going.

So with that, there is a delay, but that committee is not even is not appointed until two weeks from now.

So if we filled the committee in two weeks, it's it wouldn't delay the LMLK committee because unfortunately, because we approved the ordinance today, we haven't appointed the individuals, they would be delayed until two weeks from now.

All right.

I appreciate how technical we're getting.

How into the weeds we are with this.

But this is really simple to me.

Do the right thing.

That's it.

The right thing is that a guy was wronged.

It was information that he says is incorrect.

It is information that's against the character of the pe of the person that I know personally that some of us know personally.

We have no reason to block this gentleman from going forward and sitting on the commission.

It may be inconvenient.

But how about we just keep it simple and do the right thing and appoint them?

Let's cross that bridge when we get there.

Uh if we don't have enough people, it'll still fall under the time frame in which we need to get someone appointed.

The the the MLK committee is still already going forward in planning.

Okay, so it's not going to delay them continuing to do that.

They're already doing it.

Okay.

So there's right and there's wrong.

Super simple.

Let's do the right thing and let's appoint them.

Okay.

Anything else?

Okay.

We have a motion.

And the motion is to appoint.

To appoint Tyrell Talon and June and Chloe Patel in place of Rory Jen.

Correct.

Okay.

Anything else?

Clerk call the roll.

Councilmember Zalfaro?

Yes.

Dixon?

Yes.

Good.

Abstain.

Martinez?

No.

Ortiz.

Abstain.

Powell?

Yes.

Stefan?

No.

Thorne?

No.

Mayor Captain.

No.

So the motion is move zero.

Lost track.

Yes.

What was that?

Three.

Three four two.

Three yeses, four no's, and two abstentions.

Okay.

So the motion fails.

Okay.

I'll move that we uh appoint the three original people in the uh ordinance, the resolution that is in our packet as item eight.

Anything else?

Well, I just made a motion.

I guess uh unless there's a second, I guess that nothing else.

Okay, it's been moving second to appoint the uh uh members that were selected uh in the resolution uh for um human relations commission number eight, mr mr.

Dixon.

Yeah, I won't be voting in favor of it because I don't think it's right.

So I'm gonna stand on business today.

I'm voting no.

Okay.

Anything else?

Miss Martinez.

I'm I'm just looking at the schedule of the Human Relations Commission, and their first meeting is the first Tuesday, which is next week.

So I'm I'm standing with my with my vote.

Thank you.

Anything else so far?

I just want to apologize to Roy June, Chloe, and Tyrell for getting stuck in the middle of what was between council members.

So I apologize to them on behalf of this council for getting stuck in there, and I appreciate that they're all willing to stop up and to be on this on this commission because we do need those volunteers as councilwoman um Powell had indicated.

So I just wanted to indicate to all of them.

I apologize that you're stuck in the middle.

Okay, Mr.

Dixon, Mr.

Dixon.

Yeah, I should add that I have nothing against June and the rest of the people that were being uh appointed.

It's not against you at all.

I just don't um I'm against um what's happening to to Mr.

Tomlin's all thank you.

I'll have to tell you that we've had to cancel the last two human relations commission meetings because of a lack of a quorum.

So we need to get that uh commission back in service.

So we have a motion.

Clerk, please call a roll.

Council members of our own.

Yes.

Dixon?

No.

Good.

Abstain.

Martinez?

Yes.

Ortiz?

Abstain.

Powell?

No.

Stefan?

Yes.

Thorne?

Yes.

Mayor Captain.

Yes, motions approved four or two.

And two abstentions.

Three abstentions.

Four three.

Four three.

Approved five, two with two abstentions.

Five five, three with two abstentions.

Five, two, two.

Five two and two abstentions.

Okay.

Second.

Been moving to second for approval.

Any discussion.

Hearing none, Clark, please call the roll.

Council members alparo?

Yes.

Dixon?

Yes.

Good.

Yes.

Martinez?

Yes.

Ortiz?

Yes.

Powell?

Yes.

Stefan?

Yes.

Thorne?

Yes.

Mayor Captain.

Yes.

Motions approved nine zero.

And also next committee of the whole meeting will be Wednesday, September tenth, twenty twenty-five at six PM in the council chambers.

The next regular meeting of the city council will be Wednesday, September tenth, twenty twenty-five at seven p.m.

in the council chambers.

Entertain a motion to adjourn back to the committee of the whole.

So moving a second to adjourn, Clint, please call the wall.

Can I add something?

Yes.

Can we take a five minute break so I could just that was a lot.

So I just need five minutes to just regroup myself.

All right, we'll take we'll reconvene at uh let's make it eight.

Let's make it five till eight.

All right, Councilmember?

Yes.

Dixon?

Yes.

Good?

Yes.

Martinez?

Yes.

Ortiz?

Yes.

Powell?

Yes.

Stefan?

Yes.

Thorne?

Yes.

Mayor Captain.

Yes.

Motions approved nine zero.

We'll reconvene in five minutes.

The committee of the whole meeting.

So look.

Second.

Moving a second to reconvene.

Of course, please call the role.

Council members of our own?

Yes.

Dixon.

Or here.

Sorry.

Here.

Good.

Yes.

Martinez?

Yes.

Ortiz.

Here.

How Stefan?

Here.

Yes.

Um, Mr.

Manager, I believe that brings us to item H.

Agreed.

This is a purchase of services agreement with the downtown neighborhood association of Belgium.

City contracts with the DNA to provide economic development related activities in the downtown.

The proposed two-year purchase of service agreement renewal includes a three percent cost of living increase in the first and second years of the PSA to enable DNA to sustainably uphold the agreement's requirements.

The hiring of a certified public accounting firm independent from the organization to conduct an annual audit of its financial statements in accordance with generally accepted accounting standards with a copy of the audited financial statements being submitted to the city no later than April 30th, 2027.

Is also included within the proposed PSA.

Finally, DNA under the terms of the PSA will be hiring a consultant to guide the organization in a good faith effort to complete all necessary actions for establishing a special service area under the Illinois Special Service Area Tax Law.

I believe that representatives from DNA are here to present to the city council, and I see executive director Jennifer Fukala and DNA Board President Brian Pinion.

Welcome.

And their MC.

Good evening, Mayor Captain and the City Council.

My name is Sarah Michaels, the events and promotions coordinator of the Downtown Neighborhood Association of Elgin.

On behalf of our board, staff, and volunteers, I want to thank you for the opportunity to speak to you tonight about our contract renewal.

The Dene has been proud to serve as a partner in advancing the vitality of our downtown through business support, events that bring people together, beautification projects, and storytelling that showcases Elgin's unique character.

Our mission remains rooted in collaboration, community pride, and ensuring that downtown is a place where residents, businesses, and visitors all feel welcome.

We're here tonight not just to talk about a contract, but about a shared investment in the heart of our city.

Together we've made incredible progress, and with your continued partnership, we believe the best is yet to come.

Now it is my honor to introduce Jennifer Fukala, the executive director of the Downtown Neighborhood Association of Elgin, who will share more about our work and our visions moving forward.

Thank you very much for that welcome, Sarah, and good evening.

I'm gonna have to hold this because I don't think this is planned for someone as tall as me.

Um good evening, City Council, Mayor, and City Staff.

Again, I'm Jennifer Fukala, and look forward to presenting to you tonight about our work with the Downtown Neighborhood Association.

Uh oh, that was not supposed to happen.

I don't know what's all right.

So look uh looking back over the last three years of the service contract that we uh have had with the city of Elgin and are here to discuss tonight.

We've made incredible progress during that time and really have been able to break new ground in terms of the type of projects and um strategic initiatives that we have been able to uh to achieve based on the fact of having a three-year contract and the time and resources necessary to pursue projects on this level.

Three years ago, we embarked upon a process to create a new strategic plan coming out of COVID and looking into the future for the next three to five years of where we wanted where we wanted to direct our focus as an organization and what our community needs were coming out of COVID.

Uh, we in we received a RISE grant from the state of Illinois Department of Commerce, which paid for us to hire Main Street America to work with us on a full market analysis and strategic planning process that many of you uh many of the people in the community, including people on the day participated in, and many of the people in the room.

So this is just an example of all the different people that participated in the strategic plan in 2023, and this is where many of these initiatives were born and have continued to evolve from as we continue to use this document.

Following the adoption or the the reporting of the strategic plan, our board and leadership took time to digest that document and essentially um have some workshopping around what were the action items that we felt were really important to uh you know to tackle coming out of that uh the recommendations of the plan.

And that basically created our 2024 work plan, which uh was the last full year that we've completed going into this contract renewal.

As you know, we're in the middle of the year.

We work on a calendar year, so we are in the middle of the 2025 work plan.

Um, but this is uh the process by which DNA um plans projects for the year, and we communicate this with the city and uh move forward year over year looking at how we're growing in these areas.

So this is an example of some of the initiatives that came out of the strategic plan that were strict that were important recommendations called out by Main Street America based on the feedback from the community as well as the market analysis.

And you know, the feedback from the community, there was 1,300, you know, 1,300 surveys filled out.

There was a variety of focus groups that dozens of people participated in, and there's a really great 30-page document on our website that everyone is welcome to read when you need uh a little boost in entertainment and some ideas.

So these are some of the initiatives that we felt were really important as first priorities, building location recognition, improving the perception of downtown, and also very important, and many things go into this, but promoting homegrown entrepreneurial development and addressing barriers.

Out of that, we have uh done a variety of projects that really build on each other.

So you know, building location recognition really started with a creation of an award-winning logo that we've used in many of our marketing campaigns and adapted to build that recognition with the community.

Um we've made that resource available to all of the downtown stakeholders as well as the city of Elgin free of charge.

This is not uh a logo that is something for our organization, it is a logo for the destination of downtown Elgin, and those type of initiatives have built on each other over time as we take steps and go forward towards bigger and more involved projects, such as the Elgin is Home Perception Campaign and uh looking into things like our zoning reforms, which um we um brought forward last year and were approved with with your support from city council.

Um so I really want to focus on this project, the the Elgin is home um campaign because one of the things that was really called out in our strategic plan is that um there was a lot of misconceptions and perception issues among our own community members about our downtown, and we've all heard these things, we've all heard people that have had bad experiences in the past or have uh had had um you know hearsay or have felt like they were not welcome downtown for a variety of reasons, and so um instead of just doing some marketing, we took some time to really digest this information and to create a um a committee, if you will, to uh you know, doing focus groups, doing outreach, um, you know, interviewing people, and having that help guide the process of a project like this.

So, this project is something that um is a uh a very large project for an organization of our size in terms of scope and expense.

Um, and so far to date, um, this project has reached over 463,000 people since the videos first launched in April.

It also includes um an interactive website that the property owners are that um residents can uh participate in by sharing their experiences with downtown.

There's community engagement exercises at many of the events, people can host a yard sign, and um just last month in August, we launched the first Spanish language video of the series, uh Elginis Mihogar, and that video alone has already reached uh tremendous amount of people just in the two weeks that it's been out, and uh over fifty over 156,000 people have viewed that first video, and these videos will come out um on a monthly basis.

So we will have another video coming in September, we will have another video coming in October, and this is a series that we have plans to use for the next 12 to 18 months in a variety of different ways to reach those people that we feel um need to hear a new message about Elgin.

So the the two target audiences that were identified for focusing on with this campaign was middle class moms, because if moms don't feel comfortable going somewhere, you know, they're planning the family activities and things like that, you know, they might be coming to the library, but they might not be going anywhere else downtown.

We felt it was very important for them to feel comfortable and to re-socialize that topic of what is down here for them in their community for them in the community, and also the Hispanic community.

Um, we heard from a lot of people that there was you know, families that have been here for generations that you know the parents, for example, may have had bad experiences downtown in the past or felt like maybe it was not welcoming to them, and we really wanted to have some updated experiences and messaging to those community members from a trusted source.

So, really what this was based in is who is going to be the most trusted source for community members who have these feelings to hear this message from, and the whole campaign has really been built around that.

Part of the anatomy of a campaign like this is the cost, and um DNA has uh uh budgeted $15,000 over uh the course of 2024 and 2025 towards the creation of this six video series.

We also received a grant from Main Street America marketing grant.

This specifically added to the Hispanic uh to the Spanish language series.

Um, so we did receive that award earlier this year, and I really would be remiss if I did not talk about the fact that in order to do a video series like this with this level of professionalism, this would not have been possible without professional in-kind services that were donated by our board and committee members, and just one board member donated $30,000 worth of professional services to help make this possible.

And I will stress this video would not have been possible without that person's help.

Um, as I said, this is something that we are proposing to go forward with in 2026, and we have plans for another three videos, and to again keep distributing this in very targeted ways.

So I will say that there are target audiences and lots of boosted posting and advertising that is going specifically to the people that these videos are intended to reach based on the analysis that we did during the planning and preparation process.

And as I mentioned, looking into the future, you know, we're we're also always you know identifying where we feel that we can build, you know, what are the next things for us, and these are things that goals that we've already identified for ourselves that um we have been having conversations around and um have identified that we think are important to be uh looking at into the coming year and going forward.

So you know, we have talked about exploring an SSA and a uh and or a bid.

There are a variety of different models for this, and we have already done some research and gone to um visit another community with the main street program that was showcasing uh uh a successful SSA that's been in place for a long time.

Um, but we're also um gonna be moving forward with our made in Elgin Incubator program that we received a hundred thousand dollar Hartford grant for this year, which was one of only three in the country.

And we're hoping to have some element of small business grants built into that program over time so that there's something to um engage something to engage people in opening businesses downtown once they've completed this program.

Um, we're always looking to expand our span Spanish language services, and also we see an opportunity to upgrade our downtown gift certificate program to something that is more digital.

Hold on.

Okay, I missed a slide, so I'm going to show this just briefly before I move on.

So talking about some of these projects and how some of these projects happen, I think it's really important to understand that it's not just me and it's not just the board members who are coming up with these ideas.

Um, these are through stakeholder involvement and commitment.

Um, so it is you know, the business community, the people that you know, the residents, the people that work downtown who are interested in our work and express interest in participating.

Um the board will help create a committee of volunteers to help work on a project, they will collect data, they will establish partnerships, they will identify and um uh a project and build a proposal, and then it goes to the DNA board for review, and you know, if there's an ask for budget or something, that's how that would take place, and then uh the committee works to help make this project a reality, and with something like the downtown branding project of the logo, then once the committee has uh um uh you know basically done their work, then the staff is essentially implementing this, and the committee is on to expanding the next idea.

Sorry about skipping that.

All right, I am not gonna be able to show the video tonight because unfortunately there was an issue with the technology at the beginning, but I was going to show the second video of the Elginis Me Hogar series.

Um, but it will be out this weekend, and um it is the second video in the Spanish language series, so we're really excited to feature that, and we hope it does as well as the first video.

I want to talk uh next about a game changing partnership for us that really came out of the strategic planning process.

And DNA had been a member of Main Street, Illinois and the Main Street program in years past, and there was some changes at the state level under Governor Rouner that um essentially changed the state's related relationship and the structuring of that project or that program uh back eight or ten years ago.

And during COVID, um we reconnected with Main Street, and they provided a lot of value for us and a lot of resources that we would not have been able to just access on our own.

So after doing the strategic plan with them, we saw an opportunity to rejoin the program, and that there was gonna be a variety of resources that were available to us, and I'm really excited to show you some of the new pro some of the new resources that we are just getting our hands on this year with Main Street, as well as some of the value that that program has brought.

So in 2024, we did um we were redesignated as an Illinois Main Street community.

We did receive three awards in 2024 from the state conference, and um one of those was for the logo project, as well as recognition for our longtime board member Tom Brockner, who has served on the board for over 20 years and is here with us tonight.

You're welcome, Tom.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Um, I also had a chance to present along with Chris E.

Lee Murphy at the state conference on partnering with your visitors bureau, and we had a great time doing that.

A lot of um a lot of value was uh uh you know able to be given to some of the other leaders within the state who do the kind of work that we do.

In 2025, um we did receive accreditation status from Main Street America, and that is a very rigorous application process and review process that not all organizations get.

We are one of only 13 accredited programs in the state of Illinois, and um that is throughout the that is through the national network.

So that is something that we do have to reapply for every year, and um it is very prestigious to be given accreditation status, and I'm told it's very unusual to get it on your first year back into the program, but they were very impressed with how our organization is set up and um encouraged us to go forward with that.

So we also got to present on a panel um at the National Main Street Conference this year and received uh a couple grants this year, and one of which the Hartford business grant is is again this is part of a two-year commitment from the Hartford Insurance Company.

They are the biggest sponsor of Main Street America, and they have put several million dollars into a fund to offer accelerator grants.

So, this is for things like the incubator program specifically, um, and there will be additional monies for that going forward through that program.

Um, but this has been really beneficial.

I will also add that a number of our downtown businesses have received Main Street grants in the last two to three years, and that's something that we proactively offer to them.

Um, and there was at least four businesses that reported to me that they applied this year.

I know Sugar and Rhyme got a grant last year, and there was four businesses the year before.

So that's another opportunity that you know being within the network gives our businesses that that opportunity.

We are also getting data from Main Street America that is data that we would not be able to afford ourselves.

This is a report that was provided to us this year by Main's uh just in the last couple months here by Main Street America from their research department, and and the the data is sourced from Placer AI.

So they have a contract with Placer AI to provide these reports for their communities that are within their networks, and this is the kind of thing that we can offer to our business community as well as our municipal leaders to understand what's happening downtown, and um it's not gonna have all the answers for you, but it's gonna give you some data and context when you're thinking about things or talking about making decisions.

Um, you know, this these are things that can be considered how this may change over time, as well as our businesses.

So looking at some of our busiest days versus our quietest days, um, nightmare on Chicago Street is called out in this report as one of the busiest days, um, and that was October 19th last year.

Um, and um overall, what this report has told us is that visitation downtown is it has returned to pre-pandemic levels, um, but we've never had a level of detail that can actually tell the percentage of people who have visited at least monthly.

Those type of things um, you know, we've gotten quotes for Placer AI before.

It it's um you know, $35,000 a community just for you know, a short amount of time, things like that.

So having this data is really important.

Um, these is additional data from the same report, and you can see very clearly that um Fridays are the busiest day in downtown Elgin, and um that is the day of our farmers market, and you can see on the graph on the upper right that um that foot traffic has returned to pre-pandemic levels, but things like the graph on the lower right where it shows the busiest time of day, that's the kind of thing that we can offer as guidance for our business community when they're doing things like aligning their hours of operation for the time they think makes the most sense to them, and it's just helping our business community make more data informed and decisions.

We also got access to a new piece of technology, actually, two new pieces of technology that are intended to work together, and one of them is called the Maestro Community Manager.

Um, DNA has used a CRM platform for years to track some of our interactions with businesses, and as businesses are coming and going, our clients, um, but this is giving us the opportunity to track like never before and actually create uh generate reports from it rather than just data entry.

So the Maestro Community Manager we got this spring.

Um, again, these um we are doing a lot of data input to these, and we are expecting over the next um you know, six months to fully populate these, but I have some things here to show you today, and they're based on these pieces of research or these pieces of um technology, we will be able to show these trends going forward.

So some of the things that this reports on is again what's happening what's changing with occupancy, um, what's changing with our buildings, and also some of the reinvestment statistics as we become uh aware of them.

This is a picture of the dashboard.

Um there's a report up here for new businesses, so you can see some of the new businesses, and it shows the dates that they opened or the dates that we were able to enter this.

Um, and you know, this is just um essentially we're able to you know uh dive into different elements of this of this platform to you know pull reports and enter information in a more meaningful way.

The booms tracker is another really exciting piece of technology that we actually just got within the last month.

So this is something that we are just getting our hands on.

Um this has been offered to us uh by Main Street America, all Main Street communities are getting this for free through our membership with Main Street, otherwise this would not be, you know, this would be something that the booms tracker specifically, I don't believe is available to purchase outside of that.

Um, but this is something that's being set up through the network, and Main Street is supporting the use of this development of this onboarding all of that.

So what you're seeing here is the the booms tracker creates a visual summary of downtown's built environment.

Every building, um, every block, every parcel can be entered in here.

And the numbers that you're seeing on the screen, you see the the blue blocks in the middle that are some of the blocks of downtown.

We have entered the data for those buildings, and and the data for those buildings is what you see on this dashboard.

There's 55 businesses within those buildings.

There is uh 98 housing units, there's the potential for six more housing units, and this will give us the ability to see how things change over time with things like upper floor vacancy, with things like uh you know, repair and maintenance needs needs or buildings that are offline.

So, again, this is something we're just getting our toe dipped in, but this is gonna create a lot of opportunity in the future.

Uh, opportunity that this is already created has been uh to create make our business count a lot more interactive, a lot more um detailed, and we will be able to show how this changes over time in a way that we have not in the past.

So, this is something that we're all gonna be able to compare year to year and see how the different categories of businesses are changing and evolving downtown.

So, this is based on our 2025 business count.

We go around door to door and do retention visits and the business count every year with our economic development committee.

Um, it's a all hands-on-deck boots on the ground operation in January that you are all welcome to join us for if you want to help with that.

Um, it usually takes us about two months, and um, we literally uh go and calculate and record all the different businesses that are currently in place because things change.

Um, sometimes you know, people don't always tell you when they when they close or when something like that happens.

Um, so you know, this is a this is our point in time that we are able to you know calculate all of those changes and see how that's moving forward.

This is also an example of some of the reporting from the building data in those resources.

So I know everybody's always interested in what's happening with the occupancy rate, and there's a lot of different ways that people talk about this, and so um hopefully this is gonna help us have a um more unified understanding of this.

That's it's certainly my intention to help with that.

But what you're seeing on the right is the total units in downtown Elgin.

So this is by individual business units or individual units within a building.

And 91% of those units are occupied, 5% of them are available, and 4% of them are not in use or not occupiable currently.

And what does that mean?

That's the graph on the right.

If something is not in use currently, 64% of that reason is because there's a redevelopment project happening there, or there's active permits on that property for something to be occurring that has not completed yet, so it cannot be occupied.

There are also buildings, the 29% of that slice that have significant renovation needs and cannot be currently occupied until a solution is uh identified for those renovation needs.

Sometimes that involves people, well, that's where things like TIFF money come in for massive renovation projects, making sure that that's available for the properties that need it for significant reinvestment.

Um but sometimes those property owners are still looking for solutions and are trying to find the right business partner or business to come into a space to help direct those renovations.

And then the 7% of that slice is um buildings that are not in use are not listed.

So that's um the people that are dark and they are not talking to anybody.

So that is a very small uh very small slice, but there are a couple buildings downtown that are um still in this category.

Over the last several years, this category has greatly reduced, and most of those buildings have moved into the active redevelopment or some phase of planning.

But this is a lot of you know, the type of interactions that we're having with property owners behind the scenes based on these needs, and this is a way for me to show you kind of what the current state of affairs is downtown and how are these how are these different uh um categories moving and changing.

We have also um had um some great you know support from Illinois Main Street on um identifying some very important reinvestment statistics, and this is something that we have started tracking with the help of some permitting information that we are able to get from Mark Millot's department.

Um so right now you know, essentially what you're seeing here is these are the these are the data sets that Main Street America advises as some of the most important reinvestment statistics to showcase what is happening and what is not happening in your downtown.

Now it is then up to us as leaders to assess why that might be, what are the impacts, but this is a piece of information that we have not been able to showcase in this way in the past, and I'm really looking forward to showing how this will evolve and change year over year.

Um, also important to consider that things like this are affected by the economy, they're affected by the banks, they're affected by all kinds of things.

Um but what you're seeing here is that 10 businesses have applied for occupancy since January 1st.

This is Q1 and Q2.

Um, you know, we are gonna be collecting this monthly and tracking this monthly.

There was 95 reinvestment projects in the first half of this year, 90 of those were private projects at private properties, and those private property owners spent over 600,000 of money invested on those buildings.

That is just material costs.

That is not including the labor costs or anything like that.

So what this tells you is that the downtown stakeholders are investing in their buildings.

Um, this also shows the investment that the city has made, which is also very important to show.

Um, this is a very inflated amount because the Hemans amount is is listed here.

Um, and that was obviously a generational project that we are all very um excited has been completed, and um you know, when a project comp is completed, that's when it's gonna hit these numbers.

There was also a TIFF grant given out by the city, and the rest of that money was for things like improvements at City Hall or the building of the security desk at the center, for example, was one of the things on there.

So maintenance projects at our public buildings, but it's important to recognize that that our that our city is investing in our in our buildings and in um and in the city buildings themselves as well, and that's not the case everywhere.

Um, there's also numbers that we don't have here because we don't have those projects yet.

So things like new ground up development is not something that we've seen in downtown for a couple years, but that's something we will start showing if and when those projects take place.

The rest of this reinvestment statistics is all things that we um are able to collect and create and generate in-house at DNA.

So this is the movement that we're creating.

This is the outreach that is coming out of the organization on a regular basis, and just year to date, we have over a thousand volunteer hours.

DNA is a community-led economic development program that involves stakeholders stakeholders helping drive the the decision making and also the the boots on the ground work of helping make some of these projects happen.

So we also um uh you know, one of the other measures that that Main Street um asks for here is the number of events that are taking place downtown.

And these are not just events that we are hosting, these are events that downtown is hosting.

But this is a measure of things happening, and that number has grown a lot.

And I'm going to show that later in the slides.

That is the number one item that the down that the contract with the city with the DNA from the city of Elgin pays for.

So since 2020, all of these services, and these are just the most popular ones, but all of these services have been free of charge to current and prospective downtown stakeholders.

So that is anybody who currently owns a business, building or is a resident downtown, and anybody who wants to be.

Once people have a good plan and we feel confident that they have a plan, then we talk about exploring properties, and we're literally matchmaking those businesses with potential properties that we think would best fit them based on their needs of the space, but also what they're looking for from a length of term and what we know those property owners are open to from a leasing perspective.

So it really is has to be something that lines up as well as the business fitting being appropriate for the space from a zoning and building code perspective.

Once we identify some of those properties, then we're literally assessing the uh doing project assessments.

So that's a lot of times you know, me or I'm tag taming that with Mark Mullat's department.

Um, you know, we're getting people walking through with their contractors.

We are you know asking questions about what's gonna be required so that people can um be fully informed before they start their project and also be ready to apply for permits, but that's where we're intercepting and making sure that people are not getting into spaces that um will not meet their needs or will not be fit for approval.

After people have applied for permits, and then we get to it gets to the point where we we consider it sort of they're they're past the point of no return, right?

They're committed to this, they've applied for permits, they are moving forward, they are spending their money, they're building out their space.

That's when we consider them in the coming soon phase that um that they are you know eminent to open and they're just working through the plan that they've then created, and after that, then we're doing a ribbon cutting and an announcement, and we're celebrating.

There is a lot of clients that we um have in the queue that are working on all different timelines, all different um uh types of projects, and there are there are clients that come and reach out and then you know kind of don't follow back up or um take a long time to.

So, really, there is you know, what I want to convey here is that this is sort of a revolving queue, and people, you know, we're meeting people where they're at and helping them move forward in the time that they're prepared to.

So on their their terms and what they're comfortable with.

But so be uh what that has looked like for the last three years.

Um, one of the stats that I want to call out, we've been working with a tremendous tremendous amount of property owner interest over the last three years.

And so looking one of the things that you know, as I was looking at this data set for one, I wanted to call out for you.

Obviously, we want to talk about businesses that have opened, um, which you know, we were directly working with 38 of these that that reached that opening completion going through this whole you know, this whole workflow.

But um, we also um have worked with clients who purchased 16 buildings over the last three, just the you know, our three-year contract term that we're here talking about.

Um, so you know, some of those were people purchasing more than one building, some of that was individual building owners.

Um, I know some of those folks sent letters.

Um, you know, that is um really the results of um of some of these building purchases are why we are seeing so many redevelopment projects because many of these properties that were purchased were sitting idle before they were purchased.

So once somebody purchases the property, then they need to plan a project, they need to make sure they have they they're getting their funding together with a project like 40 due page or the tower building.

Obviously, that's a really big project, and there's a lot of lead time on that.

So sometimes the public and the community will see buildings where there's not something happening, or you know, we don't see people swinging hambers yet, or it's not occupied.

Um that likely means that we are meeting with that property owner, and the city is meeting with that property owner to help advance a plan that can only move forward so quickly, and that also relies on things like the banks, the the you know, the interest rates, all of those things.

Uh talking about our community outreach, this slide represents all of our mass communication.

We've built a tremendous communications platform or or program over the last several years since I've been here for eight years, but really we've grown a lot in this area during this last contract.

Um, and you know, over 52% increase in web traffic, over 63% increase in social media, and the 10,000 weekly subscribers and 600 weekly subscribers for the the newsletters, those are emails that are going out every single week year round.

We're also doing our marketing campaigns, which this is plugged into a lot of the ways that businesses can participate in our marketing.

So, you know, we're we're sharing the things that they're that they um that they are planning.

We are you know um are you know promoting it on social media, boosting it, things like that.

But these are curated campaigns that take place every year that have a variety of different participation opportunities in them that businesses can take advantage of in a way that makes sense for them because it's not always one size fits all for a business, you know, um uh a retail business is going to get something different out of an event than a service-based business will, but we try to have a variety of opportunities that people can take advantage of, and um you know, some of the the bullet points that you see here are some of the focuses of this campaign in spring.

We are generally focusing on something new, what's new in downtown.

We've also um incorporated things like you know, community engagement cleanups and things in recent years.

Um, this year we had a pop-up market.

We always have some kind of gift card sale in the spring for the spring holidays, and selling gift cards is a way that we can ensure people are you know, that's all money that has to be spent downtown.

And so that that is um, you know, essentially purchases that are already to be made and money that is definitely going to those businesses.

Um, the summer is all about the farmers market and building customer flow around that to and from the businesses.

Our after hours promotion is very popular there, and our holiday campaign is all about building traditions and really um driving shopping during the holiday season, starting on small business Saturday, and that is a six-week campaign.

Uh, we purchase billboards, we do the holiday murals for passive entertainment.

So, again, that's a way that you that um a lot of businesses can plug into something that we're that we're doing in marketing that we're paying for.

This is some of the more expensive marketing that we're paying for, um, and it's ways that everybody can get benefit.

And this is some of the benefit that we've seen.

Um people have caught on that hosting events downtown brings people downtown.

And at this point, um, you know, we there are so many events being held downtown, and DNA promotes as many of them as we become aware of or businesses make us aware of.

Uh, in 2024, that was 848 events, small and large events.

So that's everything from a sidewalk sale to Nightmare on Chicago Street.

That compares to 602 the year before.

Prior to that, we weren't counting it yet.

But this is something again that is a trend.

Um, and looking at the the number in the upper right hand corner, that is the number of events that participated in our holidays campaign last year.

So, this is one of those participation opportunities for the businesses.

Anybody that's hosting a holiday event downtown plugs into the marketing, plugs into the calendar, and just between 2023 to 2024, that number jumped dramatically.

Um, you know, that is um something we're very proud of, and um an area where we've seen a lot of growth downtown since I've been here for the last eight years.

All of these things would not be possible without a tremendous network of supporters, sponsors, and partners.

Um, this is a wide selection of businesses that have supported uh supporters within the last year, but we have a variety of partnerships that um you know um that we utilize every single day to help uh add value for the businesses and to expand our opportunity to help them and help downtown move forward.

So we like to say there is always a way to participate in what we're doing, and we are more than willing to find or create something specific if people want to help.

If people want to show up and do something, we will find a way for them to uh participate in our organization.

Oh dear, something did not transfer here.

Um, so moving to this slide, um, I wanted to talk about our financial outlook and what it costs to uh um what it costs to do all of these things.

So in 2024, um our operating budget was 271 dollars.

It's hovered around that for the last few years, and you can see kind of where that money comes from.

Um, last year, 64% of that um came from the city, and we appreciate that very much.

It's typically been hovering around 55 to 65 percent, and it varies because we bring in other money from other places such as sponsorships and donors, um, and also grants.

So, looking at 2025 this year with the grant from the Hartford, um, that's a really significant grant.

That's gonna skew those, you know, that's gonna um change those numbers.

Um, but in 2024, we see we received grants from Experimental Station, um, which is a nonprofit in the city of Chicago that works with the state of Illinois uh farmers market association to provide that link match at uh for people using link at the farmers market.

So for all the dollars that people spend, they are matched, and then we are reimbursing those vendors for that out of that grant.

So that's a very important partnership we've had for many years.

I want to talk uh uh a little more about the financial outlook here, looking at what does the PSA contract money actually cover because we get that question a lot, and obviously our operating budget is bigger than just the money we get from the city of Elgin.

Um so out of the 180,000 dollars, and I believe the first year contract proposal that we're talking about here tonight was uh 180 um uh 180,500.

So just budgeting this out uh with this limited amount of um resources that I put in here, we already maxed it out over that amount.

Um, but essentially the the budget covers um myself and one part-time staff person, our other full-time staff person is fully paid for out of the farmers market, um, and the um the the money that we bring in through fees and uh participation there, so that subsidizes the additional full-time staff person who handles our marketing.

Um again, the Hartford grant is called out on here, the experimental station.

I also want to make sure that this that the city is aware that DNA is Sam.gov registered and GATA certified to be compliant to receive state grants, and we have uh we do apply for grants like that on a regular basis, and as I mentioned during this past contract, we did receive one in 2023, which made that strategic plan possible.

Um but you know, we maintain this opportunity to continue applying for what we're eligible for with the bandwidth that we have.

Day to day, we also work with a professional accounting and bookkeeping firm called your front e-office.

That's who manages our day-to-day bill paying and accounting and bookkeeping.

Um, we also conduct an annual 990 tax audit that is filed by a um by a certified CPA for the last eight years.

We've worked with TKO.

Last year TKO was purchased, um, was bought out by Eisner Kemper.

Um, but we are we are filing uh um paperwork and audits based on what is legally required uh by the amount of funding that we have as an organization.

So that is how we have been doing it these last eight years that I've been here, and again, that has been reviewed by our CPA and our legal counsel to be appropriate based on what our funding level is.

We are well under the $500,000 requirement um for higher levels of auditing, but um this is what we've done up to this point, and we're happy to talk about what the city wants to talk about with us here tonight.

With that, I'm going to invite our esteemed board president, Brian Pinon, to take the floor and uh talk about the next section of this presentation.

Hello.

I am uh Brian Pinion, and I am the president of the Downtown Neighborhood Association.

Thank you for having us here tonight.

It means a lot to us.

I was really looking forward to talking about a lot of things here tonight.

Uh, particularly I wanted to talk about our um how the DNA is one of the only 13 Main Street USA accredited organizations in the entire state of Illinois.

You know, this is a designation that comes with strict financial and operational requirements, all of which we comply with.

I wanted to list our role in the zoning changes.

I wanted to talk about our incubator.

I wanted to talk about the grants we've secured, and most importantly, I really wanted to talk about all the small businesses we've helped.

And that would have made sense in a routine contract renewal, but I think you can all agree this has not been a routine contract renewal.

I've had no clear contact point to negotiate with.

Instead, I found myself negotiating this with all of you, and I love talking to you, all don't point, don't get me wrong, but it has made this messy.

Frankly, I'm disappointed with how this process has unfolded.

Because it has distracted us from our mission.

And most seriously, it has demoralized the 100 or more volunteers who show up week after week to make downtown neighborhood association work.

So I don't want to dwell on all of that because I realize there's another story that I need to tell.

And it's a story that I'm not sure all of you know.

Because the real story of the DNA isn't just about what we've accomplished, it's who we are.

The DNA is made up of people, people who believe in this city.

People who believe that downtown Elgin matters.

People are giving their time, their talents, and their hearts to make this place better.

Not because they have to, it's because they want to.

It's because they want a central place for the people of our city to gather.

I want to talk about our board for just a second.

Every member of the DNA board are volunteers.

And we're not just talking about any volunteers.

We're talking about people who bring expertise in real estate, economic development, marketing, design, tech, and community building.

These are some of the most successful entrepreneurs and civic leaders in Elgin.

And they choose to give their time to this organization.

They show up because they believe in the city.

They believe downtown Elgin matters.

Our board may set the strategic vision, but they also roll up their sleeves.

They serve on the committees, they volunteer at events.

I've seen them help carry tents and tables.

We are a very hands-on group.

It's a privilege for me to represent them here tonight because they show up.

But the board is not, the board is not who gets the work done.

The real boots on the ground, the real engine of the DNA.

It's all of our committees.

And we have several.

And the reason for this, it's because they're composed of people who believe in our downtown, again, people who show up.

These volunteers, they are the reason our events happen.

They're the reasons our markets thrive.

They're the reason downtown businesses feel heard and supported.

And if you don't believe me, just look around tonight.

If you're here tonight, and if you've ever served on the board or a DNA committee, volunteered at a market or supported a downtown event, or given your time to make downtown better.

Can I ask you to stand for a moment?

Council members, these are your friends.

These are your neighbors.

More importantly, these are your constituents.

And this is what community investing in its own downtown looks like.

These are the people working to make our downtown better every single day.

Your support, your support is invaluable to all of us.

Thank you.

Even though this support is invaluable, and because I actually have economic development expertise, I can still quantify it.

From the beginning of 2024 to present, the value val the value of volunteer hours given to the DNA totals close to 140,000.

That's the equivalent of two full-time staff members.

That is what community power transformation looks like.

And please remember this is just a conservative estimate.

It doesn't account for the high level professional expertise many of our volunteers bring.

The Elgin is home campaign, for example, the volunteer hours to create that are close to $30,000, as Jennifer mentioned.

But even using the standard formula, our volunteer time is valued at $140,000.

That is the value of showing up.

The DNA isn't just any nonprofit.

It's a network, it's a movement, it's a community-led organization that is deeply embedded in the heart of our city.

And that is what we're here asking you to continue investing in tonight.

This is not a contract, this is not a budget line item, this isn't a transaction, but a community that is already investing in itself.

We're asking you to vote to renew this partnership and to sustain the momentum we've built together.

Because the downtown neighbor association isn't just a contract or a program, it's a living, breathing community of itself.

It's its residents, it's its business owners, and its volunteers who all show up, who show up every day to support and strengthen Elgin's heart.

This agreement affirms work, the work, it honors the people behind it, and these people here.

And it gives us the ability and stability we need to keep showing up.

To that end, I must also be clear about the contract itself.

We have agreed to research alternative sustainable funding models for the DNA, including, but should not be limited to a special service area.

What we cannot agree to is being required to fund a consultant.

That mandate does not make sense for an organization of our size.

And it diverts resources away from the very work you expect us to do.

Also, I am not confident we can perform this work in under a year as stipulated in the con in the proposed contract.

We have also agreed to perform an audit once per contract term.

This is more than what is required of a nonprofit of our size or budget.

The NA's budget is well under the threshold required for this kind of audit.

The nuance of this issue, which has been used to question our credibility.

It has been used to imply there's something wrong with our finances or that we're hiding something.

Well, I can assure you we are on a strong financial footing.

And we are good stewards of the public money, the public's money.

All of which proved by our GADA certification, our main street accreditation, and the fact that we can land 100,000 dollar grants.

Still, we are willing to perform an audit, but only if the contract term remains three years.

And the reason is this, and I must stress this is the only reason that matters.

Our independence in an organization is important to us.

And it's important because it allows us to represent our stakeholders fully.

The DNA in the past has tried to walk the line that you're asking for, and the DNA was neither respected or effective.

The DNA is committed to unabashedly representing our entrepreneurs, our property owners, and the residents who live in downtown.

And it's our independence that gives us the credibility to do so.

Without it, the DNA will simply evaporate.

So I respectfully ask for the following.

Remove the consultant mandate, remove the board appointment requirements, and return the contract length to a three year term and allow us to do the work we've already proven we can do.

In my view, we have exceeded the terms of the past contract.

And we have delivered results that have made this community proud.

All we have ever asked for is a continuance of the existing agreement.

With the stability and the respect that makes our work possible.

And it means a lot to all of us here.

This organization works because can people continue to show up for our downtown?

All we are asking for right now is for you to show up for us.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Board chair Pinion.

And thank you very much for the opportunity to present tonight.

And with that, I'll take any questions that the council has.

Any questions for Ms.

Fukala on the council?

Ms.

Alfaro.

I have a question of clarification.

On slide two or three, you went pretty fast.

You said that you received a DCO RISE grant.

Yes, we did.

I will due to that, I will be abstaining on this.

Any other questions for Ms.

Fala?

Mr.

Ortiz.

Thank you, Mr.

President and Ms.

Furcala for your guys' presentation.

It's very uh lengthy with a lot of numbers.

I got a bunch of notes scribbled here, so forgive me if I jump around a little bit.

Okay.

All right.

Uh I don't remember which slide it was when you were talking about your financials about how much of the SS the PSA goes the DNA.

How much the amount of money covers what it covers.

Yeah.

All right.

How much do you guys have in savings?

You guys have like a savings account or like a reserve account of the city does.

I'm gonna ask our board chair to come up and help answer this question.

Um the short answer is yes, we do, because we would not be able to operate otherwise.

Um Joy, do you want to sorry?

No, the treasurer.

Yes, thank you.

Thanks for your time today.

I've been serving as the volunteer treasurer at DNA for the past three years, and it's really been a wonderful experience to see our financial picture improve as the organization grows in impact and stature.

We of course have many uh different accounts for savings, but um what the one thing I want to leave you with is that following the COVID pandemic, the board of directors prior to my service felt it important that the DNA maintained 12 months of reserve to cover staff and basic expenses.

The reason for that is because during the COVID-19 pandemic, we didn't get paid for about nine months.

So, because we don't know if another pandemic will come tomorrow or something else, economic depression, you name it.

We have 12 months of reserves.

That is over 200,000, and that is above the best practice recommendation of six months.

We have 12 months.

Currently, in the last year, we have invested 92,000 of that in different CDs, so our money can grow for us.

In the past, that money sat in a savings account at the bank.

Now we have that invested, and we it is in a stable account, and we are going to be earning some interest, and our money is working for us.

In addition to that $92,000, we currently have $21.

All of our cash on hand is close to $300,000.

$321,000 to be exact.

That includes our current operating budget.

So that includes this year's budget and the money that's already planned to be spent.

Um the 12-month reserves, and then that money is able to be utilized to float projects and cover gaps.

Okay.

The reason I bring it up is can you bring up your proposal what you guys were like for this contract?

I think was it the last slide that Mr.

Pignon had?

I don't know what just happened to my slides here.

Hold on.

The last slide you said.

I believe it was the last one.

I don't know what's sorry, I'm not very familiar with this computer.

It's not mine.

All right, don't worry about it.

I got lost in cyberspace somewhere.

I can somebody thank you.

All right.

So the the reason I brought up the savings is like when the city comes across projects that get unfunded like from the state all the time.

State doesn't is not really nice to municipalities in current years or recent years.

We have to go into our reserve and pay for some of these one-time fees, sometimes reoccurring costs.

And with us with this contract, asking you guys to get a consultant for the SSA and do the audits.

But to say that you don't want to do it because you you don't have the money, you guys do have the money to do it.

You just keep into that.

I want to stress that some of this money is restricted funds.

So some of this money is received from other places, such as the Hartford grant, and that is that is not money that can be spent on other things.

Well, my question was how much you guys have in savings, not how much money you have that you can't spend in other things.

That's all of our money, including money that is somewhat restricted.

Joey, I'm gonna ask you to come back up.

$200,000 of that money is reserves to protect the integrity of our organization when our payments are unstable, when grants are unstable, when things like the pandemic happen.

It's not there for you to use for something you want us to do.

I'm not using it, you guys are gonna have to use it.

If it's something that's required by the work of the contract, dipping into money that comes from our organization that we raise through other sources.

I mean, we're already providing value with all of the vast uh volunteer value sponsorships, all of those things.

Um if there are certain requirements that the city would like us to have as it relates to the work that is required for the contract, we need to make sure that some of those things are covered because for example, projects uh projects like the Hartford uh grant, as we're booting up an incubator, that is that is money that we have to float until we get the second grant payment a year from now.

So there is there is that is our working capital in some cases to actually be able to achieve projects of this size.

We are not trying to decline our balance to zero every year because we are dealing with multi-year projects with um obligations to front money ahead of receiving it in some cases, so we would not be able, we would not have been able to secure a project like uh a grant like the Hartford grant without being able to show that we can actually get it done and uh you know handle that reimbursement, you know.

A lot of times grants are a reimbursement, even like for the DCO grant, we had to pay for that, and then we were reimbursed later.

We don't know when that's coming.

So having additional requirements that are essentially contractual mandates, we need to talk about the money that is coming from the contract to cover those things.

So you're saying in your savings there's no money kind of like in a general fund that you can use for projects that you don't see and then it has hit you.

That that is that is what I that is what we were just explaining.

So yes, that is what I'm saying.

Uh yes, that is what I'm saying.

All right, so all your money is restricted.

Uh so for the emails, you have a list for 10,000 people or individuals on one email list and 600 plus on another email list.

That one.

Yes, yeah, that one.

When we moved when this council agreed to move people out of 10 city and move them to Lexington, which email group did you guys send your letter of support to?

Um that went to all of the stakeholders, but it was also shared on social media.

Um so I will bring up this slide.

So when you see the social media following down here, that was also shared here.

Um, and with those 10,000 subscribers.

Am I correct, Sarah?

You were the one that sent that out, yes.

Okay, thank you.

Um for the dumpster crowd that we approved last year, me and Mr.

Pinon, and I think yourself was included in those conversations by the in spring, I think.

Yes.

Has that project been completed?

That project is completed.

Um, all of the people from Riverside Drive have been onboarded, and the last piece of um myself and the public works department collaborating on uh the grease container has been completed, so you know that that has been put in place or is about to be put in place by that contractor.

I appreciate you guys mentioning that.

Um for now I want to talk about this newspaper article that came out uh over the weekend.

So I have the paper copy here, but actually I have a PDF that I've highlighted portions, so give me a second so I can pull that up.

So in here we talked about the unfunded mandates, and then we talked about the three percent increase trying to find the exact quote, my bad.

All right.

And one of the lines or two of the lines says this year, however, the contract was not placed on the agenda, and he had learned this month that OGIN officials wanted changes made.

I find that misleading because I have emails with Ms.

Simmons, yourself, Miss Farcala, Mr.

Pignon, dating back 10 weeks, and the subject line of these emails says DNA service agreement renewal with available questions, and another email authors called DNA board makeup structure.

So to say that he just or this organization had just found out this month, maybe you had just seen it in writing, but you knew of what could possibly be coming.

Some of the subject lines in this I haven't laid out.

Here it is.

So I have it laid out in sections.

So it's the Hispanic communic uh community engagement, board composition, the 501c3 and 990, which you guys talked about, the 990, that's SA formation.

And a lot of this is in the current contract.

So to go to the paper and say that you guys just found out about this, I believe it to be very misleading.

I granted you did see it in writing for the first time this month, but you kind of knew what was being spoken about.

We were not aware prior to whatever that email was that you were mentioning.

So we met with the city um with the mayor and the city manager in January to review our work plan.

Um several of our board members were there and we laid out our intentions for the year as we do every year.

Um I I really want to appreciate the opportunity to meet this year and actually discuss that in person.

Um, but um none of those things came up prior, and the contract renewal um was discussed there.

So between January and whenever those first emails were, that's when we learned that there were significant changes being proposed, and there was a variety of different um ways that those things came up, and so we had a lot of questions, and I'm gonna let Mr.

And so we had a lot of questions, and I'm gonna let Mr.

Pinion uh comment on this further.

But I would like to stress that the newspaper did reach out to us after this was not placed on the agenda, and so we did at some point have to respond.

Did you have a question, Mr.

Noah statement?

Okay.

Thank you.

But uh now I do have a question.

When you guys sent out an email blast two weeks ago for our August 13th meeting, and it said that it was res this conversation was rescheduled.

I never knew it was even in the books to be put on the schedule in the first place.

Okay, I'm sorry.

So when Ms.

Bakad just said it was rescheduled, and that's when the newspaper reached out to her.

We were the councilman, I don't even know it was going to be on the agenda.

Okay.

We were under the impression that uh you know it had been shared with us that we were anticipating it.

So we heard different things from different council members along the way from emails as I stated in the beginning of my remarks.

This was not a very good process.

So then why go to the paper and say stuff that's not true?

I did not.

I told you I told the truth.

Are you calling me a liar, Mr.

O'Tease?

It says I learned this intelligent officials want changes made.

He didn't learn this much.

Does this have any bearing on our work or our contract?

It has bearing with the credibility of what the newspaper is reporting.

It's making the city would matter.

This doesn't have anything to do with our contract.

Can we kind of stick to the subject?

All right, let's stick to it.

All right, so you said you had 1,051 volunteer hours for the farmers market and for other events.

I have uh I've seen you uh volunteering for that setting up tents.

I appreciate the help.

Yeah, Miss Michael's emails, and I'm always there during my lunchtime if I can be there.

And me and Ms.

McColler throw tents up when every Friday I can be there.

So uh going back to the the thousand hours of volunteer hours.

I uh I appreciate do appreciate the people that go and volunteer because I wasn't mentioned that I go and help you guys and all the people do, and sometimes it's raining, sometimes it's super hot, and sometimes it's miserable.

So those thousand hours do get used.

Uh now going to the 990.

I had mentioned you guys had brought that up in one of your slides that you have your accountant.

So on the IR, and then uh I ran into you, Ms.

I think like two months ago, three months ago.

I had asked you about it again.

So I'm on the IRS.gov website, and then you had mentioned to me that your accountant publishes all those documents for you for public exp inspection for the DNA portion of IRS.gov and you search the nonprofits.

You guys are registered 501c3, but your 990 hasn't been filed since 2022.

Uh we have confirmation that it's been filed, and our accountant has responded and said that they do not have control over the IRS website.

This is shown on other websites such as ProPublica that does have all of that information, and I literally have certified confirmation that our uh 2024 was just filed right here with me.

If anybody would like me to submit this into public record, I'm more than happy to do that.

Um but we we have all of those documents, and we are more than happy to provide them in whatever format the city would feel most beneficial based on this conversation.

Um but I know some of this was already confirmed in a previous email with the 2022 and the 2023 numbers.

At that time, 2024 was not filed yet, um, because typically nonprofits are filed after the tax date because CPAs are working with all of the people that have to have their taxes filed by April, whatever that first day is.

Um so um we are in that next wave, and that is how we have conducted this for the last eight years.

I appreciate the explanation.

Same thing you told me a few months ago.

Uh the and that's not a dig.

That's I was just uh saying that's the same exact explanation, so our story hasn't changed.

That was not a dig.

Uh for the nine active redevelopment projects.

Which buildings are those?

Is it the two Cummings buildings and the DuPage Street?

And what are the other ones?

I can have that full list for you.

Um I don't have that full list in front of me with every address.

Um, but that is buildings such as the building that Side Street Studio Arts purchased.

Okay.

That is such as the McBride building where um Mr.

Amon Moran I know has already communicated with the city they intend to redevelop that project.

That is the building where the Schwarma business is.

Um that is not I since you brought up Mr.

Cumming, and I know everybody's concerned about that.

I will I will mention that um he has been divesting of his properties, and my understanding is the last two properties that he owns in town are currently under contract to another property owner who is doing due diligence on that purchase.

Um so that is definitely some of the properties that changed over as we helped other people purchase those properties.

Um there's also a property that several properties on Chicago Street.

I I can get you a list.

All right.

No, no, that's that's okay.

I just want to see the those ones that came to my mind right away.

I don't want to come home somewhere.

Yeah, and I'm glad you mentioned this.

In fact, um some of the properties when I send my monthly reports to the city and I call out different properties where there's active conversations going on.

I will often list those properties, and that's something that we report on a monthly basis, just so you guys and city leadership knows um kind of what our our our week to week, month to month focus work is looking like and what is active.

Okay, yeah, and I will continue doing that if that's helpful.

No, and I know some of those properties are your guys' scope of work because the property owners want to do anything, in my opinion.

Some like the one that you guys have listed that the property owner just keeps the lights off for whatever reason they do.

There's nothing you guys could do about that or us.

I mean, we try, we encourage, but I do think that from an economic development perspective, um, you know, being aware of these properties, and um, you know, once we have active conversations with these folks, talking about uh what the opportunities are for things like upper floor redevelopment, or um if there are sizable investments that need to be made in order for places to be occupiable, things like the TIFF grants, which I know the city has seen more come forward in the last couple years for things such as um a couple of the properties I just mentioned.

All right, thank you.

Appreciate it.

Thank you.

Nobody else is gonna talk.

I'll jump in.

Oh, yes.

Okay.

Anybody down here first?

Okay, Mr.

Steffen.

Yes, I'll take thank you, Mayor.

I'll take the floor.

I will move that we approve the agreement with the following amendments, and I, as a lawyer, will go through the actual city produced agreement with the following changes that I will recommend and explain further if my motion gets a second.

So page two, um it would be a three-year term.

So the paragraph two would go the term would end on June 30th, 2028.

At the bottom of that's that same page, the three percent cost of living increase shall be applied in the second and third year.

The next page, page four.

Uh, because I am suggesting that we give a three-year contract, the audit that is mentioned as apparently agreed to by everybody to happen during the term of the contract, would give DNA three years to do that.

So it would contemplate it would be within 90 days following the completion of DNA's 2027 fiscal year and file no later than April 30th, 2028.

That's paragraph C of sub paragraph C of paragraph four.

Um these aren't numbered, so I don't know how to bring everybody's attention to the page I'm talking about, except it starts section two.

It's paragraph two at the bottom of the page.

I would eliminate the last section that talks about within 60 days there's going to be new members put on the DNA board from EDG and EACVB, but I would leave the language above that that says that DNL shall work collaborative with those groups collaboratively.

And again, I don't know how to direct everybody to the right page to make sure that everybody understands my motion.

So second to last page talking about the SSA because I am requesting a three-year agreement.

The deadlines for the steps contemplated for the SSA would be July 30th, 2027 on the third line at the top of the page.

First full line of the set of the first paragraph that's complete there, and then at the bottom of that page.

Um talking about our obligation because again, I think the memo is misleading talking about how SSAs are created.

SSA can only be created by this body, nine people here voting on it.

Um, we're the only ones that can impose that kind of a uh rent regime over the downtown.

So I would change that last date to September 9th, 2027.

In other words, give because it's a three-year contract rather than a two-year contract, give DNA an additional year to complete that SSA process.

So that is my motion to adopt that as the agreement, and I'm looking for a second, and then if I get a second, I would like a chance to go through each one of those and explain the reasoning behind those.

Second, so Mr.

Mayor, I've got a second, so if I can back up and go through those.

Um I think I'll start by mentioning that I am also embarrassed by this process, but here we are two months after the last PSA is expired, and eight months after the process was initiated, but such as it is, here we are.

So I'm also trying to keep the conversation, despite all the side tracks focused on did DNA perform under the last agreement for the last three years.

Did they do what we asked them to do?

And is what they're proposing reasonable and necessary.

And to answer the first question, I think it's obvious.

We've seen the presentation.

Thank you for sending the monthly reports.

For some reason, we were not getting those, or I haven't seen those before, but I think those are fantastic.

They are addressing exactly what we want you guys to be showing us, what is going on downtown, where are the new businesses, what are the leads, what's going on with the new boom, what's going on with Maestro, etc.

etc.

So thank you for that.

Um, so I want a three-year contract because that's the standard contract that we have given this group in the past that we give other groups that we give the PSA to.

Um I think DNA has shown us that they deserve it and that they should get it.

So that's why I'm doing a three-year board makeup.

Um the example in the memo, I I do not agree with this idea that because we did this once for EACVB, when they had their executive director leave, and we're in a state of crisis, um, that that somehow creates the necessity to do that in this situation.

It's to me, it's completely different.

That's that was a situation where EACBB was in transition and needed some help to get restarted.

I contrasted that to this group, who, as far as I can tell, is hitting all cylinders, is doing everything we asked them to do, is performing as we have asked them to, and is proposing to continue to do that.

So I do not agree with forcing cross-pollination of boards.

I will point out that because we as a council just got the EACVB annual report, it included their board makeup, and I see that Jennifer Fukala, the executive director of DNA, is on the EACB board, so EACVB board.

So that is already happening organically.

I don't think it needs to be forced on anybody in a PSA.

The SSA, I have proposed that we give them the additional year to get that done.

My understanding from hearing from Eric Reeder from Illinois Main Street and others is that this proposed deadline, this proposed timeline that is kind of forced on everybody because it's a two-year proposal for the current contract that was given to us in the memo, would force a timeline that really is unrealistic for a creation of an SSA.

Uh that is something that is going to take time and a lot of persuasion and a lot of talking to property owners and building owners.

That is not something that can be rushed.

Umreach, I think that was that was an issue that really wasn't touched, but I think everybody's resolved that.

How how to continue the diversity outreach?

Um, I think everybody agrees that that has to happen.

Everybody understands, given the makeup of the city.

Um I think that's been understood for a long time, including when I was on the DNA board back whenever in an audit.

Uh because it's a three-year term that I'm proposing, it would give an extra year to get that audit done.

Um I'm proposing all of these as a way to get this thing to the finish line to get us refocused on what a PSA is about and what we should be considering when we enact a PSA, what we should be considering the group that we want to enter a PSA with.

Have they done the work?

Are they doing the work?

Are they proposing to continue to do the work?

And on all those things, I think they are.

So that's why I'm proposing this motion and got a second.

So I'll open it up to anybody else.

Okay, any other comments?

Mr.

Mr.

Good.

Thank you, Mayor.

Um, so um for all of you in the audience, thank you for coming tonight.

Um let's see, where to start.

So I think I'm the only person in this room that served on the board with a lot of you as well as served on this board.

Um so I think I bring a unique perspective to this.

And um right now there's so many different things happening at so many different levels to treat anything like it's status quo um is I wouldn't say that's good practice just to keep doing things the way that we've always done them.

Um we're not doing that.

Um we're iterating as a group how we operate as an organization.

Um we've had you know our own levels of success, so we're all invested in the downtown, right?

Like I'm I've I've lived downtown for 10 years, um, worked at bars there.

Um I I've lived down like I live and work downtown.

So um this idea that maybe we don't understand what's happening or appreciate what's happening, um, I don't I feel like we're kind of talking past each other, and so that's my biggest concern tonight.

Um I work in the private sector, I work with startups, I work with investors.

Um in conversations about this relationship, there have been many issues that had surfaced, and so when the idea of the contract being shifted or rearranged, um for me that wasn't crazy.

Like this is a normal thing you do when you interact interact with other organizations, you invest in organizations, you're constantly renewing um your trust in each other, and oftentimes when you have success and your key investor is going for another round, they actually put more structure in place, right?

Because they take that first bet, they say, okay, like let's see what you do, and you do well, okay.

Well, we're gonna reinvest in this next round, and we're gonna put more structure around it.

So I understand you know I work in many different capacities, and not everybody gets along, but the most important thing for me with my colleagues up here, as other well, it's people in the community and in my day job is when you disagree that you're willing to sit down and talk things out.

Um, the fact that this got into the newspaper, um, I understand that you're saying the newspaper reached out to you.

Um you're more than capable of saying we're working through this as two organizations.

Um and so that response, um, you know, I I work with a group out of South Bend that actually does investment in in organizations that are public benefit organizations.

Um, and I reached out to them because I was like, what would you do in this situation?

And they would they would immediately call for leadership change, they would immediately freeze dispersals of money.

Um I get it, I'm coming from a private sector perspective.

Um, this is nonprofit, but we're investing taxpayer money, and we have a higher, in my opinion, a higher threshold to make those decisions.

And so um I don't think I'm not worried about the dollar amount, right?

Like 160, 180, 200, right?

We've had conversations before, whether it's about us as an entity, the DNA as an entity, economic development as a whole, do we bring in capacity internally to our organization in addition to the DNA and the chamber?

Um sure, I think Elgin has the capacity to do that, but when that gets deployed, the key considerations are gonna be how do they interact together?

And last time that the two organizations were here for a PSA, I said specifically to you and the visitors convention bureau that I wanted more than presentations and slideshows of strategic alignment, and it's okay.

We're still working on how we organize our strategic plan.

So I get it, it's not easy to do.

But that was what I highlighted when visitors convention bureau came here.

Is I appreciated that they took our strategic plan and aligned their organization up next to it and said this is how we connect the dots.

I want more than every three years saying, hey, this is what we're doing, this is what we're re-upping in.

Um I need to see something that's dynamic, not just a static template, not just a static slideshow that's coming towards us.

So um, okay, this is uh again, uh I the main takeaway is I've I know and you all know that this relationship is frayed.

And so if you were in the shoes of an investor, would you continue to invest money in an organization that you know is not interfacing in a productive manner?

Um, so I think that I agree the organization of DNA is impressive.

You guys are punch above your weight.

Um, again, served with many of you on there.

I understand the amount of work that goes into say the farmers market.

Shout out to uh the individuals who manage that because that is heavy lifting every single week.

Um but even as my time as a board member, there are moments that I disagreed with some of the decisions that were being made in the interim and between me leaving the DNA board and today.

Um I've had conversations with board leadership where I expressed, hey, this is what I would recommend, this is where I disagree, um, and that's totally fine and okay to do.

But as an individual and somebody who is responsible for spending uh and distributing taxpayer money, um, I'm having a really hard time getting past this freight relationship.

And and I can say this confidently, I will sleep well because I know I've reached out and I've said I am willing to facilitate these meetings.

I am willing to try and bridge this gap.

I've done that with my colleagues up here.

We've had disagreements.

When I hear one version over here, I hear a version over here, I say, okay, we need to sit in the same room.

And we we have done that.

So that is my concern.

Um I'm I'm okay with continuing this relationship, but to say that this doesn't need to have vast improvements in terms of how we interact with each other.

It's what is best for taxpayers, and you you guys know it, right?

You guys know that you would rather have a a different relationship than the one you've experienced.

I'm saying the same thing from this side.

So again, tonight I'm not saying like we should leave on bad terms, but for the uh motion that was just made, I don't I I'm not going to support the motion for the three years and the removal of those things.

Um it's incredibly normal to collaborate.

And I understand that you are on the EB, uh the visitors convention bureau board, but when you go to those meetings, that's their agenda, you know, so it's primarily their topics.

You'll have your moment to have interjection, but for them to cross-pollinate, I think is productive.

Um, it's our economic entity that we're trying to all cohesively work together, right?

So if we're not even seeing tonight how the alignment of your strategic plan connects to the city of Elgin's and or where the areas here in 2023 Main Street report where you hit those marks or where you haven't hit those marks, where they align with us.

I honestly took this as an opportunity.

You guys could have came and asked for more.

Like with all the successes that you just rolled out, you could have come and asked for more.

And that's where I like the the what the email we got was just to have the same contract.

Like this day and age, like it doesn't matter what space you're working in, like you there's certain things that have changed across the board.

Like, how are you going to deploy new technologies?

Are you going to, and why and or why not?

So those are the areas where I want us to be cognizant of this.

This is we are investing taxpayer money.

We had an organization that just came to us and said they did this amazing job, asked for the status quo, what it was.

We said, well, we've heard things in the community or amongst ourselves where we want to make sure there's structure in place to make sure this next contract bears out what we would like to see as well.

Because we are 60% in some years more than 60%.

Again, the world that I come from, that means typically we would have board majority.

It doesn't matter if it's one percent, board majority has more input and more say.

I understand the desire to want to be independent.

I sat on the board when the conversations about SSA were happening.

This has been long running.

So can I respond?

Absolutely.

Is there any I think there was a couple questions in there that I think I can respond to if that's okay with you, Councilman Good.

Um related to the relationship with our colleagues at the CVB and um Explore Explore Algin area, the EDG, and the chamber.

We do not just sit on the DNA board.

I I could have had us here all night talking about the collaboration that we do on a daily, weekly, and monthly basis.

I also sit on the uh explore elgin committee for the last eight years with the chamber.

We work in the same building with the with the chamber and the EDG and interface with them on a daily basis.

Um the Explore Elgin Visitors Bureau has all of their staff people on committees of ours already, the promotions committee, they were involved in the video campaign where there were 16 people on that committee, as well as our economic development committee, and those are ongoing relationships and and collaborations where we are plugging in with each other dynamically in ways that make sense for the work that we're currently doing.

So, for example, Chris Eilee Murphy and her team have just recently rolled out these quarterly marketing round tables, and we are collaborating with those on now and actually partnering with them to provide uh a presentation collaboratively with them at those events.

Um again, I could go on and on about this, but um it it didn't seem prudent to get that far in the weeds today, so I was trying to um hit the high level, and then I'm happy to answer whatever questions or dive into topics more deeply.

Um I do recall very briefly when you were on the board mentioning an SSA, but um related to the deep dive on that topic, that is not something that we've done in the eight years that I've been here.

I understand DNA did look into that previously in 2012 and 2016, and I actually did contact our past DNA staff person, Jason Peloski, um, for some insight on this, who did contact the past consultant?

That is not something that we've had a chance to even dive into, but um the the information of where that left off is very unclear.

It um basically halted in 2016, and so we would have to really start from scratch and go back to the drawing board.

Um, my understanding from that consultant based on what was forwarded to me um yesterday was that um the property owners at that time were not in favor, and Karen Jones was the board member who was the point person doing that outreach.

So um again, that's just a little bit of insight on that, and I'm gonna pass it to Brian because it looks like he wants to say something.

Uh I I want to address the uh the reason we asked for the same contract is we are attempting to reduce our reliance on cities funds.

But more importantly, we are committed to exploring more sustainable ways of funding downtown development, including establishing an SSA.

What we're asking for is the runway to do it, and it didn't require asking for anything more.

This contract has been uh evolved over the past decade or so.

The it is it started like on a one year, now it's a two, and then it's settled on a three year for the past several iterations.

We've added the cost of uh living increase into it.

All of this has stabilized and allowed us to start doing what we've been doing.

We we don't need much more.

What I need is the runway to get us to the next level.

And and you know, to your point, this organization has been evolving and is still evolving.

We started to become a much more data-driven organization when I joined the board.

And all of our tools that are with the deploying now, the the system statistical analysis we're capable of doing right now is quite impressive.

By the end of next year, we'll be able to have insight into trends that are going on downtown that that we we would dreamed about years ago.

But I need to stress this is asking for a continuance so we can get us to the next level, which will be some sort of SSA, because then we can establish it for much longer than three years.

It could be in the contract proposal, it's five, but we you know, Wheaton does seven.

You you don't even have to put a limit on it.

Uh you guys would be crazy not to, but you know it it would be it's beneficial to all of us if our downtown starts and we have to start thinking about it because the the TIFF is only here for another twelve years.

If we're not thinking strategically like this, you know, we we risk running into a wall or falling off a cliff.

So the reason we've not asked for anything new is because we're we're we're already planning what comes next.

So that's understandable.

But I would say the strategic misstep was the contribution contributing to this frayed relationship.

So that's where the I I agree.

Well, well, let me let me actually comment on the frayed relationship.

The way the DNA actually gets most of its work done is we have extraordinarily good working relationships with staff across the city.

I know every director of every department of this city.

We work extraordinarily well with them.

No, I understand that, but what I'm what I'm saying is the standard that I live in every single day in the private sector, and as well as in the community, as well as with my friends is this isn't the private sector.

You're dealing with the public here.

Oh, I know that's why we're having this conversation, the public.

You're investing in your own people in downtown.

I agree that I appreciate all the hard work that's gone in with this organization sitting in front of me.

Yeah.

What the point I'm trying to make is that the decision to go to the newspaper, the decision to not have meetings to work through this.

We it raises a level of concern.

I've had so many meetings right people.

Mr.

Pinion, I I appreciate that you have your take on this, and I have mine.

Okay.

Like I said, I'm the only person in this room that sat on that board of the DNA, right?

Sat up here.

I I have had food and drinks with many people in this room.

Like this is not I'm not some outside critic.

This is me at my last opportunity to try and bridge this gap.

And again, like I said, I can say confidently, I have made attempts to do this.

And if you felt that that was not uh made aware to you, or that your last if your last opportunity was to respond to the newspaper in the fashion that you did, it just again leaves me feeling that like this relationship is frayed, and so why would we do status quo?

Why would we do the same thing if from my perspective to responsible for taxpayer money?

We need to put more structure in place.

Not say like, hey, go away, but we just need to have more structure in place.

You get runway.

It might not be exactly the menu that you came with, but that's why I I feel like the memo that came forward tonight was not surprising to me.

The the motion again.

Um this is not surprising to me.

I know that John has contributed to this organization since the very beginning of it.

I believe he was a founding member of the DNA.

I I appreciate your offer to help.

That okay, that's that's and again, we've had conversations and I hope we continue to have them.

I I agree.

I really do.

But I just want to say that like it was made aware that you're having a tough time with the relationship.

I'm just saying from both sides, we need to come together.

We need this meeting has been no argument for me.

Uh abnormal.

I we've not I don't know to my understanding of following it council meetings before I even got on council.

I've never seen a relationship like this with a community partner get so frayed to the point where it's it's getting like this in a meeting.

Normally it's you give a presentation, and I understand the reason why you made the statement you did is because you feel the contract has changed in negative terms.

It has.

And we hear the message that you're saying.

You're saying it right now, and we hear you.

Yeah, no, we we want to support organizations.

Okay.

Thank you, Mr.

Good.

Uh I'd be interested to hear what my colleagues have to say.

I mean, I know we have the motion right now that Mr.

Stefan made.

Um again, this is opportunity to see this next chapter through.

Um this is the process of compromise.

Um so I appreciate all the commentary that's been provided tonight.

Um you're right.

It's it's compromise.

We've got we've agreed to several of the proposals you've put on the table.

We have.

Yeah.

Ms.

Martinez.

Thank you, Mayor.

Uh it's interesting that um we say when the DNA was first uh founded, and you're um one of the founding members uh councilman Stefan, because I know that when the DNA was first formed way back when there were statements by people saying that um the DNA expected or or they didn't really want to uh rely on the city for for anything.

Okay, that's how the DNA That's what they were thinking of at that time.

And so then um in 1992 when it was founded.

The DNA, I was just saying the DNA was founded in 1992.

So is there something funny about that?

I I okay.

I didn't say 98.

98, thank you.

But anyway, regardless, okay.

Um, and and it was different.

I know it was different because they were self-funding then, and I remember they used to do the parade.

They used to have galas, they used to wonder wonderland, they used to do a lot of things together, and now I I don't see that.

But I will commend you on something.

Um I feel that in this last year, or maybe five months, you guys have done so much, you know.

So you you're you're saying yes, you're nodding your head yes.

So I I believe that you can.

In two years, you can do this.

It doesn't take three.

Okay.

Now let me tell you, um, like this diversity, okay.

Um you've had this is like your second contract or third contract.

I don't know.

My second are you trying to ask me personally or your organization?

No, I believe this is my fourth.

Fourth, okay.

And this is the first time that I seen the uh diversity involvement that there is.

I think it's great, but I just think it's just taken so long.

You know, it wasn't until we started talking about it that there has to be more diversity in the DNA that you started with this.

Okay.

And you know, the committees, um I was looking at your um at your website, and um just recently I noticed all those committees, and I never noticed them before, you know.

Um so I think that you're going the right direction.

Don't don't get me wrong.

Uh but um I was wondering how did that happen, all these committees all of a sudden are there do you guys meet often?

I mean, you have like committee almost for everything, it seemed like we have expanded our committees.

We have listed some of the specific project groups on there recently, but the committee page has been part of our website since we rebuilt it.

Um, and I believe that was in 2018 when we rebuilt the website.

Um so the website has drastically evolved since that time.

Um it is uh something that uh we manage a little bit in-house, but we also have professional management with, and so um updates happen on a regular basis, but they're not every day.

Um I will also say that uh go ahead.

To specifically answer why all the committees suddenly appeared.

They they didn't.

Um three years ago we created a strategic plan, and then the committees are aligned on the initiatives for the strategic plan, and that's how the work starts to get done.

That's that's what we've stood them up or we've rebuilt them or rebooted them over the past I would say six years, but they're they've been reconfigured and redesigned based off our initiatives that come out of our strategic planning.

So that's that's where they've suddenly they didn't suddenly come, but they're they're part about it.

I'm just saying that's impressive.

Okay.

No, yeah, no, thank you so much.

So I I am particularly proud of what our committees can do because this is what gets the work done.

Okay.

It's it is impressive, and thank you for acknowledging it.

Yeah.

I'm just saying um, you know, I I don't know, you guys have probably meeting notes, uh, meeting, you know, when you meet and how often you meet, I guess you have and depending on what it is, because whatever you have a committee for doesn't mean that it runs all year.

Like for example, the market.

That's correct.

You know, the market is so many so many months out of the year.

So of course they're not gonna have uh meetings when the market's not on, you know.

You maybe pre-planning, I get that, I understand that.

The other thing is you talk about um you talk about the residents, the property owners and business owners.

You know, um, I did get emails, and um I see you have good partnerships.

A lot of them went ahead and wrote in.

Thank you.

Um, and there's some uh what are they um there was some shareholders stakeholders?

Stakeholders, I'm sorry, stakeholders.

Um I just wished I would have seen more stakeholders, you know, uh than the few that I saw compared to this.

But you know, that's okay.

But I just want to know do you know like how many residents you have in downtown Elgin?

We know that we have over 800 residential units.

We don't know how many people live there.

No, what I mean is uh people that live there that own that property and live there.

Um we we know I'm sorry how many owner occupied.

Yeah, we know how many residential units there are.

We do not, I mean the city has records on what are rental properties, what are not.

Yeah, I'm not asking rental, owner occupied.

We do not currently have a that's not something that we're currently collecting or currently have the ability to cut to collect.

Okay.

Um in terms of what is specifically owner-occupied, but we do have over 800 housing units downtown, and the majority of those are rentals.

Right, I understand that.

That's that what I'm I'm asking.

But anyway, uh property owners, you know how many property owners you have and how many business owners you have.

Do you have a we have yeah, we have uh the business count.

I'm going back to this.

Uh so the numbers that we collect are the number of businesses, and as I said, we count that up for year.

We've done that.

We've done that since I believe we started that when you were on the board, Councilman Good, uh in about 2020.

So we you know, we can compare how this number has fluctuated over the years.

Um we do not have the exact number of property owners because properties change hands, but we do know how many properties we have and how many parcels we have.

We have 752 parcels, um, and I can get you that that property total, but we're not just looking at the number of properties, we're looking at units, um units in those buildings because all buildings are not necessarily created equal.

Right.

How about businesses?

How many businesses do you 358 this year?

358.

Because there's a lot of businesses, or I wouldn't say a lot, but there's some that um are already going to generations, you know.

And um, I remember before seeing where uh people were recognized for like a five-year anniversary, 10 year anniversary, uh 15 year and but I I've heard of people that have been there 15 years and three times have gone ahead and moved from one building to another because their business has gone so well, like three times, you know, in downtown Elgin, but they've never been recognized, they've never been uh talked to, they nothing.

And I was like, you know, I I get it, you're busy.

Councilwoman Martinez, we typically post about that.

Uh we we definitely do share on our social media when there are milestones, and when people do reach out to us about important milestones, we have held ribbon cuttings for those milestones.

Um, and you know, recognition posts of that kind.

We've also sent out announcements in the form of a press release.

But sometimes that is generated on what that business is looking for and how they want to recognize their anniversary.

For example, Ulla, who owns Martini Room has just celebrated her 20 year anniversary, and she decided to do it through a series of posts that we had a meeting about.

I personally donated my time to go be one of the models for um one of the cocktails, as did several of you, and that was basically the collaboration that we arranged with her, but those are the kind of conversations that we are having, and um that that we are.

Because that's a business that loans itself to do that, which is great.

It was really nice.