We'll call the committee of the whole meeting for the Elgin City Council to order for September 10th.

Clerk, please call the roll.

Councilmember Zalfaro.

Here.

Dixon.

Present.

Good.

Here.

Martinez.

Here.

Ortiz?

Here.

Powell.

Stefan?

Here.

Thorne?

Here.

Mayor Campton.

Here.

Approval of the minutes of the previous meeting of August 27th, 2025.

Move approval.

Second.

Then move and second for approval.

Any corrections or additions.

Hearing none, please call a roll.

Councilmember Zalfaro.

Yes.

Dixon?

Yes.

Good.

Yes.

Martinez?

Yes.

Ortiz?

Yes.

Stefan?

Yes.

Thorne?

Yes.

Mayor Captain.

Yes.

Motions approved 80.

Well, we have a number of people that have signed up for a public comment this evening.

First person is Lisa Saunders, I believe.

Oh, yes.

Yep.

We step up to the podium.

Yep.

Hello.

Okay.

Um, hi, can you hear me?

Yep.

Yeah.

Okay.

Thank you.

Well, my issue, my well, my reason for being here, it may be a little different from you all, but I've been out here for almost a month now, and I noticed I've been having issues with Elgin police officers.

Racial profile in me.

I've been follow around like pretty much everywhere I go, even if I'm walking down the street to the restaurant stores, I'm being followed.

And I've called up here, I even came to the police station to address that issue.

They tells me, oh, it's just a routine thing, but I don't think so.

I believe I'm being racially profiled by Elgin police officer, and I want to know why.

And that's why I'm here tonight.

Okay.

Thank you.

We'll have uh we have some people in the back.

We'll be happy to talk to you.

We have a couple police officers back here, Commander Lancioni and uh uh Chief Lally.

Okay.

Happy to talk to you on the way out.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Sam Valdez.

Hello, thank you for having me.

Um I just wanted to ask for you guys to pass the uh ordinance that you guys were considering based on uh not allowing federal agents to not uh identify themselves and to unmask themselves.

I want to also kind of bring about the some of the history of Elgin and why Elgin is a very progressive city from this very foundation.

Um the Sherman Hospital was founded by the women's club whose very motto was to be progressive, to is for progress, as well as the Gale Board and Library has become a beacon of education for a diverse group of people.

Today, in my opinion, Elgin stands as one of the most diverse cities in Illinois.

We have the largest Islamic school in the nation, which has really brought a new community.

We have an amazing Mexican American community as well, and I want to continue the legacy of progress that was already set in as Algen's foundation.

And I think assuring citizens to have safety and security will further that.

And in my opinion, you guys have the hands of a lot of citizens in your in your consideration for them to feel safe and for them to have some hope that they are being representative by their city officials.

So I think you guys passing this would really help uh not only the future of Elgin, but the citizens right now here hoping and waiting for there to be a hope from the government and from the city council that is here before me.

So I think it would be an amazing idea for you guys to pass this, and I'm just really happy that it's even on your docket.

So thank you so much for giving me the time to speak in front of you guys today.

Thank you.

Diana Ortega Aireth.

Good evening.

My name is Diana Ortega Arith, and I work at Centro de Información, and I am also a resident here of the city of Elgin.

And I am also here to speak in support of your adoption of your resolution urging federal and state leaders to prohibit law enforcement officers from concealing their identities.

Just a few a little bit about Centro for those of you who are not familiar.

Centro de Información has been a nonprofit agency serving the Latino and immigrant community here in the Elgin area for more than 50 years.

We now have four office locations, two of which are within the City of Elgin limits.

We serve Spanish speaking individuals, but we welcome clients of any nationality and surrounding counties and states, even and uh among our programs and services.

We offer wraparound case management, emergency, family emergency crisis support, public benefit application assistance, legal screenings and immigration application assistance, free educational seminars, including uh and also uh food pantry and and much much more.

One of the programs that we have is to do no year rights education across the community, which is very important.

And if you haven't had no year rights training, I urge you all individually to schedule a training with somebody from our team.

One of the things that is covered in the NoYer Rights training is being able to properly identify the law enforcement with who is having interactions with a resident.

And I say resident because some people here are U.S.

citizens, some people here are uh legal permanent residents, some people here have DACA, and there are other people here who have different statuses.

So, but they are all residents, and the law in the in the U.S.

Constitution applies equally to all of them.

So when we ask people to understand their rights, they know that any interaction with law enforcement.

Um, you they have the right to remain silent, they have the right to ask why they're being detained.

Um, and they have the right to ask who they is detaining them.

And what we are learning is that federal law enforcement is not doing that.

So at the very least, we want to know who's detaining them with facial recognition and ask for their badge information as one positive thing that the city council can do in support of the Hispanic and Latino residents of this city of which make the majority demographic of this community.

Thank you so much for listening.

Thank you for your support.

Hey, Ms.

Diana, can you guys give up your phone number for your office or where you guys are located at?

Absolutely.

Our office is located at 1885 Lindlore Lane in Elgin, which is on St.

Joseph's Hospital's campus, very close to Lurkin High School.

Um, and anybody can call our office.

The phone number there is 847-695-9050.

You can also go to our website, WW.centro de información dotor.

We have a whole page dedicated to know your rights information and resources that can be downloaded both in English and in Spanish.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Mr.

Manager.

Thank you, Mayor, Council members.

Uh, the first item is on both agendas, and this is an agreement with one collective in the business nonprofit development center at first, also known as First United Methodist Church.

And this is pertaining to temporary overnight shelter services.

Normally, if there was no objection, this would pass to the second to the regular council agenda because it's on both.

But I have assistant city manager Karina Nava here this evening, and she is scheduled for another activity later tonight.

So I would suggest if you would indulge Mr.

Mayor if there are any questions.

So for the past two winters, the city's been funding an overnight shelter operated by one collective at first United Methodist Church.

This is providing consistent winter shelter for individuals without housing.

Last season, the shelter averaged 77 guests per night serving 244 individuals.

This helped reduce exposure to dangerous winter conditions for all those involved.

The city is seeking to continue this service for the 2025-26 winter season.

The shelter will be operating nightly, not from 7 p.m.

to 7 a.m.

but from 8 p.m.

to 7 a.m.

December 15th through March 15th, with additional emergency openings when temperature drops below 15 degrees in early December and late March.

This agreement enhances Elgin's role in the regional homeless response system by incorporating client information into the Kane County Continuum of Care.

This will ensure the local needs are being fully represented and position the city to access federal funding and housing placements more efficiently.

This approach also provides stability for residents during the winter months while the city continues to pursue a permanent year-round shelter that will deliver a more sustainable solution and eliminate the need for city sponsored seasonal contracts such as this.

Okay.

Any questions at this time?

I just want to let the community know I have a conflict of interest on this one, so I will be abstaining when we're voting.

Yes, thank you.

Um this question is for the manager or for our assistant manager, whoever wants to answer it.

Can you talk talk about the differences between uh the work of the emergency shelter versus um the unhoused uh community at the Lexington?

I can do it, but Ms.

Nava can do it better.

So hello, good evening.

Yes, so the emergency shelter, as uh City Manager Kozel mentioned, is a uh seasonal shelter, and it's open mid-December through mid-March every night.

Um, and it's a drop-in shelter, and it's um primarily there for anybody in the community who needs a warm place to sleep during the really cold weather.

Um, in contrast, the Lexington, uh it's a transitional housing program that was originally created uh to temporarily house the residents of Tent City when all of the fires when the fires happened.

Um and it's not a drop-in shelter, it's more of um it's providing stability case management with through our partnership with AIDS and the funding that um AID received through the state of Illinois.

That's helping us pay for for the Lexington and they're getting support services helping them transition into housing when the housing becomes available.

Um so it's really more of that like wraparound uh more stability at the Lexington and the warming shelter.

While there's not really that um intensive casework happening, the main objective of that is to have a warm place for people to go during the winter months.

And new this year is we're working together with one collective.

Um now that we have Jenna, our homelessness response coordinator to work with King County Continuum of Care to make sure that people who are attending the shelter are getting into the um King County COC system so that they can get into HMIS and we can start seeing our data get better, but also so they can get on these lists because housing is hard to come by nowadays, and if we're able to get them on the list, it just increases their chances a little bit more than what they what they have now.

So thank you.

You're welcome.

Okay.

Anything else?

Mr.

Dixon.

Thank you.

Uh I appreciate you coming up, Karina.

Um, question about First United Methodist Church.

Um, as many of your community members know um there was a storm uh that uh caused major damage to the building and um they're not the building, the church itself is not fully operational, but there are parts of it that is still operating.

So can you please speak to that a little bit?

Because I'm sure there are some people who may be like, well, how are they going to operate the shelter there?

So yeah, so they're still working on fixing the parts that need fixing the roof and all of that.

But the the actual area where the winter shelter is hosted every year.

Um they did it that wasn't affected, so they're still able to provide the services there.

Okay.

All right, thank you.

Okay, anything else?

Mr.

Step.

I I just want to quickly thank everybody involved that has moved towards getting this population in the LG or the Kane County continuum of care.

I saw that in the memo, and I just uh appreciated uh Karina emphasizing that because I think that was something that really needs to happen for these people.

I mean, they can't get any help if they're they're not in that system, so appreciate that.

Thanks.

Okay.

All right.

Thank you, Karina.

Thanks.

All right, Mr.

Manager.

Thank you, Mayor.

Item B is a uh pertains to the C D BG owner-occupied housing rehabilitation uh grant program, and this is a proposal to increase the maximum grant amounts.

Staff is recommending increasing the maximum amounts in this program uh that provides housing rehabilitation services to low to moderate income households.

The program uh what we're recommending, it's in a catch-up phase, and then we have provisions that will include annual increases that are coincide with the cost of living index so that we don't have to do this on a regular basis.

This program is one of the many ways that the city promotes affordable housing because it helps low and moderate income homeowners fix up their houses and including abating lead-based paint.

The program has seen a variety of iterations since it began in the mid-70s, and it currently provides a base grant of up to $15,000 to qualified homeowners, plus an additional $10,000 if work requires lead-based paint abatement.

These amounts are being recommended to increase this year to 24,200 for the work on the house and up to $13,500 for lead-based paste amendment, uh lead-based paint abatement.

And again, a mechanism is going to be included in the municipal code to account for annual changes affecting these costs based on the area consumer price index.

Move for approval.

Second move and second for approval.

Any discussion.

Mr.

Stefan.

I thank you, Mayor.

I I just want to thank staff for kind of finding this and bringing it to us because it needed to be adjusted and even better, they're setting it up so we won't have this problem in the future with the colas.

Um I always say it's it's not a set and forget type of thing here, and this is an example where we really needed to kind of come back and look at what's going on and make those adjustments to make it something that will help people, and I appreciate that.

So thanks.

Okay.

Anything else?

Clerk, please call the roll.

Councilmember Zalfaro?

Yes.

Dixon?

Yes.

Good.

Yes.

Martinez?

Yes.

Ortiz?

Yes.

Powell?

Yes.

Stefan?

Yes.

Yes.

Mayor Cast.

Yes, motion's approved 9-0.

Item C is a contract with emergency services consulting international to perform a fire station location planning study for the city.

Fire department in 2007 conducted an analysis on future fire station needs and potential locations.

While it was a thorough analysis at that time, it did not have access to the data and technology that's available today.

That combined with the passage of time suggests that the fire department needs to pursue a new initiative and is hiring EC ESCI to conduct a comprehensive analysis and develop a short and long-term plan for future fire station needs.

ESCI is the consulting arm of the International Association of Fire Chiefs, and this organization has done work with fire department on previous projects with good success.

As you may recall from the information provided by Fire Chief Sagan during the retreat, this will also contemplate a facility that could potentially house police officers in the far western areas along with uh resources for public services department as the city expands its geographic footprint.

Move for approval second.

It's been moved to second floor approval.

Any discussion.

So far.

I just want to say thank you to staff.

I think this is amazing that they're working on this to identify the locations that are needed, but also this public service complex to ensure that residents in the West Side will have public service over there.

And so potentially having the fire department, potentially having the police department like a satellite, as well as the snow piles and the street sweepers, etc.

over there to make sure that they don't constantly have to come back all the way over here.

I think it's amazing.

So thank you to staff.

Anything else?

Clerk, please call the rule.

Councilmember Zalferro?

Yes.

Dixon?

Yes.

Good.

Yes.

Martinez?

Yes.

Ortiz?

Yes.

Powell?

Yes.

Stefan?

Yes.

Thorne.

Yes.

Mayor Captain.

Yes, the motion is approved nine-zero.

Item D is an agreement with Seven Hills Technology for the mobile app redesign and web portal support.

The mobile app redesign will be prioritizing a better user experience and a centralized city news feed addressing community feedback that the ITS department has received.

The app's features, including submitting service requests, viewing city maps, and paying utility bills is all going to be enhanced for improved functionality and ease of use.

The redesign is part of an ongoing support agreement the city has with Seven Hills technology that includes monthly support and 20 hours of development every month.

This agreement ensures the app remains updated and responsive to user needs while maintaining robust security and integration with the existing web portal.

Move for approval.

Second.

Move and second floor approval.

Any discussion.

Mr.

Ortiz.

I got some questions for you, Mr.

Castino.

Not often we see the IT guy out of the IT dungeon.

So got to give you some extent.

Why I asked you earlier, so but I think it's good information.

Why are we only doing a one-year agreement?

So like a multi-year for this.

So for instance, in the past two agreements, we've had uh 45 hours per month of development services.

This last contract we had 30 hours of development services.

Now we're stepping it down to 20.

So when we do the one years, it allows us to be more nimble and figure out what we need.

And so we've been on this downward trend as our in-house resources become more available to do that in-house development, and as the app and portal become more stable and there's fewer enhancements that we need to make it work for everybody, so we can kind of lessen the reliance on that contractor.

We do those one years just to be able to react to that.

So just saving us a little bit of money over the years or less services.

And then uh the other one I usually always ask you is uh when's Apple Pay coming.

So for residents that come to City Hall, they are able to pay using Apple Pay or Google Pay at the point of sale at the front desk.

Uh the web version of Apple Pay, Google Pay is something that our payment processor is working on.

It's on their roadmap along with PayPal and Venmo Pay as well.

Um so those are on their roadmap, uh, but again, but this specific agreement is not quite related to the uh the payment processor, but those things are on our other our payment process or vendors roadmap.

All right.

So not available today, but soon enough will be, yes.

All right, thank you.

I appreciate your time.

You're welcome.

Anything else?

Mr.

Mr.

Good.

Thank you, Mayor.

Um, but I provide an opportunity for you to overview what residents can't expect to see.

Yeah, no, thank you for that.

Yeah, of course.

So this is exciting because um our app, which you can download it on the iPhone on iP iOS or Android uh devices, or you can view the portal from any web browser.

But the app lets you submit three-in-one requests, you can go on there, um, use our knowledge base, which is great, and maybe an underutilized feature of it, but you can get the answers that our 3-in-1 advocates are are using to respond to our residents when they call.

You can interact with our chat bot Ella.

Um but one thing we found at the app over user reviews, and then we did a sir a community survey to get a specific app user feedback was that they were using it really transactionally, like just to pay their water bills or just to ask a specific question or see when their garbage pickup day was.

Uh and so we asked the community sort of what they would like to see out of a newer version of the app.

And the the feedback really centered around having more uh news updates about what's going on around the city, um, just to be more informed and to have more timely access to information.

And so from that, we sort of developed this idea of an Apple news feed that every people are used to seeing on their phones where you sort of have it's called the infinite scroll where you can just keep scrolling down and seeing news stories, but it would be news stories that are curated by the by the city sources themselves.

So our Facebook feeds, uh our Instagram feed, our city website, all of those stories would be consolidated in the app with a uniform look and feel, so that you would be getting like truly trusted and city generated news from the app.

Uh so that way you don't have to go to every single Facebook page, you don't have to go to the various places we post that information.

It's all consolidated in the app.

So that's the biggest enhancement is that user uh news feed.

And that's gonna we also got you know the newest sort of trends in app development involve not necessarily forcing people to log in, so having like a guest user experience, and so all of that's gonna be available for people without even having to sign in.

Because that was another complaint.

People didn't like being hit with that, you know, sign in right away, which I completely agree with.

That was maybe an outdated version, but it when we did the app initially, that was the thing to do.

But um, so that's gonna be the biggest change is that news feed.

Then the more sort of performance enhancements are gonna come along with a new UI that's easier.

Uh we're gonna make it so that people can begin submitting their requests without having to like fill a bunch of drop downs and sort of more just describe the issue or press buttons um to identify the issue.

So overall usability, and then to just doubly confirm our assumptions about user experience.

Part of this contract is gonna have folks from Seven Hills come up to Elgin.

They're centered in uh Kentucky area.

Uh they're gonna come up to Elgin and then they're gonna be stationed either in City Hall or another public facility and have users walk up, like have the opportunity to have a clickable demo of the app, see how they use it and how they might like to navigate it, so then we can confirm our assumptions about the UX and just make sure we're not drinking our own Kool-Aid type of thing.

Nice.

Appreciate the overview.

Thank you.

Yes.

Anything else?

So far.

I have three questions.

Um Aaron, forgive me for the first question.

Oh no, um, I haven't really used the app much.

Uh can you confirm that the app can also be in Spanish in additional languages?

Yes.

Okay.

Uh second question.

Regarding outreach with Stephen Hill technology.

In the information we were given at one point when they had sent the information out to 200 people, only three participants participated.

Yeah.

And out of the three, only one was a resident who didn't even use the app.

So what is the outreach plan when Stephen Hill's technology comes to ensure there is actual participation in our community?

So, yeah, we uh we had to send out a couple version or couple attempts at reaching out to app users to get actually the interviews and to get the user feedback.

Um I just want to contrast that with the survey, though.

This survey was sent out to just anyone in Elgin, and that's when we have the 117 responses.

The specific interviews during the mobile app uh redesign sprint that we did, like we it was a project that we did to even get the overall feel and look of the update.

That's when those interviews came into place.

And yeah, it was a struggle, and so that's why part of this scope is to have them come up here in person and be where the residents are and have people engage in the prototype app that way.

So that way we're not relying on having them inconveniencing them to like call for an interview.

We're going where they're at, we're gonna get real residents that are using our facilities, and then see how they interact with the app.

So, in that sense, we're gonna be getting that true community feedback.

So, are they coming just to city hall or are they actually going to other city sites?

So, we haven't decided on the specific locations yet.

We were sort of brainstorming that while City Hall seems like a really logical place, it may not give us like that full cross section that maybe would be better.

So, I I think that we will probably try and get to another spot, maybe that's more heavily trafficked.

Uh, I don't want to speak for other institutions, but like it would probably behoove us to reach out to the library, maybe to see if we could post up there.

Um, but that work we haven't you know uh fully identified where that would be.

But that's just sort of our thought process right now with City Hall being like a specific audience, you know.

So yeah, if we could expand outreach maybe to the library or partnering up with um you know our events team and or parks and recks to make sure that at an event where there's enough community members that we could get some community participation exactly, and not a lot of families are just traversing through City Hall.

So and then my last question is um the total funding for this is 87,512, but we're requesting 88,000, which is almost 500 more.

Why the additional 500?

Uh that was just a can a rounding convenience for the memo, just to round up.

Can we round up just to the 600 then?

Because I don't think we need to round up that high of 500.

Yeah, we could absolutely.

Yeah.

I mean, the actual cost is that 87.

Yeah.

So do I need to amend the motion, or how do I do it?

Oh, there we're just talking about on the combo.

Yeah, or just like we're approving the one year, but we're approving the max amount to be 87,600.

That's the amount that would be in the agreement.

Yeah, if we could put that in the agreement versus the 88,000.

Exactly.

Okay.

Thank you.

Yep.

Anything else?

Clerk, please call the rule.

Councilmember Zalfaro?

Yes.

Dixon?

Yes.

Good.

Yes.

Martinez?

Yes.

Ortiz?

Yes.

Powell?

Yes.

Stephen?

Yes.

Thorne.

Yes.

Mayor Captain.

Yes, the motion's approved 9-0.

Item E is an ordinance prohibiting the use of groundwater as a potable water supply at the intersection of Walnut Avenue and Marguerite Street.

This ordinance relates to an environmental site remediation being performed for the Bezos cleaners at this location.

The property owner is working with the IEPA to mitigate past soil contamination at the site and is requesting this limited area groundwater ordinance to be approved.

Adopting the ordinance is one of the several site mitigation actions required by the IPA in order for the owner to receive final site approval on the remediation.

The ordinance prohibits the installation and use of new potable water supply wells within the area surrounding the property for greater information.

The city has an overarching ordinance that prohibits anybody from drilling a well for the use of drinking water in the city, but the IEPA regulations require this additional overlay ordinance, and that's what's being submitted for approval in this instance.

Move for approval.

Second, move the second for approval.

Any discussion?

I thought hearing nine for please call the rule.

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.

Item F is an agreement with Plank Road Tap Room for the Wing Park Clubhouse Hospitality Management and Labor Services.

The City Council this past June approved the construction of the new clubhouse at the Wing Park golf course.

This facility will include golf and sports simulators, golf and simulator hitting bays, a whiskey bar, a food truck, and additional event space to support these amenities, and in lieu of increasing the green fees to cover operational costs for the new facilities, staff is proposing a multifaceted revenue model that includes simulator rentals, hitting bay passes, bar sales, and food truck services.

A hospitality partnership is intended to support these revenue centers by providing enhanced customer service experience, professional labor and management services, all under city oversight.

I know that representatives from Plank Road Tap Room are here in attendance.

And if it's anything as good as that place that they have out on Plank Road, I think we're in good shape.

Move approval.

Second, move and second for approval.

Any discussion.

I have two questions.

I don't have specific.

Maybe I could have the represent representatives from Plank Road Tap come up.

Thank you.

I'm sorry.

Introduce yourself, Brian Pull.

I'm Brian Moreno, owner, co-owner of Plank Grove Tap Room.

Uh thank you.

So the proposal that was submitted by the Plank Room Tap Room on well, our page 141.

The staffing schedule, um, it has blocked off the servers on the weekend, indicating that there are no servers on the weekend.

So I just wanted to understand why is that.

So there's no direct servers.

Um there will be a bartender, and we will have servers for the individual bays for the simulator base, but everybody will order from the bar or the food truck.

Okay.

So there are servers, but it's just not the like, yeah, okay.

That makes total more sense.

Okay.

Um the second question I have is more for staff.

Um in the contract, it says that if everything goes well after four years, it will be an automatic renewal.

Just want to confirm that that will come back to city council for approval and that wouldn't be an automatic.

That is correct.

Okay.

There would be a recommender for number four-year adults.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Okay.

Anything else?

Thank you.

Good luck, thank you.

Please call the rule.

Councilmember Zalfaro?

Yes.

Dixon?

Yes.

Good.

Yes.

Martinez?

Yes.

Ortiz?

Yes.

Powell?

Yes.

Stefan?

Yes.

Thorne?

Yes.

Mayor Captain.

Yes, the motion's approved 9-0.

Item G is a discussion.

Item G is a discussion on adopting a resolution urging federal and state leaders to enact legislation prohibiting law enforcement officers from concealing their identities.

Councilmember Ortiz with a second from Councilmember Alfaro are requesting an agenda item to discuss the city council's interest in adopting a resolution urging the United States Congress and the Illinois General Assembly to enact legislation prohibiting law enforcement officers from concealing their identities.

A draft resolution was attached to facilitate this evening's discussion.

Move for approval.

Second.

Move the second for approval.

Mr.

Ortiz.

Yeah, yeah.

I had called Miss Salfaro last week.

Was it last week?

Last week, asking her if she'll uh help me and get this on the agenda, and I'm appreciative of her saying yes and uh seeing how what the rest of the council thinks about this.

This uh thinking about doing this after the man that lives I don't know if I want to call him a man, the person that lives over at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue keeps coming after our residents and coming after our cities with letting his federal agents do ridiculous things to our residents.

So with this resolution, I think it's the most we can do at the level of that government that we're at.

So it's asking our state and to back us to go to the feds and ask Congress to tell the federal agents to stop doing what they're doing, because one, it's terrorizing our citizens, in my opinion, and it's just causing division within the country in itself.

This there's protests everywhere, there's it's a really bad situation right now in our in our nation for what these federal agents are doing, and they're only doing it because the person at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue is giving them the authority to do this ridiculous crap.

So uh that's why I had a reach out to Mr.

Faro to get this on there and she's gracious gracefully enough to set yes.

Uh I have a couple questions for our police chief about masking.

Good evening.

Good afternoon or evening.

Uh on social media is always a career meeting is doing a good uh thing on social media of like identifying people or law enforcement with masks on.

If there's ever a video floating around Algin and it's an LGIN-based incident, do our officers, do you have any your handbook that officers are allowed to wear masks whether undercover or street cops or whatever, or do you ban that within your department?

Yes, so uh just every LGIN just to give a very kind of overview.

So every LGM police officer um who are in uh in an enforcement capacity, so the police officers that you see in police vehicles responding to calls, um, any of our other units, traffic unit, uh, you know, our attack units, anything like that, they all wear vests that clearly have LGIM police markings on it, their names, their badge numbers.

Um, they are not wearing masks to perform any type of enforcement activity.

Um our our SWAT team did wear masks, and uh when I was in the drug unit many, many years ago, we would wear we would mask our face when we would do search warrants.

We do not do that and have not done that uh for over 15 years.

So all our SWAT team, whenever there's any type of operation where they are needed, uh they are unmasked, they do not mask their face.

They could wear a gas mask if needed, so I want to make sure that people know if there's a need for some type of gas mask, then yes, they do put a gas mask on.

But other than what you're talking about, which is covering their face entirely, um, no, they do not do that.

We have guidelines in our policies and procedures.

Anytime somebody asks the officers for their name, they have to identify their their name and also their badge number.

And we also have uniform guideline appearance uh manual that um does not allow officers to mask their face in any type of enforcement activity.

We do have undercover officers that are assigned to task forces, um, but they predominantly work outside of LGIN.

So they are undercover officers, but they are not uh you they're not going to be on enforcement activity.

So if they do have to mask their face, it's in an undercover capacity, and again, they're assigned to task forces.

So you they really are not in LGIN what you would what you would think.

So overall, for the general public, no, an LGIN police officer will never put a mask on their face for a call for service and enforcement action uh or the like.

So is it fair to say that if there is law enforcement?

Because we don't right now I don't know if it's really ICE even coming to Elgin because there's videos going around, I guess.

But if some like I think it was this morning or yesterday morning, something happened.

If resident sees that and sees an agent masked up, is it safe to say it's not an elgin police officer?

Correct.

And what I would do, any uh elgin resident can contact us um and if they have a question as to what occurred, um we are aware of social media, we do monitor social media.

There are times where we have to and have um and you have received as the council have received emails where there have been incidents where ICE is out doing their operation and then they get involved in some type of uh traffic crash, an incident where we are coming and just handling the traffic crash, but in those instances, because you will see elgin officers with immigration officers, and we want the public and community to know very clearly what are what we are doing.

Um, in those instances, we will push something out on social media and notify the council.

But if you see officers who are matt whose faces are masked up and they're wearing vests, they are not elgin police officers, and all elgin police officers wear vests with their names clearly identified with their badge number and also obviously elgin patches.

All right, thank you, Chief.

You're welcome.

That that the main reason I brought this up is just the individual over at 15.

I forgot the address.

No, the White House.

That guy is just doing ridiculous things, and we need to tell that tell Congress and ask our state for help to pass some of the resolutions that are sitting at somebody's desk in Congress and let have these agents stop putting their face up because obviously Algen's doing a good job with their police department, so we need to be a motto to the rest of the country to stop putting masks on our officers.

All right, thank you.

Okay, anything else?

Ms.

O'Parl.

Thank you, Mayor.

Um, thank you to Councilmember Ortiz for reaching out.

I had been a moderating um civil different ordinances coming out of city councils on the West Coast.

Um, and they are some city councils are trying to pass their own local ordinances.

Um hearing council member Ortiz about this resolution, we're trying to figure out how do we navigate this, right?

And the positions that we are, how can we better support our community, stand with our community, but publicly tell the federal administration that what they're doing is not okay, and they need to change, right?

They're breaking trust and beyond immigration, it's rural law.

They are breaking rule of law, and no one should be above rule law.

And so this resolution is a good step.

I think we also need as a city to do a public statement.

And so if we do vote on this, I would like to also put in that vote that we make a public statement in our social media.

One thing I would like to see change in this resolution is the information that we have to our state leaders.

So thinking about that local ordinance, unfortunately, given that we're at the local level, federal government overrides local municipalities, um, and similar to state.

And so we have a lot of information in here to our General Assembly, and they're a little bit in the same predicament as we are in.

And so I would like to take out information on the Illinois General Assembly um H B 4086 bill and other information and holding them accountable.

I think we should say it a little bit more as we would like to have the Illinois General Assembly do everything that they legally can in their power to do any change that they can to support our local communities and ensure that um ICE agents are not wearing masks, that they are identifying themselves, etc.

Um, but I think we need to reword the information regarding our state.

And the reason why I say that is because I don't want to give false hope to our community that we are telling um and holding the General Assembly to a certain degree when we can't hold them to that.

And so I want us to see about writing this as powerful as we can and focus more on the federal government because that's where the changes really need to happen in order for this to not only happen here but across the country.

Okay, Ms.

Paul, you have you done Mr.

Ms.

Paul, you had your hand up.

I did, thank you.

Um I'm pleased to see this come forward, have had a lot of folks um contact me and um just reading uh social media and talking to people and just myself being personally involved with local protest.

Um this is a big issue, not just in Elgin, but obviously in our entire country.

This is a constitutional rights issue for everyone, and I I want to make sure people understand that this is just this is not just the Latino issue.

This is not just the Latino issue right now, that's the face on this.

That's the target right now.

It can be any of us.

We don't know whether these people who are wearing masks and coming into our communities and arresting people are really federal agents.

We don't know whether they're bounty hunters, we don't know whether they're clan clan members, we don't know who they are because their face are their faces are covered and they're not showing any identification.

That's a problem.

That should be a problem for anyone sitting in this room.

So I I definitely support this.

Um I really wish that there was so much more that we could do at this level, but unfortunately we can't, and that angers me because there are so many people that are vulnerable and afraid and rightfully frightened for themselves and their family members, and that shouldn't happen.

That should not happen.

Um so I I guess a couple of questions that I have, and I need clarification from our corporation council or staff, whoever can answer it for me.

We can't pass an ordinance legally at the local level requiring folks coming into our community, whether they're agents or whomever, to not wear masks.

I guess I need some clarification, some public clarification on what we can and cannot do.

I mean, we can pass an ordinance with respect to we can pass an ordinance saying that, but to enforce that against federal agents operating in an immigration capacity in the city that would likely violate the constitution under the supremacy clause, the supremacy clause generally provides that in certain areas of uh where the federal government has plenary authority, states and local governments can't enact any conflicting laws, so any kind of law require that would have the effect of making ICE agents wear masks when performing their duties in the city of Elgin would be a direct regulation of the area where they have plenty of plenary authority and would likely be struck down.

I haven't I've done some research on this even up to today.

I haven't seen any cases that have directly addressed this issue, but uh this is kind of squarely with the immigration is squarely within uh federal powers and would like I said any regulation of that would probably be struck down under the supremacy clause.

Okay, thanks for that answer.

The second question I have, and um again, this is for anyone I can answer.

Um do our local law enforcement, um, our local police department have the ability to simply verify that folks that are attempting to act in a capacity, whether they are attempting to you know perform services, you know, uh under the guise of being an ICE agent.

Do our officers have the ability to indeed verify that they are who they say they are.

They can ask, um, and I will tell you that you know, there are times when ICE has come into Elgin that we are unaware of.

Um sometimes we we are we are notified because we see it on social media, sometimes we're notified because people are calling, uh, and sometimes you know, in the I would say like January, February, March, when this kind of all started, sometimes they would call us and say we're in the area of you know, name it an area, you know, Hill Street or wherever, um, but they don't give us anything further than that.

So for the general public's knowledge too, so that everybody is aware, um the law enforcement officers within the state of Illinois are guided as it relates to the enforcement of any type of federal immigration by the Trust Act.

And the Trust Act, uh, we cannot assist with any immigration enforcement operation.

We cannot enter into any immigration enforcement agreements with immigration authorities.

We cannot comply with immigration detainers, we cannot transfer individuals into an immigration agent's custody without a criminal warrant.

We cannot allow an immigration agent access to state and local facilities for civil investigative or enforcement purposes.

We cannot arrest and detain individuals based solely on their immigration status.

We cannot assist federal immigration agents by providing facilities or equipment, including the use of electronic databases not available to the public for any civil investigative or immigration enforcement purpose.

And lastly, we cannot provide any type of on-site support to federal immigration agents, including coordinating arrests in public facilities, transporting any individuals, or establishing a security or traffic perimeter.

So if we are called, you know, they have told us that they're immigration.

Uh the times where we've had to take a police report because of the traffic crash that you guys were all notified about, they do tell us that who they are.

Um so we can ask.

Um if they tell us, great, but they also don't have to tell us.

Uh, but more most of the time they do tell us, and we're aware of what's going on, and that's the information that we can then provide to the community if somebody does call and say, hey, where these elegant officers or what's going on.

So when we are made aware of situations that may be questionable to some of our community members, you're saying that EPD does inquire if they don't already have prior knowledge that ICE is working in the area, that EPD does follow up on those and in an attempt to verify whether or not these are indeed ICE agents.

Yes, if it comes to our attention, we're not proactively asking them where we're going and what and what they're doing.

We cannot do that.

But if it comes to our attention, hey, we saw officers out in this area, we are these elgin officers, are these is this immigration?

Then yes, we've tried to verify what's happening.

We know it's not us.

I mean, that's very easy to you know to say.

We don't know if it's them necessarily if we don't go out there, if we don't have conversation, but we can definitely say that's not us, we're not out there.

If there's something on social media, um, and it has happened, we're able to say nope, that's not us because we're watching the video and saying that's that's not us.

So if the public has any questions, they see something going on, they can always call, call our dispatch non-emergency number and ask, are these elgin police officers out in the area?

And we can provide that information.

And we've done that uh, you know, out the past several months.

Sometimes people call somebody, you know, will might walk into the police station and say, hey, I saw this, was that you?

So it just depends how that information flow comes in.

And then if it reaches uh a high enough level where there's a presence on social media, you know, or council members are calling, that's when we'll push out information to the general public.

It's just a it's a gauge of you know how many people are asking and you know, do people know and what the circumstances are I guess that didn't really answer my question.

I'm looking specifically when there's an incident in our community that there is a question about the legitimacy of who is conducting these activities.

Does EPD have the ability to inquire and get verification on who these people are?

Do they have the ability and are we actively doing that?

So again, but it's a long answer.

It's not as simple as you want, right?

So what I just said before, which is if there's an incident and somebody calls us, let's say the information could come through a variety of sources.

Somebody could call me, they call our dispatch center, it's on social media, a person just calls.

However, the information filters to the department.

If there is a need to say no, that is not an Elgin officer, which clearly they want to know if it's us, we absolutely will say that's not us.

No, no, no.

I'm not saying is it us who they are.

Yes.

Depending on if we are there, we are not going to actively go out to an incident and verify that immigration is there.

Again, with the Trust Act, you have to be very careful about what the perception is of Elgin officers showing up to verify.

We cannot interfere in immigration enforcement efforts.

We cannot do that.

So if we get called, for example, the the incident that happened with the traffic crash, we're getting called there.

They're calling us.

If there's something that's social media, and we're able to see, again, you know, it depends what markings they're wearing, right?

Some they're they're wearing other federal agencies, it's not just ICE.

Um so we are able to say, well, yes, that's a DEA agent based on their markings.

Again, I don't know.

I until someone would have to ask that person, is that your actual do you actually work for that entity?

There's no purpose or need for us to do that because then we're interfering in immigration efforts.

So we're not going to proactively get calls and go and verify that that's immigration.

We cannot do that.

They are here, they're doing their enforcement efforts, they're doing whatever they are doing.

If we're called or if there's a need by the community because we're getting input, they've been here, and a lot of times we don't find out about it until two or three days later because of a video.

Right.

So if there is a need and someone calls us because someone is asking for verification, and we're able to say definitively, that is not us.

Whether we can say it's ICE or it's a DA or it's ATF, we're not going to be going out and and chasing them around.

We cannot do that.

That is interfering in their um, you know, in what they're doing.

So it's a long answer to your question.

It's not as simple, uh, but we have to be very mindful of the Trust Act and what we have to do as local law enforcement agencies, but we're also very mindful of the public.

So anyone can always call and ask, hey, I saw this.

Was that was that LGIN?

And we will definitively say yes or no.

We have done that multiple times.

That's the best source of information.

If I say it's an, you know, if I say that's not an LGIN police officer, that could be a parole agent.

That could be uh immigration, that could be another outside agency.

I don't know.

Unless there's a purpose or need for us to go there and verify based on the circumstances, then we may.

So it's not just calls and then we're gonna run out there and find out.

We're not doing that.

So is that a actual legal opinion that we have of the interpretation of the Illinois Trust Act that we cannot use our local law enforcement to verify whether or not these folks are who they say they are?

I will say that the and that's something that the corporation council, but as a procedural, and I will just say this the Elgin Police Department, we are handling a lot of calls for service.

I am not going to utilize local police officers.

Again, if this is a to go and verify that immigration officers and who they are, absence some need, absence some community concern, absence some just proactively doing that, we cannot do that.

And that is absolutely, in my opinion, just something that it will put officers in a very bad situation because what will happen is that let's say we do that, and I see your point.

I totally get what you're trying to get here.

So we go out there and we want to verify that this is immigration.

Next thing you know, here come Elgin police officers, right?

Now people start videoing that and saying, why are LGIN police officers proactively being here without being called here?

Because I'll get asked, were you called there or did you proactively go there?

Then when I say, Well, we're just there to verify, no one's going to believe that.

They're going to think that the Elgin police officers are working in conjunction with the immigration officers.

So again, absent a need, a major incident, there's a traffic crash, something where local enforcement needs to go there, there would be no purpose for us to proactively, hey, there's people over here, is that immigration?

Well, we can tell you it's not us, right?

That's we'll let you know that, but other than that, unless there's some type of uh incident or a need, we're not going to do that.

And I guess corporation counsel can expound further on whether or not that's Mr.

Manager.

I had a conversation with Councilmember Powell a little bit earlier.

Maybe some somebody calls in and makes an allegation that these are people purporting to be federal agents.

We don't know because of the masks.

How would you potentially respond to that?

Depends what they're doing.

Okay.

And that's what we need to hear about.

But you will respond to an allegation that somebody may be Yes.

The point is responding, but then figuring out what they're doing are two different things, right?

You're we're not if somebody, and again, and I've said this several times, if is a call for service or a need because somebody's asking, and however that information comes in through our dispatch center, through a council member, through a community member, absolutely.

But just to proactively go out and try to find where people are, absolutely not.

But yes, we'll do as best as we can to verify, but nothing says that they have to tell us who they are.

I will tell you that.

They do not, if a local law enforcement goes to a federal agent and says, I want your name and your badge number, they could say, I'm not giving it to you.

And that's what it is.

And so we do our best.

We have, you know, uh law enforcement, you know, we have good relationships with some of our our other agencies.

We want to get the best information out there.

That's a conversation.

Hey, we're asking because our community is concerned.

We're asking because we need this.

But we also have to be very careful about the appearance of Elgin police officers next to immigration officers because people may interpret that as us helping with immigration efforts.

And I don't want that that out in the community.

I don't want that that fear that Elgin police officers, even if we're standing there trying to verify, I could say that, and some people will not believe me.

So unless we're called, there's an incident, people are asking, we will do our best attempt to verify who they are.

Definitely tell them that it's not us.

If it is us, we'll explain what we're doing.

Um, but it's not as simple as just if this then that.

There's a lot of different layers to it.

And you have to be very mindful of the public, you have to be very mindful of the fear that's out there.

Just having an LGIM police officer in, and it's happened where you see Elgin police officers because we're responding, then I have to send out to the council and to the community.

We were doing this.

We were not doing that.

And that's very important to me that the public has the right information because it's very, I can imagine, very scary enough.

So and on top of it, the officers with the trust act, you know.

Um, I think that however the corporation council wants to interpret, you know, us verifying people, uh, you know, for me, what's the purpose of that?

If it's just to know, or is there a criminal act, or is there something more?

We have to be very careful about what we're doing, in my opinion.

Well, if someone is being taken into custody, um, you know, and and they're not being told a whole lot of things, and you know, which seems to be the case in a lot of these situations.

I mean, I don't these people don't know whether they're being kidnapped, they don't know what's going on.

And so I guess from the perspective of at least being able to verify that these are legitimate federal agents doing their, you know, carrying out the course of of their jobs.

Being able to just verify that they are legitimately who they say they are and not you know, just some random people in and mask.

Yes, I I I see it absolutely.

That's a big point.

If we are called and we need to verify, we can ask, absolutely, and we could hopefully get the right information.

I can't force a federal agent to tell me what they're doing.

I can ask them who are you?

We would need to know, like there's a fine line here between you know, going into their investigation and interfering and having the information just so people know.

There's a very fine line, and it puts officers in a very bad predicament.

We will always do our best to try to verify what is happening, to try to get the best information so that the community is aware.

But we have to be mindful of the trust act.

We also have to be mindful of the appearance, and we also have to be very mindful of what are we actually doing.

You know, yes, I understand if somebody shows up and and somebody takes someone into custody and they're masked up and they have some markings, maybe they don't.

Absolutely, there'll be a crush a question, no doubt.

Um I don't know what the agents are telling people.

I don't know how they're directing people.

I don't know how they're what information they're telling their families.

Uh they're not sharing that information with me.

But we can absolutely try to say, well, what happened?

Do you have a video?

Try to help them out in terms of maybe contact this number, give some contact information and say maybe you need to call this.

And it's not an LGM police officer.

So it's not as simple as this and that.

They're very complex issues.

The videos that people have seen in the public, um, when I see them, I can tell yes, they're immigration officers or based on their markings.

Sometimes they're telling us who they are, you know, sometimes they're calling and saying we're in this area.

Okay, then we know.

So if we do get any calls, we know.

So it just it depends how that information is filtered through, and then we have to do our best to make sure it's accurate, that it's also not um, you know, we're not making assumptions because you would hate to do that.

So we do our best to verify the information to tap down the fear that I completely understand.

Thank you.

You're welcome.

Mr.

Good, you had or Mr.

Dixon, I'm sorry I had his hand up before.

Thank you.

And thank you, Chief, uh, for coming up and and thank you to uh Councilman Ortiz and Councilwoman Alfaro for bringing this forward.

I think it was um super important that uh that this land uh landed on the on the agenda.

Um I have a few questions, but first I just want to start with a a well-known quote.

Um and this is loose, and I don't know how to who to contribute to at this point, it's been said by so many, but I think it's um a fitting place.

First they came for my neighbor, I said and I did nothing.

Then they came for me, and there was no one to stop them.

That is what we are dealing with today, and have been dealing with since the new administration has taken office.

It wasn't that long ago during the Black Lives Matter protest that we were outside rallying, and you know who was with us?

It was it was our uh Hispanic and Latino brothers and sisters who came out there and were protesting with us.

It was also our Asian community, it was also our white community that came out there in unison and stood up alongside of us.

Now, just a few years later, um, we have the opportunity to return the favor.

So to the entire community, especially to my black brothers and sisters, let's make sure that we stand up with our Hispanic and Latino community and get out there and support them.

There was well, Chief, yes, to you.

Um the Trust Act.

We hear that a lot.

Um but can you give a quick overview for those who don't know what that is essentially what the Trust Act um accomplishes?

Yes, so the uh criteria that I just went over, basically it provides clarification and uh guidance on the role of law enforcement and the enforcement of federal immigration laws.

Um it prohibits law enforcement agencies from doing certain things.

So the list that I just gave Councilwoman Powell, uh those are the things that uh local law enforcement are not allowed to do.

And if you do you need me to go through those items again or uh no, I think I just wanted to that's already been in place and it's been in place for a very long time.

So I'm just trying to make the the larger point is that the way that you're operating today, uh EPD has already been operating for a number of years.

Yes, when it comes to this.

Okay, that's one.

Um you said a lot, and uh, but I just wanted to be really clear to everybody, and I know the answer to this, okay.

Um does EPD cooperate with ICE?

No, unless there's a a federal criminal warrant, or when otherwise required by a specific federal law uh law enforcement agencies, we are prohibited from the list I gave Councilwoman Powell, in summary.

In summary, thank you.

Um and this is just because I I see the online chatter and and people saying things too and asking questions.

Um in any realm, in any way, can EPD or yourself, Chief Lally, um, stop ICE from entering Elgin?

No.

No.

Okay.

And it's really I know the answer, and it's simple, but I just wanted to be really clear with that because there are still people talking saying that this should be stopped by EPD and specifically you, Chief Latley.

Um so you talked a lot about the ways in which the parameters on which EPD acts in uh when ICE comes into this community, and what we can and what we cannot do according to the questions that have been asked of you this evening.

But I'm just gonna open have a uh open-ended question.

Um if we can uh make things uncomfortable, more uncomfortable for ICE.

That's another that's my question to you.

You don't have to answer that right now, right?

But I think that's but it but but essentially essentially um you know this this uh this resolution is is great.

Um but I think the the conversation and the questions that are being asked specifically from from councilwoman Powell is you know, how do we you know kind of slow any of this down?

And so you know I don't expect you to have the answer to that necessarily uh tonight, but I I think that's what the whole country is kind of grappling with is you know what if anything can we do?

Maybe we haven't thought of that thing yet.

And so um I just pose that pose that question to you, you know.

Um, answer if you like, but if none, you don't have the answer.

I totally understand.

I I think the answer it again.

So if you're asking that question in general, I think that's more for the community.

So the police department is guided by the trust act.

So there are certain things that I can do, and there are certain things that I cannot do.

As a and and that's just what it is.

So there is no wiggle room in that.

The law is the law, and I'm sure corporation council will uh confer that that is accurate.

As in terms of what the community can do, I think that's guided by you as the leaders of the city uh and the community um and our community partners uh to have that discussion, to have that conversation.

Uh and the police department, um, I think through our actions and the way that we conduct ourselves, we are always open to the community.

We are always um, you know, we will always tell people what is happening within reason.

We're very transparent, it's something that we pride ourselves on.

So I think you know, for the community from the to the department, you know, if you have a question you need to call and ask us, and we will always make sure to answer.

Uh we will always make sure to be transparent to be very upfront.

I think that our track record has uh I will tell you over the past seven, eight years, that's how we operate.

And I think more importantly, especially now, that matters.

And so I think that work that we have done together in these times matter.

So we will always be open, we will always be transparent, we will always answer questions.

That I can promise you.

The other side, legally, what I can do, there's not much I can do because of the framework of the trust act.

For the council, you know, if you choose to adopt ordinances, if you choose to adopt proclamations, if you choose to do very symbolic things that the community I'm sure will appreciate.

I think that's a very visual uh and very actionable item that people do appreciate.

So that would be my short answer to a very difficult question.

So I don't think anyone wants to stay here till 11 30.

Like last time.

Like last time.

Yes.

That's all.

Thank you.

You're welcome.

Anything else?

Mr.

Mr.

Good.

Thank you, Mayor.

Um, so I appreciate my colleagues bringing this item forward.

Appreciate everybody showing up here today.

Appreciate Centro and the other community partners that are working on prevention.

Um, and so um, you know, we work in an official body, and so I support this.

Um, even if it's us asking and supporting a state initiative or a federal initiative, um, because it is our official entities showing alignment, and this is our way to push back.

Um but we all know that like everything's operating outside the bounds of the law right now.

Um so what we're discussing right now is very official.

Um there's an area that I would uh I'll be asking questions uh here shortly about things I think we can do, things I think our police department already has been doing.

Um and what sparked this was uh in trying to track everything that's going on, whether it's legisl legislation coming out of the local level or state or federal, um, also tracking where there's gaps, right?

And so we have to find these areas where it's a little gray and inspect those and see like what's actually happening.

Um and so everything I'm hearing tonight is we're we're seeing how do we respond and what we can do is be a little bit preventative.

And so a large part of what's happening in multiple different areas in the federal government and private contractors is that they're sharing databases.

Um in the world of databases, there's meaningful inefficiencies, and those are built for a reason.

There's certain data that should not be connected to other data, and that's happening right now, unfortunately.

Um so there have been instances, even in uh the last month here in the Chicago Line area where there's people in charge of credentials within law enforcement agencies that have shared those credentials with people that were never supposed to have them, and that opens the floodgate for all kinds of things that um we don't want to have happen.

So the the direct questions I'll have tonight is a what is the police department already doing?

Um I know we have those uh laid out already in contracts.

Um we have not been working with uh company named Flock, which has been uh a problem in multiple areas, and then what I really want to get at is for anybody in our organization who has access to those credentials.

I just want to make sure that we're really crystal clear that if there were a violation of that protocol and and our trust as a council and community that we would respond as as heavily as we could.

Um so I I don't know where we're exactly at in that playbook right now, but that's something I think we could do to ensure that those credentials are not being shared where they're not supposed to be.

And by credentials, you're talking about the largely this is license plate readers.

Um there's interstate databases, interstate agreements, uh, where license plate information has been shared sometimes uh legitimately, and in some cases it was illegitimately shared.

Um so I just want to make sure that we have the protocol procedures in place to prevent that from happening.

Yes, so for the public's knowledge, so we the Algernon Police Department does have license plate readers.

Both those items were brought before council for approval.

We have stationary license plate readers at eight intersections within the city of Algin.

There are 27 stationary license plate readers.

Uh then the officers, they're in squad cameras are also act as license plate readers.

The cameras that are stationary, that data is held for 90 days then purged.

The data that's held for uh the license plate readers in the vehicles in the squads, that information is held for 30 days, then purged.

We do not share information.

Um we also we have policies in place that dictate when we can share, it has to be for an official investigation with a local agency if they ask, you know, they have a criminal case going on.

We have policies in place, we do audits, we do quarterly audits to ensure that the license plate readers are being used appropriately.

Only certain people within the agency can input data into the license plate reader.

So, for example, if we're looking for a vehicle on a criminal case.

So all the officers are trained, they all have to sign off on policies.

Only certain people have access to it.

Um our policy is online for the community.

If anybody wants to know, you can go on our transparency hub, you can go to our policies, it's under our citywide camera system.

Everything is in there open to the public so that they see uh what we need to do in terms of making sure that we're checking and balancing, which are audits, and also who has access.

Okay, I appreciate that overview.

Um and and just what I want us to discuss uh tonight because we're having this conversation is just to make sure that uh we're doing everything we can that if there is somebody that were to decide um that they share credentials that we respond as strongly as we possibly can.

Yes, if somebody that's not we shouldn't well again, the point of being people operating outside the bounds of the law or looking at the punishment and saying it's worth it.

Uh I just want to make sure we're doing everything we can to make sure that that's not something people want to be considered.

Absolutely.

If if an officer um, you know, again, if the information, which is why we also very proactive because we're doing audits, right?

So we don't have to do that.

We're doing that to do checks and balances.

If we see something that's inappropriate, we address it.

If it comes to our attention, however it comes to our attention, again, there's a citizen complaint, another officer complaints.

If there's an allegation of misconduct, then we take the approach appropriate action uh as it is, and again, we have to make sure that things are in place that you know that uh that it actually happened once all the facts have been verified.

If there's misconduct and it's again, it's addressed appropriately depending on the circumstances.

So, yes.

Okay.

So I just want to close out saying thank you for that overview.

Thank you for all the policies with your department and IT that are already in place.

Um I just want to remind the community, like we're talking about misdemeanors.

Um what we're experiencing is that people are just being like their families are being ripped apart.

So um we're gonna do what we can do.

Um, but if you're asking what we can also do right now to respond, um, I would say reach out to Centro.

Um when when this does happen to a family, there's loss of income.

There's all kinds of support that we need to do.

So um I know this is a rough conversation to have, but um again, yeah, I appreciate my colleagues for bringing it up.

Uh clearly it's some of the yeah, uh those are my comments for now.

Thank you.

Okay.

Anything else?

Mr.

Steph.

Yeah, can I follow up?

Uh I've I a lot of what I wanted to say has been said, but I just wanted to grab that thought that Councilman Good brought up.

Which is what I've been talking about, and I'm glad we have the IT department head here and call Aaron Constantino in our legal department because we've we've been approving contracts with software vendors and hardware vendors.

And the point I've been making and trying to make, and now I see a way to do it once again, is those contracts often have you know non-disclosure terms and secrecy terms, but they're always geared towards the vendor protecting their software and their proprietary information.

But there's a big gap on our data, what the city, you know, what these software programs and in this case, your specific example, license plate readers can gather a whole bunch of data, and there really were no protections for us on our end.

So that's the point I was trying to make, and I'm glad people are here to hear that, and especially in this context with what's going on, because I think that is you know, in the age of AI, those are the those data sets are golden, and people are trying to get to them, and those are the things that we need to protect.

So I just wanted to make that quick point because I think Councilman Good and his questioning really brought that to the forefront, and this this issue is bringing it to the forefront.

So that's what I wanted to say on that.

I also wanted to thank Anthony and Deanna for bringing this forward.

Anthony called me this week, and I was already thinking about how to kind of move this forward because Evanston just did this, I think, Monday night, and it's really needed, it's really timely, and so I appreciate the two of you stepping forward and making this happen.

Uh our mayor, I'll I'll point him out, he always incorporates in his statements and proclamations that the diversity of this city and its importance.

And it's really kind of a majority uh minority town at this point, and so the importance of taking this stand is very evident.

Um I wanted to go back to Diana's concerns because I'm looking at the specific ordinance that has been provided us in as an example, I suppose, or something that we're considering passing.

Or or resolution, sorry, yes, thank you.

It's not it's not a formal uh ordinance, it's just a resolution, but it it just talks generally about what the Illinois General Assembly is doing with HB 4086, and then the actual meat of it is actually we're just urging um our congressional delegation and the Illinois General Assembly to enact legislation to prohibit the concealing of identities and wearing masks.

It's not we're not actually putting the state legislature in a bind by demanding that they do certain things, or am I missing what your concerns are?

Because I want to make sure we pass that.

Um my bigger concern is that whereas Illinois General Assembly has introduced the HB 4086 bill, I feel like we should revise we should take that part out.

Um I really like the statement afterwards that the Illinois Attorney General and Attorney Generals across this uh from at least 20 other states have called upon Congress to advance legislation that will simply prohibit federal immigration agents from wearing masks, etc.

Um I don't want to lock us into uh stating a bill that may or may not pass and um may not be constitutional, right?

Um given that we had talked about the levels of government and who can over rides are in levels of government, and so with that, I wanted our resolution to be as strong as possible with the most legitimacy as possible.

So, with that, I was proposing that we take that statement out.

Um I see where you're saying like the rest of it in looking at it for the most part is just asking our um state elected officials and our to do everything that they can, but really leaning more into our federal government, um, where I think they have the most power to make the change that we absolutely need.

Okay, thanks.

All right.

I think I can live with that.

Good.

I now I understand it better.

Thanks.

Um I also wanted to um give a shout out to the police department and and Chief Lolly.

Um, we've had several tough discussions about this, and she's basically told me what she's told the community and her answers to the questions tonight on what EPD can do and can't do, and um that leading be leads me to what her answer was, which is what the community can do.

Because at the end of the day, what we're doing is is a resolution in support of certain action, but that's not solving the problem.

But um Diana Ortega Enro was up earlier talking about Centro, they have workshops on know your rights, they're kind of the center for that.

That's critical, but I think beyond that talk to answer the question somewhat, there are ways that you can be a presence, um, record what is happening, take down license plate numbers, do all those things.

There's there's tutorials on social media on Instagram, Facebook.

People are explaining the steps that you can take as a citizen if this is going on and you see it, how you can try to do as much information gathering and you know, basically intimidation to try to stop it as it's happening.

So I think I think to summarize Chief Lally's point with the EPD, we hear about it so late that it's already done by the time they get there.

It's it's um after the fact.

As a matter of fact, I have sat in on some statewide rapid response webinars or meetings over the Zoom, and and they disclose that ICE has a goal to be in and out of a site in four minutes or less.

That is their stated goal to be in a house, to be at a business, to be in a parking lot in and out within four minutes.

So that's what we're dealing with.

So I'm in favor of this.

I I also want to say I'm in favor of the public statement, in addition to the resolution, which I think the resolution is, but I'm willing to have that put out on our public um social media and other sources.

Um, and I'll turn it over back.

Thank you.

Okay.

Ums Martinez.

Thank you, Mayor.

I'll be short because I want to be respectful of people's time.

I feel that I will uh go ahead and support this because I feel that anybody wearing a mask to hide their identity, let's just call it for what it is.

It's just being cowards, they're being cowards.

Second, it's kind of scary where due process doesn't exist.

You know, I feel like this is just the beginning.

Because let's not forget this is the same administration that went ahead and separated 5,000 kids from their family from their parents, and there's still 500 that probably will never be united with their family.

Thank you.

Mr.

Thorne, you haven't spoken yet.

I think everybody now is your chance.

You're not going to say something before we go back to other people that already spoke.

I don't know what else can be said.

I I certainly will support this, and I think it's a it's a great idea.

I commend uh Anthony and Deanna for bringing it forward, and uh and it has my support.

There's everything's been said.

So thank you.

All right.

Uh two things.

Um you hear the you've heard all the uh uh discussion about the issues that we face and the problems that we face.

Just be aware that uh when we talk to the chief of police about going out to doing things with ice, they've arrested members of the U.S.

House and Senates and Senate.

I don't think they hesitate to arrest a police officer for being in their way.

I'm not gonna put our police officers at risk either for that.

I want people to be able to say I'm going up to work today and I'm gonna be home tonight, and I don't want to be in the car going with ice to someplace for 30 days for that.

Um I think that uh it's appropriate to mention the state of Illinois in this.

I follow Councilman Stefan's uh logic here, and I don't want to do an end round or uh end run around the state of Illinois.

They are part of this as well.

And they were they're trying to write their own bill about uh uh masks and uh uh neck gators and the Eldrin Police Department already does that.

So I think it's a I think this is a means of support for them as well.

That's just my opinion.

So I think that should I think that can stay in and uh uh supports the state of Illinois in their efforts if they choose to do that.

Other than that, very much in support of this.

I think it's a great idea, and uh Evanston passed it the other night.

Not that I like to follow what other people do, but I think they kind of laid the groundwork, and this is the bones for that.

We'll turn it over to our corporate council, and he'll come back with uh um a final document for us in a couple weeks, correct?

Yeah, yeah.

Okay.

Now everybody else has had a chance to speak.

Now we can go back and you get about a minute.

Mr.

Dixon's question about what we can do.

City Chicago already started it.

The mayor over there thought we're using his talk trucks to block communities to help deter ice from going into certain communities during certain events.

So I don't know if the city would be inclined to do stuff like that, but the state of Chicago has already started a deterrence project with uh Mayor Johnson and I seen pictures this weekend over a little Facebook.

I think they were blocking in Pilson to trying to keep ice out or keep agents out from going into Pilson that weren't supposed to be in there and disrupting their events.

So Mayor Chicago is already trying to do the distraction and deterrence from letting ice roam history freely.

So that's one one idea I've seen over the weekend, Mr.

Dixon.

Okay, so far.

Um so with HB 486, there are some concerns.

That bill does prohibit and does ask to prohibit law enforcement, federal law enforcement from wearing masks.

However, there are exceptions to that under special operations.

And so we get to wear a mask whenever we want.

So that is my concern.

I feel like we could take that one where as out.

The asking the state is still in here within section three of at the bottom on the top, it's asking to say this to our our leaders, et cetera.

And so again, my idea is trying to make this as strong as possible, as legitimate as it possible, with no loopholes where they can wear masks at any times.

So I would prefer to just for now take out that whereas that has that bill mentioned because I would like to get more information on the bill given that there is an exception within that bill.

And in addition to that, I just want to echo the answer from Chief Lally from the question of council member Dixon.

This is a lot of we're into this together.

And so as though we stand up here and um we brought this resolution uh and we're gonna it looks like most people are in favor of it.

We need to hear from you.

What is working when it's not working?

Are do you have ideas of what we can do between you know council member Ortiz just mentioned some things that are happening in Chicago?

So if you're seeing things other places, please flag it for us.

If you want to see things that we should be doing in this community, please let us know.

Because we're in this together, right?

And so the more information we can get, the more we're hearing from the community, the better.

Mr.

Dixon.

Thank you.

I I'll keep it really um really short.

Um, and I'm glad that we have Karina and Aaron here.

Um can one of you, either one of you tell us uh where someone would be able to go on the city of El Jones website to find information, um, you know, about Synthro, about um the rapid response team.

Is there anything on our website that could lead to that information?

And I'll just say say this we're we're obviously at the beginning of this journey, right?

And we have another three and a half years um to at least to you know that this is going to probably be happening.

Um, and with our website being the central hub of that um of information for our entire community, I think it would be fitting for people to be able to find um those community resources uh as it relates to to the subject and these issues.

So the city city manager can speak to that if you would like, or yeah, it we don't have that on the website now, and I think that's part of the reason that council member Ortiz well that well I don't want to suggest, but it's trying to get more information out there.

The the issue becomes once the city begins promoting for lack of a better term, different social service agencies because of the first amendment limitations, we don't really have the ability to pick and choose.

And so while we certainly don't have any problems supporting the good work of our myriad of social service agencies, we we refrain from having those posts on the city's webpage because it then uh once once you allow for one person, there really isn't any basis to not do it for everyone, and then it just becomes a bit unwieldy, unfortunately.

Yeah, I I I understand that certainly, but I I think that in certain circumstances there are exceptions to the rule, and this is one of I think this is one of those things.

Um, and we we do not exactly this, you can't compare apples to apples, but you know, we do have information for the community when it comes to things such as the the LGIN's um led response or the LGIN's homelessness response.

Um, and so this could be one of those items um similar to that to where people can go to get the information that they need, with that being the central hub.

So that would be my ask of city staff to add that, add a link that could take to that information.

Again, I'll have to confer with corporation council, and unfortunately, there aren't exceptions to the first amendment, and so I will take the issue under advisement, do the research that's necessary and be able to get back to you again.

The distinction between the lead-based service line it wasn't apples to apples.

I know right, it is.

It's a city, it's a city initiative versus promoting something for a third party as great and as honorable as that cause might be, but there's no shortage of those.

Okay.

Okay.

We have a motion just real quick.

Okay, excuse me.

Sorry, Mayor.

I'll be I'll be quick.

Um, so I just want to say, you know, this doesn't prevent us from uh adjusting on the fly.

We could do another one of these if another state bill comes down the pipeline.

We've got weeks before this actually gets finalized from from our end.

Um and we could take these opportunities to highlight where we see opportunities to improve upon them.

Um so for me, it's the the item came forward with you as a co-sponsor, and so that's the information I was leading into this meeting with.

This was the community.

Um, and so I don't see a good enough reason right now to pull that out because nothing prevents us from providing feedback to our state leadership and also supporting anything else that does come down the pipeline.

So for the sake of just procedural and I I don't think moving forward with as is limits us from keeping it as you said as strong as possible and make sure that we're not encumbering ourselves.

I'm also trying not to make sure that we don't give any loopholes, right?

In our community, like I'm very firm, they should not wear masks one whatsoever, right?

And they should be identifying themselves.

And given that there is that information and I need more information on that, I would prefer to pull that out right now to make sure that this is as strong as possible and as clear as possible that they should not wear mask at any point.

And I understand that.

And so, you know, this is what is presently in the state house.

You know, as you guys know, legislation takes X amount of time, there's X number of sessions.

Um, you know, there's edits that happen all the time.

And so, you know, I always take the approach don't let perfect be the enemy of good.

Um, and so I I completely agree with you.

I align on that, but for the sake of pulling this out right now, I don't think that that's good procedure to take something that you know our two colleagues brought forward, and I think that was in there that was put in there without my own.

Okay, so then that that's uh the point to our process.

Um, but for what was presented to us in the community tonight.

That's that's at least where I stand on it.

So agree with you, but I also the approach I think move forward with this, look for opportunities to provide feedback to potentially offer uh adjustments to what's happening in Illinois.

Uh but that's why I want to speak again for the second time.

Thank you.

All right, we have a motion, we have a resolution, uh permanent resolution.

Clerk, please call the role.

Um mayor, I would like to amend the the resul uh the motion to remove the whereas the Illinois General is only has introduced HB 4086 dot dot dot second.

I'll second that.

Okay, so you got it.

All right, okay.

It's been moved and seconded to amend to remove the section with uh uh referring to uh HB uh 486 clerk please call the roll.

Council members alfaro, yes.

Dixon, yes, good no martinez, yes, ortiz, yes.

Powell, yes, Stefan, yes, Thorne?

Yes, Mayor Captain.

Uh yes.

Reluctant.

Okay, now call a roll on the uh amended.

We have an amended uh resolution.

Council members alfaro.

I just want to make a note that that motion also includes a public statement, correct?

No, that's not what you said.

No, it's not what you said.

No, well, that was for the other one.

I I made a motion to withmove that, but someone didn't someone else make a motion to so no one's made a motion to approve this yet.

No, no one's so I make a motion to approve the amended um resolution in addition to add a public statement in our social medias that we stand with the community.

Second I I think those are two separate items.

I don't think you need to amend your motion if you want to make a motion, a separate motion to make a public statement.

I think that's probably the better way to do that.

We should okay.

So the other one approves this without the thing.

Okay.

So I make a motion then that we will make a public statement on our social media.

There's a motion on the floor.

We can do this.

We have a motion on the floor.

Okay.

And that's another issue.

We're uh getting into the weeds here, and this is uh why you don't legislate from the dais.

So then clerk, please call the roll.

So the motion right now is the motion on the floor is to approve the resolution with the whereas clause referring to Hospital 4086 removed.

That's correct.

Okay, then yes.

Council members alfaro, yes.

Dixon, yes, good, yes Martinez, yes, ortiz, yes, Powell, yes, Stefan?

Yes, Thorne?

Yes, Mayor Captain.

Yes, motions approved nine zero.

As a point of interest, there is a there is a uh public statement being circulated to the council as we speak.

It's already been written and uh coming out to the council uh for approval, and then it will go out to the general public.

Yeah, I was just making a motion to make sure that we had the numbers and that it was written.

It's already being done.

Well, I've been told that we always have to have five.

So I wanted to make a motion that we will officially make sure that we do do that.

Okay, if you want to do that, that's fine.

Yeah, second.

Then move the second to affirm the thing that we're already doing.

Clerk, please call a roll.

Council members alfaro.

We say we do things and then we don't, so trying to make sure we do it.

Yes.

Dixon?

Absolutely.

You could yes Martinez?

Yes.

Ortiz, yes, Powell, yes, Stephen, yes, Thorne.

Yes, Mayor Captain.

Yes, motions approved nine zero.

Analysis from the council.

Mr.

Ortiz.

All right, we need some hopes and prayers.

I'm not talking about the White Sox this time.

I'm talking about our Larkin football team.

So we're playing uh Miss Powell Sons uh high school this weekend on Friday, South Algernon.

Both teams haven't won a game yet.

So hopefully Larkin was off its first win against her high school.

So uh they're playing over at South Elgin High, so we need to go and support Larkin.

The other one is I want to give a shout out to our community development department downstairs.

They do a lot of good stuff for us, bring us great petitions, great projects, and then tonight they brought us a CBDG grant revision to help all of our homeowners with fixing stuff they need to fix, and then also the front desk.

So I just want to give a shout out to them.

Miss Martinez.

Thank you, Mayor.

I'd like to thank the History Museum for their 43rd year of the historical housewalk for me as a volunteer at 806 West Highland.

It was really a treat because that was where my pediatrician was back in the 60s and 70s for uh 18 years.

Thank you.

Okay.

Miss Sophar, you had your hand up.

Oh yes, thank you, Mayor.

Um I just want to mention that this Saturday is La Fiesa Algerna.

So if you can please come out and support and celebrate and uplift the Latino community.

I know it is a privilege to come out at these times right now, in certain times.

And so if you are able to, please come out.

You get to support local businesses, you get to support our community and uplift our community.

In addition to that, on Sunday is September 14th, which is National Support Latino Business Day.

So if you can, a lot of our Latino businesses, not only in Elgin but across the country are being hit really hard right now with everything happening.

So if you can please support a Latino business, support local businesses.

And then happy early Hispanic Heritage Month as we kick it off on September 15th.

Okay.

Ms.

Powell.

Yes, thank you.

I also want to give a shout out to the uh historic Elgin House Tour that took place this past weekend.

This was I believe the 30 the 43rd year um of the house walk.

Um I was a docent at one of the houses, and it's always um just really good seeing all the people that come um into our community uh from all over uh to visit and and view the homes and take a tour.

Uh so shout out to the Gifford Park Association that puts this on every year and um all the other organizations that help partner with them to make this happen, and um especially the the homeowners that are so graciously open their homes for people to to come through and and view uh because I'm sure that that that's probably not easy to do, but uh definitely appreciate them doing that.

Also want to take the time to um congratulate the um Illinois I'm sorry, the Elgin Parks and Rec Foundation on a success another successful Elgin um Illinois Bruce at Bowes Creek uh this past weekend.

It is um uh one of their largest fundraisers that they do to raise money for our youth scholarship organization that funds um low-income youth to be able to participate in uh recreation services in our community.

Um they had a great uh turnout as always.

Um it's all always a really nice event.

So I just wanted to thank our our Parks and Rec Foundation and our Parks and Rec department uh for all of the work that they do to put that on every year and just everything they do in general in our community to uh promote parks and recreation activities.

So thanks to our team.

Okay, Mr.

Thorne.

Thank you, Mayor.

I'll be the third one to make a compliment on the housewalk.

Uh I went to the after party and they made some announcements, and they were at almost 2,000 people that attended, of which many came from out of town, out of state, even and it's amazing that we've actually had people that have moved to Elgin that came here initially and gone on this housewalk, and that's what brought them here to live.

So it was a wonderful thing, and uh as councilwoman Powell said, thanking the homeowners.

Uh, it's an interesting statement that the committee always says if you have some projects you want to get done, just sign up to be on the housewalk.

I'd also like to uh invite people to drive by and take a look at the progress of the uh new wing park clubhouse, the additional clubhouse that's going up.

It's uh moving forward quite nicely, and I'm very excited about it.

Thank you.

Okay, and Mr.

Dixon, if I could just add Mr.

Dixon go ahead, Mr.

Dixon.

Ladies first.

Okay, Miss Powell.

Thank you.

I I just want to give a shout out to Councilman Thorin.

Um, a lot of people don't realize that during the house walk, Councilman Thorin um showcases his beautiful uh model T uh cars at a lot of the homes.

So and you know, a lot of these old historic homes look really great next to your old historic cars.

So thanks for doing that every year.

Um it's it's really a pleasure to to see that.

So our own councilman Thorin is is part of that whole um process.

So thank you, Steve.

And he also did a guardian walk.

I'm sorry.

Mr.

Dixon.

Six hundred people came through our yard.

And I also want to say thank you to can uh to Councilman Thorne because he gave me a ride one time in this model team on the way to the house tour.

And so I I never forgot that, so I appreciate it.

I went the wrong way and dropped him off.

Um in addition to that, I do uh want to give a plug for the um Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights, um the family supported network hotline, which is eight five five four three five seven six nine three.

Um and uh I want to just say, you know, um I just appreciate everyone for coming out and uh supporting the measure that was presented this evening.

Um we really appreciate you, so thank you for spending uh some time and bringing your children to us well.

So thank you.

Okay, anything else?

Mr.

Steph.

Yeah, just quickly, uh I am a member of the Quantus Club.

We are having a fundraiser.

We raise funds to give for social service agencies in town that deal with kids, kid focused.

This is Saturday, September twentieth, Saturday morning, eight to ten.

It's a breakfast at Applebee's out by Marcus Theater.

Uh all you can eat pancakes, all you can drink coffee, and one order of bacon and one order of orange juice or one orange juice.

So um Applebee's eight to ten, Saturday, September twentieth.

Tickets are ten dollars a piece.

See me or any Koanis member if you want to get tickets.

Thank you.

Okay.

Anything else?

Entertain a motion to adjourn.

So multiple second.

Move and second to adjourn.

Court, please call the role.

Council Member Zalfaro.

Yes.

Dixon?

Yes.

Good.

Yes.

Martinez.

Yes.

Ortiz?

Yes.

Powell?

Yes.

Stefan?

Yes.

Thorne.

Yes.

Yes, we are adjourned.

We'll reconvene at the regular council meeting at uh seven fifty.

Meeting of the Elgin City Council for September 10th, 2025 to order.

Please join me in the Pledge of Allegiance.

I pledge allegiance to the planet States of America and to the Republic for Richard Stance.

One nation under God with liberty and justice for all please call the roll.

Councilmember Zalfaro.

Here Dixon?

Present.

Good.

Here.

Martinez here.

Ortiz?

Here.

Powell?

Here.

Stefan?

Here.

Thorne.

Here.

Mayor Campton.

Here.

Approval of a previous of the minutes of the previous meeting of August 27th.

Move for approval.

Second.

Second.

Move and second for approval.

Any corrections or additions.

Hearing none, Court, please call the roll.

Councilmember Zalfaro?

Yes.

Dixon?

Yes.

Good.

Yes.

Martinez?

Yes.

Ortiz?

Yes.

Powell?

Yes.

Stefan?

Yes.

Thorne?

Yes.

Mayor Campton.

Yes, the motion is approved nine-zero.

Uh, we have one communication this evening.

Would this point better be Elton please?

Sergeant Gutierrez and Officer Alva join me at the podium, please.

You guys hold on to this.

You know, I've had an opportunity in my uh years as mayor and as council members to work with the Elgin Police Explorers.

And there are no finer young people in this city than these people.

They do a great job.

They're dedicated.

They want to become police officers.

They want to learn what it's like to be a police officer, even if they don't become one.

And I think that sends a message out to our community that none of us can do as well as they can do.

Gives me great pleasure to read this proclamation.

Whereas the Elgin Police Explorer Post 1445 has served as a model of excellence, dedication, and professionalism throughout the year 2025, proudly representing the Elgin Police Department and the City of Elgin.

And whereas the explorers have demonstrated their commitment to rigorous training, competition, and community service, bringing distinction to themselves and honor to our community.

And whereas over the past year, post 1445 has excelled at numerous local, state, and national competitions, learning of earning a remarkable uh total of twelve awards in areas such as felony traffic stops, domestic scenarios, courtroom testimony, first aid response, and arrest and search procedures reflecting their skill and preparation.

Whereas, in addition to their competitive success, post number 1445 embodied the spirit of service by volunteering for more than 750 hours in 2025, supporting over 50 local events and strengthening the relationship between the police department and the community they serve.

And whereas the accomplishments of the Elgin Police Explorer Post 1445 stand as a testament to their dedication, discipline, and teamwork, reflecting the highest values of the Elgin Police Department and setting an inspiring example for our community at large.

Congratulations to all of you.

Thank you.

Good evening.

Um, I just real quick, as you'll say a few words, I'm gonna let uh Officer Alva here get in the podium as well, one of the uh explorers.

I first want to thank the police chief and the command staff for their support, and obviously the CD City Council, mayor, city manager, thank you for the support, and just know that the funding that you guys are doing for the explorers is for a good cause, and they're doing a great job.

I want to point out that we brought a trophy from national competition this year.

We have not seen a trophy since uh I was saying for the last 10 years.

So this is a great accomplishment accomplishment by all of them.

They put a good work, they put good effort, and I think uh in the future we're gonna see good leaders.

So I'm gonna let Officer Alva come up here and say a few words, and then eventually uh Jasmine, uh, the vice president of the board is gonna come up here and say a few words.

Thank you all.

And uh I cannot forget the parents, thank you for the support.

Thank you for having your kids in this program and uh the community for their support.

Thank you.

Thank you, Sergeant Gutierrez.

Good evening, everyone.

My name is uh Edwin Alva, I'm a police officer with the Elgin uh police department.

Um, I've had the privilege and the honor of serving as an advisor for the explorers that are here standing behind me tonight.

Um before I get into a little bit of the details of the work that they've put in, I'd first like to start off by thanking um mayor.

Thank you very much for your support.

Uh City Manager, thank you very much.

Uh, I would also like to thank the chief, the city council members, and last but certainly not least, I would also like to thank the parents that are in attendance today, because without your guys' support, the the kids here today would not be able to be here.

And it takes um takes teamwork to make the dream work.

I'm a firm believer in that.

Um the kids are very passionate about dedication to service, the training that they receive, and um I I'm a big big believer that in order for the success to uh come to fruitation, we have to have a good foundation.

So thank you once again.

Um, with that being said, I would like to tell the explorers.

Um I hope that you guys remember this for the rest of your lives.

I know I will.

Um I truly do take a lot of pride in in being able to show up every Wednesday um as man as much as many times as I can, and I know that all the advisors here, present and non-present, do the same.

We really take a lot of uh uh pride and our very passion about serving as role models to you.

So we look forward to the next five years, ten years when today you guys are learning, but tomorrow you'll be leaders.

Um last but not least, the the last point I would like to talk about um is to stress the importance of talking about today marking the beginning, this year marking the beginning of the future.

Today we stand, and they we stand before 15, 16, 17-year-old uh kids, some as old as 20, but in 15 years, they might be up there, right?

They might be in uniform like I am today.

So let's take a let's take a pause and think about the the leaders that we're building, and let's give them a big round of applause.

Thank you.

I'm gonna have I'm gonna have Jasmine come up.

She's the vice president of the board, and she's gonna say a few words.

Good evening, everyone.

On behalf of all of the police explorers, I want to take a moment to express our sincere gratitude to the city of Elgin for its generous support and funding of this program.

Because of your investment in us, we're gaining more than just skills.

We're building confidence, leadership, and a strong sense of purpose.

The Explorer Program gives young people like us a real chance to grow, to be challenged, and to contribute to our community in a meaningful way.

You're not just funding a program, you're helping shape futures.

Many of us walk away from each session more confident, more focused, and more prepared for what lies ahead.

So again, thank you to the city of Elgin, not only for believing in the explorers, but for leaving in the next generation.

Brings us to the public comment portion of the uh city council meeting.

Brings us to the public comment portion of the city council meeting.

First person to sign up this evening is Karen Jones.

Good evening, uh Council Mayor.

My name's Karen Jones.

Uh I live in Elgin.

I own a business, and we have a building in downtown Elgin.

Um I'm one of those people.

We don't do business with people that don't take care of business.

Um I don't gossip about my clients, we refer business to my clients.

Um I've heard many, many references to the prior leadership of the DNA, and I consider myself one of those people.

When I stepped into the role as the DNA president, the DNA organization owed more on money to the IRS than we had in our bank accounts.

Um the folks before me, and we won't bother with all of that.

Um they were a bunch of volunteers, and it's very, very, very common for nonprofit organizations to be fiscally irresponsible.

Um so I was really concerned when I hear you at our dispensers of the taxes sitting here and saying that audits are not important.

We're not talking about nine nineties.

We're talking about articles of corporation lining up with your bylaws, lining up with your bank accounts, lining up with your nine nineties.

We want minutes of all your board meetings, you want minutes of all your work groups, you want minutes, and all that has to come together and make sense.

They all have to match.

You can't have your articles of corporation not matching up with your bylaws.

You must stay registered in the state of Illinois in which you do business.

I don't know what it looks like for a corporation that does not maintain Illinois um registration with their corporation and accepts money as a tax deductible donation.

I mean, that's in our my world, that's a breach of contract when we're having those kind of things.

But when I was working with the DNA, I was working with folks that really wanted a better tunnel town.

I got Victor Gonzalez, Pat Keeney, Steve Munson, Ruth Munson, um, Armita Dominguez.

We, you know, so we stepped into that pile of crap, and we pulled up our bootstraps and worked.

We were very fortunate to have an executive director that we could handle all the IRS.

We were doing block captain meetings, we were sending people out, we were doing out to lunch every month, we were having, you know, many things.

Um I'm thankful, thankful that I got to work with that group of people.

The downtown is a very, very divided downtown.

There's many, there's a few handful of property owners here this evening.

Um a lot of the property owners and business owners will not speak out because of the retribution or the vindictive nature of the current organization.

And just in 2020, when we were having the COVID um pandemic, we had a really really difficult time in downtown Elgin.

And we held a meeting in a parking deck.

Um about 20 business owners.

Councilman Good, you were there.

So we don't have an advocate.

All lost too long, too early, you know.

Um, but he always said, you got to keep your friends close for your enemies closer.

And so we could balance it out.

When we had all those grifters in town, we didn't want to go see them, but he could handle it.

Pat Keeney getting held up at gunpoint in her shop and grabbing his gun and heading on down to the police station with him.

I can still picture her marching down Douglas Avenue on her way to City Hall to have her fits.

Um Jerry McHugh, and she said, Karen Jones, keep my name off your lips unless I'm in your presence.

Um I used to tell her, Pat Keeney, it's not or Jerry McHugh, it's not what you say, it's how you say it.

And now it's not what I say.

It's how I'm saying it.

Um we had that rough couple of years where we lost four board members in two years.

So my favorite prayer uh, you know, is the Lord's Prayer because we were in the hospitals with all those board members holding hands and praying as they suffered their cancers and their battles.

I'm so blessed to call those people my friends and those leaders of downtown Elgin.

Um this is the same group of people that when our board members were getting sick.

We stepped up and we ran their businesses.

We coordinated the staff, we uh we got all our volunteers, and we were running their businesses, and every business in the downtown was offering a special.

We were all railing together, we were all having drinks.

We had Thursday nights was the new Friday.

We were all out.

We put posts that please join us after our board meetings.

We're gonna be at this restaurant, we're gonna be at this bar, we're gonna be at this, because we were trying to support our neighbors.

I don't know, I'm I'm not included in the DNA, so I don't know if they're doing any of those things, but I know we've canceled our annual meetings, they canceled any annual meetings.

The community, the downtown area does not vote on any of their um leadership positions, they don't, you know, we're not able to do any of that.

Uh I did um, you know, when when I when I stepped away, I I stepped away.

I didn't read emails, I didn't look at things because I really thought that we could make a difference.

That there was, I thought, you know, she fake it till she makes it.

Um, and I hoped for that.

And I saw some things start coming in.

Um partnerships, and I'm not gonna name who they were, but I I reached out at that time to the DNA and I said that's really cool.

We wanted to change the bylaws for about five years to be able to partner with a not-for-profit, you know.

Um, and they were they had made those partnerships with private businesses.

Um, you know, I don't know how that a lot of the not-for-profits in town in Elgin seem to uh share their status, take money in for other uh agencies, use their bank accounts.

I don't know how that plays out with your accountants and your you know the IRS.

That's that's not my thing.

Um but I just want to say that I I really feel strongly it's your responsibility to be getting that information and getting that data if you are using the taxpayers' money for this.

Um there's so many of us that receive zero help because we are not the DNA crowd.

Um, and when it when an organization is telling you to 20 businesses that the city signs my paycheck, I can't help you.

That's that's very detrimental in the downtown.

Um and I, you know, I love to hear this story of the vibrant downtown that they tell and all the events and all the things.

I'm down there um five, six days a week, uh, mornings, evenings.

I'm not seeing that.

Um please start wrapping your comments up, Karen.

Okay.

Um, so at the very very minimum, every one of your organizations that is receiving money that is taxpayer dollars in any form, should be held to a higher standard.

And we're never gonna get there if we continue on with this pettiness and this back and forth and the you know, are they your partner or not?

Is it please tell me it's not true that they were the lieutenant governor was taken to a funeral home for a tour of our downtown?

Is that accurate?

I heard that rumor.

Okay.

Um, so thank you so much.

I appreciate it.

I hope you will consider um, you know, balance sheets, profit and loss statements.

It's not a 990 that we're talking about, it's an organizational audit.

Thank you so much.

Thanks for all you do.

Thank you.

James Harvey.

Well, good evening, Mayor Kaplan and Council members.

My name is James Harvey.

I'm an Elgin resident and I'm a photographer.

I'm here today to acknowledge that Elgin Art Space Loss is celebrating this 13th anniversary.

13th anniversary, and uh that's where I'm a I'm a resident from September 2012 to 2025.

Elgin Art Space Loss has 55 units of live workspace for creatives and their families and commercial space.

And today the occupancy rate is 100%.

The Lugwards property management does a good job of managing the property.

Elgin Art Space Loss has a large gallery space and has hosted many organizations and events mayor.

Coffee with a cop with Elgin Police, weddings, and in October of 2012, we provided space for the Elgin residents during nightmare on Chicago Street, 2012.

Currently our gallery is open during business hours and free to the public.

And the residents of the city of Elgin is welcome to attend and uh have us uh have a little cake and ice cream.

In closing, as a resident at Elgin Art Space Loss, I'm able to create I'm able to create and process images for my photography and many organizations and businesses.

I would like to remember and thank Mr.

and Mrs.

Jack Shales, Robin and Mark Siegel, Sylvia Grady, Sherry Murphy, and the Elgin City Council.

And also, too, folks.

Tomorrow is September 11th.

Please remember September 11, 2001, and never forget.

This is uh a flyer advertising, welcoming our Elgin Art Space Loss.

And if you look right now, the downtown is growing.

We're gonna have in just a couple of weeks from now, we're gonna have that that a new property called 40 Court with new apartments and people moving in.

And uh have anybody been to DuPage Court, the new DePage Court downtown.

Isn't it isn't it wonderful?

We got Festival Park.

So, ladies and gentlemen, I just want to let you guys know that Elgin is moving forward.

It's a great place to live and work, and um uh look forward to seeing everybody and thank you so much.

Thank you, James, for what you do as well.

Uh Mr.

Harvey, uh what time is the event on the 29th?

Uh 6 p.m.

to 7 p.m.

I'd like to have you guys come bring your children and get some ice cream, get some cake.

If you could bring that John Stephanie and bring Ms.

Ortiz uh and Rose would appreciate it.

Miles Henderson.

Good evening.

Um good evening.

Uh my name's Miles Henderson.

I'm a uh property owner of in downtown uh Elgin, along with my family, and we also own a uh business sugar and rhyme coffee house.

The building we uh bought, what three plus years ago is on the corner of East Chicago Street and Spring.

Um we had looked around the country.

Um we were primarily interested in buying a property in an older downtown uh because we like the architecture of older downtowns and uh uh ambience that goes with it.

Uh we we uh went to Colorado actually, our whole family did, to check out a few locations, and uh we were living in the city in Chicago at the time, and uh we'd heard a lot of bad news about uh Elgin, so we didn't come out here until I came out on a whim, and we found uh the diversity of the city and uh the welcoming we received from the DNA to be actually um phenomenal.

Uh we wouldn't have been here without the guidance of Jennifer Fakula and what she did to introduce us to the building, other building owners in the downtown area so we could get an understanding of what the city has been doing, the progress it's been making.

Um anyway, uh if it wasn't for her, uh we wouldn't be here.

We're actually making money, believe it or not.

So we're going to be here a long, long time.

We love the city.

For example, the DNA worked with the city to make it much easier for businesses to have a change of use without having to jump through all the hurdles that are necessary if those changes, the percent of the business that were being changed, weren't that significant.

Just looking at my notes here.

The only other thing I'd I'd like to say is I know at the last council meeting there was an argument put forth by one of the councilmen, and by the way, I want to tell everybody here, I highly respect what you do.

The effort you put forth is amazing to me.

And so I want you to know I truly respect all the work that all of you do to make this a better town.

But there was an argument that I thought uh was put forward last time that seemed seemed compelling, but I I want to call it out because uh just give you a quick background as to where I'm coming from.

Um so you know my background.

Um I got a master in finance uh I am a lawyer.

I was an investment banker, and I'm uh what's called a CFA, a charter financial analyst, which is the equivalent of a CPA, except in the financial world.

Um I've been around the horn, I've done I've done a lot of stuff in finance, leverage buyouts, investment banking, um, and the argument that was put forward was that if a program like the DNA has to come back to you for money, it's appropriate to put down more restrictions as to how they operate.

Um if you'll recall at the presentation that Jen Jen Fakula made last time, they've been hitting all their marks, they've been hitting all their objectives and their goals, they've been doing it beyond expectations.

So what were they not doing?

Well, they were coming back to ask you for more money, and the comment was well, yeah, if if they're gonna be coming back to us for a moment for more money, we need to be more strict.

Now the comment about the audit, we've all agreed with that, right, Mayor, that that's gonna be done.

So that's not an issue anymore.

They've agreed to that.

Um my comment is that if somebody's not making their financial goals, um, they're coming up short with what they think you should do, or they're burning through more money than they agreed to.

Yeah, that's coming up short financially.

That's not what's going on here.

When some company or entity, and I speak to this from personal experience, is not making their financial goals or are not making their uh objectives, or they're coming back to you for more money for something that you didn't previously expect.

We always expected the DNA to come back for more funding.

So I don't think it's appropriate to tighten the belt on something that we've already expected to happen.

The only other thing I'd I'd say is that if it's somewhat ironic to me that the DNA now is saying, yeah, we want to go ahead and enter an SSA.

And uh be responsible to those other citizens if they don't like an additional property tax levied on their property.

They're saying the DNA is saying, let's do that.

But don't cut us off at the knees and only give us 12 months or less to make that objective.

We need a chance to uh meet that goal.

And so that's what the proposed amendment did.

And uh my hat my hat's off to that.

I think it's appropriate.

Um but give them a give them a chance to uh make it compelling to all the business owners downtown, like it is to me, that they add uh incredible value day in day out.

Um I've received tremendous res support from them.

They put on some great marketing uh promotions, and uh we're very thankful for that.

They brought a lot of customers in the door, as they have for all the businesses downtown through their marketing events.

So with that, uh I I thank you all for your service and your dedication to this town.

It's a great place to uh live.

Um my family, we bought a house uh after buying the building and starting the business.

We bought a house in Gifford Park, and my uh son and his new bride or her uh are gonna be uh moving here also.

It's a great city.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Okay.

Brings us to bids.

The first item is bid number 25 042.

Um, you cannot.

You have to sign up.

Uh the uh first item is bid number 25 042, Hemis Cultural Center Intercom Devices and Accessories.

Move toward the bid to CMIT, CI C MIT Solutions for intercom system devices and the amount of $59,325.

Second.

Been moved and seconded for approval.

Any discussion.

Hearing none, Clerk, please call the roll.

Councilmember Zalfaro?

Yes.

Dixon?

Yes.

Good.

Yes.

Martinez?

Yes.

Ortiz?

Yes.

Powell?

Yes.

Stephen?

Yes.

Thorne?

Yes.

Mayor Captain.

Yes, the motion is approved 90.

Item two is bid number two five-zero four right.

Sound and lighting uh equipment rental for nightmare on Chicago Street.

Mr.

Mayor, I recommend that we award this contract to SoundWorks production in the amount of 59,150.

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, the motion is approved nine zero.

Item three is up polar track conversion kit.

May I move that we award this bid to Rinders in the amount of 29,472?

Second.

Move the second floor approval.

Any discussion.

Mr.

Steph.

Just quickly, I I want to highlight this as another example of our staff being creative and finding ways to get things done with less than a full expense.

In this case, they're replacing a 14-year-old mowing unit with a converted mower.

I'm sorry, a shovel kit with a converted mower.

So instead of going out and get a new unit, they are going to try to make do with a converted mower.

So appreciate that.

Anything else?

Clerk, please call the roll.

Councilmember Zalvaro?

Yes.

Dixon?

Yes.

Good?

Yes.

Martinez?

Yes.

Ortiz?

Yes.

Powell?

Yes.

Stefan?

Yes.

Thorne?

Yes.

Mayor Camp.

Yes, the motion is approved 9-0.

Brings us to other business.

First item is consideration of petition 19-25 for 1,001 North Randall Road.

Conditional use to establish a parking established parking for a motor vehicle dealer not located on the subject property.

Mr.

Mulat.

Thank you, Mr.

Mayor.

This property is located along the east side of Randall Road, just north of Royal Boulevard.

Here is Randall, and this is Royal Boulevard.

This is Carmena's Mexican Restaurant, Starbucks, Elgin Fire Station No.

Three, Home Depot, and Harvest Bible.

Brilliant Subaru requests approval to use a portion of the Rousseau Power Equipment Parking lot at 1001 North Randall Road for overflow parking.

Brilliant Subaru is located approximately one mile north of Rousseau at 1500 North Randall Road.

The dealership was completed in 2014 with just over 300 parking spaces.

Brilliance proposes to use 74 parking spaces on an as-needed basis for extra inventory.

The Rousseau property includes 531 parking spaces after the recent completion of Starbucks, conveniently 74 more parking spaces than the amount required by the zoning ordinance.

The proposal will not have any negative effect on the availability of parking for Rousseau, as the parking lot is vastly underutilized.

The Rousseau property actually has many more than 74 parking spaces available at any one time because Rousseau caters primarily to contractors, not the general public.

And Brilliance's uses of the parking lot will fluctuate with its inventory and most often be less than 74 vehicles.

The applicant is available should you have any questions.

Staff in the planning and zoning commission recommend approval subject to the conditions outlined within your packet.

Move for approval section.

Second.

It's been moved to second for approval, subject to conditions.

Any discussion?

Mr.

Thor.

Thank you.

Mark, uh, well, I I wouldn't see any issue with this because that parking lot's generally wide open.

But uh who's to say how long Russo is going to be there and if a different retailer moved in, what would be the issue if that would happen and then they needed the parking?

Well, they have regular they have the amount required by code.

So that's not a regulatory issue.

And if the demand proved to be more than what was necessary, there is an exit agreement in the lease agreement with Subaru.

Got it.

Thank you.

Sure.

Mr.

Ortiz.

I was over there probably two weekends ago because the Illinois VA opened up a uh facility right there in the outlet where Kinkos used to be.

Yes, sir.

The cars already parked there.

So are they under some kind of like a temporary permit to park their cars there already?

Or how's that working?

We're working through the approval process to get them to into compliance.

Okay, so they were parking there before.

Yes, sir.

Uh hopefully slap their wrists for doing something like that.

All right.

And then yeah, my other question was about what Mr.

Thorne said that if Russes goes away, would the new tenant be able to kick them out if they wanted their space back?

But you answered that.

Yes, sir.

All right, thank you.

Anything else?

Mr.

Steph.

Just one more.

Um, as a Kwanis member that has their barbecue in that exact space.

I was right there on August 16th through the storms and saw this first hand.

But I think it's important to state, because I I know somebody asked it uh in the planning and zoning commission meeting.

This is just storage, it's not a showroom.

They're not going to be showing cars, they're just storing there and they'll move them over to Brilliance when they're for sale, correct?

Absolutely.

Okay, that's no cut no customers will come to this.

Correct.

No customers come to this property.

It's actually actually in our humble opinion, an excellent use of of an underlying utilized space because uh Subaru needs this.

We're glad Subaru needs this space, and uh otherwise they would be looking at paving other areas just for the the benefit of this parking.

So great opportunity to double use the space.

Thank you.

Okay, anything else?

Mr.

Dixon.

Yeah, I just want to take a moment to to thank Subaru for doing business here in this community and expanding it.

So I think that's a you know, it's a wonderful thing uh that's happening.

And so if you need more space, you know, give this man a call.

All right, whatever we can do to accommodate you.

All right, thank you.

Okay, 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, the motion is approved 9-0.

Uh brings us item two is consideration of petition 21-25.

633 East Chicago Street.

Conditional use to establish a physical fitness facility within the existing one-story commercial building.

Mr.

Millot.

Thank you, Mr.

Mayor.

This property is located at the southwest corner of East Chicago Street and Preston Avenue.

Chicago Street is here, and this is Preston.

This is a multi-tenant commercial building that houses an insurance company and a beauty salon.

This is Midwest IT Pros.

And the remainder of the 600 block of East Chicago is mostly a mix of residences and offices and buildings that were once used residential.

Radical Wrestling and Boxing Gym requests approval to offer wrestling and boxing training sessions at the existing building at 633 East Chicago Street.

The training sessions, or camps as they refer to them, would be for persons of various ages who are also members of USA Wrestling and the USA Boxing Associations, the national governing bodies for the sports of wrestling and boxing, respectively.

The applicant, Gerardo Pinna.

Forgive me if I was that close?

Thank you.

You're very kind.

Would limit training to one session at a time with no more than 25 persons from 3 p.m.

to 8 p.m.

Monday through Friday during the U 46 school year.

From 8 a.m.

to 8 p.m.

Monday through Friday during the summer months, and 8 a.m.

to 2 p.m.

on all Saturdays.

Sessions would be staggered an hour apart to allow plenty of time between persons coming and going and to provide his neighbors with certainty.

Mr.

Pinyon has agreed to incorporate these operational parameters in his conditional use if approved, of course.

Mr.

Pinya would serve as the club's sole owner and operator.

He is a wrestling coach at Larkin High School and also teaches honors Spanish and Latinx.

Mr.

Pinya is a former wrestling state qualifier, junior Olympian, and USA amateur boxing state champion.

The 2400 square foot building offers an open floor plan well suited for exercise and physical fitness training.

The interior would be set up mostly with training mats for wrestling and boxing bags.

Facility would not have a boxing ring, and no tournaments or competitions would be held on site.

The applicant is proposing minor interior renovations to accommodate code required ADA accessible restrooms.

Mr.

Pinion would install a sidewalk to connect the building to the public sidewalk and remove excess asphalt and replace it with new landscaping.

Mr.

Pinya and the building owner are available should you have any questions.

Staff in the planning and zoning commission recommend approval, subject conditions outlined within your package.

Move for approval or subject conditions.

It's been moved to second for approval, subject to conditions.

Any questions?

Mr.

Ortiz.

Appreciate your opening up this business has been, I think, vacant since the barber shop was there.

If not, maybe a finished furniture stores there afterwards.

And uh was it the Zumba?

Um Miss Martins has Zumba studio at one point.

Uh well, caught my attention that you're a larkin teacher, so I'm gonna approve it just for that.

That's my royals over there.

I appreciate you doing business with us, thank you.

Miss Alfaro.

Uh similar, thank you for doing business here and also working here and living nearby.

I do have a question and in reading in the paperwork, there were concerns from neighbors that live on that street, and I'm forgetting the name of present.

Thank you.

Sure.

Um, that some people block the driveways.

So is there a way in in the promotion of like their 16 parking spots and the vet that someone does parking, we please remind um parents and and older children that go there that can drive the teenagers not to block driveways, right?

Um just to be like a good neighbor to help with that.

Okay, anything else?

Ms.

Martinez.

Yes, at the planning and zoning meeting, um the parking was extensively talked about, right?

Yes, ma'am.

And um the neighbors were there.

Yes, ma'am.

And they talked about problems that they had before.

But I attest to the fact that Mr.

Binha was talking of he understands and that uh he was more welcoming because they are different um businesses, what they had then and what is happening now.

And I think by the end of the meeting, it seems like they were friends, you know.

So uh I think that I'm glad that that was um talked about and uh he is um considerate of what the issues are and to me it sounded like he was honest and that he would um be um conscientious of problems that they had.

He would be able to do that.

And if I may, he he agreed to incorporate those operational parameters into his conditional use as a show of certainty for his neighbors.

Exactly.

Thank you.

Anything else?

Mr.

Spence.

Just just uh a question for staff uh after I say thank you for coming and and moving a business into uh former 7 Eleven, I think is what it was way back when it was built, yeah.

Yeah, because of all the talk about parking, um if there is a problem on Preston or the houses behind there, there is a process.

I think it's the neighborhood parking and transportation committee that's okay that can engage and explore creative solutions to those.

So there is a way if something goes south with the parking, um, which it all indications are that shouldn't happen, but there are there is a way to deal with it through this.

Okay, thank you.

Okay, anything else?

Mr.

Dixon.

Uh uh thank you, Mark, for the uh for working with the applicant, appreciate you as always, and thank you to the appe to the applicant for um uh for coming forward and doing such a wonderful business now.

I don't I don't know exactly what the radical is about, but I'm really intrigued.

Um and uh I'm happy to see that you will uh will be catering towards the uh the youth in a community.

Um and if you already don't have this plan as a girl dad, I would just put it out there.

You know, I don't see any uh you two as well.

Okay, that's wonderful.

So we're we're here with this.

But um, I don't I don't see any um uh youth uh or uh uh programs for for girls when it comes to boxing, wrestling um that may not be in high school, that is.

Anything else please call the roll council members alfarro?

Yes, Dixon?

Yes, good, yes, Martinez, yes, or T's Powell, yes, Stefan?

Yes Thorne?

Yes, Mayor Captain.

Yes, the motion is approved nine zero bring us item three is a resolution authorizing execution of a purchase of services agreement with the downtown neighborhood association of Elgin for economic development services.

Move for approval, second been moved and second for approval.

Mr.

Thorne, Mr.

Mayor, I uh I moved to postpone this uh item for till the next council meeting a second it moved and seconded a postpone this item to the next council meeting.

Mr.

Thorne, do you have a uh reason why you'd like to do that?

Well, you know, this came up just a little bit ago when Diane Deanna was talking making decisions on the fly up here, and there was so much done, so much homework, and I commend her on that.

And she worked with all of us individually, one-on-one.

And uh through the hard work of the city staff, they came up with a contract of which the majority of the council agreed upon.

Then Mr.

Stefan made an amendment, and I have to say that uh through his wording, um I misinterpreted, and I thought the only change was three years.

That to me that's what it sounded like.

Once I saw it on paper, I realized that was not the situation.

Hence, I'd like to amend to uh add the EVCB and the chamber to be members of the board.

Uh I had an issue as well, and I'd uh I think that you know, as part of the SSA, I think it's an oversight on our part not to establish uh milestones for them to achieve that.

We get extended out three years uh so they could get it done, and I think it's appropriate that are there some milestones there so that we can gauge all the pro the progress of the uh um of the of the discussion goes in the process.

So we have a motion and a second.

Any other discussion?

Motion is to postpone until for two weeks.

Ms.

Powell.

And that's what I was just trying to get some clarification on because I know you said you wanted to postpone it.

So are we looking to but then you also said you wanted to modify it?

So are we voting on the modifications tonight or are we postponing it?

It's post uh is postponing the motion on the floor is a motion to postpone to a definite time the next meeting I I guess the motion is postponed to postpone, and the purpose of postponing would be to amend the uh the the PSA.

Is that what the purpose of?

I'm just want to make sure I'm understanding the purpose.

That would be the purpose.

Okay, and so is that the only amendment that you're looking to make to the BSA?

Correct.

So would it be appropriate instead of postponing it that if we voted on making that amendment tonight?

I'm fine with postponing it at this time.

Okay, okay.

We have a motion, Mr.

Dixon.

Yeah, uh just clarification um to as well.

I heard the I think I missed maybe one part of it.

I just want to be clear.

I heard the uh adding uh spots on the board.

What was the second thing that you said, Mr.

Thorne?

The chamber and the EVCB.

Well, okay, it was only one thing.

Okay, it wasn't two things, it was just the the two board positions.

Okay.

What that was in the original contract that Deanna had referenced to us.

Okay, but you're okay with the three-year.

I'm just getting clarification.

I'm not holding you too.

I'm just want to make sure I'm understanding.

It's a challenge for me, but yeah, I'm not changing that.

Okay.

Gotcha.

That's all.

Okay.

Ms.

Alfaro.

I just want to disclose to the community that unfortunately I have a conflict of interest due to where I am employed.

So I will not be able to vote on this, sadly.

Yes.

You can vote on you.

Um, neither.

So I'm just I'm just letting the community know it's full of transparency.

Yep.

Okay.

We have a motion and uh a second.

Any further discussion?

Postponer for uh till the next council meeting.

Clerk, please call the roll.

Council members alfaro abstain.

Dixon?

No.

Good?

Yes.

Martinez?

Yes.

Ortiz?

Yes.

Powell?

No.

Stefan?

No.

Thorne?

Yes.

Mayor Captain.

Yes.

The motion's approved 5-3 with one abstention.

Brings us to number four is a resolution authorizing the execution of a purchase of service agreement with one collective NFP and the uh business nonprofit development center at first.

Doing business as first united Methodist Church for temporary overnight shelter services.

Move for approval.

Second.

It's been moved and second for approval.

Any discussion.

Um, Mr.

Steph.

Yeah, I hand up.

I see corporate counsel Chris Beck getting nervous over there.

I think the desire is to have us move to approve this subject to some last minute amendments that were requested.

Okay.

Yeah.

So you were go ahead.

You got it?

Yeah, I think I had a bookmarked, but uh that's too much three.

So on pay on the first page of the contract, I'm gonna scroll through here real quick.

Sorry, John it says $1,500 and uh from corporation council's email if it can amend it to a thousand, correct during certain dates.

There's uh three changes that we had discussed um that we're gonna propose to be made to the uh the agreement that was originally in the city council packet.

The first amendment would be to amend paragraph two of the agreement that would revise the operate hours of operation for the overnight shelter so that the hours of operation during the regular operating period would be from 8 p.m.

to 7 a.m.

rather than 7 p.m.

to 7 a.m.

The second amendment would be that uh sentence would be added to that same paragraph 2.

The added language would permit the overnight shelter to open an hour earlier at 7 p.m.

or an hour later at 9 p.m.

And then the third amendment also to paragraph two would provide that in the event the shelter is open on an emergency basis from the periods of December 1st through December 15th and March 15th through March 31st, the rate would be changed from uh 1500 per night to 1,000 dollars per night.

So if those are acceptable, you could make that what I just stated that's the notes, Mr.

Stephan handed over.

All right, yeah, I'll make that second.

All right, whatever whatever corporate commission is saying.

Okay, it's been moved and seconded for approval with uh uh the uh amendments uh stated by Mr.

Beck.

Any further discussion hearing none, court please call the roll.

Council members Alfaro abstain Dixon?

Yes, good, yes, Martinez?

Yes, Ortiz?

Yes, Powell?

Yes, Stefan?

Yes, Thorne?

Yes, Mayor Captain.

Yes, the motion is approved eight zero with one abstention.

Consent agenda.

Mayor Mr.

Dixon.

Yes, I would like to pull item number six uh off of the consent agenda, please.

Okay, Mr.

Dixon's asked to have item six removed from the uh consent agenda.

Court, please call the rule.

Uh motion to approve items.

Everything except item six.

Second it's been moved a second to approve every item but item six.

Clerk please call the rule.

Council members alfarro.

Yes, Dixon?

Yes.

Good, yes.

Martinez?

Yes.

Ortiz?

Yes.

Powell?

Yes.

Stefan?

Yes.

Thorn?

Yes.

Mayor Captain.

Yes, the motion's approved 9-0.

To approve all uh items one, two, three, four, five, and seven.

Now back to item six.

Mr.

Mr.

Dixon.

Yeah, I I pulled item six off of I'm sorry, we need a we should have a motion.

We should have a motion to approve item six before we discuss it.

Motion to up yep.

So we can just I'll I'll move we approve item six.

Move to approve.

Wait.

I'm sorry.

It's been removed, and now we have to we have to get the motion on the table in order to have the discussion.

Oh gotcha.

Okay.

It's been moved and seconded.

Clerk please call a rule.

Oh discussion.

Okay.

Now we have the now.

Now there's discussion.

Okay.

All right.

I can go.

All right.

I I just pulled item six off of the uh off of the agenda.

Um when we took this vote, it was my intent to vote no, and I I did vote no, but I I there was some confusion.

Um so it was actually recorded as as though I did vote in favor of um uh implementing the grocery tax um upon its uh expiration and so I just want to pull that off of the agenda uh because the the vote wasn't you know uh recorded to the way that I uh actually voted and uh and so that's that's it.

So we can take a revote and I'll I'll vote how I how would like so we have a motion for please call a roll councilmember Zalfaro sorry yes Dixon no good yes Martinez yes Ortiz Yes Powell yes Stefan Yes Thorne Yes Mayor Captain Yes Motion's approved date one okay uh miscellaneous business move for approval second then move the second for approval any discussion hearing none clerk please call a roll councilmember Zalparo yes Dixon yes good yes Martinez yes Ortiz yes Powell yes Stefan yes Thorne yes Mayor Campton yes the motion's approved nine zero the next committee of the whole meeting will be Wednesday September 24th 2025 at 6 p.m in the city council chambers the next regular meeting of the Elgin City Council will be Wednesday September 24th 2025 at 7 p.m in the council chambers I'd entertain a motion to adjourn so moved second moved and second to adjourn 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 we are adjourned