Good evening.

Welcome to the City of Joliet pre-council meeting for Monday, October 6th, 2025, at 5 30 in City Hall, Council Chambers with the Honorable Mayor Terry Darcy Presiding.

We'll begin with roll call.

Mayor Darcy.

Councilman Cardinals.

Here.

Councilman Clement?

Here.

Councilman Hug.

Here.

Councilman Navarro?

Here.

Councilman Moreno?

Here.

Councilman Mudron.

Here.

Councilman Quomen.

Here.

Councilman Rurdin.

Here.

First, we have a presentation.

Economic development updates presented by Paulina Martinez, economic development director.

All right.

Good evening, members of the council.

Mayor, my name is Paulina Martinez, economic development director.

I also have my colleague Emily McGuire here with me, who's also part of the team.

Today we'll be talking about some internal indicators as well as some external indicators to kind of gauge how the situation is going in Joliet.

Okay, hold on.

Good evening.

To begin, I'd like to share a few of the economic development divisions key performance indicators.

Currently, we have 30 active internal projects in our pipeline.

These include notable efforts such as the redevelopment of key properties in downtown Joliet and the leasing of the former migraine space at Union Station.

In addition, we are actively collaborating with the Will County Center for Economic Development on 20 separate projects.

Of those, 15 are focused on ag tech or trucking, distribution, and logistics.

Our team has been focused on several new initiatives and special projects.

In June, Joliet proudly hosted the IHSA Boys State Tournament with a total of 7,773 tickets sold throughout the weekend, bringing both visibility and economic activity to the community.

This program offers significant incentives for redevelopment, and we anticipate bringing the final application to City Council within the next month.

Lastly, and perhaps most importantly, our team has conducted 129 business visits so far this year.

These visits are a core part of our strategy to better understand the needs of our local business community, ensuring they have the support to remain and grow right here in Joliet.

Yeah, so um some of the impact that some of these business visits have is really creating trust in the community and having them uh feel confident enough to come to us uh whenever they have issues.

One example was that in one of our visits, um we had a series of um businesses complain about a strong chemical odor within their plaza.

So we um worked closely with the building department as well as neighborhood services to address this issue.

So small things like that really create um some trust in in staff in in the city, it creates that uh good work in relationship with the community.

And another one of the initiatives that we're working it with is with the Heritage Corridor on tourism.

So one of these initiatives is the story of art in America.

This is a series uh that goes around the country featuring artists in different communities.

For 2026, they'll be on their fourth season, and they will be featuring communities around Route 66.

Joliet will have its own episode.

We will be the first community that will be featured in the series, and we were gonna be the only community in Illinois who's gonna be featured.

Um five artists will have their work featured in this uh episode, who include Beverly Wines, Angelica Aguilar, Ushmar Torres, Marietta Joliet, uh, as well as Donna Frank Frank Stately.

Other key performance indicators include business licenses, vacancy rate, and unemployment rate.

As you can see so far, we have 65 new business licenses.

We're also keep trying to keep track of the businesses that have closed so far.

Those are a little harder to track because they don't report to the city when they close, but we do our best to be out in the community and reading the news to see what has been reported.

So in total, we calculate that we have 53 new net businesses in Joliet.

We have an overall 12 vacancy rate in Joliet, and I will go into this a little more in later slides.

But overall, our retail and office vacancy rates, as you can see, is pretty healthy in the lower 3%.

And unemployment rate is 4.9%, which is actually one of the lowest unemployment rates that we've seen in a while.

So those are good news.

This is just an illustration of business licenses that we've had so far this year.

The graph on the right and the left, I'm sorry, is just year-to-date uh business licenses for previous years from 2021 until 2025.

2025 is also of August 31st, 2025.

And on the right, you just have like a different display of the same information broken down by month.

Unemployment rate, um, like I said, um, it's actually actually low, which is a good thing.

A year ago, um it was one 1.5% higher, so that's a pretty big um pretty big jump down, uh, which is a positive thing.

Um usually Joliet has a unemployment rate of around 6-7%, so to go down to under 5% is a huge one for us.

Um, and we're pretty comparable to the rest of the region, as you can see here.

All right, so for vacancy rates, really what is really driving our overall vacancy rate is the industrial vacancy rate.

And you might ask why do we have a 14% vacancy rate?

Uh my answer to you would be because we continue to have very healthy activity on construction projects for industrial space.

In the last year alone, we added one million square feet of new industrial space.

But as you can see, our office space and our retail space, the vacancy is very low, which is very healthy.

And compared to our peer communities like Aurora, Plainfield, and Naperville, who have, for example, Plainfield has an office vacancy rate of 13.5.

Um, we're doing very well.

Aurora has a vacancy rate for their office of 4.8.

So we are in good track uh in terms of our vacancy rates, not only for the city overall, but also for um for uh commercial corridors.

Uh those are I would say pretty pretty decent uh vacancy rates.

Uh building permits, um this is the last five years as of August of that year, so August 2021, August 2022, 2022, I'm sorry, 23, 24, 25.

Um I would say we are on par with the year 2022, um, and we're hoping that uh we'll meet the same metrics as of that year.

Construction valuation, this is like the total investment that we're having in our construction projects.

Um, as you can see, 2025 is doing very well with 441 million dollars worth of construction valuation, which is 29% higher than the previous month of July, and um overall um 38% more than uh August of last year.

This is just a breakdown of the construction valuation and square footage broken down by industrial and commercial space.

Um as you can see, the valuation is higher for both commercial and industrial space as compared to last year at the same time.

And um, like I said, industrial square footage that was added is 1.1 million.

So there's still confidence in our market that that space will be filled.

And over here, I just wanted to give you an overview of the um our job market, if you will.

Um, this are Will County numbers.

Um we have not been able to find any databases that give us Joliet numbers, uh, but uh given the fact that we are the largest community in Will County.

This gives you a pretty good picture of what is going on.

Uh one of the most sought-out um occupations so far is registered nurses uh overall in the month of August, there were 740 unique postings for those jobs, and they were um usually up for about 22 days.

There were seven hundred seven hundred and forty unique postings for those jobs, and they were um usually up for about twenty-two days.

In comparison last year, uh it was taking them like closer to 30 days to fill those vacancies.

Um organizations that are doing the most hiring right now are Soline Health, JR RJW Logistics, Walmart and July Junior College, who all have presence in Juliet.

And we'll pass it on to Emily.

The City of Juliette is proud to have welcomed numerous new businesses to our community, celebrating their openings with ribbon cuttings.

As shown on the slide, we have welcomed new businesses such as Frida Coupe, the new Hollywood Casino, and TO's Donuts, among many other exciting new additions.

The economic development division works closely with the Joliet Chamber of Commerce to assist businesses in preparing for their grant openings, helping to coordinate the ribbon cuttings, and plan any other items in advance.

I also wanted to give you an update on world automotive.

Um we brought this item last year because we uh signed the share sales tax agreement with them.

Part of their agreement was that they were going to do facade improvements, as you can see in the picture, and if you've uh driven by Jefferson lately, it looks a lot better than it looked before.

They did a great job.

Also, they committed to hiring 23 people over the next three years.

25% of the workforce is supposed to be from Joliet, so Joliet residents.

Um what that translates to is 5.75 of those 23 employees have to be Joliet residents as of today a year ago.

Um sorry, a year after, not a year ago.

Um, four of those employees so far are already Joliet residents, right?

So they're pretty close to meeting uh the numbers that we requested from them.

And that is what we have for you.

Do you have any questions?

Yeah.

Oh, go ahead.

Um, you feature the ribbon cutting for a Hollywood casino in your presentation.

That's something that took from uh concept to took ribbon cutting for four and a half, five years.

What do we have on the table right now to expect to be built in the next two, three, four, or five years?

In terms of that maximum.

A new business.

In terms of new business or development, yes.

Um there's a lot of mainly industrial stuff.

Um some of the items are a little more sensitive in nature, and I'd be happy to sit down with you and go over the project tracker with you.

Uh, but most of them are industrial at this point.

Okay.

Thank you.

Anything else?

Thanks.

Next is citizens to be heard on agenda items.

So this is anybody who would like to speak on an agenda item.

I will go ahead and read the rules of procedure if anybody wants to speak right now.

Okay.

Looks like seeing none, so we'll just go ahead and move on.

Next, we will have the city manager review tomorrow night's actionable items.

Okay, so we'll hear from communication technology and information systems tomorrow, public safety and public service.

Uh consent agenda council memo 528-25, approval purchase of one new caterpillar full size and loader from Altrafer Industries in the amount of 240,342 and twelve cents.

Council Memo 52925, approval purchase of one new caterpillar for 2007 XE backhoe from Altrafer Industries in the amount of 170,006.

Council Memo 53025 approval of payment for the coast share balance for the cost share balance of the design agreement for the construction of downtown plug control levy to the Department of Army in the amount of 105,000.

Council Memo 53125, approval of change order number one for Ottawa Street Parking Deck Parking Access and Revenue Control System to Flash Parking Inc.

and the amount of $74,138.

Council Memo 53225, change order number two for the 2025 pavement marking program to superior road striping in the amount of $18,525.14 cents and payment requests number five and final in the amount of $64,098.20 cents.

Council Memo 53325, approval of change order number two for the 2023 Sanitary Sewer Cleaning and Inspection Program on behalf of National Power Rotting Corp for deduction in the amount of $20,000 and 33 cents.

And final final payment number nine in the amount of $58,942.44 cents.

Council Memo $53425, approval of change order number two for the Fairmont Water and Sewer Extension on behalf of Steve Space Construction for deduction in the amount of $162,631.66 and final payment number five in the amount of $175,316.

Council Memo $53525 approval.

Change order number two for the combined sewer overflow long-term control plan phase four, east side and west side combined sewer overflow regulators on behalf of deconstruction for a deduction in the amount of $488,698.15 cents.

And file final payment number seven in the amount of $847,079 and 32 cents.

Council Memo 53625 purchase and installation of flooring for the Joliet Police Department from the flooring guys in the amount of 199,170.

Council Memo 53725.

Yeah, sorry.

No, that's right.

I didn't get in there quick time.

Um I just wanted to clarify on the police department.

That's the entire building from top to bottom all throughout.

It's 20-year-old stuff.

I wanted the public and all that.

I didn't want to think that we're putting in somebody's living room for $199,000.

Right, right, yeah.

That's the entire building.

That's whether it's carpeted, whether it's tiled, we're getting it all, and it's all 20 plus years off.

Yes.

Okay.

Thank you.

You're welcome.

Council Memo 53725, award of contract to evolve software for Project Docs, SAS renewal in the amount of $41,400.

Council Memo 53825, award of contract to Heartland Business Systems for the 2025-2026 document scanning services and the amount of $100,000.

Council Memo 53925, award of contract to Heartland Business Systems for the Implation of Cisco Identity Services Engine and three years of ISE subscription and support in the amount of $165,341.57.

Mayor, I want to declare what I was before our committee today.

That has to do with internal only with access to our our our computers and databases.

It has nothing that I don't I can see getting calls.

Correct.

Thank you.

Mm-hmm.

Council Memo 540 25, award of contracts to Verda GIS North America for GIS Studio Enterprise Edition for a three-year ELA agreement in the amount of $109,440.

Council Memo 54125, award of contract to RTA for the purchase of Fleet 360 Fleet Management Software and Implementation Services in the amount of $75,776.72.

We'll move on to agenda items.

This was pulled out of consent because it's Australi Austin Tyler matter that the President Pro Temp will need to recuse himself from tomorrow.

So that's Council Memo 54325.

Approval of change order number one for the Rosland Street Culvert Replacement Project to Austin Tyler Construction in the amount of twelve thousand six hundred and fourteen dollars and payment request number two in the amount of $176,377.

Licenses and permit applications.

We have Council Memo 54525 approval of an application for a drive-thru permit for a Duncan restaurant at $107 South Briggs Street.

Can I stop can I say something there?

I'm extremely happy to hear this, and I want to give a shout out to the economic development team as well as neighborhood services, Ingalls Park Neighborhood and District 5 has really really impressed upon me.

So I impressed it upon staff that this was a white building, this was an eyesore, they were shooting out the windows, they were trying to get in.

Um the convenience store that left actually left with all the meat inside.

So I am so happy for the residents in Ingalls Park to know that this is coming down, and this is going to be a dunk of donuts.

Anything at this point would be welcome, especially coffee.

So thank you to everybody who worked on this because they had been really requesting for a while that something was done there.

So thank you.

Mayor.

This would be a good opportunity.

We did it in the committee level too.

If Greg, you know, just say a couple of words like you did, Greg.

Um it's not directly related, but it's similar.

We have seven brew.

Yeah.

And uh, you know, the seven brews so people knew last week there was a lot of freebies.

Free coffee, free t-shirts, free this, free that.

Greg, you you and Councilwoman Redman was by there once today, right?

Greg, you were by there twice today.

How did it look?

Uh I was by there once, but I've talked to other staff staff members who were by there as well, and there was a lot of things.

I went by today too.

We're all watching it.

No, no backups today.

So hopefully it was uh their successful business, but it's we don't have these problems.

I think it was probably excitement of a new business as well as the giveaways that was uh creating that problem last week.

And you've already talked to the to the ownership too.

Should it become a problem that needs to be addressed by rewriting that would be something they would have to pay since we're creating the problem?

Yeah, we've opened that discussion with them.

We'll continue to monitor that location and make sure that um hopefully we don't have that problem going forward.

I hope so too.

Thank you.

Okay, moving on to ordinances.

Um Council Memo 54725 ordinances associated with the city's edge south subdivision.

Um ordinance approving the vacation of a five feet, the five-foot landscape easements and 15-foot public utility and draisment each drainage easements on lot three, four, and five in the city's edge subdivision and ordinance approving the preliminary plat of cities edge sub South Subdivision, a minor subdivision, and ordinance approving the recording plat of Cities Edge South Subdivision Minor Subdivision.

So the subject site is three existing undeveloped lots in cities edge subdivision, and this re-subdivision will create two slightly larger lots from the three lots.

Um it's zone B3 and currently contains two multi-tenant commercial buildings for contractor shops and similar uses.

So industrial use for this one and the second one, Council Memo 54825, ordinances associated with ketone business center unit four subdivision.

We have an ordinance approving the preliminary plat of Keetone Business Center, Unit 4 subdivision, and ordinance approving the recording plat.

Um the subject lotted as existing 27-acre lot in Keetone subdivision at 3350 Shanahan Road.

And this subdivision will create two lots from the existing lot.

One for the current building and use, and a second for an additional user who could then construct their own building.

Moving on to resolutions.

Council Memo 55025, resolution appropriating supplemental motor fuel tax funds for the 2025 pavement marking program.

This is um housekeeping for the item that we spoke of earlier in in the agenda in the consent agenda.

This is just so we can um appropriate the MFT funds.

Council Memo 55125, resolution declaring property of the City of Joliet as surplus.

So this comes from Tri-County County Auto Theft Task Force, and these are vehicles that they have used um in the past and are getting new ones.

Council Memo 55225 resolution authorizing the execution of a memorandum of understanding between the City of Juliet and Grundy County Emergency Telephone System Board.

So the purpose of this memorandum of understanding is to ensure clear and secure shared talk groups across several jurisdictions.

Council memo 55325 resolution authorizing CDBG funding for the 2025-2026 residential snow removal program and an amount not to exceed 44,000 dollars.

Beth.

Yes.

I had a couple people inquire.

I'm assuming the answer is yes.

It went out to bid, right?

People bid on this project.

That's correct.

I think we have uh multiple.

So Jackie is here.

Jackie, do you want to answer the questions?

Hi, good evening.

So the reason why this is going on tonight's or tomorrow's agenda, uh, although it has already been approved as an activity uh by both city council and HUD is because it is going out to bid.

Uh so that bid we are hoping will be prepared to uh be released by the end of the week.

Yeah, I'm in full support of this program, so it is going out to bid after the okay, got it.

Thank you.

Of course.

Thank you.

Ask a question to Jackie.

Um has the um registration begun.

The registration for the residents to to sign up to have be part of the program.

Yes.

The registration has both begun and closed.

We received a very overwhelming response to the applications, uh receiving well over 350 in a matter of 30 hours.

That is what I was brought to me as the understanding that it was already completely booked up.

I I just I thought it was a good idea that someone came up with for next year that we might consider um not cutting the application process off at that number and then do a lottery.

So it seems fair to everybody that you don't have to be the first one in.

You don't, you know, they it can be like, oh, who knows who, you know, that's not what we're looking to do.

But uh, I think a lottery might be a good way to do it.

So if we took in the applications, verified that they were qualified to be a part of it.

And then put it into uh a lottery type process.

I'm more than happy to discuss that process and see if we may be going back to that in future years.

The lottery has been done in the past.

Okay, and it was decided through feedback that having over 400 over 500 denials hit harder than cutting it off when we hit maximum capacity.

Um but I'm more than open to discussions on how we can best make this accessible to everyone.

All right, thank you.

Uh Jackie, out of those 300 applicants, how many are covered or how many households are is it like uh 100, 200?

So just to be clear, we received over 350 applications through the application portal.

Uh we also are continuing to honor any confirmed application.

I'm sorry, confirmed appointments that have been created for those that do not have computer or internet access.

Um those 350 submitted applications, we have enough funding to provide these services for 330 households.

Uh we are still in the midst of reviewing each application for eligibility, confirming that each person meets the criteria and are a confirmed resident of Joly Got.

Thank you.

Of course.

Um I did talk to Jackie this week about this.

Uh it's a great program, and we're going to get together and we have some ideas and how we can get some more money for the funding for for next year, so we don't have to turn anyone away and make sure that the people that actually need it are getting it.

So we're just gonna do some brainstorming, see if we can get some more money somewhere.

And Jackie's been doing a great job, so thank you.

Thank you.

It looks to me like if we're running uh 330, if we added 20 more, it's about 2500 more.

I think we could figure out a way to fund that.

So let's talk about that.

I really do I agree.

Yeah.

So we'll take a look at that.

I mean, just breaking it down.

It's 120 dollars per we could probably find it.

The final cost will depend on the bids, but yes.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Any other questions about snow removal?

Okay.

No, I councilwoman addressed exactly what I was gonna say.

Thank you.

I'd like to see it expanded and some people know who you're talking to.

Councilwoman Corman.

There's two of us down here.

Some people find this amazing coming from the fiscal hawk here.

I'd like to see this program expanded if we can find a way to find it because it's always always been cut off.

Yeah.

You know, there's always way more demand, legitimate demand than it so you know.

Let us know what you find out, Councilman.

I mean, are you sure we're gonna need it?

We never get any snow.

So I mean, what should this be the year?

Um Council Memo 55425 resolution authorizing C D BG funding and subrecipient agreement with fighting chance NFP as recipient of CDBG fund administration funds and the amount not to exceed $15,000.

Council Memo 55525, resolution authorizing C D BG funding and subrecipient agreement with the recovery community center of Juliet.

NFP is recipient of CDBG administration funds and the amount not to exceed $15,000.

Um finally, Council Memo 55625 resolution authorizing CDBG funding and sub-recipient agreement with Illinois Rock and Roll Museum on Route 66 NFP as a recipient of C D BG administration funds in an amount not to exceed 25,000 dollars.

Um that concludes the agenda.

Um before public comment, I have some remarks regarding BIPARC.

Beth, can I jump in real quick?

Sure.

Todd, I just have a question.

Um if one up here was to bring a resolution forward, what will be the criteria if I was a sponsor?

Do I need a co-sponsor?

I need three up here to support it to throw it on the agenda or what do we have to do here?

He usually goes through committee first.

Um does not require uh a sponsor, but we could talk later about what that perfect.

Thanks.

Okay, I understand there are maybe some residents here tonight who want to address the council related to bicentennial park and some recent media attention it has received.

We do not comment on personnel matters, and we will not do so tonight.

But there is no truth to rumors that the city intends to sell or privatize bicentennial park.

This park is a valued community institution, and we remain committed to offering cultural and community programming.

Improvements are underway, and our focus is on preserving and enhancing this important asset for the people of Joliet.

Okay, we'll go ahead and continue with public comments.

So this is the time to um I have I know I have some um people signed up here.

I'm going to read the public participation rules of procedure.

Um so speakers should try to address all comments to the council as a whole and not to any member thereof.

Repetitive comments are discouraged.

The total comment time for any one person is four minutes.

A speaker cannot give his or her allotted minutes to another speaker.

No speaker shall engage in a debate or make direct threats or personal attacks or be uncivil or abusive.

The presiding officer may limit irrelevant immaterial or inappropriate comments or statements.

Um go ahead and start with um everyone that has signed up here.

So Michael Obadinski, I have you first.

Good evening, council.

Thank you all for being here tonight.

Um I wanted to say a few words.

I went to the tree committee with Miss Renwick this past um the second, and there was a few things that were brought up.

Few ideas that I thought were very smart.

Um first is adding a tree care section to the Joliet City's website and how to take care of the trees that are existing as well as the new trees that come to the city.

Um another thing I'd like to bring up is I love the ideas of community mulching, community planting, and a community education day for Arbor Day.

I love that Joliet does that.

I love that they do things like that.

Um another thing they brought up was the different plaques for the trees when they do this.

Um I noticed I walked downtown Joliet the other day, and there was the new electric boxes with like the music designs and the little QR code.

An idea that they were thinking was the QR codes with a map of the different trees as well as explaining the different trees.

Highly like that idea.

Um I also wanted to thank all of you.

Um at the last meeting I attended, I did bring some attention things to my old neighborhood.

I did notice that the two district members for that neighborhood, they did clean up my uh the Cumberland subdivision and the different mediums.

I did notice that, and I wanted to thank you guys.

Um about the city's edge subdivision and the landscaping.

I do like that idea, and I highly like that.

Joliet is very on top of businesses, they're very on top of unemployment rates, they're very on top of new development, and I like that they are bringing in new businesses.

Um the sorry.

Sorry.

The residential snow program.

Um, I do like that idea, and I like that Mr.

Mayor Darcy brought up bringing in a few more houses possibly.

Um, where I did used to live, snow was a problem.

Um we were one of the few subdivisions that got plowed last because we were the furthest from downtown.

So something that I would recommend is for those two districts, um, possibly implementing some snow removal for those houses as well.

And the square.

I wanted to congratulate the city on doing that.

Um, I took a walk around by the square and the new square that is coming, and it looks absolutely amazing and the progress that is being made.

And I like that our city is bringing the history of Route 66 to our city.

I love that we are upgrading things ever so slowly, and we are doing these things ever so slowly to better our city.

And I again, this square, Rialto, all of the different buildings, they they are absolutely beautiful.

And I again I want to congratulate everyone for the effort that they are putting into this city because I have gone to many other city meetings, and no other city has put in the effort that you guys have into Joliet when it comes to the roads, when it comes to the the projects, when it comes to the bridges.

You guys are absolutely on top of all of it, and I love that you guys are doing all of these things to better our city.

Um one thing I I did want to state I have heard from many residents that there is a lot of projects at once.

I don't know if in future possibly uh zoning down the projects or working on specific zones instead of all over the city, but that is something that has been brought to concern that I've talked to many other residents about is the projects definitely all over versus just focusing on a specific spot.

Thank you.

Thank you very much.

Appreciate it.

Okay, Kathy Garthis.

Hey, uh I remember last meeting that there was this thing, this phase one of this study for this you know, future bridge you guys, you know, that they want to put over the the railroad tracks over there on Laterway Road, because we know how bad that letterway road track crossing is.

But you know, but I talk to ICC, ICC says they're gonna back Jolyette up and reimburse Joey for the money.

But when I call ICC and talk to them, they told me that I say, where are you gonna get this funding from to pay Joey back for these phases, studies?

They said it's comes out of taxpayers' money.

So, you know, that 200 was 279,000 project of just phase one of doing a study on this thing, and then they're saying that it's gonna be phase two, there's gonna be phase three, and it's gonna be phase four until eventually the bridge is built over the railroad tracks, which every just step of the phases is gonna cost taxpayers more money and everything, and I think you know, though you guys had nothing to do with it, you know, that this stuff should all been put away when Center Point and Union Pacific came to Joey and wanted this project.

We wanted their Union Pacific in a modal because I think you know, because they're the one center point was the one that did design that crossing to be the way it is, with the curves, with the medium thing, the channel all the water rain water right down to the track, and then Union Pacific cannot maintain that track and you know at all.

You know, every time they fix it, as fast as they fix it, the trucks are ruining it again, or trains are ruining it, and you know, but the point is that Center Point Union Pacific got billions of dollars, you know.

The taxpayers don't have the money like these companies got.

So, you know, we just approve if you guys would, you know, I know you want to do the right thing, but you know, we've got to find another way to fund these things, make these businesses that are causing the issues to pay for the damages they're doing.

And another thing is there's talk that I've been seen in the on the internet here about a data center.

You know, we're all talking about data centers going up everywhere, you know, and these data centers are huge.

Now they're talking bringing one to Joliet area.

And these things, like I said, are huge.

They take up huge amount of farmland, you know, and I want you to know that farmers don't always, you know, ain't farmers just selling the land out.

These are landlords some a lot of the times that are selling the land, you know, because farmers do not own all the land that they farm.

They rent, they pay to rent the land the farm.

And then when so when the land is taken away from them, the farmers cannot make their living anymore, it lose and lose money, and they forced to sell out and get out of farming.

No future farmers get to come in because they don't get to you know go out and carry on farming, but you know, we then need to understand we've got to start preserving the farmland.

We can't just think keep thinking every piece of land just developing an industrial because you know what's gonna happen what's gonna happen when there's no more farmland left and farmers can't make their living and nobody gets seed anymore.

I don't think I want to start eating China food.

I don't want to start eating dogs and rats and lizards and snakes that like they eat over there in China.

But this is what's gonna happen if we don't preserve the farmland.

You know, I don't care who's trying to sell it.

We just need to preserve it because we need farmers, you know, this farmers feed the world.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Samantha Bartolo.

Hello.

Thank you for letting me speak.

First, I want to say how proud I am of the police officers and first responders of our community.

They work hard to keep us safe.

They dedicate their time to us.

And so many of us who call Julie at home, we feel safe.

I want to share my concerns about reports of recent ice activity in our city.

Many residents, including longtime community members and families, are feeling afraid and unsure about what's happening in our city, and it's scary.

Contacting local law enforcement.

And I think that's one of the best things about us.

And I just want to make sure that that doesn't go anywhere.

And nobody has to live their life in fear of coming out of their homes.

Thank you.

Thank you.

James Alston.

Good evening, Mayor.

Any council members.

I live in a trivia subdivision.

And uh I'm here to uh address this the councilman about uh our subdivision.

We were annexed into the subdivision into Joliet in 2002.

And uh I was the uh president of the clear view.

And the people, some of them are gone, some of them are still here, but I guess they still consider me to be the president of the association.

But anyhow, the reason I'm here is that uh we started to uh particular you know bring out petitions to uh to the city to get into curbs and gutters in our in our subdivision.

Well that started in two uh 2016.

Most of it was done, but uh in I think uh maybe uh right after the uh COVID thing came in.

Some of it was completed and some of it wasn't.

Uh Helen Avenue was completed all the way out to uh Mills Road.

Now Mo Old Avenue, they started it and they stopped at Charity, and they did not go all the way out to Mills Road, and uh I think the city needs to go ahead and re you know finish this thing because uh it's been over 20 years since uh we've been annexed into this into the city, and uh I've uh had uh experiences with the late Jack McGuire, representative of the state, and also the late Senator Larry Welsh of this of the uh state, and they helped me get grants to do this project here uh to get us into the city, along with uh Will County uh district councilman, late Margie Woods, and I need you all to look at this and continue to finish this for us.

And uh I'm old now I'm tired, but I'm trying to do the best I can with the few residents that we have here.

Uh with them, some of them are gone, the ones that are that I was with, and they helped me out a lot too.

They trusted me.

And I'm asking you to finish what you did, what you should do.

And uh Mr.

Nelson here with me.

He's the one that's complaining a little bit, and I don't blame him.

You know, there's some things that uh should have been done, and they shouldn't be finished.

So I'm hopefully looking at you all will consider doing what you decided you were gonna do 20 years ago.

And I thank you, and uh, thank you very much for letting me speak to someone about this.

I think the help we all need.

Beth, yeah, can somebody look into that?

Because ironically, this situation's always seem to happen in District 5 on the east side, and there are many other areas like that, so I want to see if they're on the docker for something soon, or and then I also want this resident communicated with, please.

Okay.

Uh yeah, I can talk to Mr.

Alson afterwards.

We do have plans to complete those roads in there.

That was originally an unincorporated county subdivision that came into the study.

We've been picking off the streets over the years.

We can't do them all in one year because we have needs elsewhere in the city, but we do have uh that uh additional roads there in our five-year plan.

I think we've completed uh you know guess 75% of the streets are.

We still have a few to go, though.

Okay, thank you.

Okay.

Nicole.

Hello, respected members of the council.

I'm here on behalf of the Billy Lee Mocker Theater, and um, we don't know what the changes are being made.

Um, there's uh a lot of questions we have, and we like a public statement addressing the changes and um the structural changes that have been uh known to us.

Um I just wanted to mention, you know.

I have something here, sorry.

One moment.

Um for decades the park has been more than a venue.

It has been the heart of Joliet's artistic community.

Rumors and lack of clear communication from the city of Joliet suggests a potential shift in the park's mission, one that would prioritize commercial rentals over its historical and vital role as a hub for community theater.

Such a decision would not merely alter our business model, it would sound a death knell for the arts in our city, it would silence the voices of our local artists, deprive our youth of invaluable cultural experiences, and strip Joliet of one of its most cherished community treasures.

We implore you, the City of Joliet to honor the commitment to public service by engaging in a transparent and open dialogue with the community.

We ask for a formal public statement, clarifying your intentions, and for a public forum where the residents can voice their concerns and contribute to the park's future.

We urge you to listen to the community, preserve the bicentennial park's rich artistic tradition and ensure its continued role as the cornerstone of Joliet's cultural life.

Summertime on stage at the Billy Lee Mocker Bicentennial Park and Theater has long been a cornerstone of cultural life in Joliet.

That as well as the Festival of the Gnomes.

Um it was created and nurtured by a dedicated individual whose decades-long contributions to Joliet Cultural Affairs have built an inclusive, welcoming and free environment for artists, family, and art lover lovers of all backgrounds.

This person is not just a founder, she's a heart and backbone of a community arts center, and yet now quietly and inconspicuously, decisions are being made behind closed doors that misrepresent her legacy and jeopardize the future of our community theater.

The very institution she helped build is being politicized with no clear explanation or transparency, transparency from city leadership.

We as a community demand transparency.

We stand in support of a leader who has brought light, life, and opportunity to Joliet's cultural scene for generations.

Um I participated in a children's theater at the Rialto.

We had a traveling community theater group that would come through every spring and we would do a production.

So that helped me learn about acceptance.

Um helped me with my parenting.

I have a daughter who has earned uh awards as uh empathy, um, somebody that displays empathy.

So we're asking for you guys to please participate with us as community members and display your empathy for the legacy of Billy Lee Mocker Theater.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Mary Gannon.

Thank you, Council Mayor.

Several years ago, I led a group of citizens before you who were very concerned about the fate of Bicentennial Park in Bluff Street.

At that time, it was facing a potential takeover by the township who refused to say what they wanted to do with what many consider lucrative riverfront property.

After a successful plea to you to leave the status quo, we were happy, but I never thought we'd be back again, or at least not this soon.

Bluff Street is one of the oldest parts of Joliet, the very birthplace of our city's history.

Two United States presidents are tied to Bluff Street, Abraham Lincoln and Martin Van Buren.

One of the first log cabins was at Bluff in Jefferson Street.

Illinois' second oldest anti-slavery society was here on Bluff Street.

It wasn't in Chicago.

It wasn't in Naperville.

It was right here in Joliet, then known as Juliet.

This history recap leads me to the current state of Bicentennial Park.

Multiple people contacted me about a month ago saying the management at Bipark got the same unjust, shameful treatment that those of us who were at the Joliet Area Historical Museum and at the prison got.

They were treated like garbage and without cause.

Hard working and the most honest people too, naturally.

I have known Lori Novotney Carmine and her family for 41 years.

I went to school with her.

I did plays and musicals with her.

I took acting lessons from her wonderful mom Jan at Bicentennial Park.

You will not find a harder working, more honest, more decent Joliet family than the Novotneys, whether they're distributing communion at mass, teaching, putting on plays, or running a theater.

These are good people, especially Lori.

Since Lori took over Bicentennial Park, I have never seen so many events at that venue ever.

She's had film fests, poetry readings, art, musicals, plays, flea markets, Shakespeare, and the beloved concerts on the Hill, not to mention Festival of Gnomes and Drunken Known.

Lori and her family have been a part of Bicentennial Park since its inception.

They are as much a part of the park as Billy Leemarker ever was, and I knew Billy and Billy would not disagree with me at all.

We citizens will not stand by and let you push Lori out or any of her staffers.

If you need to do some housekeeping, I suggest you perhaps look at some of those foundation members.

I also heard Ramlings at Jolia Drama Guild might take over.

No offense to them.

I enjoy their work, but let them stick to plays and let people who know how to run a business, how to run a theater, in other words, Lori, do her job.

I also heard some out-of-town woman was brought in to run things again, no more out-of-towners.

We are Joliet.

We are not Chicago, we are not Neighbor Vote.

We are blue collar.

We are the city of champions.

We want to stay that way.

Keep Lori where she is.

We won't let her be a fall guy for anyone else's shenanigans.

Nor will we allow the demise of the theater.

By the way, you already had that Doma Unity at the theater.

When you go outside and you see the smiles on senior citizens' faces on Thursday nights for concerts on the Hill.

You're bringing together people of every age, every economic background, racial, religious, everyone coming together.

You had that already.

And you think this theater will be successful without Lori running it?

I think you're in for a rude awakening.

She knows how to do things there.

And I hate to see anyone go through what we went through at the museum in the prison.

We're still feeling that fallout.

Every time I see Christine Johnson or Mike Johnson or Ron Trujillo or Kara or Dan or Rob, the rest of us.

We were treated like garbage, and I'm not going to let anyone else go through what we went through.

Thank you.

Bertina Anderson.

Hi.

My name is Bertina.

I've been part of the Bicentennial Park Theater community since 2018.

Before I found this theater, I was lonely, deeply depressed, and felt my life had no meaning.

I even considered ending my life.

Then in 2018, I joined the Bicentennial Park Theater community, and everything changed.

This community gave me purpose, friendships, and a reason to keep going.

In 2021, believe it or not, I was diagnosed with stage three chronic kidney disease.

And then stagery cancer, all on a solitary kidney.

During that time I experienced a spontaneous pregnancy through the treatments.

Doctors urged for me to abort to save my life, and I said no, because I chose to fight for mine and my daughters.

Today I'm three years cancer-free, and my daughter is three years old, a living miracle.

And I truly believe I wouldn't be here without the support and community I found at Bicentennial Park.

Please, if there is any question about the future of BIPARC's traditions, please let them continue.

It's just, I'm just one story of a life that's been saved.

There are others.

It's a place where people can heal, grow, and find hope just as Billy Leemarker intended.

So we can save more lives if we continue these traditions.

Thank you.

Okay, that's all who I have on the list.

Is there anyone else who would like to speak?

Is there anyone else who would like to speak?

Okay.

Hi, my name is Sadek Pranwala.

Um here on behalf of the Dugan Development on the Corner of Washington and Briggs.

Um I just wanted to bring up a few notes before you guys do uh discuss those items.

I know there's been a lot of um issues with um recent, you know, new developments that that have drive-throughs that back up onto the street.

I just wanted to let you guys know that we did have a traffic study conducted by KLOA.

And um we have about uh 11 car stacked from just the drive-thru, and that doesn't include the front of the building.

With that included, there's about 17 or 18 cars, which is more they can they concluded that's more than ample for that um space due to the traffic of that street, and it should be little to no impact.

I believe they said there would be about a three percent impact um on traffic in that area, and that would mostly be between 7.50 and uh 850 a.m.

in the morning.

Um the other two issues that were brought to my attention were um so our order board, it's not next to a residential uh building, it's actually next to a commercial, it backs up into a commercial space, and the only residential in on that um lot is that's actually owned by us and it's part of our development.

Um so if you guys have any other questions that come up later, please feel free uh for you to reach out to me or my team.

Thank you.

Okay, is there anyone else who would like to address the council this evening?

Okay, seeing none, I did receive a request for closed session.

Is there a motion to go into closed session to discuss personnel, collective bargaining, land acquisition, or conveyance, pending or threatened litigation, after which the meeting will adjourn?

So we'll it's a motion and second and to approve.

Councilman Cardinals.

Councilman Clement.

Councilman Hug?

Aye.

Councilman Abarra.

Aye.

Councilman Moreno, Councilman Mudron.

Aye.

Councilman Quomen.

Aye.

Councilman Verden.

Aye.

Mayor Darcy.

Aye.

Motion carried.