Everybody, this is the City of Joliet Pre-Council meeting here in Council Chambers.

On Monday, May 18th at 5 30.

Colonel.

We'll begin with roll call.

Mayor Darcy.

Here.

Councilman Cardenas.

Councilman Clement.

Councilman Hogg.

Here.

Councilwoman Abarra.

Here.

Councilman Moreno.

Here.

Councilman Mudron.

Councilman Quillman.

Here.

Councilman Ridden.

Here.

First, we have a presentation by IDAT.

Good evening.

At uh council meeting, oh, I don't know, a month or two ago, I think Councilman Clement had requested an update on the I-80 construction from IDOT.

And Councilwoman Reardon did it as well.

I'm sorry.

Several council people.

How about that?

So tonight we have Eric Ray from IDA with us.

He's going to go over a brief presentation on the status of the I80 project.

Good evening.

I wanted to give a brief presentation.

It's a big project, but I'll try to boil it down so it's quick.

I want to take everybody's time and go through hours long spells of information.

My name is Eric Ray.

I am the area of construction supervisor for South Cook and Will County at the Illinois Department of Transportation.

Also, along with me is Mr.

Philip Gibson.

He is the senior resident engineer for the I-80 work.

And we would like to just give an overview on the status of the I-80 work to date.

Just a quick agenda.

Again, I'm not going to take a lot of time, but I wanted to give a project overview, giving the construction schedule, the impacts to Joliet, future construction, and also answering any questions that you all might have about the work that we have and what's to come.

But hopefully I can touch on most of that now.

So overall, before you dive into the specifics, just an overview of the project.

This is I-80, Interstate 80, is one of the most important east-west corridors in the country, going right through Will County.

It carries more than 80,000 vehicles per day, and about a quarter of that is freight traffic, heavy trucks.

That is 1.3 billion dollars of construction.

We are delivering.

So the green area to the far left between Ridge Road and River Road, that's pretty much by the DuPage River.

That work is almost complete.

We expect to have that work fully complete by probably in the next two months or so.

But the entire corridor as a whole has to be opened in sync.

So we'll be opening portions of it as we complete the work.

But that section should be done in a couple of months.

Moving slightly to the east, you have the section between River Road and Wheeler Street or Wheeler Avenue.

That section we anticipate having complete by the end of this year.

That would be the stage two of the reconstruction of the I-80 pavement in that area.

Hobo Road, that has been done for a while now.

That's done and fully open.

There is a section between Wheeler Avenue that you see right at the Displains River Bridge or at the Displains River.

Between Wheeler Avenue and the Chicago Street Interchange, pretty much, what we will call Gardner Street.

That area is newly under construction.

We have begun that now.

We anticipate that section wrapping up by the end of 2028.

Moving a little further to the east, still from Gardner Street to Rowell.

That work was completed, but somewhat in between work zones, so it looks like it's still a work zone, but that work is largely complete.

Moving west or east of there from Raoul all the way to Gauger, which is just east of just west of US 30.

That section we anticipate wrapping up with our stage two pavement reconstruction probably in a couple of months, similar to the section on the far west end.

The Brig Street Interchange and the Larkin Street Interchange will also wrap up in the next couple of months.

And that section from Gauger to US 30 is also complete.

Zooming in to the work that has just begun, some of these projects were three contracts here.

You see the red section to the far left, the blue section in the middle, and the other red section on the right.

Although they're three separate contracts, we see them as one work zone.

So we will be moving those contracts through different stages of construction in sync with one another.

So we'll zoom in a little bit closer to the Center Street and Chicago Street interchanges.

But the work has begun, they're underway at Center Street.

They have done a lot of earth work.

They're just getting started on the Displains River Bridge, and the Chicago Street Interchange has been underway for a little while.

They have begun with some traffic staging and some bridge deck demolition in that area.

This is just a picture of the uh river bridge that we are completing.

But to look at our plans, if you would notice the existing bridge is on the south, the bottom portion of the picture, and the new proposed bridge structure is just to the north.

We are building that on an offset alignment.

We will maintain two lanes in each direction on I-80 across the river.

Um as work progresses on the new grid structure, we will begin switching lanes onto that new structure.

We expect for this section of the roadway to be completed by the end of 2028.

And there are some well, that's this spring, so yes, we've already begun that.

I probably need to update this slide.

The Center Street Interchange, uh, that work is underway.

Um, the existing interchange does not allow access from northbound center street to westbound I-80, and it does not allow access from eastbound I-80 to southbound center street.

Uh, in the proposed configuration, you will have full access from all directions to go from anywhere to everywhere within the interchange.

This is a similar look at the Chicago Street interchange.

Um big takeaway here is that in the existing interchange, you have full access in the new proposed configuration, you will still have full access to all of the different uh movements from Chicago Street and to I-80, whether it's eastbound or westbound I-80 or northbound, southbound Chicago Street.

Um, so this is the home stretch.

Uh this portion of the work that we have just begun over the displays river bridge is probably one of the most complex portions of the entire 16-mile project.

Um, again, the three contracts will be moving in sync with one another so that we can uh try to expedite the work as much as possible.

We have deliberately resween resequenced all of this work to get it complete as quickly as possible.

Um we understand that it is a big inconvenience, and we would rather have a big inconvenience for a small period of time rather than a big inconvenience for a long period of time.

Um that is pretty much all that I have as far as an overview of what is going on with the I-80 work.

Um we are working closely with the City of Joliet.

Uh we appreciate a lot of the help that we've gotten from the City of Joliet uh from public works.

Um we are also working with uh the other municipalities, Rockdale, Will County, and other folks involved, um, as well as keeping in touch with the uh emergency responders and other agencies that have a stake in the project overall.

Um, and we do have a project hotline, we have a website, we have social media access, and we share uh our press releases with the city of Joliet in advance of upcoming stage changes.

Um work that will be coming up uh will be more closures at the Chicago Street Interchange.

Those are planned to go after uh July 4th, the July 4th holiday, because we do have the NASCAR event and the holidays, so we are going to get other work done first before we go into stage and uh further uh affect the flow of traffic through the Chicago Street Interchange.

Um that work, those ramp closures will come in conjunction with detours, and we will let everyone know in advance.

There'll be posted detours uh using mainly Larkin to the west and uh Brig Street to the east.

Um, those interchanges will be complete by the time we go into stages that require those interchanges as detours.

Um that is pretty much all that I have.

Did you all have any questions for me?

Thank you very much for coming by the way.

We do get a lot of questions as to when we think it's gonna end.

It looks amazing.

I know it's difficult for everybody to get through there, but it it I can I can see what it's gonna be when it's done.

You what you just gave us, you anticipate the Larkin area in the next couple months.

Yes.

Okay, that'd be great.

And I'm gonna I'm gonna pull it out there because I have to.

Any any news on our bridges?

Yeah, uh the bridges are very troublesome, they are very difficult to work on right now.

We currently have the Cass Street Bridge closed.

Uh it was reduced down to one lane because of structural problems.

Uh IDOT attempted to procure material to get that uh mechanical work done.

Uh that did not happen because of procurement issues.

Uh so we have to let a separate contract to get that work done.

Originally we were hoping to have CAS reopened by the end of uh this year, but it looks like it's going to go into next year.

Um, I do have a meeting uh tomorrow to get more details, and I can forward more details based on uh what comes out of those meetings tomorrow.

Um, but it looks like at some point next year, and I want to say maybe late summer or early fall of next year that we can get the Cash Street Bridge reopened.

Uh once that happens, we have other critical work that needs to happen at the movie Street Bridge.

Uh so we will avoid trying to avoid closing uh two of the bridges at the same time, but uh we want to get it done as soon as possible because we don't want something unexpected to happen and we're not ready to build another.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Mayor?

Yeah.

Quick question.

Um the bridges, uh Cast Street, everything all of them.

It's a question that a lot of residents ask, and I've been told this, but I think coming from an expert instead of from me, it might make more sense.

Can you explain why a flyover at these you know a longer bridge, a flyover bridge like they have a ninth street bridge and lockport, why it's not possible without so if you can visualize the Lockport uh bridge?

It's very long, it goes far beyond the river because it has to be so high up.

You can't have a bridge go immediately up and down.

There are a lot of geometric concerns.

Uh to do something like that in the city of Joliet would require an immense amount of land acquisition, uh, probably very critical properties that you don't want to demolish and use for bridge landings.

Um the cost associated with that, the amount of uh right-of-way that would be required uh make it really difficult to implement a design of that nature.

So it would be safe to say that to make that accomplish accomplish that on the downtown side, it would devastate downtown.

You would lose a lot of downtown trying to accommodate what's required for extending those bridges out that far because they do have to have a certain amount of clearance underneath because the elevation of the barges and the the water and the river require that for them to safety pass.

And this is not a matter of choice.

This is engineering principles and formulas used that if your apex is here, you have to be hair to hair.

Yes.

Okay.

Yes, that is exactly correct.

I just thought that it would be better for an expert.

I'm not an expert, but I I've been explained kind of similarly from other people in private before, but you know, I appreciate that.

We get that question a lot, and that is exactly at the geometry, just would cause significant problems to the existing properties, and we'd have to take much of that area downtown, Juliet.

The only other question I have when you do the bridge over I-80, right?

What happens to the old substructures that are in the water?

Uh I am not fully sure.

I know that we demolished them.

I don't remember how far down the demolition goes.

Uh I have to call an expert.

Do you know off the top of your head what the demo looks like for those structures?

I believe they should be on a couple people or the bottom of the street.

So they'll they'll get handled.

So they'll be gone.

They'll be from because we have to allow for traffic, you know, barge traffic.

And you can't have these things sticking out.

Yeah.

Okay.

None of the piers are going to be within the navigable channel.

Can you cover the microphone, please?

The uh none of the piers will be within the navigable channel, and the old piers are outside the channel also, but they'll be pretty much in line.

But we're gonna remove the old piers so that nobody runs into them so we don't have to protect them.

Okay, thank you.

Mayor, thank you.

Thank you.

Joel, go ahead.

Thank you so much for coming.

Uh Greg, thanks for for having these guys here.

Um a lot of good information.

In reference to the the um bridges, downtown Juliet.

Do the are the parts made out of the country?

I mean, I hear this all the time.

They're made in Germany, they're made here.

Are the parts made here in the in the United States or in other countries?

So a lot of them are custom parts.

Uh, you can get parts that are made outside of the country, but we have requirements that where we have to purchase uh parts that are made in America uh for federal requirements.

Um there is a process where you can use foreign material.

I'm not an expert on it, but it does require uh a different pathway to set those contracts up uh involving the federal uh highway administration and their own register and that process.

Uh, for the most part, we have to stick with made in America motors, brakes, other pieces of mechanical equipment in order to procure those, and a lot of times they're not readily available in the U.S.

and the lead time is much longer.

It's more expensive, and it's more difficult to get on the fly when there's an emergency failure.

Thank you.

Thanks again for coming.

Appreciate it.

Anyone else?

I think uh the question on regards to I think we're joking is asking or is that the reason why it's taking so long to like you said, like right now, you just mentioned that this was scheduled to open cash tree by August of this year, September.

Now we're talking next year.

Is that because the parts are not available or they're not?

What's the delay?

That is one of many reasons.

Um the bridges are very old, and when you try to install a new control system on an old bridge, there are inconsistencies.

Uh it's like taking an antique car and putting fuel injection in it.

You're gonna, you know, you're trying to modernize it, but it's difficult to mix the new and the old.

So, for instance, some of the mechanical components have certain motions that they've been doing for the entire life of the bridge, where the electrical components need to sense a certain range of accuracy, whereas the old mechanical equipment it has been working and it just works, but not with that range of accuracy that you really need to have a reliable control system.

So now the electrical system thinks that there's a problem when it's really just that the bridge is so old that it just doesn't work right.

Um that's an issue.

Uh the bridge has a lot of wear and tear, so there are things that fail unexpectedly that we don't anticipate.

Um we don't want to open to work on more than one bridge at a time, so we have to stagger each project.

So if something goes wrong with one project that prolongs the next one and the next one.

Um a lot of the work that we are doing in these bridges can't be done simultaneously, it has to be sequential.

So, for instance, there are some things that we have to do in order to get the bridge to operate.

Then once the bridge operates, we may have to lower the leaves or raise them in order to do certain parts of the work.

So if we lower them, then we can access certain parts of the bridge while it's down and then raise it so we can access other parts, but that can't happen until it's operable.

That can't happen until we get the motors correct.

That can't happen until we get the brakes in.

So each thing is uh sequential, so it's a domino effect when one thing happens, it stretches out the process for all the other repairs to have to come afterwards.

Is it like seems like the new bridge is gonna be built before these ones get this random?

Yeah, well, what about Brandon Road Bridge?

I mean, no, not yeah, the brand of the road.

Brandon Road and Rockdale, that is the poster child of what can go wrong for the bridge.

Uh, we have had so many problems initially.

We wanted to replace the motors.

Uh the original contract called for refurbishing them.

They were in such bad shape that they basically fell apart on this.

We had to procure new motors a year.

Just from that.

We get motors, we find out okay, now the new motors that are made in 2026 don't match the same dimensions as the original motors that were in there from God knows when.

So now we have mechanical components along the motor shaft that don't fit.

We have to make structural repairs because of that.

Well now the structural repairs have to be analyzed by a structural engineer, and so on and so forth.

We had aerial cables that require uh certain temperatures, and if we miss that temperature window, that pushes that work out to the next year.

And again, if that work gets pushed out, now we can't operate the bridge.

So now the work that we scheduled to do over the winter with the leaves down, we can't do until we get the aerial cables installed.

So a lot of sequential problems, and one thing can just screw up everything.

And we've had a lot of those things that have gone wrong with Brandon.

So you can't put a put a date on it, right?

Technically.

Yeah, it's kind of like asking your doctor, you know, what's your life expectancy?

I can tell you, but I will say that uh originally I've been telling people the bridge should be open around summer of this year.

I do have a meeting tomorrow to see how, if at all possible that we can expedite this work uh even more because now they're telling me it's more like October.

Okay.

And they've made a liar out of me many times.

You've probably been hearing a lot of updates for when the bridges should be reopened, and uh that's been the case.

Uh I should know much more.

Well, I should know more tomorrow, and I plan to have a scheduling meeting.

They're telling me October, probably November.

I think that we may be able to get that a little sooner, but I don't want to make promises and then have to come back and explain again why this thing didn't happen with that thing and why we couldn't get it open.

All right, thank you.

And then just last real quick on uh Ralph 53 between uh I-80 and Larry, is there any plans to either put churning lanes or any other lights?

I know that's IDOT Road.

If it goes south on 53, right before the airway?

Well, basically how far south is there a way?

Uh good mile.

Three lights.

Yeah.

Yeah, I'm not familiar with Do you know they haven't they don't have anything like in the books of wanting to I would not know.

Uh I'm on the back end, I'm in the Bureau of Construction.

Okay.

That stuff gets that stuff happens in programming.

Back up.

Yeah.

So the the area south of the doors, there is a phase one, which is the first planning phase.

They're doing a phase one study on that area right now.

Okay.

Improvements from doors to arsenal, I believe.

I don't remember the south limits, but it starts indoors.

Okay.

Thank you.

One more.

Now I hate to put you on the spot for this one, but you know.

Um, as you referred to, these bridges are very old, the ones downtown.

I'm assuming there's gonna come a day when they've outlived their their existence.

Is there a plan from hydro or how what is that gonna look like if we ever have to replace?

I would say that that day has come and gone.

Uh we are doing rehabs on the critical portions that have uh exceeded their life expectancy.

Okay.

So all the the parts of the bridge that uh are problematic are being rehabbed.

Uh unfortunately, though, we have bridges in the pipeline, bridge construction projects in the pipeline that are being held up by the current construction delays.

So, for instance, the issues we had at Ruby, we had a failure in Jefferson.

Uh the issues we have in CAS are pushing out the rehabs that we have planned for Jefferson and Jackson, and they aren't getting any younger.

Um, so we are trying to expedite this work as much as possible so that we can continue to get to those critical repairs.

Uh we're already past the point where they should have been replaced.

This work probably should have gone on 10-15 years ago.

And what would a replacement look like?

Do you have any idea?

I know we're looking a full replacement.

Uh can you still replace them with bridges like that?

Brand new versions?

Yeah.

Okay.

Costs a lot of money and take a lot of time and a lot of planning, but yes, you can.

Thank God.

Uh I doubt them.

Thank you.

You answered my question, Mark.

Anyone else?

I I have to say though, that sitting in a city of 150,000 people.

It's difficult to tell our residents that we're gonna sit another year without a bridge, maybe two.

And I can't imagine that having these 80,000 pound trucks coming over them are doing us any good.

So at some point, I think we gotta appeal to IDOT.

We can we can't have these trucks continue to go up and down these bridges.

I mean, that's gotta be terrible on the structure of these things.

I would say that the so for instance, Brandon Road, the biggest impact was just uh the elements and the age of the motors and the bridge itself.

Um Cass Street, it was uh matter of what we call section loss structural members just deteriorated to the point where they were not able to be trusted to handle the loads, not so much because of the trucks, but just because of age.

Uh that's a matter of maintenance, painting, other things.

Um I don't want to speak on behalf of the structural engineers, but I know that our pavements take a lot of pounding from the trucks and they take a lot of damage from the trucks.

The movable bridges, I think the biggest factor is age and exposure to the elements and obsolescence of the equipment.

All right, thank you.

Any other questions?

Yeah, no disrespect.

I find it very hard to believe that those heavy trucks continuously going over those bridges.

Do not have any effect on the deterioration of them.

They have an effect, just not the biggest effect.

I was saying the the biggest problem that we have is the mechanical equipment, the electrical equipment, and uh the structural degradation that comes as the brick those structural members rust and corrode, and we have to go out and replace those.

That's what happened with Castry.

We had members under there that was just exposed to the elements, and there comes a point where the steel gets thinner and thinner and thinner as it rusts, where we inspect it and we decide that it's too thin to keep trucks on it, so we had to reduce it to keep trucks off of that area that suffered the most section loss for the field members.

Um the trucks have an impact on the bridges, but I think that the biggest problem with the bridges is old obsolete equipment, uh, end of lifespan, and just the elements.

That the method of just fixing them one at a time, it's like putting band-aids on bullet holes that are never gonna heal.

Eventually, at some time it's gonna need to be replaced.

Yeah, I got a real uh quick question for you.

Um I don't I know you're on the construction side, but do you happen to have the number of the gross vehicle weight rating for the bridges by any chance?

Like what what's the rating that anything can travel through it?

So we do reduce uh the rating if we find a problem.

Um, but it is 40 tons in general.

Is that correct, Phil?

40 tons?

44?

Yeah, somewhere upwards of 40 tons.

Thank you.

I'd like to thank you for coming down here today, and I can tell you love your job because you're always trying to find a solution to the problems, particularly with these old bridges, but they mean a lot to Joliet, and then um very expensive, but thank you for trying to find solutions.

I appreciate it.

And I appreciate coming here to explain because I'm gonna go get a lot of questions and catch a lot of heat for the inconvenience that's being caused.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Next is citizens to be heard on agenda items.

That's right.

I do have some people signed up this evening.

So we will start with it's like Ron Shelling.

Yeah, good evening.

Thank you for your time today.

Uh so I've had the property uh drowning for 20 years now.

Can we have your name, please?

Ron Shelling, I'm sorry.

Thank you.

And uh we tried to just about every use possible over the course of that time.

Uh was able to get the gas station on half the property in 2020.

And since then, we've I brought Mark Batnik with me here tonight.

He's he's uh tried as well.

He's very uh very well expert in the area area.

So there's any questions or I don't think anybody's really seen a presentation.

Is this just um north of the gas station on Drown Road?

Correct.

Contiguous, contiguous, yeah.

And there's uh high lines and then a neighborhood behind that pretty big gap between the high lines um have a good size buffer 300 feet wide.

300 feet wide.

And these are one story.

One story uh unit storage units, yes.

With a vinyl fence around them, is that how you're gonna contain the look?

It's a metal fence with uh electric operated gate.

There's a uh berm with the landscape that goes completely around it.

Okay, so very little of it would be uh visual from uh questions.

So the only uh uh access is drought and not gate and farm at all.

Correct.

Yeah.

Just uh the same it'll split up the same entrance that the uh gas station is using currently uh all of drowden.

Mayor, real quick.

Um the facade I obviously I can't look at the plans right here.

I didn't have my uh my paper, but the facade of the storage unit.

For example, I drove by one on I think it was division or Renwick, and um that I'm sure it's not related to yours, but they were doing it nice.

It was uh I think like a fake brick around the facade of it of uh it was a one story that was behind the neighborhood as well.

And uh so my question to you is what do you know what the facade is made out of, or is it just uh how your typical one is just the metal?

Not 100% sure of that right today this moment.

Okay, thank you.

That's not on our line, though, putting that on there.

Thank you.

Anyone else?

Thank you.

Josh Melder Good evening.

My name is Josh Melder.

I work in the Menards Properties Division.

Uh I'm gonna be here uh presenting uh the self-storage uh special use permit request on behalf of Menards for the property that we own at 2450 uh West Jefferson Street.

Uh you guys are probably familiar with that being the old Bookie McGee's OTB.

Um we have tried to market it for uh many years to try to get another restaurant type user in there.

Um unfortunately we just have not had success with that.

And so uh what a lot of people don't know is we have recently over the last decade or so um begun to get into self-storage.

So when our self-storage at the end of this year will have approximately 37 uh facilities throughout the Midwest.

They are adjacent to our stores.

Um we operate them with both store personnel and corporate personnel at the GO up in Oaklair, Wisconsin, which is where I'm from.

Uh and we've identified this property as one that we think would uh be well utilized for this self-storage facility um type use um as it is located behind our store behind Walmart, low visibility, hard for another user to maybe use it.

Um and we think we can utilize that uh for beneficial use rather than sitting vacant.

Um so I'm here to answer any questions that you may have um either now or when the actual uh item comes up on the agenda.

Um but I just wanted to kind of introduce myself and let you know that uh yes, Minards does do self-storage.

This isn't a one-off, um, this is something that we do and we've been doing it for a while now.

I have a question.

Sure, go ahead.

So there might be there was some confusion with me because I thought you were using it for storage for your things.

You're allowing people to come in and rent these out just like any other storage facility?

Correct, yes, it's a self-storage facility that would be used by the general public.

Um it's a fully enclosed facility that is only accessible to individuals who rent.

Our renting is done um mostly online, but you can rent in person um as well with our site coordinator.

Um but you'd be given a pin and then you punch that into the pin pad that's at the gate.

There's an overhead door that would allow access in, um, and then you'd go to your unit uh either inside uh the old booking facility.

We're gonna have some inside units, and then we also have some outside units here.

So there's nobody it's not staffed.

Um it is not 24 hours staffed.

Um it is going to have a team member from the store that is uh identified as a site coordinator is what we call them.

They are going to be the primary staff member for that facility.

They're gonna be uh there uh Monday through Friday, uh 8 o'clock to 5 uh p.m.

available for questions.

Um is it 24 hours though to somebody that has a pen number?

Correct, yes.

Are there camera?

Are there gonna be cameras?

Yes, we we put all of uh all of our facilities have security cameras.

Um they are monitored at the general offices, the same security team that helps monitor our store security is the one that also monitors these facilities as well.

Okay, thank you.

Yep.

Thank you.

Joseph Spilly.

Who are you guys?

Uh my name is Joseph Spilly, I'm the owner of Inc.

Everything Tattoo Studio.

Uh I appreciate you guys all taking the time to listen to me about my petitions that you guys will um deal with later in the meeting today.

Uh I'm proposing to operate what would be a private tattoo studio located on the third floor at 81 North Chicago Street here in Joliet.

Um there's just a couple things I'd like to iterate about the studio itself.

Um the studio itself is passed and requ uh the required Will County health inspection process and received approval through zoning and the special use process.

Um the studio itself would be private appointment only with no walk-in traffic.

Um and with that, there would be no exterior signage and no outside advertising.

Uh the studio is designed to operate in the early morning hours with one client a day to make sure there's minimal impact to neighboring tenants while also allowing us to work with neighboring tenants and other businesses.

Um the goal is to provide a clean and professional and fully compliant um environment for my clients that travel from out of st out of town and out of state to operate responsibly within and with the community.

Um, like I said, I appreciate you guys taking the time to listen to me and read through my petitions, and I'm here to answer any questions, whether it's now or when my petitions get uh kind of brought up later in the council meeting.

Any questions?

Why so private?

Um I've worked at tattoo shops.

I think the basic model of tattoo shops as it stands is you walk in, it's kind of um an upfront, you look for your art.

Um my clients are currently booking three to four months out for large scale pieces, um things that are taken very seriously, thought of um most of the time years in advance, and these clients have to come sit for um six to nine hours with me with me today.

I brought something of a a small portfolio of mine, if any of you guys would like to take a look at it to kind of um exemplify that the quality of the tattoos and that these are things that people have to sit long term for, and it's more of a luxury um than a in general tattoo shop.

So my question for you then is it um worth your while to do one at a time that they're that expensive to say, for example, a full back tattoo.

Sure.

So rather than have many clients, but one you say a day to do one.

So how long does it take you to do a full back?

So a full bag, it depends on the the size of the person.

In general, if any stranger asks me what how long a full back tattoo would take, um it's anywhere between four and seven full day sessions.

Um and starting those things, it does make it worthwhile because it kinda kind of does lock people into something of a subscription program to get these things done and to kind of further the progress on the setback.

Um for me personally, I'm anywhere between 900 and 1,000 a day for tattoo work.

Um so for me it has become a very worthwhile thing.

Um, and it caters to those who take it more seriously rather than um the kind of like group matching tattoos or the kind of like last minute uh spur of the moment tattoos.

I tattoo anybody between um I have clients that are saving their tips to come and get tattoos from me.

Um and I have clients that are selling their companies for multi-million dollars, so it's kind of all over the board with them.

Um the one thing that they do have in common is that they're all taking it extremely seriously and they're they're traveling quite far to get it.

What's your infection rate?

Um my personal infection rate.

If I'm being transparent, I would say if I have 30 clients a month, maybe one or two of them is getting infected, but a lot of my clients are also union guys, so these are 99% of the time it's in external infections.

Um the one percent is people being allergic to things that we are using in the studio, but we test for those in the studio.

Um of those examples would be like pigmented ink.

A lot of people are allergic to reds and blues.

We do spot tests in my studio that prevent from people getting large scales of work um and leading to infection and stuff like that.

And what type of license do you have to have for this?

Um so there is no technical tattoo license in Illinois, I notice.

There is a bloodborne pathogen certificate that I require.

And then zoning requires that the building itself be certified to tattoo out of, and that's um kind of in line with zoning regulations, of course, and health department situations, which I've already been passed for both.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Stan Keen.

How's everybody doing today?

Yeah.

Sorry, my uh cold.

Good into my name, Stan Keen.

I come here as a concerned citizen.

I lived in this town for over 40 years.

My grandfather was a fireman for 50 years.

So I'm not new to the town.

So anyway, I'm deeply concerned about where the town's headed.

Especially with the traffic, the dangers with these traffic incidents.

For example, I was on the way home driving the other day.

I see a guy crashing into our Burger King light pool just right in front of me.

And this ain't the only one.

On May 5th, a lady got killed on that road.

So this congestion at this traffic is very concerning.

So I'm seeing speeding, I'm seeing unsafe road.

I mean, recent fatality crash this month.

Consistent backups every day on the way to work.

This is getting ridiculous.

I've seen all that.

At the same time, I'm seeing drug related crimes.

I'm seeing all kinds of shootings.

I'm seeing violence and guns up.

I don't know, the statistics, the sand is down.

I don't see that, but whatever.

And the recent in the recent other months.

There's a road being blocked off from a house from the Ingalls Park area off Washington Street, it's been blocked off for like a year.

I don't know what construction companies fixing it.

But it's ridiculous.

I mean, these people, I mean, we gotta get through.

And I I work in Elwood.

So when I go to Elwood, I got police out there every day doing traffic stops on up 55.

So I don't know if they got a light coming up or what, but there's two patrolmen sitting there directing traffic.

So I mean, I love the city with all my heart.

I've been there, but I was speaking up as a longtime resident because I want to get I want safer streets.

I want law enforcement, engagement, also crime activity, better planning, accountability from leadership.

We can I mean this is just we cannot accept dangerous roads of rising violence as a new norm, it's albeit.

It's just ridiculous.

I've been here for 44 years.

My grandfather came here in 1953 to be a fireman.

So I never seen it like this.

I mean, I know Mayor Schultz, I knew Tom Giorati.

I mean it wasn't as it wasn't as bad.

So I think you know the people of Joliet deserve better and accountability.

So that's really all I want to say.

Candace Johnson.

Hello everyone.

Uh I'm Candace Johnson.

Most of you already unfortunately know me.

Um I am before you today uh on behalf of the Bicentennial Bluffs Neighborhood Association.

As many of you know, our neighborhood association is a um a volunteer organization where we try to work every day, every month, to make our neighborhood better and beautiful and more appreciated and more understood.

Um so it was really interesting watching the IDA presentation because our neighborhood is completely inflamed by IDOTS, who was actually kind of eye-opening.

Um, and I appreciate the information they gave.

However, I'm here today uh for agenda item number 288-26 for the uh resolution authorizing an intergovernmental agreement between the city of Joliet and Hayes.

Many of you know um our neighborhood is it's technically with cash rate working.

Uh it is the main thoroughfare for all of the pace buses to come through our neighborhood.

A lot of them stop in our neighborhood.

Um recently we found out that our neighborhood residents, roughly 31% of them utilize public transportation.

Twenty-five percent of our neighborhood residents do not have a secure way to go about and get to things that they need.

A part of that is needing things like bus shelters and bunches in order to get around safely in order to um get to and from places when there's inclement weather.

Um imagine being a single mom who does not have a vehicle and you're carrying your baby in a carrier, and then you have a toddler or a middle school child, and you're trying to get your groceries along with your children.

Shelters are very important, they're very essential.

Um I know that technically the intergovernment agreement today that'll be on the agenda for vote tomorrow, is not for a pace but shelter specifically in our neighborhood, but it is the first step in a fight that we have been fighting.

It's not a fight.

It's not a fight, but in a process that we've been dealing with for over seven years, dealing with pace itself along with City of Joliet Consultants.

Um, and so we're really excited.

Uh Sarah could not be here today because she has a softball game for her daughter, but we are very excited, so we will be here again tomorrow to hopefully make sure that that resolution gets approved by you guys.

Um again, public transportation in the city, our size is the heart of our community.

It's direly needed.

And so we are excited for that.

We also had our, I know this is not on the agenda.

We had our spring neighborhood cleanup.

We have two cleanups every year.

Um we just had it on May 2nd.

Um we had over 80 people attend and volunteer.

We had over 15 high school students come out to get community service hours.

We fed everyone, we had raffle prizes.

Councilwoman Susanna Ivaro was there.

She didn't just stand around and look pretty.

She put gloves on, she picked up a grabber, she went and walked the neighborhood with our residents was which was really appreciated because up until this year, I don't think we had a councilman or councilwoman or a city employee, honestly, attend any of our cleanups.

And this was our 11th year of having a cleanup in our neighborhood to show community pride and investment in our area.

Um so it was really appreciated that you attended.

Um we had a great turnout.

You can go on our Facebook page and watch all of our pictures.

We posted all of them.

Um so thank you for that.

And we really hope that you guys approve the first step in getting a best shelter in our neighborhood.

So thank you.

Thank you.

Okay, that's everybody that I have signed up.

Is there anyone else who would like to speak this evening on an agenda item?

I think you can come up.

I will be speaking under Joel's bill regarding his tattoo artist.

Um, during the time I've been in Jolia for the past 20 years.

Parents have ready to hear from Eastern Europe.

Um Juliet's a meeting.

Explain now being a union worker with law enforcement too.

Uh means a lot of heart and pride.

For someone who I've seen him throughout my entire years at the Culy.

He can charge three to four times in any work as hard designers.

He chose to still stay here in steal.

One thing I've definitely learned throughout my time here in Joliet is not only about the people, but the consideration and the hard work and determination.

From someone who's came here who showed a story.

And every time you listen to them, he listens to you now when he's a therapist, but it's a front.

It never comes to a monetary purpose, but the ability to influence and to always give a story to tell.

Being on control right now, my tattoo is having an opportunity for kids to even approach him as a law enforcement officer.

It's one of the greatest privileges I have in the city of April.

But I truly appreciate him because now we have the time that occasionally puts into it, but the meaning you have to listen to you.

Jolia has added scoreboards yes.

But in mind is truly opinion, having him in the city is much better than going to somebody else.

His perseverance, his character, and his true blood has shown here.

And I truly believe this will be better place with him in a studio with the one person he has.

So thank you.

Is there anyone else who would like to speak on an agenda item this evening?

Okay, seeing none, we will move on to the city manager reviewing tomorrow night's actionable items.

Evening everybody.

Council Memo 25926, award of contract for the 2026 Street Light Assembly Painting Project, Contract A to Cosgrove Construction and the amount of 84,300.

Council Memo 26026 award of contract for the 2026 pavement marking program to America's parking remarking LLC and the amount of 3074, 307,416.

Council Memo 2612, approval of purchase of traffic barriers for meridian rapid defense group, sales LLC and the amount of 126,344.6 cents.

Council Memo 26226, approval of professional services agreement with Strand Associates Inc.

International Code Council ICC and HR Green for on call development review for the Rock Run Collection Development Project.

Council Memo 26326, approval of change order number three for the lead service line replacement phase four contract to strip brothers excavating and the amount of $89,410.

Council Memo 26426 award a contract to video tech for five-year renewal of Genitech Advantage Support Agreement in the amount of $83,872.

Council Memo 26526 award a contract to CDWG for Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure Subscription Licensing and Hardware Support Renewal and the amount of 101,687.

Council Memo 26626 award of contract to Heartland Business Systems for VMware annual renewal in the amount of 66,014 and eight cents.

Council Memo 26726 award of contract to evolve for the three-year renewal of Project Docs premium bundle in the amount of 129,210.

Council Memo 26826 award of contract to Fort for the City for the Joliet City Square AV background music system project in the amount of 554,742.

Funding for this project will be provided first through 225,000 in grant funds awarded to the city by Heritage Corridor, and the remaining $329,742 the project costs will be covered by the original budgeted amount of $350,000 in capital funds, leaving an unuse balance of $20,258 in capital funds available for other initiatives and keeping the project under budget.

License and permit applications, Council Memo 27026 application for a drive-thru permit for a Zaxby's restaurant at 110 South Larkin Avenue.

Mayor?

Yes.

Beth, can we jump back to 267?

Sure.

What is the total right now?

Um I remember it was 8.5 million when we first approved it many years ago.

You guys most of you weren't even here when it was approved.

What is it up to now?

Um are we talking about the city square?

Yes, please.

Overall?

Yes.

Um you said something about being under budget.

Well, yeah, for this, what we budgeted for this screen.

And because we got some budget, we've got some we got no sorry, excuse me.

Grant money.

We got grant money for 225,000 dollars.

And we budgeted 350,000 for the screen.

So we're still operating under that.

I know that that always these questions come up about different things in the square.

Um, and so just wanted to highlight for you exactly where the economic sound system.

I'm sorry.

When was that budgeted for?

But this is like 2018, 2020.

350.

When was it budgeted?

Oh, Kevin.

Do you mean originally way like a few years back?

Oh, that I don't have with me.

Can you find out?

I can look we can look that up in the case.

Chris, do you know that off the top of your head?

No, sorry, I don't have that information off the top of my head.

We'll pull it.

We'll get it for you before the meeting tomorrow, Larry.

Yeah, for sure, and get it to the whole council.

And you know, not at tomorrow's meeting.

In the near future, can we have a presentation?

Um from beginning going back to whatever it was, 2020.

Yeah.

Where we're at.

Sure, that's a good idea.

Okay, thank you.

Yeah, of course.

Okay, on to ordinances and resolutions.

Council Memo 2726, ordinances associated with the development of 1701 drought and road, an ordinance approving a special use permit to allow a self-storage facility, and an ordinance approving a variation of use to allow B3 general business use in the B1 neighborhood business zoning district at 1701 Drought and Road.

You heard from the owner as well at the beginning.

If there are any more questions for him at this time.

Mayor.

This one's already come before us a couple of times, is it not?

Going back a number of years.

This is not a new one, right?

We we didn't we just have this several months ago too.

I don't believe we did.

I guess what I'm getting at is I believe that you know, and even before your time, Terry, it was brought, I think once.

You know, what's changed since the last couple of times that uh it was rejected, I guess is what I'm asking.

Is it the same proposal that we've been we viewed before?

Or has there been some kind of significant changes?

Dustin, can you provide any light on that?

Uh councilor hug just reviewing the staff report that was included.

We did not uh include a summary of the previous, if there was a previous uh petition here.

I'm happy to bring that to you tomorrow.

Okay, thank you.

Okay.

Council memo 27326 ordinance approving a variation of use to allow the continuation of a three-unit residence and R4 multifamily residential use in the R2 single family residential zoning district located at 201 North William Street.

This did go to the zoning board of appeals.

They recommended approval 520.

Um the property in question is an existing three-unit residence.

There are no proposed changes to the number of units or the exterior appearance of the structure.

Um the approval of the variation of use would allow the continuation of this property as is.

Council Memo 27426 ordinance approving a special use permit to allow a self-storage facility located at 2450 West Jefferson Street.

Um we heard from Menards already on this, a self-storage facility on the former um off-track bedding lot located behind the existing Menard store on Jefferson Street.

I got a question real quick.

Are you guys gonna knock that down or you just gonna reconfigure everything?

No, we are not planning on knocking that down.

We're gonna utilize the existing building for climate controlled inside storage, and then we'll have outside storage units uh in addition to that climate control.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Council Memo 27526 ordinance and resolution associated with the vacation of a portion of Breen Road and an ordinance approving a vacation of 76,289 square feet of Breen Road east of Route 53.

The purpose is to vacate the 76,289 square foot segment on the west end of Breen Road that connects to Illinois 53 to allow the eventual 53 bridge landing to be constructed, thereby allowing the eastern half of the Eastgate Logistics Park development.

Um if anyone has any questions, I think we do have a visual on this if you want to see it.

Sure, why not?

Can you bring it up for us, Lauren?

Yeah.

And um Greg, could you walk us through it?

Sure, I'd be happy to.

Okay, so what you're looking at is kind of a blow-up uh blow up of the general area.

Um those are two of the existing buildings for the North Point development on the west side of Route 53.

You can see Compass Boulevard coming through between the buildings, which is the current temporary access to that area, and then sort of that um road in yellow coming from the top left corner of the of the image down over 53 and to the right is um uh compass boulevard.

And Breen Road um is kind of hard to see there, but uh if you see some of those uh homes and buildings to the east there, that is Breen Road, which comes through and currently ties into Route 53.

In order for the bridge to be constructed at that location, that portion of Breen Road will have to be uh vacated to allow the bridge to land, and then you see it it continues east and then curves down and and ties into the east-west road there.

A couple of items to note.

Uh the current temporary uh access on Compass Boulevard to the west, that will be uh gated off and closed uh once this bridge is in place, and um will only be used for emergency access.

There'll be a traffic signal installed at the location just to the east of Compass Boulevard, which will be the passenger vehicle access to that area.

Um as you continue east, uh right above the note that says proposed Illinois Route 53 connector for cars only.

That's a truck turnaround.

It's kind of hard to view in this um blown-out area.

But if a truck inadvertently gets in there, it will be forced to turn around and go back to Route 53.

There's a roundabout a little bit to the east of that.

Um so passenger vehicles that currently use Breen Road will come down to this new road.

Um they will go east and then they will north uh to get back onto Breen Road.

Um the area where you see Breen Road truck barrier car access only.

Um again, there'll be a truck barrier there, so trucks cannot go on to Breen Road from that location.

Uh it'll be a 12-foot high restricted truck barrier.

So any sort of school bus, emergency vehicle, uh Amazon delivery truck will be able to get through there, but a semi will not be able to get through there.

So that's kind of what is uh at a high level being proposed here.

This vacation will allow the construction of that bridge again over Route 53 to allow access to the portions of the Eastgate Logistics Park to the east.

Mayor.

Greg, where exactly is that gate going to be installed on completion of the bridge?

Yeah, it where you see boy, I wish they had a laser pointer.

You see the proposed Illinois Route 53 connection for cars only.

Yeah, with the arrow goes in there.

So it would be uh to the west there, so the to the left of that, which is currently a temporary access.

That will be uh closed off with a gate to allow emergency access.

So vehicles on a normal daily basis will not be able to get in there if there's an emergency, it would be able to be open for fire vehicles or whatever needed again.

So what access for cars only would it have?

It would be to the east.

Okay.

And what is going to make it cars only access?

There will be truck barriers in state.

We didn't have truck barriers.

Yeah, they're closer to the to the roundabout area, but yeah, there will be truck barriers.

Okay.

All right, thank you.

Thank you, Mayor.

All right, anything else.

Moving on to Council Memo 27626, ordinance approving a plat of vacation for uh 3.788 acre drainage and city utility easement along the former bridge road right-of-way south of Gladys Avenue and north of Knoll Road.

Council Memo 27726 or ordinances associated with the tenant space at 81 North Chicago, which you heard from the tattoo artist.

Um it'd be approving a special use permit to allow a tattoo studio there and approving a variation of use to allow a B3 general business and the B2 central business.

It also went through Plan Commission's recommended for approval 5 to 0.

Mayor, can I say something about that?

Speaking of someone who does have tattoos and did think them out very well, plan them, design them, drew them.

Um these are actually people that sometimes fly in from Atlanta for these tattoos.

So these are definitely people that would be coming to the restaurants, would come to the city square.

He one thing he didn't say, but he said it to me is how much he loves the city of Joliet and how he wants to be here in you know the downtown area.

And thank you.

I I'll love this for district five.

But um he also is planning a program with the high schools, he's very charitable, and he wants to do some work there too.

So he wants to be here in Joliet because he loves the city of Joliet.

He has a lot of pride in the city of Jolia, and that's something he didn't say tonight, so I'm gonna speak for him.

I hope that's okay.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Okay, council member 2782.

Is that where I may have the right place?

Okay.

Ordinance proposing the creation of a business district in the city of Joliet, Will and Kendall Counties, Illinois, and fixing the date and time for a public hearing connection with the same rock run collection business district.

Um we want to do a little bit more additional study of the area to be sure that we've included all the correct properties.

Um I'm just gonna bump it a couple weeks so we can make sure that all of our Ts are across and our I's are dotted.

Um for tomorrow we'll pull it.

Resolutions, Council Memo 280 26, resolution approving and authorizing the execution of the collective bargaining agreement between the City of Joliet and APSME, local 440.

Council Memo 28126, resolution accepting and placing on file the Juliet Historic Preservation Commission annual report for 2025.

Council Memo 2826 resolution authorizing the execution of a memorandum of understanding between the City of Joliet Fire Department and the East Side Joliet Fire Protection District, which is essentially a mutual aid agreement.

Council Memo 28326 resolution requesting authorization to enter into a regular 2025 justice assistance grant, intergovernmental agreement with between the City of Joliet and Will County.

Council Memo 28426 resolution approving an intergovernmental agreement with the county of will for the placement of license plate reading cameras located on county highways.

Council Memo 28526 resolution appropriating motor fuel tax funds for the 2026 pavement marking program.

This is housekeeping from the earlier item.

Council Memo 28626, resolution accepting an easement agreement from COMED for the Glenwood and West Acres Water Main Improvement Project.

Council Memo 28726 resolution accepting an easement agreement from Comed for the Glenwood and West Acres Water Main Improvement Project.

And finally, Council Member 28826 resolution authorizing the execution of an integral mental agreement with pace regarding transit shelters that we heard from Candace on.

That concludes the agenda.

Okay.

Next is public comments.

Is there anyone who would like to address the council this evening on a non-agenda item?

I got some things I want to bring up here.

I a while back wanted to present a flash drive, you know, footage of some video that I want to be brought up with this thing with whimsy trucking and joya police.

Some things that were made whimsy trucking along Joya Police go on a properties that they had bought next to my ma's house back in 2021 to do police training and everything.

You know, this video is just so big a buying because this guy Darren Wolf, the head of head of operations for whimsy trucking, of course, has been none but downright bad to me throughout all my process and everything.

And you all know what I've lost from whimsy trucking, what they did once they acquired my mosquitoes from suffering my brother and being the minister of the estate, you know, and things that were like I said, we're taking them off the estate and my ma's and everything, and I already had Crestal police do the do investigation.

I had a hunt down the 84 F-250 pickup truck, which came back that you know, I had a Carfax report done that showed you know, and there was a taking to a repair shop in Crest Hill and everything, called the Crestio repair shop to find out who took that truck there and everything, a guy named John Byrne, and I don't know if it's the same John Byrne, it's with the Joya police, but I only could put two and two together and thinking that since Joey Police and Whimsey trucking were making deals to himself and everything here, and this Darren Wolf was obviously in charge of doing this stuff that I don't know doubt have that doubt that this John Byrne had this 1987 F-250 truck is the one as the Joey A police officer.

Which I want this video footage of that to be to be uh brought up to city council meetings.

They said I had to present the flash drive, let you guys review you know, city officials review it.

Now I'm told that somehow I gotta email this thing through.

Well, how do I email it?

I don't have a computer anymore.

My computer got taken.

I don't have you know, only email I got is on my phone.

I can't do this taking this flash drive or the video and send it through my emails on my phone.

It won't let me you know send videos.

So, how do I get this video presented?

And I want this to be investigated too, you know, because like I said, I've been wrong done, and whimsy trucking is now going to be going for developing my Ma's boys, my Ma's property there, and so which I want this done before before that uh thing ever gets approved by zoning here, you know, which is later this week.

And another thing about the Brandon Road Bridge.

We all know the headaches with the Brandon Road Bridge.

You know, since I lived out there, that branded road bridge was my main road and everything, getting into an out of town and everything.

And I got a picture here that shows the weight limit on that branded old bridge, 35 ton, not 40 tons.

So them container trucks, 80,000 pounds are indeed too heavy for that bridge.

And I when I bridge was always broken through the years.

I would talk to the IDOT people as they're down there repairing the bridge, and they kept blaming them trucks for blanking that lock-in mechanism in the middle of that bridge.

That's why that bridge kept on breaking.

Now they want to do a course do go deeper and do more things on that bridge and everything because everything is worn out and everything.

I don't blame everything being worn out, but when I got text messages, updates here from just the other day from IDOT here.

Now you know text my phone because I call them so many times on it and everything.

They told me that construction, hopefully you'll open this summer until September since construction season began in May, but you know, and they have to weather weather dependent and R4C repairs needing coordination with the Army Corps of Engineers on the Asian carp track that they've been doing down there.

The Asian carp trap has been the thing that's been keeping them from fixing this brand new road bridge.

Is there anyone else who would like to address the council this evening on a non-agenda item?

Mr.

Mayor, City Council, my name's Bob Cobb.

Uh tonight I'd like to address uh uh an issue with the uh waste management division, specifically the yard waste division.

I was watching out the window the other uh a week ago or so when a yard waste crew came by to pick up the yard waste.

I have my yard waste in in the black 35 gallon can um I saw the the truck pull up, there was two one that was driving and one was uh operating the the arms.

Well I had I specifically took the lids off my cans to show that they weren't they weren't even halfway full of of yard waste uh mainly dead grass that I uh took up and it would it was the the person sitting in the clearly could have seen they were only half instead instead of getting out and picking it up, five-year-old could have picked these up instead of getting out and picking up, he used those arms.

And when when he uses the marms, they don't I mean it's one thing to pick up the the recycle bins, but those those yard waste cans goes out and he's he destroyed two cans.

I mean, instead instead of just they have to control the arms, you know, not not squeeze it so tight that it's like popping a pimple.

Um so I wonder if there's if there's anything you can I mean to to see this guy clearly he could see what's down there and uh I just don't know and don't understand why he couldn't get out and pick them up manually.

Um if there's uh oh I I was given a number to call and I called that number and the lady I spoke with said that they didn't have anything to do with it.

She gave me another number to call.

Well, I called the other number, and that lady told me that uh the route supervisor, the the head guy would read the read what I told her and get back to me within 24 hours.

Never call me back.

So I just want to say that it's a shame that the guy can't get out and pick up can manually instead of crushing my cans.

I got two cans that I can't use anymore.

If he won if he doesn't want to get out and pick up tin, which is probably only 15, 20 pounds, uh I I have no other choice but to start using the brown bags and fill them up where he has to get out and pick them up, and that's gonna be that's gonna be a lot heavier than what I had out there.

So that's all I gotta say.

Uh one other thing is this series coming up on HBO.

When is that gonna be next spring?

Oh, they well, it's gonna be it's gonna take that long to film with this.

Okay, yeah.

Well, thank you for your time.

Hey Bob, could you provide your address for me so I can look into the situation with your campus?

My address is 1602 Autumn Drive in Juliet.

Okay, thank you.

Thank you, Beth.

Beth.

Yeah.

Um Krista has some of the numbers for at waste management because we had this issue last year, and then she can give them to you.

Okay.

If you don't already have them, maybe you do.

Yeah, great.

Okay, thank you.

She was very helpful.

And then city calls, the big people call.

Yeah, they call you right back.

Right, no problem.

That's what we'll do.

It'll be a quick talk for you.

Okay, thanks.

Is there anyone else who would like to address the council this evening on the mat agenda item?

Hello, Mayor, City Council, City Staff.

I'm Michelle from Internode at 81 North Chicago.

I do want to say I apologize I was late.

I totally think that Joe should have his studio.

He is the nicest person I have ever met.

He is so supportive.

My real fast story about him is two years ago I put a call to action out on my social media to ask for people to come shop with us because we were in such dire straits.

Joe is one of the first persons who walked in the door.

I didn't even know him.

He walked in the door, he spent money.

We've been friends ever since.

He's would be an asset to our business community.

So there you go.

So the reason I would like to speak today is I would like to request a stronger traffic enforcement presence on Chicago Street in downtown Joliet.

Everyone knows my shop is right there at the corner of Amburan and Chicago.

And I daily see semi-trucks coming southbound down Chicago Street.

I see people running the stop signs.

We have new stop signs that are flashing.

People are still running them.

I myself have almost been hit numerous times of people not stopping at these stop signs.

Um people will drive speed limit, go to stop, someone will fly around them and speed down right in front of the rail though.

So I have talked to um our local police force, our wonderful police force that's down there, they are fantastic.

Fortunately, they don't aren't able to just sit and watch people run stop signs.

So if we could please have maybe a study done to see what traffic is um in downtown Joliet, but again, there are um no stop signs coming from Jackson Street, southbound on Chicago.

There are some on Washington going northbound.

So maybe if that's something we could look into also.

But thank you.

Thank you.

Is there anyone else who would like to address the council this evening on an agenda item?

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 threaten litigation?

After which the meeting will adjourn.

So moved.

It's a motion seconded to approve.

Councilman Cardinals.

Councilman Clement?

All right.

Councilman Huggs.

All right.

Councilman Navarro.

Hi.

Councilman Moreno?

Hi.

Councilman Mudron?

Councilman Quoman?

Aye.

Councilman Merden.

Aye.

Mayor Darcy.

Motion