Moline Committee-of-the-Whole & City Council Meeting - March 5, 2026
Moline Committee-of-the-Whole & City Council Meeting - March 5, 2026
Note: The agenda and transcript indicate the meeting occurred on Tuesday, March 3, 2026, but the provided meeting date is March 5, 2026. This summary uses the instructed date.
The Committee-of-the-Whole and City Council met jointly to discuss and vote on several routine resolutions, contract awards, and zoning amendments. Public comment focused on a pedestrian safety concern at Franklin Elementary School. The council also advanced two first-reading ordinances and made board appointments.
Public Comments & Testimony
- Grant Putnam (Principal, Franklin Elementary School) requested assistance installing a crosswalk and a three-way stop at the intersection of 54th Street and 11th Avenue C, citing a near-miss incident involving a kindergartner. He noted that a sidewalk does not currently exist at that location, which hampers installation of a crosswalk, and asked the council to fast-track the project.
Board Appointments
- Mayor appointed Alvaro Macias (Alderperson Ward 2) and James Patrick Schmidt (Alderperson-at-Large) to the Adult Use Commission for terms concurrent with their aldermanic terms, expiring May 1, 2029.
Consent Calendar
- Approved minutes of the February 24, 2026 meeting (Committee-of-the-Whole, Council, Executive Session).
- Approved second reading ordinances: amendments to tobacco dealer licenses (7-Eleven), TIF 13 amendment (plan, designation, adoption), nonconforming residential use zoning text amendments, and an all-way stop at Seventh Avenue and Sixteenth Street.
- Approved resolutions for contracts: 35th Street Reconstruction ($296,068.05), Shared-Use Path inspection services ($350,000 not-to-exceed), 2026 Patching Program ($1,468,976.25), 10th Ave. Ct. Reconstruction ($1,068,467.81), meeting calendar amendment, 2026 Sidewalk Program ($528,000 contract, up to $580,000 budget), 2026 Pavement Marking Program ($217,170), and an amended MetroLINK electric vehicle charging station host lease agreement.
Discussion Items
- Playground Equipment Donation (Item 7.1): Approved a resolution declaring McCandless Park playground equipment (installed 2003) as surplus and authorizing donation to Kids Around the World for refurbishment and overseas transport. Council praised the partnership.
- Safe Routes to School Signing Project (Item 7.2): Approved a resolution for $25,000 in motor fuel tax funds for potential project overages.
- Lead Service Line Replacement Contract (Items 7.3 & 18.1): Approved a Notice of Intent to Award to McClintock Trucking & Excavating for $664,315.10 (leveraging a $500,000 federal grant with a $125,000 city match, replacing 50-60 lead service lines). Alderperson Schmidt noted the resolution only authorized the Mayor, not the City Clerk; an amendment to add the City Clerk passed unanimously, and the amended resolution was approved.
- Rock Salt Contract (Item 7.4): Approved the annual joint participation agreement with Illinois CMS for 4,000 tons of rock salt (minimum 3,200, maximum 4,800) for the 2026/2027 winter season. Alderperson Schmidt reported the city is approaching 4,000 tons used this season.
- Riverside Cemetery Resurfacing (Item 18.2): Approved contract with Phoenix Corporation of the Quad Cities for $264,801.25.
- Traffic Signal Installation (Item 18.3): Approved contract with Davenport Electric Contract Company for $637,427.81 for River Dr. & 12th St. signal, with work contingent on completion of an IMPACT Agreement.
- Tree Ordinance (Item 19.1): Advanced to second reading an ordinance repealing and replacing Article II (Trees) of Chapter 32.
- Zoning Text Amendments – Nonconforming Residential Uses & Group Homes (Item 19.2): After being tabled from a prior meeting, a motion to remove from table passed, then a motion to advance to second reading passed 5-1. Alderperson Castro voted no, stating she is uncomfortable with the city defining “family” and preferring to define “household” instead. Mr. Atkins and Alderperson Timian explained that changing the definition was the most practical approach due to the term’s pervasive use in the code, and that a broader rewrite would occur during the comprehensive plan update.
Key Outcomes
- All resolutions and ordinances on the consent agenda were approved by a 6-0 roll call vote.
- Non-consent resolutions (18.1, 18.2, 18.3) were each approved 6-0.
- First reading ordinances 19.1 (trees) and 19.2 (zoning) advanced to second reading; 19.2 passed 5-1.
- Board appointments were confirmed.
- Mayor announced the upcoming resignation of Alderperson Murphy, thanking her for her service; council members echoed appreciation.
- Alderperson Timian invited the public to an open house for the comprehensive plan at Mercado on March 6, 2026.
Meeting Transcript
Good evening, everyone. I'll call our meet meeting to order at 6 p.m. here in council chambers. Roll call, please. Alder Person Masias. Rosak. Timmy and present. Finch. Present. McNeil. Present. Castro. Present. Schmidt. Present. All right. Thank you. We have no remote electronic attendance necessary this evening. Is there public comment, Chief? If you'd like to and you didn't sign in, that's no problem. Just step to the mic. Okay. And we have three minutes. So yeah, we keep a little timer. Just tell us your name. Oh, my name's Grant Putnam. I'm a principal over at Franklin Elementary School. I had your daughter in class. Tiller is a bad meet up to see you. And the reason that I'm coming to you guys tonight is because I just feel like I'm kind of hitting a brick wall in regards to some signage in regards to some traffic help that you guys can provide. Essentially, if you're familiar with Franklin Elementary School up by the steel plow, two blocks east of Wilson. We have a sequence of one-way streets that circle our campus that are one-way during particular times. We have a neighborhood of about 30 houses to the east of 54th Street. And so Franklin is on the west boundary there by our beautiful mural if you've ever driven by it in the last year and a half. That's 53rd Street. 54th is on the east side there. And on the east side of 54th Street, we have about 30 homes, 30 families that live in a couple of pocket neighborhoods back there, whether it's on 54th or back in the neighborhood. And we don't have a crosswalk there to cross kids. And so I've actually brought some traffic video footage of a kindergartner almost getting hit the other day, which is why I'm here. Our patrollers can safely cross our kindergarten through our fifth grade students. And so if you can shake some trees, that's the reason why I'm here, is because I've tried about everything that I can, whether it be through our facilities department in Moline, getting us temporary things, but I feel like that would be like buying, you know, buying Peter to PayPal type of scenario, they'll just kind of kick the problem further down the road. But if you guys can help me uh get a crosswalk installed and kind of accelerate that timeline so that there's um a sidewalk there, that's kind of what I keep bumping into is that we can't put a crosswalk where a sidewalk doesn't exist or lead to. And so if you guys could fast track that for me and help me out or create some of these signage issues, um I've got my proposals right here. If we could just get a three-way stop at the corner of 54th and 11th Avenue C with a crosswalk, I think that would solve all my problems. Then the patrols could safely cross the kids. So that's all I have for you. Thank you. If you take why don't you hand it to your alder person, which is Dan McNeil for your the area that your school is in. And normally we don't have a back and forth, it's a listening time for for um public comment. No, it's fine.
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