Good evening.

Welcome to the July 21st Naperville City Council meeting.

Roll call.

Worley.

Here.

Gibson.

Here.

Hold tower.

Here.

Jane.

Yeah.

Kelly.

McFroom.

Here.

Syed.

Yeah.

White.

Wilson.

Here.

Councilman Kelly.

I may have a motion to allow Councilman White to participate by telephone for this meeting.

So moved.

Councilman Hulzar.

Second whole tower.

Motion and a second to allow Councilman White to participate telephonically.

All those in favor sign aye.

Opposed?

Motion carries.

Councilman White, can you hear us okay?

Yeah, that's loud and clear.

You have officially joined the meeting.

Please rise and join me in the Pledge of Allegiance.

Our first item is public forum.

There are currently 13 speakers signed up for public forum.

According to the municipal code, public forum shall be limited to no more than 30 minutes.

If there are more speakers signed up to address the city council than time will allow, public forum shall be bifurcated and continue to the end of the agenda prior to new business.

Therefore, after 30 minutes, public forum will be paused at that time and then continued again after agenda item 03.

I'd also like to remind everyone of the citizen participation rules in the city's municipal code for speaking at city council meetings.

Speakers are asked to present their comments in a respectful and courteous manner.

Speakers should stay on topic and be cognizant of their words.

Personal attacks on council member staff or other speakers or members of the audience are not allowed.

If inappropriate language or comments are expressed during this meeting, you will be asked immediately to stop commenting.

Also, for audience members, there is no cheering and no jeering.

Actions such as applauding or any other noises during or at the conclusion of any remarks made by any speaker are not allowed.

If this occurs, you will be asked to stop immediately, and if it continues to persist, I will recess the meeting until the audience abides by the rules in our city code.

No speaker should ever feel intimidated by the crowd.

Audience disruption is meant to intimidate those speaking, and I will not allow it in the chambers.

Audience members with signs, the signs must not block any other audience members' view.

Speakers will be given three minutes to address the city council to help speakers stay within the three-minute time frame.

We have a timer located on the side dias to your right.

It will give the visual cue when the three minutes are expiring.

This helps speakers conclude their comments in a timely manner without being cut off.

And the timer will buzz when it hits zero, and we will alert the speaker that their time is up.

If a speaker's name is called and they are not in the room, we will move on to the next speaker and we will not go back.

Speakers are encouraged to remain in council chambers until the conclusion of public forum in the event council members want to ask follow-up questions.

When your name is called, please come and have a seat in the front row so we can keep speakers going as quickly as possible.

Especially we want to see as if we can get as many in in the 30-minute window as we possibly can.

Mrs.

Schatz, please call the first speakers.

The first three speakers are Norman Jerome, Asa Savalia, and John Doyle.

Next speaker.

The next speaker is Asta Savalia, followed by John Doyle and Addie Julga.

This is Norm Jerome.

Oh, are you Mr.

Jerome?

Okay.

I I'm sorry.

Sorry, I misunderstood the instructions.

I thought we were to sit here until call.

No worries.

Go ahead, sir, when you're when you're ready, we'll we'll restart the clock.

I'm ready.

Good evening.

My name is Norm Jerome.

I'm a Naperville resident of 34 years.

My topic tonight is securing the license plate reader data collected by Naperville's automated license plate reader system, currently hosted by the Flock Company.

Police Chief Aries kindly sent me a detailed email describing the policies the city has in place today for FLAC to implement for protection of Naperville's plate reader data.

And these polys policies are excellent.

But only to the extent that we can rely on the FLOC company to always secure our data.

Like all private companies, it exists to make a profit for its owners.

I have no problem with private industry.

I've worked my entire career in private industry as an engineer building computer systems for numerous large companies.

But in private industry, there is an unavoidable tension between maximizing profit and spending money on software safety and security.

Unfortunately, I have seen repeated examples of corner cutting in this area.

Initially, usually without any apparent consequences, until inevitably there is a failure or a breach.

Will FLACS database containing Naperville's licensed plate reader data ever be compromised?

I do not know.

I do know that FLAC's business model relies on accruing a nationwide database of plate reader data and monetizing that data in any way that maximizes their profit.

This problem is not specific to FLAC.

Every private company faces the same conflict between profit maximization and spending on data security.

The only way to resolve this conflict is simply to remove it.

Do not place plate reader data with any private company.

This sensitive data must remain under the exclusive control of a government entity.

As a citizen, would you prefer that the employees responsible for securing Naperville's plate reader data be accountable to FLAC's CEO and shareholders?

Or would you prefer they be accountable to our own elected officials?

We are not the only jurisdiction facing this issue.

Dane County, the second most populous county in Wisconsin, terminated their FLAC contract back in April of this year over similar concerns, and are currently evaluating several alternative vendors that offer strict local control of their plate reader data.

So tonight, I am requesting that Naperville consider Dane County's example and begin reviewing options for taking full control of Naperville's plate reader data.

Thank you for your time.

Thank you.

Next speaker.

The next speaker is Asta Savalia.

Ladies and gentlemen, I'd like to start by thanking the council members and the mayor for their service to the community and for providing myself and the other speakers here with the platform to speak up for our city.

My name is Asta Savalia, and I am a rising freshman at Naperville North High School.

This summer I have been interning with Accelerate Climate Solutions.

My internship has opened my eyes to just how pressing climate change really is.

In the last weeks, we have experienced intense heat waves that have taken our city and cities alike across the nation by surprise.

Just last weekend, the smoke from the Canada wildfires reduced the air quality to the point that it was unsafe for us to go outside.

According to the United Nations, the period from 2015 to 2025 officially stands as the hottest decade ever recorded in the Earth's history.

Climate change is a very real pressing issue that impacts us, but it also impacts other communities.

My internship has also made me aware of the climate crisis in the Solomon Islands.

The Solomon Islands are experiencing sea level rise at a rate nearly three times higher than the global average.

Multiple reef islands have already been completely submerged by the ocean, and several others have lost vast percentages of their land area.

Entire villages that existed for generations have been forced to relocate further inland or move to entirely different islands because their homes are now underwater.

We need to address it.

Our high residential EV adoption rate, the popular residential sustainability rebates for things like heat pumps and solar, and the ongoing work of groups like the Naperville Environmental and Sustainability Task Force, NEST, show that our community wants to be part of the solution.

Even our local schools in District 203 recently introduced the ambitious carbon action plan to target net zero emissions by 2050.

But our city government must match that ambition at a municipal level.

We cannot afford to treat sustainability as a series of optional individual choices.

The decisions that you make today will impact my generation the most.

We are the people who are going to live in the future that is created by your choices.

On behalf of myself, my peers at Accelerate Climate Solutions, and all of the young people of this community, we urge you to treat climate change not as a future problem, but as the urgent crisis it is.

Please act before it is our generation left to pick up the pieces.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Next speaker.

The next three speakers are John Doyle, Addie Jolka, and Patrick Hughes.

John Doyle, Naperville resident, thank you.

Uh, if I told you one person's rent and an underperson's mortgage, would you be able to tell me whose living situation costs more?

No, you wouldn't.

And it's similar with utilities.

We own our utilities, so we need to evaluate comparisons based on cost, not on revenue.

It's taken several forward requests and even an appeal to the HE's office, but I finally have data to start doing some real analysis on this.

It's gonna be tight, but I hope to have time to show you that we've been under recovering for a decade while being more expensive than CONED and the underrecovered costs are starting to finally show up.

Quick note on where these cost numbers are coming from.

For Naperville, I'm applying our consultants' methodologies from our act onto our actual financials.

Uh being an ICC regulated COMED's cost is easy to get without any calculations needed.

We're starting with Naperville's residential revenue in cents per kilowatt hour.

Now let's compare that to the actual full cost of service for those same years.

As a quick sanity check, here are screenshots from the forecasts from the last two independent studies we had done.

The 2022 cost forecast ended up being a tiny bit high, but the 2025 forecast was spot on.

Both years' studies also clearly highlight the projected revenue shortfalls.

With both revenue and cost in hand, we can now see how much we were under recovering over the past 10 years compared to full costs, and it's been significant.

It also allows us to finally make a fair apples to apples comparison of Naperville and IMEA together against ComEd or any other option.

All of a sudden, this is telling a very different story than what we've been sold.

Every year outside of the 2022 PJM spike, Naperville Electric has been a more expensive utility than ComEd.

The fund's over though, and the bills come due.

I'm going to shift this table down and I'm going to start overlaying some financial data from our electric fund, starting with the end of year cash balances.

From 2016 to 2021, balances grew to nearly 40 million dollars, even though we were under recovery.

How could this be?

Well, let's add DNA and CapEx to the graph, and you'll start to get the picture.

Savings were only possible due to significant underspend on CapEx for several years.

We can't rely on that strategy forever, though.

Our agent infrastructure forced our hand, and CapEx has rocketed to twice DNA, even though we're forecasting multiple years of negative growth during this time.

This change is the first sign of the bill coming due, so what do we do?

Increase revenue?

No.

We just burn through all of our cash at a rate about 10 million dollars a year, ending 2024 in the seven figures, a balance below the city's seven-day cash policy floor.

So now we can't defer CapEx, we have no cash to burn.

What's next?

We schedule three substantial rate hikes for 25, 26, and 27.

And we also take out 10 million dollars in 20 year bonds with another 10 million dollars budgeted for next year.

All just to barely keep our heads above water.

Naperville is not cheaper than Comed.

Comed is just getting paid up front, and we're paying for it later with interest.

Thank you.

Also, I very much agree with the flock guy.

We gotta get rid of that stuff.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Next speaker.

The next speaker is Addie Jolka, followed by Patrick Hughes and Bob Carlson.

Uh hello.

Uh my name is Adi Jolka, and I'm a rising junior at Naperville Central High School.

I would first like to thank the city council for allowing me and so many others to speak here tonight.

Um I wanted to talk about Naperville potentially creating its own climate action and resilience plan, or for short, CARP.

I have lived in Naperville for the last 14 years of my life.

And I've been to a lot of cities, and it truthfully is one of the most beautiful cities I've ever seen.

With its stunning riverwalk and boundless forest reserves, Naperville is a city of immense beauty and nature.

However, in order to maintain and protect our city's beauty for generations to come, we must create a CARP.

Essentially, a carp would act as a guideline for our city's environment by creating um strategies for reducing carbon emissions while also preparing for unavoidable climate hazards.

It would ensure that both sustainability and the environment would be taken into decisions that the city council makes.

Most cities in the United States have a carp.

Naperville is not one of them, making it one of the last remaining major cities in Illinois not to do so.

This inhibits Naperville's ability to react to climate hazards like tornadoes, strong storms, and flooding, which have only gotten more severe with climate change worsening.

I know many of us recently have been affected by these uh climate hazards.

A CARP would also provide a roadmap for transitioning to more affordable, renewable, and sustainable electricity, which is definitely needed because Naperville um plans when Naperville plans for the end of its current electricity contract.

This is because Naperville's current electricity provider, the IMEA, emits millions of tons of carbon dioxide through the generation of coal-based electricity.

Um, but by adopting a CARP, we can ensure that Naperville does not indirectly contribute to these emissions in the future by having guidelines that would prevent us from doing so.

In fact, by having our own CARP, not only can we reduce our carbon emissions and protect our environment, but we could boost Naperville as a leader in environmental uh stewardship, which would boost our city's image.

I urge you to invest in a CARP as you consider in the uh 2027 budget, so it can help guide the important electricity and infrastructure decisions facing the city.

Naperville is a wonderful city, and I believe by creating um our own CARP, we can keep it wonderful for generations to come.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Next speaker.

The next speaker is Patrick Hughes.

Hi, my name's Pat Hughes.

I've been a resident from Naperville for 33 years.

Tonight I'd like to consider some facts for you to consider some facts concerning Naperville's energy future.

Earlier this year, our power group operator PGM projected capacity shortfalls and increased risk for PGAM customers, which includes us and here in Naperville.

These shortfalls are projected to result in brownouts and blackouts as soon as 2029 and 2030.

Could you move a little closer to the microphone?

We're having a hard time hearing you, sir.

I'm sorry.

I'm sorry.

And a Financial Times article published on June 26 this year.

Calvin Butler, CEO of XLO, gave similar warnings.

During an interview with the paper, he stated that the U.S.

would absolutely face widespread blackouts as soon as 2027.

This is due to surging electricity demand, especially from AI data centers, electric cars, and the rest, all outpacing power supply and uh capacity.

There's a particular risk in both the Northeast and the Midwest, which includes Naperville.

So because you walked away from the extension IMEA offered, this is the new environment in which you leave your successors to negotiate a better deal than what we have right now.

City Council is kicking the can down the road.

City Council is kicking the can down the road and hoping they don't have to make hard decisions, and I get that.

But remember, no decision is a decision.

This is exactly what the hundred people heard who attended the Affordable Naperville Town Hall just held just last week at the VFW.

Our group started out as a small group of concerned citizens less than a year ago, but we're growing.

The hundred people who who attended last week are citizens, all of you represent, and all of you were invited, but only two of you showed up, and I want to thank the two that did.

I was surprised to learn recently that the city of Naperville taxpayers gave $920,000 to NCTV in 2026.

Even though they were invited to cover the town hall, no one came.

This is despite the fact that they have covered many of the nest events.

If the channel isn't going to cover both sides of a story this important to all Naperville taxpayers, maybe they shouldn't be subsidized with taxpayer money.

While this is partially true, you should not subject Naperville citizens to the uncertainty of short-term decisions where it concerns something as important as our power security.

Respectfully, all of you have the opportunity to go down to Naperville City history as either heroes or bums.

Heroes are coming for coming to a decision soon, and how your energy solutions will drive Naperville prosperity.

Or bums because you let your ideology drive you to make a bad decision that could make Naperville unaffordable for many in this community.

Affordable Naperville is growing, and with it our message.

We will hold you responsible for your decisions or lack thereof.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Next speaker.

The next three speakers are Bob Carlson, Duane Varoon, and John Schindler.

Good evening.

My name's Bob, and I've been a Naperville resident with my family for 33 years.

The government entity represented here tonight is one of thousands in Illinois.

Illinois has more government entities than any other state.

We lead most other states not by hundreds of government entities, but by thousands.

Illinois has so many government entities, we cannot count them.

Illinois Policy Institute calculates 6,032.

2017 Census found 7,000.

Civic Foundation found almost 9,000.

This is not a statistic to be proud of.

California claims the fifth largest economy in the world, yet they managed to get by with only 4,444 government entities.

Incredible.

Illinois needs about 2,000 more government entities than the world's fifth largest economy.

More enlightening examples when compared to the Sunshine State.

Florida, like 37 other states, does not have an estate or death tax when you die.

Florida does not have a state income tax.

Illinois does.

Florida's gasoline tax is about half of what we pay in Illinois.

Every fill up, 10, 20 bucks goes to Springfield.

Ron DeSantis, the governor of Florida, just announced legislation providing major property tax relief.

Let that sink in.

Illinois jockeys with New Jersey for having the highest property taxes in the country.

Let's be clear though.

It's not a property tax.

It's a our pensions are only 40% funded tax.

And lastly, the majority in Springfield finally came up, or finally came to the realization that electronic vehicles are cleverly skirting the gasoline tax.

So they're devising a new usage tax for drivers of electric cars.

Al Capone would be envious.

Does anyone in Springfield ever propose a tax cut?

Not under our current governor.

Last year alone, Illinois paid 16.5 billion more in state taxes than they would have if taxes had stayed consistent with 2018 levels.

Source Illinois Policy Institute.

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has reduced state spending two years in a row.

Which form of government do you think would be a better steward of your money?

It's not a difficult question to answer for some people in this room.

I'll include my remarks by asking this government entity.

I realize you don't make state laws, but which of these two roads do you think most common sense tax paying Americans would want to travel down?

Thank you so much for your time and your attention.

Thank you.

Next speaker.

The next speaker is Jwani Varoon.

First of all, I would like to thank the council for taking the time to listen to the community stance on this concern.

My name is Dwayne Varoon, and I would like to suggest cleaner alternatives to the current IMEA deal.

IMEA supplies the majority of Neighborville's energy.

However, Naperville doesn't have to rely on just one provider.

The city can purchase and generate power from multiple sources, such as Next Era and Consolation to contribute to one overall energy portfolio.

Next era and consolation are two large competitive energy providers that sell energy in bulk to municipal utilities.

Next era relies on a mix of renewables with a large portfolio of solar, wind, and battery storage.

Although these providers raise concerns with pricing since they are for-profit organizations, Naperville can negotiate prices that may be competitive or occasionally lower than IMEA pricing.

In addition to purchasing energy from other providers, Naperville can implement new technology to make the city's energy profile environmentally sustainable.

For example, a virtual power plant is a cloud-based network that connects multiple smart devices to reduce local strain.

They coordinate with smart devices and batteries to store energy while demand is low, reducing grid strain and decreasing reliance on fossil fuel peaker plants.

These power plants are frequently paired with solar panels and batteries, making it an excellent addition to Naperville's energy sources.

Finally, Naperville can diversify their energy by investing in solar farms.

As a reference, the nearby Springbrook Solar Farm generates enough power to supply roughly 180 homes annually.

While this project may seem small, multiple installations can supply a larger share of Naperville's utility.

Naperville can build renewable assets right before the expiration of the deal and utilize them afterwards.

If implemented at a sufficient scale, solar energy can power a meaningful portion of Neighborville's energy.

These devices also help reduce long-term costs.

Virtual power plants help commercial facilities avoid demand surcharges, while solar generation has become one of the lowest cost sources of energy generation.

Naperville has an opportunity to make decisions today that will shape our community's energy future for decades.

I encourage the city council to continue evaluating multiple energy suppliers and local renewable investments so that when Naperville's contract expires, the city is prepared to transition to a cleaner, more diversified, and more resilient energy portfolio.

Thank you for your time.

Thank you, next speaker.

The next three speakers are John Schindler, Robert Jungles, and Joseph Huss.

My name is Jack Schindler, and I am here tonight to voice my strong support for renewed attention to historic preservation, as proposed to the council by Naperville Preservation Incorporated and recently reported in the local press.

I have four main reasons for my support.

First, I strongly believe that the city should appoint a full-time employee who devotes at least half of his or her time to coordinating matters of historic preservation.

Second, I believe it's time to revisit the original four goals of the Historic Preservation Commission, the group that reports directly to you.

In brief, we need to ask how we are doing with providing public education, with proactively identifying and protecting landmarks and historic districts, protecting the character of those districts, and supporting the property owners in them.

According to what I've read in the recent article, we have a lot of work to do.

Workshops on securing landmark status could be instituted as part of public education.

We need to proactively grow the list of our only six landmarks, too many, many more, following the report's suggestion of creating a hot list of 100 candidates.

My third reason has to do with the historic districts mentioned in the commission's original goals three and four.

In fact, we have only one such district.

We need to find ways to expand from the east side to the west and even add other selected neighborhoods.

Then we may be able to make coordinated city backed efforts to stop unnecessary teardowns, encourage renovation, provide a set of affordable smaller houses, while saving trees and light and green space, and demonstrate along the way the president that preservation means sustaining a high quality of life as well as encouraging economic development, as witnessed by the recent repurposing of the old Nichols Library.

What if, furthermore, in this very neighborhood?

The city could find legitimate and legal ways to fine the owners of an abandoned and infested house just a block north of my own to save a house with a heritage society plaque just a block south from imminent demolition and to reward the owners of a house just another block west for their recent beautiful renovation of an older house.

Fourth and finally, the time is right.

We are five years away from Neighborville's 200th anniversary, and in what better way to celebrate it, but with reports of works in progress in historic preservation.

And the centerpiece could well be the repurposing of the Bidelman furniture building.

In short, I urge you to review and support the proposal you have received and help the citizens of this city to more fully and fairly understand the benefits of historic preservation.

It's more, it seems to me, than a matter of time or not having enough money.

It's a matter of our priorities and collective will.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Next speaker.

The next speaker is Robert Jungles.

Hi, I'm Robert Jungles.

I'm a resident here of Naperville.

And I just went through the last two months of uh the city of Naperville doing construction on my block.

Uh the guys who reached paved the street and the guys who read the table, they were they did a great job.

But the Naperville Public Works guys and the concrete guys were ridiculously bad.

The public works guys showing up at 5 20 in the morning, waking up the whole neighborhood with their two big trucks.

That's not acceptable.

The uh guys coming through spray painting stuff in the neighborhood at six o'clock in the morning on a Saturday, call the police after I talked to the police chief last time I was here.

Police did nothing.

That's ridiculous.

Um, also the concrete guys, they tore out the same piece of concrete entering into our neighborhood that they replaced three years ago, replaced it with the same concrete, because you guys keep using inferior concrete, just like the guys pouring the stuff in this time.

You tore up my driveway instead of cutting up the concrete.

You tore up my driveway, pull the concrete sidewalk out in one piece.

That's ridiculous.

Why won't you tear up this the sidewalk that you're gonna throw away?

Instead, you destroyed my driveway.

So now my driveway looks piecemeal.

Why the street looks great.

Yeah, that's not really acceptable.

Um also the concrete guys watered down the concrete, which makes it not as strong as it would be otherwise, because concrete is basically a chemical reaction to get the full strength of it.

The guys watered it down, the concrete that they're supposed to use is supposed to be nice and thick, and they're supposed to have nice surface on it.

None of it.

They're sitting there trying to put a surface on it with a quarter to three-eighths of an inch of water covering the top of it.

That's ridiculous.

Uh, so the concrete guys are completely unprofessional.

They said they were going to give me search for the trucks for the concrete mixes, didn't do it.

Nothing.

Uh the concrete looks horrible.

You they pull it out, all kinds of voids on the sides of it.

It looks terrible.

Take a look when you go by any road construction.

All the concrete's perfectly fine.

So I I I don't even know if I want to replace my driveway because I think the concrete is going to fail probably in five years.

Uh, other complaint that I have is that uh they've city's done nothing to reduce the speeding down Royal St.

George.

I was passed today, right in front of the golf course at some going 60 miles an hour.

It's ridiculous.

And also the drug dealing going on at night at the at the at uh at the park at Nike Park.

It's ridiculous.

Saw two of them last week.

It's ridiculous.

I saw the police officer one time with an ATV sitting there hanging out with the uh the volleyball players, and then they go hide in a corner.

I haven't seen them since.

It's nice to see that there's bike police now going through the forest reserve.

I've heard they scared away some people, but haven't really arrested anybody.

I'd like to see people arrested.

It took them five, took the city five years to get rid of the drug dealer across the street from St.

Thomas.

How long is it gonna take to get rid of the ones out of the park?

Thank you.

Thank you.

Next speaker.

The next three speakers are Joseph Huss, Stephanie Jacks, and Rita Trionis.

Thank you, Linda.

Hi, I'm Joe Huss.

I'm a 27-year resident of Naperville, and I'm a volunteer with NEST, and I can only hope to do as good a job as the ACS speakers.

They did an awesome job.

Um Thursday night, my wife and I went downtown to see a show.

Um, this is what it looked like down there.

Uh the city was covered in smoke, a lot of people were in masks.

Um the smell was terrible, and you could actually kind of feel your eyes burning as you were down there.

When we came home, and we saw these messages from the park district that Centennial Beach had been closed, number of activities had been canceled, and that reminded me like back in 2023.

This is a map that showed the smoke that covered the country in 2023.

And you at the time we kind of heard, hey, this is a once-in-a-century kind of wildfire, and then it came back in 2025, and then again now in 2026.

And fortunately, NASA scientists have researched the topic, and they've connected the increase in extreme wildfire activity to human-caused wild uh to human-caused climate change.

As it's pretty simple, like as the climate changes, conditions that fuel dangerous fires become more common.

And in fact, NASA says that wildfires have doubled, and that human-caused climate change is the main reason.

And that's why the decisions that you all make are so important.

Uh, whether it's energy or transportation or buildings, when we make our decisions, what we're asking is to think about the greenhouse gas emissions that are being created as we're making the the different decisions on those.

Um in 2019, as the city council struggled with the environment, the city council unanimously voted to create a task force based on focused on the environment.

And at that point, they gave us the mission to inform and to advise city and residents on sustainability.

Uh so that's why we continue to show up because we don't want to have dangerous smoke days.

We don't want to have extreme heat.

We'd like to see our kids and our grandchildren be able to go outside and play just like we did.

We want a city where seniors can breathe safely and where Naperville remains a healthy, resilient community.

And I'm convinced that together we can build that community.

So thank you for your service.

Thank you.

Next speaker.

The next speaker is Stephanie Jackson.

Good evening.

Council uh and mayor.

Um I would like to direct your attention to the screen right now where you can see as I've parked on the side of the curb uh looking forward and slightly to the right is a stop sign on North Avenue headed west toward Washington Street at Loomis, where there is an actual four-way stop.

Uh I'm parked three houses away from the intersection.

Can anyone see if there is a stop sign there?

No.

Because there are trees, branches blocking the not only the stop sign, but I don't have the ability on the screen, but you can see there's a small stop sign uh indicating that there's a crosswalk there, and you can probably see the crosswalk in the photo.

Um, but there's no way to see the stop sign.

Somebody's going 25 miles an hour of legal speed limit down that street, and they don't see the stop sign until they are actually at the stop sign.

So the uh this tree trimming nightmare that we're all going through right now, um it is a real and live thing, and it will have consequences other than oh, I just need my tree trim.

Uh there are going to be lives lost and injuries had if the trees are not trimmed.

The second uh photo I want to show you is a snapshot of Google Maps from uh Bower, going north on Washington Street, to what I'm most interested in is where Iroquois cuts into uh Washington Street.

You'll see that uh back in 60s, late 70s, when Washington Street used to go pretty much north and south, they diverted Washington Street so that they could build uh part of what's now called Indian Hill West to the side, and they put the junior high in in like 71 or 67, I don't know.

But anyway, my daughter was in a inner uh a car accident at the corner of Iroquois and Washington on a Sunday morning, uh Sunday afternoon at like 12 o'clock, um, because she did not see that there was a stop sign coming up.

There is one barely visible light as I'm taking this picture uh from being in the road.

She was actually in the uh left hand northbound lane, which gave her less of a vision of the uh the stop sign.

But if you can see, and if you in your notes when you get this back to your information, you can see that there is a construction sign uh that is blocking the other two tur uh other two traffic signals that are hanging up on that crossbar.

There is no indication that there is an upcoming stop sign, a light signal.

Uh there is a hey, it's a school zone be careful sign, but there's nothing that says, hey, there's a stop sign coming up, kind of like I'd like to see something similar to what's at Plank and Naper, if possible.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Next speaker.

We have reached our 30 minutes, and we have two speakers remaining in public forum.

Okay, does council want to take a vote to allow the remaining two speakers to go now?

Okay.

Um I'll take a voice blow.

Is there a motion?

Council Kelly.

Mayor, I move to continue uh with public forum at this time to finish.

Councilman Halzar.

Second whole tower.

All those in favor sign aye.

Aye.

Opposed.

Okay.

We'll proceed and finish with the last two.

The next speaker is Rita Trionis, followed by Ted Boulard.

Good evening.

Regarding the June 3rd Planning and Zoning Commission hearing on Poulty's proposed Naperville Ridge development.

Tree data from approximately 11 acres, roughly 30% of the 32-acre parcel was omitted from the presentation and hearing documents.

The mature living trees on these 11 acres are not tagged, not inventoried, and not mapped.

This was never announced or acknowledged at the hearing.

Residents and representatives for Poulty attended and participated with incomplete information, which means our PCC voted on a set of incomplete information to advance this proposal.

With over 2,000 trees already counted on the property and approximately 850 planned for removal, how much higher is that number when the missing data is added?

Afterwards, residents flagged this omission and started asking questions.

We were met with this response from Poulti's attorney.

Quote, the city acknowledged and agreed that surveying the area would be impracticable.

When I asked who and under what the authority said this, I was met with silence.

Her response, Naperville's project manager and senior planner assigned to this project are both currently out of the office.

Upon their return, I will work with them to provide a response.

We still don't have an answer.

My neighbors and I have had conversations and meetings with some of the city council members and staff, and we still don't have answers.

There are also two suspected unmarked wetlands observed on the property.

In addition to the two already recognized, these have not been fully surveyed, nor were these areas included in the preliminary stormwater report, wetland determination data.

They're also in the 11-acre area with the missing tree data.

This is also where a majority of the duplexes are proposed to be built.

As we asked for answers and accountability were passed back and forth between DuPage stormwater and the city.

According to the soil data map, these unidentified areas have the same soil types as the existing wetlands.

We've observed similar vegetation and hydrologic features too.

The three criteria used to delineate wetlands.

Sample points and data from these two areas were not included in the report.

This deserves to be properly investigated.

As we turn to city staff and council, we still don't have answers.

We want to know one, how was this allowed to happen?

And two, what happens next?

The omission of this data is only for the benefit of the developer, at the detriment of the community.

Residents expect transparency and fairness and want to maintain faith in the systems put in place to protect our communities.

Trust and government is shaky right now.

It's starting to feel like the city is prioritizing developers over existing residents.

As of today, over 1,300 people have signed a petition against this development.

I hope the mayor, city council, and city staff will work with residents to address our concerns and support our needs as we go forward.

Thank you so much for your time.

Thank you, next speaker.

The final speaker in public forum is Ted Boulard.

Good evening, Mr.

Mayor, Council members, residents of Naperville.

I'm Ted Ballard with Nest.

In a Facebook post last weekend, the PUAB's leading IMEA advocate accused NEST of being dishonest.

He also accused NEST of repeating false narratives like Naperville burns 80% coal.

It's going to take more than three minutes, but I'd like to begin to set the record straight tonight.

One myth being shopped around is Naperville is closer to clean sources of energy than we are to Prairie State, so our energy is clean.

Fact page six, section two A of our current full requirements contract with IMEA requires Naperville, quote, to take and pay for all of the electric power and energy required for the operation of the members' electric utility during the term of this contract and utilized in its in the operation of its municipal electric system, unquote.

Greenhouse gases, we know are emitted when fossil fuels are burned to generate electricity, not when power and electricity is delivered by the grid.

Fact.

Under our current IMEA contract, our dollars pay for the coal-fired plants we own to generate electricity.

So how much energy and power comes from the IMEA's coal plants?

Fact.

Each year, each fiscal year, IMEA shares with the Clean Energy Alliance of Naperville the relative share from each source of generation.

From Clean's website, Clean EnergyNaperville.org.

Under Naperville IMEA Sources Electricity, IMEA reported that between 77 and 78 of its generation was from Prairie State and Trimble counties alone between 2022 and 2024.

This contribution dropped to 69% and 71% in fiscal year 2025 and 2026, respectively.

Clean suggests this drop in generation share is due to planned and unplanned outages by our coal plants.

Note these percentages do not include coal generation included in the short-term market purchases made by the IMEA.

Thank you very much for your time.

Thank you.

Our next item is City Council Public Forum as a reminder for the code.

Council members have three minutes to speak during public forum and speaking can speak up to two times.

I want to uh start by asking director Randolph to address the tree trimming concern that was brought forward.

Yeah, thank you, Mayor.

Uh, regarding specific.

We need to be a little closer to the microphone, sir.

We can't hear you.

Yes, uh, regarding specifically uh Mrs.

Jack's request about tree trimming at Washington.

Uh we did send a public works crew out.

Uh we trimmed a few trees, and then we also coordinated with Ted's transportation manager to ensure that the visibility of at least two signal heads meets MUTCD requirements, which it does.

So visibility of that signal is sufficient.

Um, regarding the stop sign uh and uh the branches that are in the way of that, our public works crews are currently working through uh a large amount of tree trimming requests, uh group by priority.

We have uh a bunch of hangers that we're also addressing.

So we will uh we will get to that request.

Okay, thank you.

Councilman Olzer.

Um thank you, Mayor.

Uh, just in the interest of time, um, while making initial comments, I was hoping that Mr.

Jerome could come back up and uh Ms.

Director LeCloche, I was hoping that you could also put Mr.

Doyle's um presentation back on the screen, and maybe he could come up as well.

Um in the meantime, while that's coming up and while those two speakers are coming down if they're still here.

Um I thought there were many good comments tonight um regarding historic preservation, the tree trimming that would was just addressed, um, concerns about development on 75th Street at our eastern border, and I just wanted to assure those speakers and everybody else I hear you.

Um I'm very much looking at these issues that just have limitations on the amount of time that we have.

Um, so first things first, Mr.

Jerome, if you could come up.

Um I just wanted to get clarification from you.

Um do you take issue broadly with the idea of us using license plate readers as a way of um preventing crime in our community?

Not at all.

Uh I think they're uh they have a they have a solid place in law enforcement.

My only concern is that by having the data from these license plate readers in the hands of a private company, we really lose control of who they share that with.

All right, and I'm um if I may ask a follow up.

Um I plan to ask staff about this, but um I'm I'm curious if in your research um there are models of holding, having the city hold the data, but still having the private contractor doing uh the license plate reading.

Well, there's okay, the uh sheriff in Dane County, uh Sheriff Barrett is quoted as saying that they're evaluating 16 different vendors, uh, alternatives to Flock, which allow local data storage options.

So this is really to address the problem that kind of got Flock in trouble in the first place.

So the city of Denver didn't want their data shared with certain entities, in particular border control, but they were sharing their data with the city of Loveland, and then Loveland in turn was sharing it with border patrol.

So essentially Denver's checks and balances were were meaningless when they shared it with a different municipality that that didn't have the same all right checks and balances.

So if Denver had their own system, which is what they're actually currently looking at, and actually they're looking at Axon and Motorola, um, they would couldn't get into their data without their permission, essentially.

And um, I saw that Chief Aries had correspondence with you.

I thought excellent job, Chief Carrier's.

Would fair to say um to the extent the city has um the ability to set its policy clearly with Flock, we've we've attempted to do that as a city.

I mean, is that a fair comment?

Oh, absolutely.

Yeah, the the protections that he described to me seem excellent to me.

They seem more than adequate.

Okay.

The only question is will they be enforced?

So no critique of of Chief Aries of the police department same here.

Um my one uh pitch I would throw out um, no need for a uh response from staff, but in maybe next year's budget cycle, like a few months before June.

If it's possible for the IT department, I'm looking at uh Director Wynne um and and uh city staff to start looking at potential other vendors out there to see if there's anyone that could address um the concerns here where maybe potentially we could store some of this data, you know, in our own systems, but still have the benefits of license plate readers.

So throw it out there.

I I knew somebody out of sort of a friend who who reported a you know pretty scary incident with a gun being pulled on Ogden Avenue, and they were able to find that person with very little data um, you know, using um camera technology.

So it it's it's not an issue with the technology, it's just an issue of the handling of data.

It's fair fair to say all of that.

Correct.

Okay.

Um thank you.

And then very quickly in my remaining time, I was hoping to just get Mr.

Doyle up for about 30 seconds, if I have any.

Yeah, you're you're actually over time, but if you can wrap it up in 30 seconds, okay.

I will.

Thank you, Mayor.

Uh, can you just hit to the slide where we're uh you have a graph up there?

Oh, yep, perfect.

Uh so just as a final comment here as we evaluate this issue.

I was not previously aware of the issues of deferred maintenance costs, um, but those are significant.

So just real quick, this is not deferred maintenance uh RM seem to be okay.

This is specifically CapEx.

Okay, thank you.

Deferred CapEx.

Um I would just flag and hope that in the future we can have a discussion about this because um I think you're right.

That's not an apples to apples comparison if if we're being asked to sign a an extension when there's a bunch of expenses coming up.

Thank you, Mayor.

Thank you.

Councilman McRoom.

Uh thank you, Mayor.

Um Director Munch, is this your last city council meeting?

Yes, it is.

All right.

I just want to let you know I'm still mad at you for leaving us for Wheaton.

And uh kidding.

No, I I just um it's been great working with you.

I think you've been excellent.

Um huge loss for the city, huge gain for Wheaton.

Um, and uh yeah, just farewell and good luck, congratulations, happy for you.

Um don't lose my phone number.

I'll probably still call you for advice.

So but uh good luck.

Um the other uh topic that I wanted to talk about uh with staff was there's been a lot of talk about uh city task forces, and there was a memo that council received internally back in June.

Uh there was a review of of City Task Force.

I think Marcy created uh sent the report.

Um I the public audit, I think it created some confusion.

Um my first uh run through the memo uh wasn't entirely clear to me what the the recommendation was explicitly um but having conversations, rereading it again, um you know I guess I'm looking for clarity.

It task forces should receive the same services as other nonprofit community organizations.

Um it sounds like, and I guess to me, and I agree I agree with the um I guess the the some of the commentary in the beginning of the memo that maybe we shouldn't be in the business of uh uh endorsing private organizations or elevating certain voices over than others.

Um but uh as far as moving forward, and I didn't read this clearly, but I think um we are eliminating task forces, and that's the um the recommendation, although it's not explicit in there.

Uh to me, the credibility that a task force receives, a city city task force receives is the fact that there's a task force link on our website.

I mean, that's really it.

You know, we are uh residents are coming to our website, they're going to the task force tab and they're seeing listed uh task force, and that's what gives them the kind of elevated, they can go out in the community and say that they're city recognized organization.

So is that what this means?

Are we gonna remove the tab?

Are we not gonna have task forces listed on the website anymore?

City Attorney DeSanto.

Uh thanks for the opportunity to address this.

I understand that it's confusing, it's been a little bit confusing for staff as well as we've if we try to work through it.

Um if I can just talk about for a second.

Um there is no definition of task force in the Naperville Municipal Code.

There's no formal process for designating or recognizing official city task forces, and that's intentional.

Uh the city council's authority under the code is to create boards and commissions, which are subject to the open meetings act, and the have residency requirements that are appointed by the mayor and approved by the council.

Um what we talk about is task forces, the senior task force, the accessibil accessibility community task force, and and nest are informal, privately organized and led entities.

They operate independently from the city.

We don't appoint the members or set agendas or do anything along those lines and not subject to the open meetings act.

And I would say over time with good intentions, the city has publicly recognized and encouraged these groups.

Um staff listed them on the website in some instance provided limited uh administrative support.

As additional organizations have inquired about becoming official city task forces, staff reviewed the practice and determined that there's no ordinance or policy framework for that type of designation, and that providing public resources or putting them on the website for private groups uh raises questions, legitimate questions about equity and endorsement and appropriate use of city resources.

And so consistent with that review, staff has communicated to the three existing uh groups that we're going to be removing their pages from the city website effective uh October 1st, 2026, and ending any limited support that may be provided.

Uh the conversations with the task forces have been really constructive, they've been excellent, they've come to the table, they've listened, they've expressed understanding, and the goal is to simply treat those private entities the same way that we would treat any other nonprofit or community organizations.

So, in short, it's a situation I think where there was well intention of recognition that gradually uh got a little bit closer with these informal private groups, and and we are uh in the process of kind of uh putting best practices in and in writing uh that approach.

Does that answer your question?

Thank you.

Yeah, and and I'll just put in my own words.

I think what I'm hearing is of course they started with good intentions, but city has done the review and determined that it's no longer appropriate for private organizations to have a city affiliation or an implicit endorsement.

I get that.

Um for all intents and purposes, we're ending city task forces.

Um I don't know why we're waiting until October.

So if that's the case, I don't think it's very difficult to delete a task force button on the website and inform these task force groups that you can no longer go into the community and put yourself out as a city affiliate.

So if that's a decision that we've made, it's no longer appropriate.

Well, it's no longer appropriate right now.

I would remove the task force link.

Uh the the minor administrative things that you're doing for senior disability, obviously do those things, you can do those things, but I don't know why we wouldn't end it right now.

Uh so I don't know what we would have to do to make that happen.

I don't know if there's a motion or something along those lines, but uh if that's not the case, if we're giving this kind of grace period until October, then I don't know why I wouldn't be proposing a new business, another uh a new task force that has been asking to to be uh designated as a task force.

Okay, Mr.

Krieger.

Uh sure.

Um thanks, Mayor, and thanks for the comments.

Um, you know, the uh the reason it hasn't been done uh now is simply out of practicality.

We're in the process.

Um we are gonna have a uh new website provider and are gonna be um uh redoing the website completely.

Um you know, if there were uh a show of hands to make those changes now, um we could we could certainly do that before the October 1st timeline.

Would it be appropriate to do that under new business?

It's not a concern because we can't really get staff can receive these reports that that really would that's not gonna take um it's not gonna take a vote of city council.

We'll we'll just get a pull down.

Okay, councilman Sayed.

Thank you, Madam.

Um Mr.

Robert, can I have you on the mic, please?

Mr.

Robert?

Robert, yeah.

Can I have you on the mic, please?

Yeah.

Councilman, could you get a little close to your microphone?

Sir, thank you.

Right.

Okay.

So thank you so much for bringing all your concerns on issues to council today.

Definitely at five o'clock, somebody coming on, you know, starting their work.

It will impact me, my family, everybody.

And I agree what had happened to you and on a weekend at six o'clock, somebody coming on starting their book.

Definitely, you know, sometimes you need peace on a weekend.

Well, I I didn't even tell you that the city trucks hit a tree that I was forced to park on the street, and the tree fell on my car and did six thousand dollars worth of damage.

Yeah, it's it's I'm so sorry about all this thing.

So it's can I have uh city stuff added this issue so that you know especially the five o'clock, six o'clock, time me and other things.

Yeah.

Director Randolph, do you want to uh take that?

And then just uh to clarify, Mr.

Jungles.

Did you say it was the city crew that was doing the concrete work on the well that they hi they hired a con tractor?

They don't do that.

I my impression is from talking to them is they don't do it themselves, they hire somebody out.

And the crew clearly had no experience.

I I've worked with concrete crews.

I grew up my dad was in the trades, made me learn all the trades, and I've talked to countless concrete contracts.

These guys didn't know what they were doing.

They're inexperienced, and then you even go and take a look at the sidewalks in my neighborhood, any of them.

The sidewalk squares are five feet square.

These are five feet, six feet, seven feet.

It's ridiculous.

It doesn't look professional.

And why would you put white concrete in when everything else is gray?

Gray concrete's available.

Why wouldn't you have it match?

Do you I don't know.

My feeling is if my car's damaged, I'm not having it replaced with white panels.

I'm gonna have it match the same thing as the rest of the car.

Why wouldn't you just match it?

It makes it look better.

Why have everything look like it's a patched?

It looks terrible.

It's all over the city.

And then the concrete that they've been put in all over the city the last 10-15 years, it's all cracking and falling apart.

It's supposed to last 5200 years.

Think about it.

If you're replacing it every three to ten years versus every 50 years, that saved the city a lot of money.

So, Director Radolf, what I might suggest is is uh just a initial brief response and then maybe sidebar with Mr.

Jungles out in the hall and and make sure we get all the specifics regarding his particular situation so you can follow up.

Okay.

Yes, absolutely.

Um there's a few different issues there.

One was timeliness of the construction crew, uh, quality of work, and then some of the choices of details.

Uh you know, I I would be happy to look into all of those for you depending on the the timing of the construction.

Uh city crews are not subject to uh the the same start of construction time uh as private contractors are in the city ordinance, but but a lot of a lot of contractors will you drop material off or as long as the trucks aren't running and making noise, you know, ambient noise.

That that is a common construction practice, but the details are important in this case, and I'm happy to get those details.

Um as far as the the color of concrete, we don't really choose that.

We choose concrete based on other properties, strength and air entrapment and um and slump, but but we don't have a choice of color.

All concrete will eventually over time wash out to be the same.

And then the other details, I'll work with the gentleman.

Okay.

Thank you.

All right, thanks.

Mr.

Randolph is gonna sidebar with you outside there, Mr.

Jungles.

Okay.

Seeing no other public comment, I do have one last comment, and that is to uh caveat off of what Councilman McBroom indicated earlier.

This is Director Munch's last meeting here as finance director for the city of Naperville.

He has served um very professionally over the last several years in that capacity, uh first starting as a deputy finance director for the city and uh previously serving as a deputy city manager in the Kelb.

While we are sad to see him go, we are also very pleased to announce that he is going to be the new city manager for the city of Wheaton to the north.

Uh we think he'll do great over there, and we wish you all the great success that uh you've earned to take on that position.

So congratulations, Director Munch.

Thank you.

And I will allow applause during this particular moment.

Our next item is a consent agenda.

May I have a motion to use the omnibus method to approve the consent agenda?

Councilman Kelly.

I move to use the omnibus method to approve the consent agenda.

Is there a second?

Councilman Holzer.

Second hold tower.

All those in favor sign aye.

Opposed.

Motion passes.

Councilman White.

Was that a EAS?

Aye.

Okay.

I have an aye.

We got a 9-0.

Thank you.

May I have a motion to approve the consent agenda, removing I 16 and I 19.

Councilman Kelly.

Thank you, Mayor Mayor.

I move to approve the consent agenda with removing items I 16 and I-19.

Councilman Hulzer.

Second whole tower.

Mr.

Schatz, please read the consent agenda removing I-16 and I-19.

Approval of the June cash disbursements for a total of 42 million 355,124.01 cent.

Approval of the regular city council meeting minutes of June 16th, 2026.

Approval of the city council meeting schedule for August, September, and October 2026.

Approval of the appointments of Dr.

Kathleen Brazino and Igioma Deramola to the advisory commission on disabilities.

Casey Krepfell to the Building Review Board and Kuhn Wing to the Transportation Advisory Board.

Approval of the award of the cooperative procurement for switch refresh for DPW Water Service Center and SPB to Sentinel Technologies for an amount not to exceed 249,893 and 43 cents for a three-year term.

Approval of the award of bid for curbside leaf collection services to Class 1 professionals in Steve Piper and Sons for an amount not to exceed 280,440 for a two-year term.

Approval of the award of the dock procurement for Century Memorial Chapel Roof Replacement to McDonald's demolition for an amount not to exceed 288,249 and 47 cents.

Approval of the award of the single source procurement for census water meters to Corps in Maine for an amount not to exceed 738,276 for a six-month term.

Approval of the award of the cooperative procurement for pneumatic forklift replacement to Atlas Toyota material handling for an amount not to exceed 287,399.

Accepting the record of emergency procurement for June 2026 storm restoration and cleanup to various vendors for an amount not to exceed $627,549.28 cents.

Approval of the award of the bid for fire station 7 generator replacement to power link electric for an amount not to exceed 297,637 plus a 5% contingency.

Approval of the award of change order number two to the purchase order for third-party plan review services to Safe Belt, Illinois for an amount not to exceed $50,000.

Approval of the award of change order number one to the contract for 2026 pavement marking to maintenance coding company for an amount not to exceed $30,000 five hundred and forty-four dollars and ninety cents.

Approval of the award of change order number one to option year number one to the contract for heating, ventilation, ventilation, air conditioning, and dehumidification services to beer reheating and cooling for an amount not to exceed 129,970 dollars.

Passing the ordinance approving a conditional use in the B-2 district for an amusement establishment for the property located at 2603 Aurora Avenue Suite 19, Taste Buds Kitchen.

Passing the ordinance to establish temporary traffic controls and issuing a special event and amplifier permits for the 2026 last sling and labor day parade on Friday, September 4th through Monday, September 7th, 2026.

And passing the ordinance to establish temporary traffic controls and issuing a special event permit for the 2026 Riverwalk Fine Art Fair scheduled on September 19th and 20th, 2026.

We have a motion and a second to approve the consent agenda as red roll call.

Morley?

Yes.

Gibson.

I Coltour?

I.

Jane.

Aye.

Kelly.

I McRoom.

I cyan.

I'm not sure.

Motion passes 90 I-16.

Item I 16 is recommendation to conduct the first reading on an ordinance amending section 10-4-7, beekeeping of the Naperville Municipal Code.

There are two written comments that were posted to the website, and we have five speakers.

Call the first workies.

The first speaker is Chonggy, followed by Robert Fiesler and followed by Janine Yi.

All right, good evening.

Uh my name is Chang Yi, member of Naperville, Southern Area, not too far from actually Councilmember Sayed.

Um here to talk about beekeeping.

Um I'm here to address the uh amendments uh to the beekeeping ordinance.

I understand that support understand and support the city's responsibility to public safety.

However, effective policies should be based on sound science, demonstrated need and proven results.

Several of the proposed changes are based on assumptions about honeybee behavior that are not supported by science.

Bees are chainingly forage up to two to three miles from their hive and will cross property lines regardless of setbacks or fences.

Increasing the required setback from five feet to 15 feet may sound reasonable, but it will not be it will not uh be meaningfully changed where the bees fly or forage.

The proposal does not identify demonstrated problem that requires these additional restrictions.

The SAF memo provides no data showing the current ordinance as results resulted in significant public safety concerns, pattern of complaints or enforcement uh challenges.

Before expanding regulations, the city should be able to clearly define or identify the problem those regulations are intended to address.

The proposed amendments do not demonstrate how the new requirements will achieve any goals.

The ordinance will require larger setbacks, mandatory flyaway barriers, and certified certified mail notifications to neighbors, neighboring property owners.

Yet no evidence has been presented showing that these measures will reduce new nuisance complaints or improve safety.

Effective regulations should be tied to measured outcomes, not assumptions.

Finally, I'd like to offer a uh personal perspective.

As a combat veteran, beekeeping is more of a hobby to is not is not is more than a hobby to me.

It provides purpose, responsibility, and connection to both nature and the community.

Um independent VA research has shown shown improvements in anxiety, depression, overall well-being, loneliness amongst veterans participating in therapeutic beekeeping programs.

For many veterans and first responders, beekeeping is not simply keeping bees, it's about a pathway to healing, service, and community engagement.

In short, these amendments uh are not supported by science, are not justified by demonstrated need, and have not been shown to achieve their intended outcomes.

Um, I respectfully ask the council to reject these amendments and instead focus on education, responsible hive management, and collaboration with local beekeepers.

Thank you for time.

Thank you.

Next speaker.

The next speaker is Robert Fiesler.

Let me see the next slide.

Expanded.

Of course.

Thank you.

Uh before starting my time, I'd just like to point out that I've left a uh number of small jars of honey for anyone on the dais and anyone in this room who would like one before they run out.

Uh good evening, Mayor and Council.

I'm Robert Fiesler, F-I-E-S-E-L-E-R.

I live at 527 Delkirk Court, D E L K I R in Naperville.

I served on the council for two terms, and I retired in 2015.

I've been a Naperville beekeeper for the past 18 years with one garden hive nestled among evergreens and shrubs in a quaint corner of my backyard.

I do appreciate the staff's work in reviewing the council's current beekeeping ordinance.

And I'm suggesting three revisions to the staff's proposal that balance neighborhood safety and compatibility while allowing flexibility to achieve the same results.

First, the current five-foot backyard setback shouldn't be raised to 15 feet so sudden.

The five-foot setback has been in place for many years, long before I started beekeeping.

So here's a question.

Has our experience with a five-foot setback resulted in enough situations where a larger setback should have been required.

In 2016, the same 15-foot setback proposal was reduced back to five feet after considering the evidence.

Second, regarding the new fencing requirements, the ordinance should recognize mature vegetation and other natural materials as barriers, uh, acceptable barriers to constructing a six-foot flyaway fence that requires a separate city permit.

The objective is to direct bees upward as they leave the hive.

Then shrubbery and other natural barriers accomplish this same result and often screen hives more effectively than moving them farther into the backyard where they'd be out in the open.

And I will show you where it would happen.

Yeah.

Okay.

There's my current hive.

There's where it would now be with a fence around it, and there's my neighbor's house.

Third, I recommend replacing uh certified mail notification with simpler and equally effective methods such as hand delivery, regular mail, or email.

The notification here is intended to inform the neighbors and not to obtain legal proof of delivery or service.

Finally, I've submitted a Freedom of Information Act request to the Illinois Department of Agriculture for the number of registered hives, complaints, inspections, investigations, and enforcement actions involving Naperville beekeepers.

I'm not asking council to postpone work on this uh item definitely while waiting for that data.

I'm simply asking that the any information received from the FOIA request be considered before the ordinance's final approval.

Also, if the council's a memorable, I can provide so uh I can provide suggested language for these suggested language for these revisions.

Thank you, Mr.

Fiesler.

Thank you for your time and consideration.

I'll ask for any questions then.

We'll do that later on.

Next speaker.

The next three speakers are Janine Yi, Daryl Hanson, and Shimone Chupin.

Council people, first of all, I want to thank you for giving me time to speak on this matter.

My husband and I are local beekeepers on our third year of beekeeping.

With our four children, we've enjoyed this hobby so much that we've created a small business.

We have just learned about this proposal a few days ago through our beekeeper association.

I honestly have only seen one councilwoman ask for any public feedback in this matter.

This brings me to my primary concern.

I am not sure if there have been a number of different residents complaining about this matter, or only the single complaint that was brought here in June.

And in a month's time, a proposal was put together making sweeping changes on local beekeeping practices in Naperville without much, if any, input from local beekeepers or the public.

This is important because this input would help streamline the proposed amendments.

One of the proposed amendments, which would greatly impact us personally, is moving the setback from five feet to 15 feet.

When a hive is placed in a lot, many considerations must be made.

We do not have that large of a water source, and our bees would end up in their pool.

We have talked to our neighbors multiple times since, and the bees have never bothered them.

To throw out a little fact here, honey bees will forage up to three miles for pollen.

Ten feet will not solve the problem of bees in a neighboring yard.

But what it will do is eliminate logical placement of hives.

On a bit of a different note, I have seen comments about honey bees possibly overtaking our native bees, specifically the species of bumblebees who are endangered.

The two largest threats to these native bumblebees are actually a parasite that are spread by commercial bumblebees, not honey bees, and the destruction of these bumblebees' native habitats.

In areas that have a reasonable amount of native habitats, studies do not conclusively show that small-scale honey bee operations impact native pollinators at all.

I personally believe that all pollinators are important, and we do own our own native pollinator garden.

That being said, the impact of pesticides and the pursuit of the perfect green lawn have far greater impact on our native pollinators than the backyard honey bees ever will.

Honeybees pollinate roughly a third of human food supplies.

Last winter was detrimental to the honey bees.

Over 50% of hobbyist hives and over 60% of commercial hives were lost.

Honeybees are vital to our food supplies and they are dying.

City council, local beekeepers, and the public should come together to determine the extent of this local complaint and to reach a more reasonable solution.

I urge the council to thoroughly consider these proposals, which will greatly impact beekeepers in our areas.

Thank you for your time.

Thank you.

Next speaker.

The next speaker is Darrell Hanton.

Good evening.

My name is Darrell Hanson, and I live in downtown Naperville and have been a resident for 21 years.

I was here last month to bring light to the severe impact urban beekeeping is having on our neighborhood.

And I want to thank you for reviewing the issue so quickly.

Currently, the city ordinance requires hive to place be placed five feet from the property line.

Adjusting the setback to 15 or 20 feet, I agree with the others will not fix the problem.

Bees do not respect property lines, fences, or hedges.

On our standard city lots in downtown Naperville, where we live is just east of North Central College.

There's tens of thousands of bees.

My next door neighbor has three hives.

At one time he had five.

When we called on the city, he dropped the five into three.

The stacks are over my head on one of these.

This isn't an isolated complaint.

I've gathered 26 signatures from the households that are immediately in immediate proximity, three homes to the north, three homes to the south, and the homes directly across the street.

Among our neighbors, two households carry epipens for bee-sting allergies.

Another home has family members that are 90 years plus who cannot take the risk and are not going out on their patios right now.

I realize animals aren't humans, but we have a dog that every day forages on the ground, and almost every week since I've been here, the dog has been stung or he's eating the bees on the ground.

When dog was the dog absorbs that much venom, it gets violently ill.

We have laws protecting animals from poison, yet this environment is indirectly poisoning our pet.

Contractors, landscapers, and soon-to-be roofers have all voiced safety concerns about working on our home.

To give you an idea, and you think about distance, I I have nothing against people who keep bees, but keeping bees in downtown Naperville on these small compact lots.

If I think about the restaurants in the downtown, if you go to Rosebud and you sit on that patio within 10 feet of Rosebud is Chipotle, if I dropped a beehive with 20 to 30,000 bees on the doorstep of Jipoli, anybody who's entering, anybody who's sitting on that patio is gonna get swarmed with the bees.

It's it's they're not they're not confined, and I get that.

Um we have to have some common sense about it.

Again, I don't I don't have any objections to people keeping the bees maybe in southern Naperville where there's bigger lots, but not in the downtown.

Um I understand that the council's hesitation to restrict juristic to hobby for everyone because of one situation.

But beekeeping belongs on a farm or in rural lots, not in a high density residential downtown neighborhood.

Um, thank you.

Next speaker.

The final speaker on this item is Simone Chupin.

Good evening, Mayor, members of the city council.

My name is Simone Chopin.

I'm a Neighborville resident, an experienced beekeeper, and I serve on the board of the Fox Valley Beekeepers Association.

I'm speaking only for myself today, and currently do not keep hives at my neighborville home, but I do manage bees in other areas.

I think we all want the same outcome.

Neighbors should feel safe, bees should be well cared for, and responsible beekeeping should continue in Naperville.

Beekeeping is not an unregulated activity.

Illinois requires colonies to be registered and provides inspections focused on diseases, pests, and colony health.

Nepalville's current ordinance builds on that framework by saying where hives may be kept, keeping them out front out of front yards, setting distances from property lines and public paths, and limiting the number of hives based on lot size.

Together, these are meaningful common sense rules.

Beekeeping takes time, education, work, and money.

Responsible beekeepers have every incentive to keep their colonies healthy, manageable, and from creating problems for their neighbors.

Before changing the ordinance, we should ask two simple questions.

What problem are we trying to solve?

And what evidence shows the current ordinance is not achieving the outcome we want.

The staff report does not tell us what has happened under the current ordinance.

It does not provide Napal's complaint citation or enforcement history.

Without that information, we cannot tell whether the current rules have failed or which proposed changes would address that failure.

Council considered several of these same concepts in 2016 before adopting the current ordinance.

Providing water is sound beekeeping practice, and I'm not objecting to it.

But the larger question is whether each new requirement solves a documented local problem, especially when a 15-foot setback, a mandatory solid fence, signage, certified neighbor notice, and other requirements are stacked together.

There is more than one way to achieve safety.

Depending on the property, thoughtful height placement, water, a fence, a hedge, shrubs, or a combination can reduce contact between bees and people.

The Illinois Safeers Association guidance recognizes both fencing and dense vegetation as effective options.

The city should set a clear safety outcome and allow responsible beekeepers to use an effective method that fits the property.

Before changing a 10-year-old ordinance, please provide Napolus actual complaint enforcement history, identified what has not worked, and explained how each new requirement would solve that problem.

Unless that evidence shows the current ordinance is no longer achieving the outcome we all want.

I respectfully ask you to leave it in place.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Any other speakers?

That was the final speaker on this item.

Okay, members of council, any questions?

This is gonna be the first reading, so it will return on the agenda at our meeting in on August 18th.

Councilman Halzauer.

Um Thank you, Mayor.

So I found a l all of the presentations compelling.

Um to include um the presentation of um Mr.

I believe it was Mr.

Hans who actually brought brought it up in the first place to say that maybe these changes wouldn't actually uh affect quality of life at all, which is concerning that we would make a legislative change like that.

Um I really don't want to rush a piece of legislation without kind of understanding what it would do.

Um I do think there's probably some things that could be improved here.

Um by the way, I forgot to mention it, but thank you for your service.

Um, Mr.

Ye.

Um fellow parent of four kids, I understand what the two of you are going through.

That's a lot.

Um, but glad you're doing beekeeping.

Um, things that are swirling in around in my mind as I I hear you is like you went to your neighbors, you did the right thing.

You know, perhaps we have SCA neighbors in the audience, you know, perhaps there are parts of the ordinance that say if the neighbors consent, you know, we're fine with that.

Um perhaps we allow, you know, bushes as barriers, if that's what the experts are saying work just as well as fence barriers.

Um you know, so uh I guess what I would say is I'm kind of inclined to give this a little more time to breathe, and I'm wondering if there's a way that uh the um you know the people who are interested parties could talk to staff, get some of their suggestions there.

I don't think we're gonna I certainly I'm not gonna do a good job of amending this from the dais, not having the kind of experience you all do.

Um, but that's kind of what I'm hearing.

Thank you, Mayor.

Councilman Wilson.

Thank you, Mayor.

Uh Mr.

Kruger, do you can you remind me who uh actually visited the site of uh Mr.

Hanson's neighbor?

Uh sure.

Uh we had uh one member of code enforcement, I think it was Mark Wilson, and then one representative from the Illinois Department of Agriculture, and I cannot remember his name.

Yeah, but do you recall if they determine if the the issue was honey bees like stinging or or was another bee species, I suppose you would my understanding of that, and Director Louden can correct me if I'm wrong, is um they inspected uh the location simply to see if it complied with uh the Illinois Department of Agricultural requirements, and my understanding was that it did.

Got it.

Um I know uh there's a uh lady in the audience, Gina Carr, who I get honey from was a uh beekeeper as well, so I was gonna just had a side conversation with her about this.

Um she's been a beekeeper for seven years.

Um also uh I'm sure uh she'd I I shouldn't uh I'm guessing she would be open to speaking with uh various members of council, but um she also agrees with the registration um counts uh idea that uh the where you would register the bees with.

Um that being said, explaining the situation to her from Mr.

Hanson's um original speech, uh she it didn't sound like typical, and I'm I'm not a beekeeper, but typical honey bee uh behavior.

Um but um yeah, the uh just I I guess uh it sounds like Mr.

Hanson also would say that the um changes to the ordinance uh wouldn't really affect anything.

And then um again from um speaking to Ms.

Carf that uh Mrs.

Carf that we'd also ought to consider the negative implications.

Um just again from talking to her.

She also uh gives presentations on beekeeping and honey bees to uh Boy Scouts, or will be consulted from others in the neighborhood about potential uh bee issues that neighbors are having too.

So we're we're like proposed changes to the ordinance may negatively affect affect um beekeepers that live in the neighbor bill, and we may uh um not get those uh the educational or uh uh helpful services, I guess you could say that they're already providing to to the to the city or residents.

So um let's my two sons here.

Thank you.

Councilman McBroom.

Thank you, Mayor.

Uh I'll echo a lot of what uh Councilman Holtzhour said.

I'm not ready to do anything right now on this, kind of let it uh sit, get some more information.

Um this is one of those hard things in local government where you're like you listen to one side and they make a whole lot of sense and you listen the opposite and like well they make a lot of sense too.

Uh Mr.

Hanson, I talked to you on the phone.

I mean, it it sounds like it, it sounds like a nightmare, and I believe you.

Um, but my neighbor Bob Fiesler, I also know him.

I've been to his house.

I've stood next right next to his bee.

What do you call it?

A bee house?

I don't know.

Hi.

I don't know this stuff.

Great honey though.

Uh and uh so if there's some kind of comp I I don't I don't want to uh support uh an ordinance that we find out doesn't have any impact and also uh takes a hobby away from people.

Um and and I think there's a big community that does this, right?

You guys kind of all know each other and um and it it sounds like a great hobby.

Um something that Councilman Holzauer said is uh getting uh agreement from your adjacent neighbors.

I don't think that's in there, but I mean that would that would be a great one.

You know, you're you're gonna put a beehive in your yard, you need to get signed off on your adjacent neighbors, um, something like that.

It sounds like the 15-foot step back would be kind of a a burden for some properties.

So anyway, I'm listening.

Um I'm kind of seeing both sides, and uh, you know, well, we'll just gather some feedback and hopefully come up with something that um everybody can be okay with.

Councilman Sayed.

Thank you, Mayor.

So thank you to all the speakers.

And uh after hearing to your consents, Ms.

Hansen, definitely in downtown Nipperville is a different situation, and uh situation at the south side of Naperville is different.

They have backyard, large backyard and all those things.

I'm one of the neighbors of them.

And uh they in fact brought their own neighbor who's lives next to them.

So the thank you for that.

But uh I agree with uh councilman uh Hosework.

What he said is I even I don't want to rush into this.

And as uh Councilman Josh said, it is a hobby, yes.

It's a hobby.

Some people have a passion.

So uh people who have a passion for 10 years, 15 years, 30 years, why do we want to, you know, kill that passion?

So can we work on a waiver form or waiver from the neighbor if they want to, you know, help support to continue their passion and hobby.

I think that would be a good one.

And we can work to uh come to a central uh destinional position where we can have this uh uh hubby as well as we yeah, not disturbing the neighbors, so something like this.

Thank you.

Councilwoman Gibson.

Thank you, Mayor.

Thank you, everybody who for um came out to speak tonight.

I'm a little unclear about the direction I'm hearing from council if we're directing staff to come back with changes and then this will have been the first reading and we'd vote on it.

Um so um I guess Mr.

Krieger, how do you see moving forward?

Mr.

Krieger, you want to uh thank you, Mr.

Mayor.

Um uh we will take um council direction not individually, but if there is a majority of counsel who says, hey, you know what, I would like to um address this one, and if there is support for that, um we could modify what would be brought back.

But um we will really uh you know we uh this was uh requested by council, so we will follow council's lead on it.

Absolutely.

Thank you.

All right, so then I will give some of my feedback on individual items out of um concern that it comes back, and this is the first reading for a final ordinance, but my preference would be not to have this come back.

I'd be much more interested to know um this is an ordinance we've had on the table for 10 years, and I hear the residents' concern.

I'm hoping we can address those issues without a whole new amendment to the ordinance.

I'd I'd be interested in if we have a 10-year history of complaints um from neighbors of beekeepers, and if there's a way to remedy the residents' concern, maybe in through the state that registers the hives.

Um I also one of the things that stood out to me in the amended ordinance was the neighbor notification.

Um registered mail with return receipt for something that neighbors, even if they object, can't stop their neighbor from doing what they're allowed to do on their private property.

Um seems cumbersome.

I know we have in their signage for beekeepers.

Um it's not really fleshed out in the ordinance, but if there's a signage requirement, I'm not sure that um we need certified mail or even any formal neighbor notification um to do something that in an ordinance allows you to do on your own private property.

Um then and again, if we do bring this back, uh Mr.

Fiesler's comments about allowing natural barriers like trees or wooded area to substitute for flyaway wall, I think was a valid um comment.

But again, those are all for the record.

If this is brought back, I would prefer to leave the ordinance as is.

Thank you.

Councilman White, I understand you you have a comment.

Um yes, I do um Mayor, uh I have uh just a couple of things.

Great comments by um members of the dais.

Uh, appreciate the uh comments by the members of the community as well.

Um my time on the council, I I've I've not heard of any complaints on bees.

And I don't know if anyone from staff, I mean, everything doesn't come to us, but uh how often do we get complaints on this?

If anyone can answer that.

It was a number of complaints that we've received on on bees that you're aware of through court enforcement.

Uh I I know for a fact that we've had one recorded co-case uh since the beginning of 2025.

Um and it related to 431 um South uh Columbia that we're talking about, and then um anecdotally and talking with our co-team, we believe in the past decade we maybe had two others.

Okay.

So it doesn't sound like a lot.

Um, but um, you know, uh value every commun every community member's uh safety.

That that's our I think our number one job is elected officials and ensure safety of the community.

Um but I also recognize the fact that we've we've been doing this for a while and it seems to have been pretty successful.

Uh um I'd like to get feedback on the folks that went out and then looked at the particular house that Mr.

Hansen was um had the complaint on and find out if they're doing anything different than what is supposed to be done as far as having uh a bee hiding in your backyard.

Um I think also that uh I look at this as an opportunity.

Uh we this may be an opportunity to maybe take a look at let's say, for example, the house next to Mr.

Hanson's and maybe implement a couple of changes to see if it makes any differences.

Maybe uh does a 10-foot versus a 15 foot make a difference.

Do we um have a particular uh fly law and what's the the height of it?

We we have an opportunity to try a few things um and it's an experiment and find out what uh what might be a good way to do some do this.

I think another thing we should consider definitely is we have a lot of and what I see is a lot of expertise in the room, Mr.

Fiesler, uh some others as well that can work with staff.

Uh so yet you can use their expertise as far as implementing um particular things if we implement anything at all.

Um things to consider.

I mean, this is happening downtown versus other areas, maybe within the community, maybe uh there's a standard for downtown if uh if if we come up with some something with the experts here uh that may determine that might be something we need to consider.

Um so uh those are my comments.

Uh I don't want to jump to anything right now, but let's let's use this as a way to kind of check some things and see if we can come up with the best practice for the community.

Thank you.

Thanks, Councilman.

I guess I'll have the the final comment on this particular item.

Um, just uh a few observations.

The the reference material that we're using from the Illinois State Beekeepers Association, um it was published back in 2013, so it's relatively old, but our current ordinance um does not have the best management practices that the Illinois State Beekeepers Association identifies in place.

So our current ordinance is technically in conflict with more stringent best management practices by the actual association that advocates for amateur beekeeping in in the uh state.

So I I think there is some concern about I would have about maybe getting an updated best management practice from whatever whatever associations are out there that that do this stuff and see if we can get some additional data that might be a little bit more uh update that we can use.

The other thing I would say is there's 16 million people approximately in the United States that are um allergic and have animal access to be sings, and I I think anybody who's faced that stuff.

I have a family member, and she is um uh one of those people.

So when you have that type of allergy, you avoid at all costs being near bees.

And if my neighbor was doing what I saw in the Hanson's situation where there's this very dramatic uh photos and videos of the bees crossing over into their property uh near the windows, I can tell you that I would probably not be living next door anymore.

So that's something that we have to be cognizant of when we have things and hobbies that are affecting the welfare of our neighbors, we have to be thinking about how that affects other people.

So whatever we come up with as we continue this discussion, I hope we will keep those things in mind, because I would truly believe that if Mr.

Hanson today were to try to sell his home, the home value will be not the same as a home that would not have this next door to it at this particular time, simply because you're ruling out a certain number of people who would potentially be interested buyers, including a real estate broker who might not be willing to show or take on the client because of that situation.

So I think there's there's more discussion to be had.

It sounds like council's waiting for more information, but um it's it's uh I I don't want to make uh any suggestion that this is not a serious issue, and I think this council really needs to get all the information so we can provide some real accurate and up-to-date feedback.

So at this point, Mr.

Krieger.

You know what?

Um uh we will we will for the information that's been requested, we will have the ability to get some of that uh before the August meeting.

Um, there it looks like there's gonna be some of that information, which we will not.

Um, what I will do is we will make best efforts to get the information, and we will make a call in uh two weeks whether or not we will um include it on the August agenda or move it to the first meeting September.

Okay.

I 19 item I 19 is a recommendation to designate Douglas Avenue between Webster Street and Washington Street as Sergeant Robert L.

Miller commemorative way.

We have one speaker, John Miller.

Can we talk more?

My name's John Miller.

I am not a public speaker, so bear with me.

I first want to say I'm a resident uh Geneva, but I grew up and was born and raised here in the great city of Naperville, and I'm speaking on behalf of Robert L.

Miller's family.

Robert is a resident for 70 years.

Mayor, councilman, and staff.

First and foremost, I want to thank you truly, each and every one of you for attending and voting on this agenda.

I also want to say special thanks to Michael Proza from the Department of Transportation, Tom and Pam Gallagher for their assistance and guiding me on the correct procedures on to make this happen.

First, why Robert Miller?

16.4 million people served in World War II.

Today, only 31,000 remain.

In the city or in the state of Nap in Illinois, 1,200, and I know one here in Naperville, my father Robert Miller.

Robert served in the 25th Infantry, which was nicknamed Tropic Lightning.

Michael provided you a letter with more details on this subject, but I'm paraphrasing for the people that are here today.

Tropic Lightning was very highly regarded in their important role in the battles of Luzon and Loita Gulf and the Pacific campaign of World War II.

Both of these battles are designated on the World War II Memorial as important battles and the liberation of the Philippines.

The main commander of that my father served under is buried at Arlington Cemetery.

My dad's actions during these battles led to multiple medals of honor and service.

Whether it be Naperville settlement, the 9-11 Memorial tribute, or the tribute to my childhood friend and neighbor, uh Lieutenant Dan Schanhauer.

And now I'm pleading, begging, whatever you want to call it, for this acknowledgement for my father.

My dad was, as I mentioned, is a 70-year resident of Naperville, is a humbled man.

He's never seek praise for all that he has done for this city and this nation.

The location selected for this honor is a perfect location.

My father was a science teacher at Washington Junior High and finished his career at Madison Junior High and taught for over 36 years.

I think my dad took the big greatest pride when he'd be walking around town, whether it was a grocery store or his very favorite place, the river walk.

And when former students would come up to him, acknowledge him on what a wonderful teacher he was and what he meant to them.

Some even followed into the area of science because of my father.

Um sorry.

Now, on behalf of my dad's family, his late peers at Washington Junior High, and the hundreds of students who my dad has taught, I really hopefully that you bequeath this honor upon him.

And I'm here today to answer any questions or comments.

Thank you very much.

Thank you.

Councilman Kelly, may I have a motion?

Yes, Mayor.

I move to designate Douglas Avenue between Webster Street and Washington Street as Sergeant Robert L.

Miller commemorative way.

Councilman Holzar.

Second Holt Tower.

We have a motion and a second on I-19.

Roll call.

Gibson.

Aye.

Holt Tower?

Aye.

Jane.

Aye.

Kelly.

Aye.

Mick Broom.

Aye.

Cyan.

Aye.

White.

Councilman White.

Next.

Wilson.

All right.

Morley.

Yes.

Motion passes.

8-0.

Congratulations.

And we will take a seven-minute break, reconvening at 8 50.

Our next item is item J1.

Item J1 is recommendation to receive the staff report for the Bar Road duplexes located 27 West 240 and 27 West 280 Bar Road and reconvene the public hearing to consider the annexation agreement and related ordinance for said property.

The presenter, Caitlin Suke, is here presenting on behalf of the petitioner, and we have one speaker.

Hi, good evening.

My name is Caitlin Chuck with the law firm Rosanova and Whitaker.

Here on behalf of the petitioner, Hawkeye Property Holdings LLC, who is an affiliate of Red Star Construction.

With me this evening, I have Chad Meese from Red Stark Construction, and we're both available for questions this evening.

I will try to keep it as short and sweet as possible.

A little bit of background, Chad Meese of Red Start is a local builder who has been building homes in the Chicagoland area for for over 20 years, and who will be the builder on this project.

Having successfully transformed homes for hundreds of families around Naperville, Red Start has earned its A plus rating from the Better Business Bureau and is consistently recognized with industry awards and design honors for excellence in remodeling and custom home projects.

With regards to the subject property, uh we're looking at 0.47 acres, generally located on the northeast corner of Mill Street and Bower Road in Naperville.

You'll see that Nike Park is immediately north.

Single family detached homes are located to the east.

Mainland Farm is to the south, and then petitioners previously approved park place town homes are located immediately west.

The subject property is currently zoned R3 and unincorporated DePach County.

To put it all into perspective, we have Nike Park zoned R1 to the north.

Properties immediately east and south are zoned R3 in uh DuPage County, and then the property immediately west was zoned TU in 2023 for that townhome development.

In addition to evaluating the existing uh zoning surrounding the property, we always review the comprehensive plan to confirm that our vision for the property also aligns with the city's vision.

In this case, the comprehensive plan designates the property as city corridor.

Notably, city corridor designation lists uh supporting uses as including attached single family homes, which also includes duplexes.

Likewise, the comp plan also notes that the TU district is an applicable zoning district for the location, and duplexes are a permitted use within the TU district.

Accordingly, petitioner is seeking to annex the property to Naperville, resubdivide the property, and zone the property into the T use it uh zoning district for the purpose of constructing three duplex buildings as an extension of the park place development to the west.

Specifically, those townhomes were approved in 2023 and are nearing completion.

At that time, the property owner obtained an annexation and related approvals in order to construct 10 townhomes in the TU zoning district.

The main access to park place is provided off of Bower Road, uh and the townhomes are rear loaded and they're served by a dry vial to the north.

When obtaining the entitlements for that project, the city actually requested a cross access easement be granted over that dry vial in anticipation for future development to the east.

With that, Red Start is looking to expand upon the success of park place with the project before you tonight, which will be a natural extension of those townhomes.

Taking a closer look at the site plan, you'll see just how this project fits pretty seamlessly with the townhomes to the west.

The six units will be rearloaded and accessible via the park place entrance off of Bower Road.

The same drive aisle will provide the residents with the option for a ride out onto Mill Street.

All homes will have a two-car garage, and there will be three guest parking stalls provided along the north property line, allowing us to exceed that parking requirement under the code.

I'd also like to note that this project is code compliant with all setbacks and density requirements.

With regards to architecture, a lot of thought went into the designing of the duplexes in order to be consistent with the current design trends while still complementing the park place uh development for overall cohesiveness.

With that, the homes will be constructed of high quality materials, including hardy board, stone accents, and asphalt shingles, all in line with what you would see on new const new uh new custom single family homes here in town.

The homes will range between 2100 and 2500 square feet, exclusive of the basements, and uh each home will have three beds and two and a half bathrooms.

The homes will have balconies overlooking Nike Park in the rear.

Uh also complements the balcony feature over at the park place townhomes, uh, again, aligning the two projects, making sure that we have different elements uh of each project that are carried forward and complementing one another.

Lastly, always want to end with some pretty pictures.

Uh, these are some representational images of the high quality interiors that the petitioner designs and constructs.

So these are actually from the staged unit that was over in the townhome development.

You can generally expect that all of these units will have high quality finishes, uh, such as hardwood floors, stainless steel appliances, granite or quartz countertops, 10-foot first floor uh ceilings, and then energy efficient features as well.

So, with that, I'd like to say thank staff and uh the Naperville Plant Commission for their support, and I'd also like to thank this council for your time and consideration this evening.

We are available for questions.

Seeing none, I think we have another speaker.

We have one speaker, Robert Jungles.

And as a reminder, sir, you have three minutes.

Hi, my problem is with all the new construction that's going on in Naperville, is our sewer systems right now are overwhelmed.

Um, the sewers in my neighborhood are topped off with heavy range.

As soon as we get rain, we got three, four inches of water sitting in the street.

It's all because the city is basically over building.

You're putting in multifamily units in single-family resident areas.

You're your the sewer systems are designed for single-family home residences.

And we're already having problems with the sewers uh backing up into people's homes.

I have a neighbor, two doors down from me, their house filled with sewage in the last heavy rainstorm.

And it's because the city is overworking the sewer system.

It's not designed for all this capacity on it.

It doesn't have that capacity.

The city keeps putting out notes that the backflow valves are failing on people.

That's not true.

I consulted with an engineer who worked in the city of Chicago for over 45 years.

The backflow valves are designed that if there's too much water pressure in the system, they stay open.

They won't close.

That's the way they're designed, so the sewer system isn't so the sewer drain isn't doesn't rupture.

Um the city, all the residential sewer systems are designed for maximum two-story homes, and the city is keeps adding on structures that are too tall.

That's why the sewer system isn't working properly.

You need to remove the sewer system or fix it before adding and more lawn.

These will look like they're three-story buildings.

It looks like it's going to cause a problem.

Also, none of these structures also follow the water management document that the city of Naperville and all the other western suburbs signed back in the 90s after the 96 flood, where people had geysers coming out of their basement sewers where properties are supposed to maintain absorb the water that just their home displaces.

So these all the waters going into the sewer system, causing additional problems.

People have enough problems right now with the sewers.

You can't sit there and replace one home with three, with one home with the with 10 or 11, like you did on the corner, and expect everybody else to absorb it, and people who have been there for years getting their homes flooded out.

That's not right.

You need to properly have the sewers run.

They're not they're set up for residential homes, not for structures higher than two stories, and you're overpressurizing the system.

Basically, what's happening is when the water comes in, all these high-rise structures are acting like many water towers and overpressurizing the sewer system.

That's the problem.

You need to fix the problem before adding more to it.

All the stuff at Nike across the street from Nike Park, it's just gonna cause more of a nightmare, and you're gonna have homes flooding everywhere.

Everybody for that I knew who had their homes flowed out in 96 were within a half a mile of a taller structure.

That's why they're all flooding out.

You need to fix the problem before adding more to it.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Councilman Kelly.

Yeah, thank you, Mayor.

Just uh quick comment on the project.

Sure.

I was gonna open the public hearing uh first.

So uh technically I'm I'm once again opening the public hearing for the Bower Road Duplexes.

Anyone who wishes to speak may come forward.

Seeing no one else, can I have a motion to close the public hearing?

Councilman Kelly.

Uh thank you, Mayor.

I move to close the public hearing.

Second old tower.

All those in favor sign aye.

Aye.

Aye.

Opposed.

The public hearing is now closed.

Councilman Kelly.

Thank you, Mayor.

I always say just a very quick comment on the project.

Um appreciate the uh presentation and the elevations.

Um when we had the town homes immediately to the west.

I think I was the only vote against that project.

Um I was happier on this project.

I think the elevations look uh a little nicer, a little more compatible with the neighborhood, and also that you're not asking for density variance, which I didn't think was really necessary on the uh project to the west, and you didn't ask for here, so I appreciate that and uh I am happy to support this.

Thank you.

Okay, seeing no other questions item J two is a recommendation to pass the ordinance ordinance authorizing the execution of the annexation agreement for the Bower Road Duplexes, Councilman Kelly.

Thank you, Mayor.

I move to pass the ordinance authorizing the execution of the annexation agreement for the Bower Road Duplexes Development 0162-2025.

Councilman Holder.

Second whole tower.

We have a motion and a second on J 2.

Any discussion?

Seeing none, roll call.

Whole tower.

Aye.

Jane.

Aye.

Kelly.

Aye.

McBroom.

Aye.

Sion.

Aye.

White.

Aye.

Wilson.

Aye.

Waterley.

Yes.

Gibson.

Aye.

Motion passes 90.

Jree.

MJ3 is a recommendation to pass the ordinance annexing the subject property for the Power Road Duplexes.

Councilman Kelly may have a motion.

Thank you, Mayor.

I move to pass the ordinance, annexing the subject property for the Bower Road Duplexes Development 0162-2025.

Councilman Holzauer.

Second whole tower.

We have a motion and a second on J 3.

Any uh councilwoman Jane?

Okay.

No discussion.

Any discussion?

Seeing none, roll call.

Jane.

Aye.

Kelly.

I mick Broom.

Aye.

Syed.

Aye.

White.

Aye.

Wilson.

Aye.

Warley.

Yes.

Gibson.

Aye.

Hold tower.

Aye.

Motion passes 9-0.

Item J four.

Item J four is a recommendation to pass the ordinance rezoning the subject property to TU transitional use upon the annexation for the Bower Road Duplexes.

Councilman Kelly.

Thank you, Mayor.

I move to pass the ordinance rezoning the subject property to TU transitional use upon annexation for the Bower Road Duplexes.

Development 0162-2025.

Councilman Holzar.

Second whole tower.

We have a motion and a second on J 4.

Discussion.

Seeing none, roll call.

Kelly.

Aye.

McBroom.

Aye.

Cyed.

Aye.

White.

Aye.

Wilson.

Aye.

Worley.

Yes.

Gibson.

Aye.

Hold tower.

Aye.

Jane.

Aye.

Motion passes 90.

Item J five.

Item J five is recommendation to pass the ordinance, approving your preliminary, final plat of subdivision for the power road duplexes.

Councilman Kelly.

Thank you, Mayor.

I move to pass the ordinance, approving a preliminary final plat for subdivision for the Bower Road Duplexes.

Development 0162-2025.

Councilman Holzar.

Second whole tower.

We have a motion and a second on J 5.

Discussion.

Roll call.

McBroom.

Aye.

Cyed.

White.

Aye.

Wilson.

Aye.

Worley.

Yes.

Gibson.

Aye.

Hold tower.

Aye.

Jane.

Aye.

Kelly.

Aye.

Motion passes 90.

J 6.

Item J 6.

A recommendation to pass the ordinance approving of variance for the Bower Road Duplexes.

Councilman Kelly.

Thank you, Mayor.

I move to pass the ordinance approving of variance for the Bower Road Duplexes.

Development 0162-2025.

Councilman Holzar.

Second whole tower.

We have a motion and a second on J 6.

Any discussion?

Roll call.

Saiy.

Aye.

White.

Aye.

Wilson.

Aye.

Worley.

Yes.

Gibson.

Aye.

Hold tower.

Aye.

Jane.

Aye.

Kelly.

Aye.

McBroom.

Aye.

Motion passes 90.

Councilman Kelly, M1.

Mayor, I move to approve the award of bid 26-055R, tollway 34 KV switch gear building to granite construction company for an amount not to exceed 3 million 964,772 dollars plus a 3% contingency.

Councilman Holzauer.

Second Holtz Hour.

A motion and a second on M1.

Discussion.

Roll call.

White.

Aye.

Wilson.

Aye.

Worley.

Yes.

Gibson.

Aye.

Holzhour.

Aye.

Jane.

Aye.

Kelly.

Aye.

McBroom.

Aye.

Cyed.

Aye.

Motion passes 90.

Councilman Kelly.

M2.

Thank you, Mayor.

I move to approve the award of cooperative procurement 26-195.

138 KV Hitachi Circuit Breakers to West Co, Inc.

for an amount not to exceed 1,693,102.

Councilman Holzar.

Second Holt Tower.

We have a motion and a second on M2.

Discussion.

Roll call.

Wilson.

Aye.

Worley.

Yes.

Gibson.

Aye.

Hold tower.

Aye.

Jane.

Aye.

Kelly.

Aye.

McBroom.

Aye.

Cyed.

Aye.

White.

Aye.

Motion passes nine zero.

Councilman Kelly, M3.

Thank you, Mayor.

I move to approve the award of bid 26-132 South 40 traffic improvements to Schroeder Asphices Inc.

for an amount not to exceed $1,066,912.11 cents plus a 3% contingency.

Councilman Holzar.

Second Holt Tower.

Motion and a second on M3 discussion.

Roll call.

Worley.

Yes.

Gibson.

Aye.

Hold tower.

Aye.

Jane.

Aye.

Kelly.

Aye.

McBroom.

Aye.

Syed.

Aye.

White.

Wilson.

Aye.

Motion passes.

9001.

Item 01 is recommendation to receive the annual comprehensive financial report and management letter for the year ending December 31st, 2025.

Brian LaFever from Sikich is here to speak.

Mr.

Lefever.

We're ready when you are.

Thank you.

Good evening.

On behalf of Sickich, like to thank the mayor and members of City Council for inviting us to present some brief comments regarding the report resulting from the audit of the city for your year-ended December 31st, 2025.

The report that is presented is the annual comprehensive financial report, also known as the ACFER.

It contains three sections an introductory financial and statistical section.

The financial section contains all of the information that's required for the audit of the city under Illinois compiled statutes.

What makes it a comprehensive report is the addition of the introductory and statistical section.

Within the introductory section is the award the city received for its 2024 annual comprehensive financial report.

This is the GFOA or Government Finance Officers Association Certificate of Achievement for Excellence in Financial Reporting.

The city's received this award for 32 consecutive years.

In addition, the city has also received an award for its budget presentation from GFOA for 33 years.

The ACFE is considered to be the highest level of financial reporting and most transparent in the local government industry.

What you engage SICAS to do is give an opinion on the financial statements, and in the independent auditors report, we've given what's called an unmodified opinion or clean audit opinion.

What that means is the financial statements were prepared in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles, free of material misstatement.

And that's the highest level of opinion that you can receive on your financial statements.

Also within the ACFER is another opinion given, and that's given any time the city expends more than 1 million dollars in federal funds.

You're required to have what's called a single audit, which is required by the federal government for those expenditures of federal dollars.

During the fiscal year, the city expended over 2.6 million dollars in federal funds.

We also gave unmodified or clean audit opinions on the city's internal control or internal controls over financial reporting and compliance on other matters.

In addition, we gave an unmodified opinion on compliance and other matters that could have a material impact.

In the separate single audit report, we reported on our testing of the major programs.

This year, this was the housing urban development or HUD Economic Development Incentive program, that grant for the Eagle Street project, and there were no findings or question costs.

So more good news there.

One other piece of compliance, since you do have a tax increment financing district, the state controller's office requires a separate audit of your TIFF fund in compliance with state laws regarding TIFF, and we also issued an unmodified opinion or plain opinion there as well.

The last piece of information that would bring to your attention is a document called the Management's Discussion and Analysis.

This is a city prepared document as you're the management for these financial statements, and this document provides very good information for your constituents looking for financial information about the city.

This document, in my opinion, along with the city's annual budget document, are excellent sources for that information, and both can be found on the city's website.

As noted in that management discussion analysis, the city is also in compliance with its fund balance policy.

In the required supplementary information, that's where you'll find all of the information related to the city's funding of your three pension plans, IMRF, police pension, and fire pension.

Each and every year, the city has funded at or more than what the actuaries have recommended.

And with the strong investment performance in 2025, the funded percentages based on the market values of those assets at 1231 25 was 103% for IMRF, 89% for the police pension, and 89% for the fire pension.

On a side note, the average funding percentage for police and fire pensions across the state is probably around 50 to 55 percent based on the last information presented by the Department of Insurance.

In conclusion, the audit went smoothly and on time.

We received all of the information we needed to complete the audit of the city on a timely basis.

Your city staff that we work with are very professional and easy to work with.

These are the highlights I've prepared for you this evening, but I'd be happy to answer any questions that you might have.

Any questions from the council?

Thank you.

Thank you very much.

We enjoy working with the city.

Thank you.

Um Councilman Kelly may have a motion.

Yeah, thank you, Mayor.

I'll move to receive the annual comprehensive financial report and management letter for the year ended December 31st, 2025.

Councilman Holzar.

Second whole tower.

We have a motion and a second on O1.

All those in favor sign aye.

Aye.

Opposed?

Aye.

Motion passes.

90.

02.

Item 02 is a recommendation to receive the 2026 mid-year financial report.

Deputy Finance Director Tracy Morocco has a presentation.

Good evening, Mayor and members of City Council.

Tonight we have the mid year financial update, which summarizes year-to-date revenues and expenses through June 30th.

This slide is our agenda for tonight.

Our discussion will focus on revenues and expense trends as well as an update on the progress of the city's capital improvement program.

We'll also briefly discuss the 2027 budget process and the timeline for budget adoption.

Lastly, as we will discuss, revenue performance in the city's major funds is exceeding projections, particularly in the general fund.

This is further strengthened the city's financial position, providing financial flexibility for us in the second half of the year.

So big picture.

First, we'll start with a few key takeaways from the mid-year financial report.

Total revenues across all funds are performing 4% higher than 2025.

Total revenues are performing less than 1% lower than projections, but that really is due to the timing of federal and state grant funds.

Revenues in the general fund electric and water utilities are exceeding projections as well as the prior year.

This strong revenue performance in the general fund strengthens the fund's capacity to support unforeseen and emerging operator operational needs in the second half of 2026 that we will discuss later.

Expenses are trending at or below budget in most key funds.

Although capital projects are underway, differences between the prior year and the budget primarily reflect the timing of projects.

All right, this slide shows a budget summary through some of our major fund categories.

We have maintenance and operations, capital and debt service, and special funds.

Maintenance and operating funds are the city's major funds responsible for supporting most public services.

The capital and debt service funds are those responsible for funding current capital projects and the debt associated with past projects.

Special funds are those that support special purposes like the library, neighbor settlement, food and beverage, and the special service area funds.

For each category, you can see actual revenues and expenses represented by the shading on these charts.

The black marker represents year-to-date projections based on five years of history.

The top chart in green shows that revenues are performing as expected in most areas through the second quarter.

Starting on the left, you can see that our maintenance and operating funds are in line with expectations.

Our capital and debt service funds have the most significant variance from projections.

On the revenues, grant funding is driving the variance in capital.

We budgeted nearly 17 million dollars in grants and have received approximately 1.5 million year to date.

Nearly 11 million of the 17 million in grants is related to the North Aurora Road project.

As the project progresses, we will be reimbursed for those expenses through the federal and state agencies.

Variance on the expenditure side is largely dependent on the timing of capital projects and isn't necessarily indicative of progress, as you'll see later when we discuss the CIP.

And then lastly, with our special funds, you can see that the revenues are slightly above expectations while expenditures are slightly below.

All right, for revenues, on this slide we'll highlight how specific revenues are performing throughout the year.

Overall revenues are up 3.9% from 2025.

Major state shared revenues, including sales, income, and motor fuel tax continue to show year over year growth.

State income tax continues to be one of our strongest revenue streams, benefiting from low unemployment and strong corporate profits.

State sales tax continues to perform well and is nearly 6% higher than where we would expect it to be.

Oh shoot, sorry.

All right, similarly, in the local tax category, home roll sales tax is exceeding projections as well as the prior year, and this is related to those legislative changes to online sales tax.

Additionally, nationwide, consumer spending remains strong and set in spite of increased fuel prices, and we're seeing this at the local level as well.

Food and beverage tax is slightly below projections, but performing 8% higher than 2025, and that's reflecting Block 59 as well as new restaurants downtown.

Hotel motel tax is 3% below projections and 6% lower year over year.

2025 revenues did include a larger volume of delinquent payments from 2024, so that accounts for some of that variance to the prior year.

This is the first time we are reporting on the local grocery tax.

The first receipt was received in April of this year.

While total revenues are below projections, monthly remittances increase each month, signaling improved tax reporting compliance by local businesses.

As a result, we expect that variance to projections to hopefully decline throughout the year.

Next in the utility charges, electric charges are up compared to projections and 2025 as a result of previously approved rate increases as well as the warm summer months.

Water charges fell 4.2% below projections, but increased year over year by 5.1%.

The variance to projections reflects lower consumption that we're seeing year to date related to a rain year spring and summer.

Building permits and related fees under the other fees category are performing 57% higher than projected.

Our commercial and residential permit fees are 69% higher compared to the prior year.

We're also seeing commuter parking revenues increase as commuter lots see more use.

Moving on to expenses.

With overtime pay as one of the notable exceptions running above projections.

Overtime has increased by about 15% from 2025, driven by retirements and open positions in the electric electric utility and the fire department.

Additionally, minimum staffing requirements in the fire department have contributed to the increase.

Other key expenditures include regular pay and insurance benefits.

Regular pay increased by about 9% over 25% due to budgeted wage increases across the city.

On the other hand, insurance benefits and claims for health care and other related coverages have decreased by about 17% compared to 2025.

This is reflective of lower claim activity by employees throughout the period.

We'll move on to capital.

This is our look at our progress on the 2026 capital improvement program.

Through June, you'll be 70% of the capital improvement program is accounted for through realized expenses or capital services and equipment being under contract.

Although spending remains below budget projections through the first half of the year, the chart on this slide shows that through dollars spent or encumbered, good progress is being made on capital moving forward.

Additionally, a number of capital bids have come in under budget, resulting in lower than anticipated expenses.

Some of these projects include the parking lot maintenance program and construction of the North Central College River Walk Park.

As is typically the case, most construction expenditures are realized in the second half of the year due to more favorable weather conditions.

As progress continues to be made on larger projects such as the North Aurora Road Underpass, Springbrook Water Reclamation Improvements, the Towway Substation Ugrade, and Street Maintenance Improvement Program.

Staff anticipates seeing an uptake in capital spending through 2026.

However, we don't expect all capital projects to be completed through the end of the year.

Some will need to be rebudgeted to 20 to future years, and we will talk about those during the 2027 budget process.

Speaking of the 2027 budget, here we have a timeline on the 2027 budget discussions.

Staff did begin preparing the budget back in June.

We have capital and operating budget submissions that are due July 31st, and then after that, the budget team will do a preliminary review of those requests.

We will begin our budget workshop series in two months on September 21st.

On October 9th, we'll have the draft budget and CIP scheduled to be available, and then our second workshop is scheduled for October 27th.

Third workshop will wrap up on November 10th, and then that will be followed by budget adoption and the tax levy adoption by mid-December, so we can file the budget with the counties by the end of December.

So this next slide will kind of walk through how this careful, cautious approach provides us financial flexibility when we need it most.

As you know, in June, the city experienced severe storms that cause widespread tree damage and power outages.

In response, the city quickly funded additional bulk brush collection and specialized tree removal services to help restore the community.

Earlier tonight, you accepted the record of the emergency procurement for these services and their associated cost.

While both the Department of Public Works and the Electric Utility included funds in their budget for services such as tree removal and tree trimming, these additional unbudgeted services were required due to the magnitude of the unforeseen damage these storms produced.

As we've discussed tonight, concerns about moderating revenue growth have not yet materialized.

Strong revenue performance for the first half of 2026 has strengthened the city's financial position and provided additional capacity to respond to these unforeseen events.

A strong financial position gives us the opportunity to be flexible and timely to respond to these service needs.

Staff regularly monitors service demands and any emerging emerging operational needs.

As a result, at the August 18th City Council meeting, staff will present an out-of-cycle staffing proposal for the Transportation Engineering and Development Department Business Group to address their operational demands.

In summary, the work that's been done around responsible budgeting and financial management has strengthened the general fund reserves, allowing the city to respond to emerging needs and unforeseen events without disrupting planned operations.

And so with that, that concludes my presentation, and we can answer any questions you might have.

Councilwoman Gibson.

Thank you so much for the presentation.

I would love some more clarification about the grocery tax.

I know it's council.

We debated that quite a bit last summer and fall, um, debated between imposing one percent grocery tax or um increasing the homework sales tax.

We're expecting 6.5 million.

Um why is that less did retailers since it was a state tax that has now been shifted to be imposed by the city?

Did we need to inform retailers?

Why are we not collecting that at the level we expected to?

I believe the state informed them, and we we do we are monitoring business by business those that we would expect to receive grocery tax revenues from.

We are tracking those, and we that's where we can't really talk about it publicly since it's you know kind of kind of confidential information, but we do notice that certain retailers were not remitting and now they are remitting.

Um so that's where the comment on uh reporting compliance seems to be improving.

We do see each monthly remittance increasing.

Um we are doing it, we are trying to track business by business to make sure they are remitting.

Okay.

If a business isn't remitting taxes, is there a recourse is are we able to recoup that income where I'm is this going to affect our final budget since we were expecting 6.5 million and we budgeted for that?

We are the businesses that we're not collecting from the next month, they we have been, so we can probably just I don't know if we can reach out to the state to kind of talk with them.

They they're the ones that typically do the business reach out.

Um, but yeah, we we can look at those businesses that are not remitting and and discuss those with the state, but yes, it could impact your end projections.

Okay, I mean I I have a concern about equity across Neighborville businesses.

If you know some are filing the newly imposed tax.

Um, I don't know if there's any appetite on council.

I will express or reiterate my concern that I did last fall that I don't think we should be taxing groceries.

Councilman Holzar.

Thank you, Mayor.

Uh wholeheartedly agree with Councilwoman Gibson's points, and maybe to put more of a point on of it on it.

We had quite a heated discussion about this up here.

And essentially the sole justification, which was actually presented with quite great confidence, the sole justification for using a grocery tax, a more regressive tax over a home rule sales tax was that it was a more stable source of income with a 25% variance.

That sorry just didn't happen.

It's not even close to having happened.

Um, in the meantime, over 300,000 Illinois have lost their SNAP benefits due to cuts from the one big beautiful bill act.

So, to be very clear, I fully expect to propose or support the proposal of another colleague to fix this mistake that we made last year in the 2027 budget cycle.

Uh so that would be a swap of the grocery tax.

And uh, I guess I'd ask Mr.

Krieger, do you need some kind of guidance on that now, like hands in the ear, or are you looking, you know, can you just present it in the budget?

Uh uh, you know what?

I actually would like it kind of hands in the air because there will be um there'll be some i it's not a very it's not a super simple request.

Um so yeah, if we could get hands in the air, um, then we can present it uh when we talk about revenues through budget.

Would that be a new business item?

Just for clarification should well uh that would that would be bringing something back so that would be appropriate for new business also.

All right, I'll do that.

Thank you, Mayor.

Okay.

And um Ms.

Morocco, could you just expand upon the um the state's role in the collection of this grocery tax?

Was it your testimony and and and knowledge that was suggesting that the state notified these folks to collect the tax, and the state has been unable to collect the tax from those folks despite being advised?

Is that accurate?

Director Mush?

Yeah, I'll jump in.

So the issue that existed was the Illinois Department of Revenue is the entity responsible for collecting the grocery tax uh, even though it's imposed at the local level.

So in the conversations that they've had uh with municipalities, it's clear that many retailers heard that the grocery tax was eliminated and didn't follow their local legislative process to understand that it was replaced at the local level in many jurisdictions.

So when the first remittances came out in April of this year, um we very closely scrutinized where those remittances were coming from.

Um and we were surprised, but but IDOR had kind of um alluded to the fact that they knew compliance was spotty, particularly in that first month or two.

Um we saw again without divulging you know names of businesses, big box retailers that have a significant grocery footprint that didn't remit in that first month.

Now what IDOR has said is they've gone back and worked with those retailers uh to the extent possible to correct some of those back tax issues.

Uh, but as as we watch the revenues progress over the first three months of collection, uh I'll share with you they went from 511,000 the first month all the way up to almost 600,000 in the most recent month.

So I think that the statement on the projection being off by 25 percent um might be a little bit misleading because frankly, in the first year of a revenue collection, we're not as clear on the timing.

So we ran a straight projection across 12 months when we'll eventually learn that there's seasonality to some of these taxes.

So I mean, if you were frankly just to look at the fact that we collected almost 600,000 last month, I think at the end of the 12-month period, we're gonna learn that the $6.5 million dollar estimate we used last year was actually probably quite conservative and will end the year probably in that six and a half to seven million dollar range in actual revenue collection.

Do we believe that the grocers who did not remit were actually collecting it and choosing not to remit, or where there was a potential miscommunication with the DOR?

Because that's even more concerning.

Yeah, there is evidence out there that retailers were not collecting the tax.

I'll I'll be perfectly frank.

I was watching it very closely when I shopped at grocers, and and there were retailers um in Naperville and elsewhere that were just flat out not collecting the tax at the outset.

Okay.

Seeing no other questions, thank you for your update.

Oh three.

Item 03 is recommendation to receive the electric utility presentation regarding market participation without asset ownership.

There'll be a presentation by Doug Krieger, but first we have four speakers.

The first speaker.

The first speaker is Vias the Kerr, followed by John Doyle.

Recall the first speaker, what was that name?

Bias the Kerr.

Next speaker.

John Doyle, followed by Joseph Huss and James Fillar.

All right, John Doyle, Naperville resident, thank you again.

Uh in tonight's presentation, you are going to hear that this option has a need to create a rate stabilization fund, and we're gonna need to start funding that in 2028.

That ended up being kind of a perfect uh coincidence for me to revisit this chart and talk about how the fact that we did have plenty of money to make a rate stabilization fund just a few years ago.

And yeah, if we had been a little more intelligent about it, it would be a lot easier to have that rate stabilization fund, which would make this option uh more attractive than it is at at this current moment with our current finances.

Oh, one of the things we should have been doing back in 2022 is when we saw that 10 million dollar drop in one year is uh a pivot here and start a correction earlier.

And I know I know there's an easy excuse to say, you know, we just we implemented our consultants uh three-year rate track.

So what do you want us to do?

Uh there's a couple details that are are left out of that.

Uh one is that the consultant told us that they were um assuming two and a half percent inflation.

And I think we all remember what inflation looked like for 2022 to 2024.

Uh and they also assumed no growth, and we had significantly negative growth.

Um the last thing they mentioned at the end of their report is that it is our responsibility to review these on an annual basis to make sure that the projections make sense with that what actually happened.

And we didn't do that either.

Had we pivoted here uh when we should have, we could have avoided taking on any new debt.

We could have kept the the minimum balances uh above above where they needed to be, and we could have kept all of the rate increases under three percent year over year.

Speaking of, we just received both the last year's audited report, and by the way, uh I want to I want to second that the quality of the financial documents that Naperville puts out is absolutely wonderful.

Makes my job a little easier.

Uh but you know, we so we just received the half-year report and the audited numbers for 2025.

And I'd like to remind the council that the rates that are going to be in place starting next year and the rates that we have in place this year were modeled in 2024 based off a data available in 2023.

So it would probably be a good idea to do another spot check on that while you're doing the budget for next year and make sure that that 5.7 uh percent increase is still appropriate.

These projections were done before the tariffs, before Iran, and before the AI data center situation.

So if anybody thinks that these projections are accurate, I mean I don't know what to tell you.

Next year's rate study is going to be rough.

The numbers are going to have to go up, and we interrupt the band-aid off.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Next speaker.

The next speaker is Joseph Huss, followed by James Fular.

Thank you.

Um I'm Joe Huss.

I'm still an SBES volunteer, and I have three points for uh tonight's presentation.

First, if Naperville doesn't continue with IMEA, these are the functions that would need to be replaced.

But that doesn't mean the only option is expanding our staff.

There are dozens of experienced companies that already pride these services, so we could transition without adding city staff.

Many of these companies already have the software systems, and frankly, the scale that our city can't match.

So we suggest exploring options to use commercial firms.

My second point is about risk.

On page five of our current contract, you see that Naperville ratepayers are responsible for IMEA's legal settlements if they're sued.

By contrast, commercial vendors are responsible for their own legal sediments as their shareholders take on that risk.

And that's especially important because recent scientific work, including papers published in Nature and a Dartmouth study, show how emissions can be linked to specific economic damages.

Obviously, IMEA owns two coal plants, including one that's one of the top 10 emitters in the country.

Climate liability lawsuits are already underway in several states.

It's not hard to imagine a court in a decade or two finding that companies that polluted well after the implications of climate change were well known must take responsibility for the damage their pollution caused.

So I'm recommending that we consider risk when we can enter our long-term contracts.

My final point, I'd encourage the council to set the objectives for September's energy strategy so staff has clear guidance on next steps.

Here are some potential agenda items.

First is to develop a vision for Naperville's electricity future.

The second would be to agree on decision criteria.

What are the criteria we should use to evaluate the various options?

And third, to use the criteria to narrow the options so staff can do a deeper dive on fewer options.

For example, if we want to limit ourselves to existing technologies, then staff could eliminate SMRs, for example.

And those steps would keep the process transparent and focused on what residents most want.

In closing, here are some potential attributes for a decision-making framework.

Most of these are common criteria in RFPs.

You'll see them in other city or other of our CD RFPs.

The goal is to find the option that gives Naperville the best mix of cost, flexibility, sustainability, and protection over time.

Thank you for your time and service.

Thank you.

Next speaker.

The final speaker is James Fular.

Thank you.

I'm Jim Fillar, Naperville resident for 40 plus years.

Relating to tonight's agenda, let's look at factors that will impact the electricity wholesale market.

You may not hear from Mr.

Krieger tonight.

The underlying drivers of the wholesale market are energy prices, which is the marginal cost of generation, and capacity prices, the cost of meeting peak demand.

For energy, here is hourly pricing since 2017 in the Comed PJM zone.

Notice the increasing volatility and frequency of price spikes due to peak demand periods.

Just this year, wholesale prices hit $900 per megawatt hour in January and $1,000 during the heat wave two weeks ago.

During all that volatility, IMEA's coal plants reliably churned out power at $35 per megawatt hour.

Here is the trend of pricing for solar and wind as reported by level 10.

And just a reminder these price trends occurred during a period of very lucrative federal tax credits, which are no longer available.

Let's move over to capacity, a poorly understood factor in our electricity bills.

Here is a plot of PJM capacity prices through 2023.

Not much action here.

Capacity shortfalls will occur in 2029.

Or you can listen to the CEO of Exxilon, the country's largest utility company, and owner of Comed, who stated only two weeks ago that the nation could face blackouts as soon as 2027.

These impending shortages predicted by the experts will likely drive market prices up to perhaps unfathomable levels.

So the obvious question becomes how will Naperville benefit from leaving IMEA during a period of such historic market volatility.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Any other speakers?

That is the final speaker on this item.

Thank you.

And now Mr.

Krieger will present the last of our updates from the series of IMEA and Naperville electric utility discussions.

Not quite the last one, but uh second to last one before workshop.

Uh well, good evening.

Uh I'm Doug Krieger, um, our city manager.

Uh in April, we began a series of presentations to review.

Thank you, Linda, uh options for procuring energy in the future.

We provide an overview of where we're at in the process, key terminology, some of the important considerations associated with energy and key dates coming up that impact our decision making.

Uh, we're going to continue that uh this evening as well as next month, um, really on the kind of educational front uh to create a strong baseline for prior to our um uh strategy workshop uh that is coming in September.

So last month uh we reviewed option two, which was market participation with asset ownership.

Uh tonight we're focusing on option three, market participation without asset ownership.

Uh, and as we did in the last month, we'll summarize with our approved components of evaluation.

Um the the uh listing as market participation without asset ownership uh can be a little misleading because it doesn't mean that you're you're buying straight from market.

There are a number of ways you can hedge that.

Um, asset ownership is one, uh power purchase adjustments is another.

Uh there are also financial futures that can be used uh to hedge.

Um we will go into uh those as we move through tonight.

Um first uh what we want to do is uh define the types of market purchases and review some of the important considerations for the option.

Um way to supply electricity capacity through the purchase powers through wholesale markets.

Specifically for us, uh that would be the PJM wholesale market.

Um, but uh before we become a market participant in PJM market, um, we need to um staff our new energy management office or find someone to uh fill in uh those roles, uh take on some new financial obligations.

Take on some new financial obligations.

One is to supply PGM with required collateral, which is estimated roughly one to two months of highest annual bills, execute a number of agreements and forms required to participate with PJM.

And then also due to change in status and loss of hedging through asset ownership, establish a rate stabilization fund in-house.

As a market participant, we are going to be responsible for functions that are currently executed, some of which are currently being executed by IMEA, market scheduling, long-term planning, regulatory compliance, energy efficiency programs, and demand response programs.

And there are no long-term assets and therefore no long-term liabilities associated with this.

Communities exposed to market spikes and fluctuations.

If we have a PPA in the contract on delivers as an example during a heat wave, we could be subject to penalties.

Both of which are going to put upward pressure on rates.

Feasibility for you know market purchase only is very high.

So want to review the various market purchase options.

Next is market with asset ownership.

That's what we talked about last month.

And then market with full or partial power purchase agreements.

What this means is you're paying market, but you're also entering into agreements which can reduce exposure and volatility, typically at an increased cost, but they do allow you some control over your energy mix.

So you can establish what type where where the source of your energy is coming from with a purchased power agreement.

And finally, there is a market with supply contract, comparable to PPAs, but these can be load following.

So instead of just adding blocks of energy, a supplier can typically charge a premium for the risk and say, hey, we don't care what you use, we will supply it all, and this will be your price.

Ancillary services back from 2007 to 2011 were covered by IMEA, and it's our understanding that moving forward, they are no longer going to offer that option for non-power purchasing members.

The contracts that are offered under supply contracts are typically very short-term.

Really, that cuts down the risk for the party providing, which usually provides you a lower cost.

However, the flip side to that is there's no long-term price certainty with that type of model.

Next, uh, we're gonna look at the familiar decision wheel graphic to help us evaluate the option, and we are gonna start with general overview and timeline.

All right, uh general overview for market participation without asset ownership for procuring energy is that which is market driven.

Um purchasing energy costs without owning generation, transmission, storage or assets means that instead of investing capital in physical infrastructure, participants are using contracts, markets, and service providers to secure our electricity supply.

Umthough these risks can be managed through hedging, PPA contracts, uh, or even load following supply contracts.

Looking at the timeline, one other aspect that is a little bit different is the the market can be ready for us, but for some of the supply options, we need to be financially ready for the market.

And with that, we would like to incorporate that beginning with our 2027 rate study that would go into effect in January of 2028.

However, the rate increase one of the factors of that is really going to be kind of the direction we plan on going with our power procurement.

Market participation is one that will require a more significant rate increase just to establish the reserves and credits and deposits required with this selection.

In the first quarter of 2030, and this is simply aligning with our normal rate study cadence of three years, we would conduct another rate study as well as check in and see how we look financially to prepare for changes.

Why do we have to do it three years early?

Because when they bid their capacity auctions, they bid those well, they set up a ladder, so they will start three years in advance and they will need to know what our capacity requirements would be.

Otherwise, we would be required to pay more because they would be unable to plan for the capacity when we became a market participating member.

Beginning of 2035, we would either need to staff the energy management office internally or find a outsourcing partner to do those services for us.

And then ultimately, September 30th of 2035, we would become a direct PJM customer.

Alright, next, uh we're going to review the key financial considerations and the level of autonomy we have in this option.

From a financial perspective, uh there's price volatility and significant adverse financial risk.

PJM requires deposits and collateral and rate stabilization fund need to be established.

Also gonna be cost of hiring additional staff to manage the energy management office, or to provide payment for contracted third-party services.

We would not have the autonomy in our power supply choices with this option.

We just take what is uh sent into the market.

Um, really going to be driven by market mix.

Uh, we can control some of our power supply choices by entering into partial uh power purchase agreements.

All right, looking back at the decision wheel, next we'll discuss financial risks uh and an example community.

Um, as mentioned, uh there are extreme risks without and sometimes even with hedging tools uh such as PPAs or asset ownership.

Um cover a couple of extreme examples.

In February of 2021, winter storm Uri um hit uh Texas uh and hit it pretty hard.

Um CPS Energy, which serves uh the San Antonio market and is one of the largest municipalities in the country, uh, absorbed a one billion dollar uh increase in costs during the storm week.

Uh, that's broken up into 800 million in natural gas cost because uh during that period, natural gut natural gas also spiked uh as well as 200 million in uh higher electric costs.

Um to date, they're still trying to get this resolved five years later, and the natural gas bills still under dispute sit at 350 million dollars.

Um next example, Denton, Texas used this uh as the example from last month because they do have asset ownership.

Um, they do have natural gas generators.

Um when winter storm Uri hit, uh they thought they would have been hedged with the assets.

Um they initially started the gas generators, uh, they were operating, and then the uh pressure in the gas pipe dropped, so they could not produce any of their own energy that they had planned.

Uh they had to buy on the market at the exact wrong time.

Um so they paid a very much higher elevated price.

Um that one is still working through uh ultimate settlements, and they've gotten the cost of that winter storm down to 31 million dollars.

A little bit closer to home, winter storm Elliott, and this is in 2022, caused the PJM to issue $2 billion in capacity penalties.

So in 2022, with that winter storm, which also happened to happen on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, $2 million of penalties were issued.

Moving on to example community, not a lot that are that are straight up market.

One that's considerably smaller than us is South Sioux City, Nebraska, about a tenth of our size.

So that would be similar to our PJM.

Not part of a joint action agency.

What they did is they hired a private commercial entity to act as our direct market manager and scheduling agent.

And that entity is providing load following energy as well as ancillaries for South Sioux City.

And who is providing that?

That is AEP energy partners.

Next, we'll take a look at the feasibility for Naperville and carbon-free resource availability.

All right.

So if no decision is made, market participation without asset ownership is our default choice.

To mitigate the risk, we can consider energy futures or commodity trading to hedge.

Mitigating mitigations for the sourcing could include the purchase of renewable energy credits or and or renewable power purchase agreements.

Moving back to the decision wheel, we'll cover the cadence of council decision making and summary for this option.

Similar to market participation with asset ownership, and similar to what Denton Texas is doing.

For the cons.

We're completely exposed to market fluctuations.

And grid operator requires tens of millions in cash and credit up front to allow for our participation and our market trading.

No control over the market mix and rate increases and rates would increase beginning in 2028 to establish uh rate stabilization fund for our utility.

Next month, uh we're gonna look at our final option, which is sale of the electric utility.

Um I think that one will be a little shorter than both this one as well as last month.

So what I would also like to include at the end of that would be a high-level discussion uh on the September workshop to ensure that uh our planned agenda is gonna be consistent with what the city council is looking for and their needs.

And uh with that, I'd like to thank everybody for their time and be happy to answer any questions.

Councilman McBrew.

Thank you, Director Krieger.

Um, just a couple quick ones.

Um, along with setting up a new sounds like a new bureaucracy or outsourcing uh staff and traders and the capital that would require in the presentation.

Um you're thinking about a 12 million dollar collateral to PJM, and then I think it was slide eight.

We would be doing a rate study next year, and in 2028, our utility rates would go up to establish this rate stabilization fund.

We would have to start saving for that.

You know, um, and is there an estimate of what that fund is?

There is, and uh I actually I'm gonna take bad news and make it slightly worse.

Um the deposits uh PJM requires it's kind of like a first and last months of rent.

Uh they base it on your highest rent.

The 12 million dollar figure was for one month, um, but typically they would require um two months of your highest uh electric use.

So for us it would be about 24 million from a rate stabilization fund standpoint.

From a rate stabilization fund standpoint, if we utilize the same uh methodology that IMEA utilizes, that would be about $15 million in additional funding.

However, without the hedges of the physical assets, we are going to use our rate consultant to see what they would recommend.

But uh we're talking tens of millions of dollars.

You know, we we don't need to have that in the bank right now.

Um however, when you're gonna be raising an amount that large, you know, you don't want to wait until 2034 and and throw you know a 40 million dollar um adder uh onto the rates.

So you know, the the longer you can spread it out um probably the better.

And um uh we would like to start with our next kind of regularly scheduled rate study, which is next year.

Great.

Thanks.

Councilwoman McGibson.

Uh thank you, Mayor.

I um question about the capacity penalties, because that was brought up as an example for some of the others.

Um are we subject to those when Trimble County or Prairie Strait State go down?

I mean, I know the storms were an example, but our generation assets also go down.

Our our generation assets, yes.

Uh anyone who is receiving um capacity payments from PJM, uh if they failure to if they fail to deliver are gonna be subject to penalties, yes.

I know there have been outages in the past.

Have we paid those penalties in the past?

No.

Um I I'm I'm guessing that we have.

I will need to check with IMEA to see if we can get like some quantum some quantification of that.

And um the talk about you know, additional staff that we would have to hire, or um, as you know, some members who spoke tonight said there's other organizations that we could hire to do this, you know, market monitoring.

Absolutely.

Right now, IMEA does this for us, but it's also part of the package that we're paying for.

Correct.

Yes.

So it's a cost that we're paying now that would just be redirected to a different entity doing that same service.

Okay.

Thanks.

That's helpful.

Council McKelly.

Thank you, Mayor.

Just a question about the example communities.

Um you gave us some of the worst case scenarios with with Denton, um, San Antonio, and then an example community of South Sioux City.

Um I don't necessarily need information right now.

If you have it, great, but if not, if you could get back to us with some more local example communities.

I'm thinking about Springfield, Geneva, Batavia, in terms of how they might purchase from the market, but also hedge how what that looks like for them in terms of both process and cost.

I don't know if you know any high-level information you can give now, or if you might be able to get back to us or both.

Yeah, you know, and I I will uh um I'll need to come back uh to that.

Um I I know um CWLP, which is which is Springfield uh Illinois, um, you know, uh a couple of decades ago they ran into a significant issue and had to issue debt for it.

Um these are not meant um these are not meant to scare people and say, hey, these are big numbers.

I I don't like these.

You know, nobody likes those numbers.

Um you know what it's meant to uh really show is that hey, you know what it 95% of the time you can take a look at you know what the market rate is, and it's gonna be cheaper than what we pay.

Um but you need to worry about that that additional five percent is something that can really um adversely impact you um when they do have those price spikes.

And I and I would agree with that totally.

I I would hope nobody's thinking about just straight market purchase with no hedge at all.

That that would not seem to make sense.

You know, though the one kind of caveat to that um is um you know, you you have straight market purchases, you you can you can tell them nothing and just pay market rate.

Um you can also buy contracts in the day ahead.

Um through the PJM market, you can purchase and really kind of buying in the day ahead um is is almost like you know, your one-day insurance policy.

Most of the time you will be paying more than the real-time prices.

Uh, but when things go really bad, you know, you're gonna make up for several days with that.

And I guess I don't know if we're there yet, but if we go further down this particular option, I'd be interested in more substantive information about what other comparable communities in PJM and Illinois in particular, how they really handle that hedging to try to reduce that risk.

Yes, no, that that makes complete sense.

No, that makes complete sense.

I will tell you uh the trouble we're having is with is that uh most um municipals, you know, frankly belong to a joint action agency, whether it's IMEA or NIMPA or IMPA.

Um there aren't a whole lot who are kind of out on their own.

But we will no, we will do some more digging, we'll get to that info.

All right, thank you.

Seeing no other questions, thank you, Mr.

Krieger, for another informative report.

Thank you.

Our final action tonight is new business as a reminder.

New businesses for items as council's asking the staff to bring back on a future agenda for motions to reconsider past city council votes.

Does anyone have any new business?

Councilman Halzar.

Thank you, Mayor.

I'd ask for a show of hands from council on directing staff to prepare 2027 budget projections that include an option to eliminate Naperville's grocery tax with the lost revenue replaced by an increase in the home rules sales tax revenue.

So there's a show of hands for Councilman Holzaro's request.

One, two.

Is yours up, Councilman?

I I'm sorry.

Mike's head was in the way.

Uh I I see three hands in the air.

And Councilman Kelly, did you have a uh question first?

Or I did, but if he's already got three hands, then he's got three hands, and I'll let it go for now.

Okay.

Any other new business?

Seeing none, may have a motion to adjourn.

Motion to adjourn.

Is there second?

Second whole tower.

All those in favor sign aye.

Aye.

Opposed?

We are adjourned.

Thank you.