Oh, thank you.

I want to follow up with you.

Good evening, everyone.

It is six oh one PM on Tuesday, September twenty third, twenty twenty-five.

I hear the voice of a sweet little baby.

That's music to my ears because I became a grandmother again.

Uh a great grandmother again three weeks ago.

And Councilman Riggenbop became a grandfather for the first time about a week or two ago.

Grandparenting is funner than parenting, I assure you.

Madam Clerk, the council mics are open.

Please call the roll.

Mayor Ali.

Present.

Councilmember Allen.

Present.

Councilmember Carmona.

Here.

Councilmember Sear.

Here.

Councilmember Gordon Young.

Present.

Councilmember Jackson.

Councilmember Kelly.

Councilmember Euler.

Here.

Councilmember Riggenbach.

Councilmember Vespa.

Here.

We have a quorum present, Madam Mayor.

Thank you.

A notice was received by Councilmember Valpula of the City Council in accordance with rules established in ordinance number sixteen thousand one hundred and forty-two.

Councilmember Valpula would be deemed authorized to attend the meeting electronically unless a motion objecting to Councilmember Valpula's electronic attendance is made, seconded and approved by two-thirds of the members of the City Council physically present at the meeting.

If no such motion is made and seconded, then the request by Councilmember Valpula to attend electronically shall be deemed approved by the City Council, and the presiding officer shall declare Councilmember Valpula present.

Hearing no objection, uh Madam Clerk.

Councilmember Valpula.

He's in the process of reconnecting.

Okay.

I believe.

Can you try again now?

Go ahead and try again.

Yes.

Okay.

Councilmember Valpula.

Okay.

Hello?

Councilmember Valpula, are you here?

Yes.

Great.

Thank you.

Okay.

Thank you.

Everyone, please join me and stand for a moment of silent prayer or silent reflection, followed by the Pledge of Allegiance.

I pledge allegiance to the United States of America.

And to do the one under God with liberty and justice.

Madam Clerk.

We are at proclamations.

We have three proclamations tonight.

The first acknowledges Hispanic Hispanic Heritage Month.

Whereas the City of Peoria recognizes Hispanic Heritage Month by honoring the histories, cultures, and contributions to our community members and their ancestors who came from Mexico, the Caribbean, and Central and South America.

And whereas the City of Peoria is committed to building a welcoming and neighborly community, embracing diversity and fostering equity for every community member.

And whereas more than six percent of the City of Peoria's population identified as Hispanic or Latin American in the 2020 census, and Hispanics make up the largest ethnic minority group in the United States.

And whereas Hispanic Heritage Month begins on September 15th, coinciding with the anniversary of the 1821 independence declarations in five Latin American countries, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua, while Mexico, Chile, and Belize celebrate their independence days on September 16th, September 18th, and September 21, respectively.

And whereas the City of Peoria celebrates the cultural heritages of our community members and the diversity they bring to the lives of our neighbors and neighborhood.

Hispanics have impacted the culture of the United States, Illinois, and Peoria in areas of business, government, innovation, art, education, and entrepreneurship.

Now therefore, I, Reed Ali, mayor of the City of Peoria, do hereby acknowledge September 15th through October 15th as Hispanic Heritage Month in Peoria, Illinois.

Our next proclamation recognizes hashtag girls' day.

And we have Marie Morris, the founder of Hashtag Girls Day, and my friend Carol Murner, the CEO of the Center for Prevention of Abuse.

Ladies, can you come forward?

Whereas sexual assault and domestic violence cause major economic, emotional, physical, and psychological impacts among children, adults, and families.

Whereas one in three women and one in four men have been the victim of domestic violence, and one in six women and one in thirty-three men will be the victim of sexual assault in their lifetime.

And whereas every 15 seconds in the U.S., five people are physically assaulted by intimate partners.

Intimate partner violence accounts for 15% of all violent crimes, and women are 70% more likely to be killed by their partner in the first two weeks after leaving than at any other time during the relationship.

And whereas the center of prevention of abuse provides free and confidential services to survivors in central Illinois, including shelter for individuals and families fleeing violence or abuse therapy services and educational programs and trainings.

And whereas Hashtag Girls Day honors the resilience of survivors, shares information about available resources, and helps others understand how to provide unconditional and non-judgmental support.

Now, therefore, I, Reed Ali, Mayor of the City of Peoria, to hereby commend the collective efforts to honor and support survivors with Hashtag Girls Day in Peoria, Illinois.

Good evening, Mayor Ali, all City Council members and the city staff.

It's always an honor to come before you in this chamber.

And on behalf of the Center for Prevention of Abuse, I'd like to extend our sincere appreciation, not only to you, but to Marie Morris and the organizers of Girls' Day for selecting our organization as the beneficiary of this meaningful event.

Maria and her committee's dedication and vision are instrumental in CFPA's work to foster a safer, more peaceful, and more resilient community for all.

We're also deeply grateful to you, Mayor Ali, and to the City of Peoria for issuing the official proclamation recognizing October 4th as Girls' Day.

This recognition is not only symbolic, it is a powerful affirmation of the strength of survivors, the importance of prevention, and the value of community awareness.

It's a true honor to stand in solidarity this evening, united in hope, purpose, and celebration of CFPA's five decades of work to help all people live free from violence and abuse.

Thank you for your continued support and commitment to building a community where everyone can thrive in safety and in dignity.

Thank you.

Thank you, Carol.

Thank you.

Thank you, Marie.

Our last proclamation recognizes National Latino Physician Day, and we have Dr.

Elza Vasquez Melendez and Omar Garcia Martinez, a medical student here with us.

Whereas the City of Peoria takes great pride in recognizing the significant contributions made by Latino physicians to our community's health care and well-being.

And whereas Latino physicians have played an instrumental role in addressing health care disparities, mentoring future health care professionals, and advancing medical research and education, contributing immensely to the betterment of our city.

And whereas the City of Peoria encourages diversity in healthcare settings in the hope that one day the physician workforce reflects the community it serves, providing culturally competent care for all.

And whereas National Latino Physician Day, observed on October 1st, is a day designated to honor and celebrate the accomplishments and dedication of Latino physicians in the field of medicine.

Now, therefore, I, Reed Ali, Mayor of the City of Peoria, Illinois, do hereby acknowledge October 1, 2025 as National Latino Physician Day in Peoria.

Good evening, Mayor Ali, members of the City Council and Community Members.

On behalf of Latino Physicians, medical students, and future health care providers, I want to sincerely thank the City of Peoria for recognizing National Latino Physician Day.

This proclamation is more than just words.

It's a reminder of both the incredible contributions of Latino physicians make every day.

And the ongoing need for greater representation in medicine.

While Latinos make up nearly 19% of the U.S.

population, only about 6% of physicians identify as Latino.

This gap matters because representation and health care improves trust, communication, ultimately health outcomes to our communities.

Someone from Moline, now a third-year medical student at the University of Illinois College of Medicine, Peoria.

I chose this campus because of the strength and warmth of the Peoria community.

It is the spirit of the community that continues to inspire me and that makes tonight especially meaningful.

I also want to acknowledge the Latino physicians and medical students here in Peoria who serve with compassion, excellence, and resilience.

Your work not only heals patients but also inspires the next generation of diverse physicians.

Thank you, Mayor Ali and the city of Peoria for your leadership in celebrating this day for your support and for standing with us in promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion in health care.

It is an honor to accept this proclamation with Dr.

Vasquez Melendez and to continue working toward a healthier, more equitable future.

And as I look ahead, I hope that by lifting up moments like this, we can inspire and attract more students from diverse backgrounds to choose Peoria just as I did, and to continue building a healthcare workforce that reflects the communities we serve.

Thank you very much.

Thank you.

You're an inspiration.

Thank you.

Madam Clerk.

We are at the approval of the minutes.

Councilmember Reganbach.

Thank you, Madam Mayor.

I move to approve the minutes of the joint city council and town board meeting held September 9th, 2025 as printed.

Seconded by Councilmember Kelly.

Any questions or comments?

Please cash your ballots.

Oh yeah.

Councilmember Valpula.

Aye.

Motion passes unanimously.

Madam Clerk.

We're at public hearings.

25-255 is a public hearing regarding the proposed Glen Hollow Business District.

And we need a motion to open the public hearing.

Can I get a motion moved by Councilmember Allen, seconded by Council Member Gordon Young?

Any questions or comments?

Please cash your ballots.

Councilmember Valpula.

Aye.

Motion passes unanimously.

Is it uh Council Hayes or Mr.

Manager, one of you want to speak to this?

Um this Madam Clerk or Madam Mayor, this is a uh public hearing.

So this is an opportunity for the public to weigh in on the proposed business district uh near Glen Hollow Shopping Center.

Okay.

Is there anyone that would like to uh speak to the public hearing regarding the proposed Glenn Hallow Business District?

Yes, please come forward.

Give us your name, please.

Any affiliation that you want to share.

Good evening.

My name is Eric Hutchison.

I live at 4110 North Hawthorne in Peoria.

And I filled out a card here, but I don't know if you need that or not.

It's okay.

A couple of things I wanted to say.

One, I I'm not much of an online shopper at all.

I prefer to shop local.

I enjoy that.

I like the chance to do that, so I'm all about whatever we can do to promote local retail.

I think that's a good idea.

But an additional one percent tax at Glen Hollow, I don't think is a good idea for doing that.

Um, when I go to Glen Hollow, I go to Lowe's O'Target.

Those are the places that I go to.

And um if there's an additional one percent tax at Glen Hollow, I probably will go to East Peoria to go low to Lowells and Target.

Um that's most likely what I will do.

The other thing I thought about was if this even passes, how am I going to know it?

Because to tell you the truth, I don't really scrutinize my sales receipt when I get home to see how what the tax is by percent.

I did that this afternoon, and um it's nine percent in Peoria.

I looked up online, it's eight and a half percent in East Peoria.

So if this actually passes, how am I gonna know when it passes?

If I don't happen to catch it on the news.

Well, I'm gonna have to scrutinize my sales receipt, I guess, and figure that out.

My suggestion is if this does pass, we make it really clear to the public.

Like when they check out at the and they look at their receipt, you will say Glenn Hollow tax on the bottom end.

You'll know exactly what you're paying.

So that's my suggestion.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Is there anyone else that would like to speak to the public hearing regarding the proposed Glen Hollow Business District?

Yes, please come forward.

Give us your name and any affiliation you'd like to share.

Good evening.

My name is Rick Blanco, and I live at 1011 West Moss.

Uh, I agree with Mr.

Hutchinson.

I feel that we need transparency and understanding where um additional taxes are coming from, and that clarity uh is required.

And that clarity is required.

I don't feel it a situation in which perhaps all of the residents will benefit, especially as the gentleman mentioned.

I would prefer to shop in East Peoria in that case.

And the last thing I want to do is have businesses leave Peoria by supporting other communities, other very close neighboring communities.

So this is really just a call to action and a request that everyone give this due diligence and consideration moving forward.

Thank you.

Thank you, sir.

Is there anyone else?

Is there anyone else that would like to speak to the public hearing regarding the proposed Glen Hallow Business District?

That was my third call, so I'm gonna ask uh for a motion to close the public hearing.

Move by uh council member Allen, seconded by Councilmember Gordon Young.

Please cash your ballots.

Councilmember Valpula.

Yes.

Motion passes unanimously.

Thank you.

Madam Clerk.

We are at the consent agenda.

25-256 is a communication from the city manager and director of public works with a request for the following.

A approve an agreement with the Illinois Department of Transportation for the City's participation in D4 bridge washing 2026 in Peoria in various counties.

And B approve a funding resolution for the city's cost participation in the D for Bridge Washington 2026 in the amount of 46,000 plus contingencies.

25-257 is a communication with a request for the following regarding the Northmore Road and University Street Intersection Reconstruction Project.

A approve a joint funding agreement for federally funded construction with the Illinois Department of Transportation to request 80% STU federal funding in an amount not to exceed $3,920,000.

B approve a resolution authorizing the city's estimated minimum local agency funding match in the amount of $2,095,000 subject to IDOT approval.

And C approve a state motor state motor fuel tax resolution in the amount of $2,240,000 for construction costs.

And B adopt an ordinance to establish a date for a public hearing for the proposed Adams Liberty Tax Increment Financing District.

And item B, there is a handout on your desk of a revised ordinance with an updated public hearing date and updated TIFF timeline.

25-260 is a communication with request for the following.

And B adopt an ordinance to establish a date for a public hearing for the proposed Northwoods Mall Tax Increment Financing District.

And on your desk, there is a handout with a revised ordinance with an updated public hearing date and updated TIFF timeline.

25-261 is a communication with requ request to concur with a recommendation from the planning and zoning commission and staff to adopt excuse me.

To adopt an ordinance approving a special use in a class 01 arterial office district for multi-family apartment apartments for the property located at 7211 North Knoxville Avenue.

Excuse me.

25-262 is a communication with a request concur with a recommendation from the Planning and Zoning Commission and staff to adopt an ordinance rezoning property from a class R4 single family residential district to class C Nighborhood Commercial District and a P1 parking district and approving a special use in a class C Nighborhood Commercial District for auto repair for the properties located at 1039 West Lincoln Avenue and 1034 1036 and 1038 West Howitt Street, Peoria, Illinois.

25-263 is a communication with request to concur with a recommendation from the Planning and Zoning Commission and staff to adopt an ordinance approving a special use in a class R4 single family residential district for a short-term rental for the property located at 1803 West Main Street, Peoria, Illinois.

25-264 is a communication with request concur with recommendation from the Planning and Zoning Commission and staff to adopt an ordinance approving a special use and a class R3 single family residential district for a short-term rental for the property located at 2935 North North Village Drive, Peoria, Illinois.

Madam Clerk, you want let's have Deputy.

Thank you.

Is a communication from the city manager with a request to concur with a recommendation from the Planning and Zoning Commission and staff to adopt an ordinance approving a special use in a class R3 single family residential district for a short short-term rental for the property located at 4607 North Edge Brook Drive, Peoria, Illinois.

Is a request to adopt an ordinance amending chapter 3, Article 2, Section 3-52 of the Code of the City of Peoria to revise the class K2 catering liquor license requirements.

I'm sorry, 25-267A is a request to adopt an ordinance amending chapter 3, Article 2, Section 3-5-2 of the Code of the City of Peoria to revise the class I liquor license.

And B is to adopt an ordinance amending Chapter 3, Article 2, Section 3-5-3 of the Code of the City of Peoria to revise the subclass 7 liquor license requirements.

Item C to adopt an ordinance amending Chapter 3, Article 2, Section 3-5-3 of the Code of the City of Peoria to add a new subclass 10A liquor license, and D to approve the site application for a class I golf course liquor license with on-site consumption and retail sale of alcohol for Gopher Entertainment LLC, doing business as fairways at GLC at 7815 North Radner Road, contingent upon the issuance of a certificate of occupancy with the recommendation from the liquor commission to approve.

Contingent upon the issuance of a certificate of occupancy with a recommendation from the liquor commission to approve.

And then 25-270 is a request to approve the site application for a Class B restaurant 50% food liquor license with on site consumption and the retail sale of alcohol for analytical brewing LLC, doing business as analytical brewing at 831 Southwest Adam Street, contingent upon the issuance of a certificate of occupancy with a recommendation from the liquor commission to approve.

And that's our consent agenda.

Thank you, Madam Clerks.

Are there any items to remove from consent?

Councilmember Allen.

Thank you, Madam Mayor.

Uh, can you please uh remove item 25-260, please?

Councilmember Jackson.

Thank you, Madam Mayor.

Um, item number 25-262.

Thank you.

Councilmember Sear.

Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Mayor.

Move to approve the balance of the consent agenda.

Seconded by Council Member Allen.

Any questions or comments?

Please cast your ballots.

Councilmember Valpula.

Hi.

Motion passes unanimously.

Madam Clerk.

25-260 is a request to A adopt an ordinance authorizing the establishment of tax increment financing.

Interested parties registries and adoption of registration rules for such registries for the proposed Northwoods Mall Tax Increment Financing District.

And B to adopt an ordinance to establish a date for a public hearing for the proposed Northwood Small Tax Increment Financing District.

And we'll need separate votes for both, please.

Okay, thank you.

Councilmember Allen.

Uh thank you, Madam Mayor, and apologies uh ahead of time.

I'm a little congested, so I won't be for you all long, but uh this is a uh exciting opportunity.

I know we're at the genesis of this conversation of uh looking at a potential incentive tool that we could have in our economic toolkit, uh not only to stabilize that current shopping area, but also to grow it and make it even more of a destination than it already is.

Um, Mr.

Manager, if you could just provide some context of why does this potential tool make sense and maybe provide some TIFF 101 uh background for those who are listed who aren't familiar with this economic tool, please.

Uh thank you, Councilman.

So um when we establish a TIFF district, um, the investment that's made by property owners inside the TIFF district generally will increase the value of those properties.

And what a TIFF does is that it freezes the current tax rates that are paid to the taxing bodies at the level at the base EAV level, the uh assessed value level at that point in time, and it stays that way for 23 years.

All the incremental property tax growth that comes from new investment in the TIFF district is potentially utilized either by the public body for infrastructure improvements that are made in the TIFF district or by redevelopers that use it for land acquisition, renovation of existing buildings, um, site improvements, uh, financing costs, all of those go into potential redevelopment expenses.

So we looked at the area around Northwoods Mall, knowing that this is an area uh that is concentrated commercial development inside the city and commercial zoning inside the city, uh, and then looked at it and said there's some opportunities for redevelopment within this area, uh, even at the mall, for example.

Uh if you look at what uh many other communities are doing in uh throughout the country, where you have large parking spaces that are set up as part of the of old uh shopping malls, they're turning into apartments and other uh commercial entities or are building out an infill development occurs inside those those larger scale areas.

So, you know, we looked at this as an opportunity to um to create uh a TIFF district in this area to help to redevelop uh this part of the city.

Uh it's it's the heart of our retail center, and this would be an opportunity to grow that.

Um, and so that's the reason why we're doing this.

And as the councilman said, uh, tonight we're just establishing the date for the public hearing and the registry.

And the registry just means that if you're interested in following along uh in the progress uh and discussion about the TIFF district, you can sign on to the registry and then you'll get the information that'll come forward uh any communication and correspondence that goes out.

Very helpful.

Uh thank you, Mr.

Manager.

I appreciate uh that context.

Uh I believe that uh this is a conversation definitely worth having.

Look forward to the public hearing.

Uh the public hearing is uh will be set uh for November 18th, so plenty of time for uh constituents of stakeholders to weigh in on this, but I believe between this conversation, the conversation about the business development district, potentially happened at Glen Hollow just demonstrates our vision for wanting this to get uh not only be a current shopping destination, but again for it to grow uh for future growth and sustainability.

So without further ado, I'd like to move to approve item A, please.

You move for item A.

Yes, seconded by Councilmember Gordon Young.

Any other discussion on item A?

Please cash your ballots.

Councilmember Valpula.

I motion passes unanimously.

Councilmember Allen.

I move to approve idle B, please.

Item B seconded by Councilmember Gordon Young.

Any additional discussion?

Please cash your ballots.

Councilmember Valpula.

Aye.

Motion passes unanimously.

Madam Clerk.

Item 25-262 is a request to adopt an ordinance rezoning property from a class R4 single family residential district to a class CN neighborhood commercial district and P1 parking district, and approving a special use in a class C N neighborhood commercial district for auto repair for the properties located at 1039 West Lincoln Avenue and 1034, 1036 and 1038 West Howett Street, Peoria, Illinois.

Councilmember Jackson.

Thank you, Madam Mayor.

I would just like to, if I could move to defer uh this item.

I have uh just only had an opportunity to talk with Mr.

Ransbury on the phone, and uh there is additional due diligence due diligence.

I would like to finish uh before uh moving any further on this.

So I would like a deferral for one month, please.

One month, yes, ma'am.

Okay, seconded by councilmember Kelly.

Any additional discussion?

The motion is to defer for one month.

Please cash your ballots.

Councilmember Valpula.

Aye.

Motion passes unanimously.

Madam Clerk.

We're at regular business.

25-271 is a request to approve the Peoria Civic Center 2025 annual report and 2026 annual budget.

And you have a handout uh with the presentation slides and annual report on your desk.

Mr.

Manager.

Uh thank you, Madam Mayor.

This is our annual opportunity to hear from uh the Civic Center Authority and the Civic Center.

And with us, we have the general manager of the uh Peoria Civic Center, Rick Edgar.

Uh, and I will turn the floor over to Mr.

Edgar.

All right.

I'll be as succinct as I can to cover a very phenomenal year.

But before I start um, it is my absolute honor to present this report to this council.

Um, Mayor Ali, I want to thank you for your leadership.

Over this past year, we've had opportunities to talk and learn and grow, and we're being able to be part of this together, and I appreciate that.

Also, this would not be possible without the support of this council, um, the Peoria Civic Center Authority or my fantastic staff there at the Peoria Civic Center.

So we'll just get right into it.

If the clicker works, the clicker's not working.

Is it there we go?

All right.

So uh this is the first naming rights deal that the venue has had in its four 40 plus year history.

Prioria home prairie home alliance theater.

Um, this is our marquee that was installed this year and debuted during the wicked run.

It is the most photographed part of our building by far since its introduction, and we wouldn't have done it without the support of Steve Jackson, Tori Weller, and Yvonne Greer Batten.

Um, I'm not the smartest guy in the room, so I just want to let you know I live my life in parables and catchphrases and anagrams, so deal with that because we're it's gonna be really cool.

But this year, our anagram that we give to the staff is Rave.

The R and Rave is for the recap.

We have broken multiple records this venue, and it's not it's worth noting.

Uh our adjusted gross income is over eight million dollars for the first time in the venue history.

Concession sales were over 4.2 million.

Ticket sales were 15.9 million.

We also sell set house records in comedy, modern rock, theater concerts, and youth sporting, and we'll talk a little bit more about that.

The adjusted gross income, just to kind of dial it down, is the amount of money we make after we pay our expenses on the night of show.

From 2011 to 2018, it was pretty steady of about 5.2 million.

We've set it, seen a steady increase in the last three years.

We finally broke 7 million the previous two years and 8 million this year.

Food for thought.

We rebranded our concessions this year, and we saw some instantaneous results.

The highest sales we've ever had at 4.2 million, and we took our three worst stands that were the underperformers, turned them into grab and goes, and in those three stands alone, we increased sales by over $311,000 in those three points of sale.

Some little fun facts that we have up there is how many pretzels and popcorn.

I do want to point out the 3.5 million ounces of soda and water that was consumed this year.

One of the things that we are very passionate about is being community leaders and giving back to the community.

This year alone, our nonprofits through our concessions program, we work with them.

Over $200,000 was returned back into the community through those groups.

And there's just a small amount of the groups that have worked with us over the past year.

We also need to watch how we spend our money and how we maintain it for sustainability.

We actually, despite being one of the busiest years on record, we used the second lowest amount of kilowatts by management, some of the investments we made.

Had we maintained our normal average this year, it would have cost the venue over $231,000.

So to Will Kinney and our operations team, they did a fantastic job there.

And in gas alone, we cut those costs by over 40%.

We also had multiple capital improvements.

And I just kind of wanted to have a little fun when we're doing this as we're pointing back to those uh things that were consumed.

We also used over 3.2 million feet of toilet paper this year and 1.7 million million feet of paper towels.

We sold over 200,000 tickets online this year.

That is an astounding number for a market this size.

I have the pleasure of working in Legends Global.

You may have known them as ASM Global.

We recently changed our name.

We rank out of 88 markets in the country, number 12 in the company.

We are the only one of two markets out of the top 50 who made that list.

It just goes to show how much our staff has outkicked their coverage and really done a dramatic impact in the sales that we have in this market.

Taxes.

We are not tax exempt.

We pay taxes through uh admissions, food and beverage, and merchandise.

We have held steady to over a million dollars a year previously.

We were as low as about a half million, so we're giving back to the community directly.

I would like to make one note in uh 25 because we're doing so well, we have to pay our taxes in advance.

So those 25 sales do not include wicked, which we did 2.7 million dollars in sales, so those will go on to next year's tax roll.

March 25 was the best month the venue has ever had by over 20%.

The really cool thing about this, we had 162,000 visitors, but it was done through those smaller events.

Traditionally, arena concerts is the revenue generator.

We did not have a single, we did not have a single arena concert in the month of March.

What we did have was a massive wrestling tournament which set concession records, and we also had that huge list of events over that course of the month.

We had 56 event days over a 30-day period.

Our best weekend in the venue history was two months later in May.

Uh, we had Shinedown set a house record for Active Rock Show on Friday, and then our friend Nate Brigazi, not only did he break the house record for comedy at three, that wasn't good enough, he broke that record again at 7 o'clock.

Over 18,000 people purchased tickets, most of them from out of town spending money here in Peoria.

But I also want to point out we can't just focus on the arena when we have a big event.

At the same time when this was going on, we still had Dogman, the musical in the theater, as well as two graduations.

Most of you, because it's fresh in our mind is wicked, it was phenomenal.

2.7 million in ticket sales, just under 28,000 people attended this event.

What I thought was really cool is sustaining growth.

Usually when you have a tent pole Broadway blockbuster, you lose seasoned subscribers.

As of right now, we made this report 92% renewal rate.

They want to see lay Miz, they want to see those great shows this year.

We're building the audience.

And we have a staging the future program that I'm gonna talk a little bit more about where we purchase tickets for underserved populations through our partner with American Theater Guild.

540 kids were able to come see the show at over 100 a ticket that would normally not have that opportunity.

But not everything sets a record.

We have lots of cool things that we do.

With Brooks and Done, that Staging the Future program, through the proceeds of that very successful concert, by the way, it was the number two country concert only behind Reba McIntyre.

We were able to donate $5,000 to Staging the Future on behalf of the band as a thank you.

I really love the Neil deGrasse Tyson story.

In the theater, he is one of our top earners.

He joined a list with Steve Martin and Martin Short, Harry Conick Jr., John Mellencamp, Jerry Seinfeld, and Neil deGrasse Tyson.

He is an astrophysicist.

Why is he on the list with these performers?

Because there is an audience out there if you go and find them, and they spent a lot of money, and it was a great show.

Pentatonics is become a biannual event for us.

We sold that out.

And we also had Peoria 150 graduations for the first time, the three graduations, and it was a huge success for not only us, but also for Peoria 150.

By the way, they signed up during the event for next year.

Just wanted to give you kind of we do a lot of things, and if you see up here, we have everything from Angel Ball, which was with Earth, Wind and Fire, Chicago concert, Joe Coi.

We do so many events a year that we just wanted to kind of give you a little splash of other things that we do.

We have four major tenants in our venue.

Wanted to kind of point out with the Peoria Rivermen, for the last three years, they've done over a million dollars in ticket sales.

They did this is the first time they have done that when they came back, they've never done this since they left the uh ACHL.

Um Bradley is up 35% in revenue and attendance is up 19%.

Our ballet, and I thought this one was really cool, they're up in attendance and revenue over 30%.

And the Peoria Symphony has increased their activity our building from four to six concerts a year.

The Beat Budget Award was an award that was presented in May by Legends Global.

It is across the country.

This is a national award.

We are at the top of the list of all of the 400 venues in the company.

I just wanted to point out the other ones there just so you can see the category and the class that we're in with.

The Everbank Stadium is the Jackson Gill Jacksonville Jaguar Stadium, and the Greek Theater is an iconic theater in LA.

It's up there with Red Rocks, it's one of the two most famous theaters in the country.

And the Peoria Civic Center is not on the list, but at the top.

The A and R and Ray and Rave is for a line.

We have to know about revenues, engagement, and community.

So I asked our staff, where do our guests come from?

Where are they coming from?

We found out through our ticket sales that over 65% of those guests are coming from outside of not only Peoria, but Peoria County.

That means they're traveling more than 50 miles to come to our events.

When they do that, they tend to stay in hotels and shop at our stores and go to our restaurants.

We also support the vet ticks program.

These are for veterans.

These are free tickets that we purchase and donate to that organization.

We donated over 1,300 tickets to those groups this past year.

We also kind of wanted where are our tenants, the ones that are local based.

And going from left to right on this, what we found, which was kind of interesting was the Peoria Riverman actually sold more tickets in the metro area outside of Peoria and the Taswell counties and the surrounding counties, then beyond 50 miles, and then it was local Peoria.

Conversely, Bradley seems to fall in line with our most of our concerts.

They do draw people from outside of the area coming in, especially on weekends.

The alumni seem to come in, but we then sell more tickets in Peoria, then it goes to Peoria County.

And then with PSO, almost half of their tickets are here local in Peoria County, and it's about split evenly with outside of the metro area and 50 miles away.

Broadway, if you'll notice it's almost identical with our hard tickets, so 67%.

And I just kind of mentioned that because we're going to talk about Wicked here in a second and the economic impact it had, but I would be remiss to not point out the staging the future program.

Remember, we just talked about it's $100 a ticket for Broadway shows.

1,600 tickets were donated to the community this year for underserved population children and families.

The V and Rave is for Vision.

What are we seeing next?

What are things that we can do in the community?

These two installations were done about two months ago.

They're local artists to display their work on our walls.

It is just a really nice, warm, welcoming feeling instead of just brick.

We do a lot of things, our sensory room.

This is where things get a little crazy for kids, specifically, it's a quiet place for parents to go and just relax.

It's something that we've been doing as a company at Legends Global, and we put this room in our in our place today.

And we actually saw it being used even at the Jurassic Quest we just had with Dinosaurs.

Kids just 50 foot dinosaur, no thanks.

Come on in.

Red Sneakers program.

This is a really cool.

This allows us to have uh EpiPens on site with uh our nurses and our staff to be able to do this.

Uh wanted to thank uh Lindsay Spangler.

Not only did she start this program here, but we just became aware that she's now the national representative for this program.

So it started in Peoria and has become a national entity.

Small business opportunities.

We love this story about our friends at Katrina's.

We, it's one of our lunch spots.

We needed support at our wrestling tournament.

We asked them if they'd like to come down and serve some food and got all the health, you know, all the health code stuff taken care of.

They sold over 400 burritos in just under two hours.

And if you've been to that shop, that's probably more than they do in a week.

So needless to say, we love them, they love us, and we're gonna keep working with them.

But I want to point out that we're a job creator.

Not only around the area, off of us, this past year we figured out we paid more than 281,000 labor hours to our staff.

There's a lot of words up here, but I wanted you to have a time to read this at a different, but it just was wonderful.

This is one of the Girl Scout troops that got to come see Wicked.

But if you'll notice the words magical, fairy tale, excitement, couldn't believe it could be that good.

These are things here local in the community where you would normally have to go to Broadway to see.

Even more than that, uh, we got a response from a local restaurant.

We said local, they're 15 miles away from here.

Thanks for having us over capacity for two weeks of Wicked.

So they're feeling that impact 15 miles away every night.

It was not solicited.

They just sent us this really nice note.

But we started noticing a pattern of people using words, your staff is friendly.

I had joy.

It was a wonderful experience.

These are positive things that this community needs to have more of, and we're happy to be a part of that.

And we all like to meet stars.

It's kind of a cool thing.

Uh Nate Brigazzi was with our folks from CXT.

Uh, we actually provided them a little coffee bar in the back, thought it would be great.

He enjoyed it so much that he gave an amazing tip to our folks.

I won't embarrass them with how much, and took a picture with our folks from CXT.

This is something they can put up in their business.

The most popular community in the world was at their establishment.

Um, and Chevy Chase likes to go dining.

Not only was he here at gyms, but he also went to One World and Saffron and probably a couple other places.

So there was a Chevy sighting, it was kind of like where do you find the uh elf at Christmas this past year?

So finally, what's our expectations moving forward?

You know, what do we see on the horizon?

I think one thing that we do need to talk about, we are still a business, and this is the year where we're making massive community investments.

Uh the ice plant.

It is a multi-million dollar project cost, but also we're having to shut down the arena from 100 to 120 days.

So it's not only the cost of the project, but it's lost revenue from this past year to make this project happen.

Um, so we're happy about that because we think it'll have a better effect long term because we've already seen benefits from the scoreboard and the ribbon boards that we put in.

The other thing that our board was very passionate about is our tenant deals.

Well, we know costs are going up across the board.

They made multi-year deals where those deals were relatively flat.

That allows them to get back on their feet.

Now it does create some compression for the building, but it's part of our investment back to help these people, these uh partners of ours do well.

We're gonna keep doing the NPO program.

That's direct, that's cash in pocket for MPOs to survive.

CXT, one of the things is we helped them put a coffee shop in our place.

We worked with them side by side, and now we see them investing in other parts of the community.

They just took over the uh old Starbucks near campus.

I think being with us was one of those things that showed them build their brand, and now we have a legitimate multi uh venued uh coffee distributor here in town.

Uh the arcade, that's the name for the glassy area that you see when you look outside City Hall.

It is under revision, uh under a renovation, excuse me.

If we put it back the way it is, it's right at 30 million dollars that we do not have.

So we're right in the middle of the design phase right now, and again, this is another investment that we need to make, but we'll also cause a shutdown of that part of the venue at some point in 26.

Um, and then staging the future.

This is the third time we've talked about it.

That's how much we love this program.

We're gonna continue buying tickets for underserved populations this year.

So we had obstacles, so how are we gonna succeed?

And I think this is a really interesting slide.

If there's one thing, say we were told we were uninsurable if we did not replace our roof last year.

And even though we made all of these investments, we got insurable, but our rates still went up 12 and a half percent.

What I would share with you in my industry, our friends are telling us they went up 25 to 35 percent this past year.

Um, concerts and uh public gatherings, the rates keep going up on the insurance carriers because there's few of them in the game.

Salaries, our cost overall went up 10%.

We actually reduced our hours by 14%.

So even though we're downplaying or we're taking down our hours that we're using and getting leaner, the price still goes up.

Um, every one of our expense line went up on an average of 12 and a half percent.

Wages, benefits, repairs and maintenance, insurance, utilities, operational expenses.

We're doing everything we can to minimize those, but they're realities that we're having to deal with.

The economy is uncertain this year in our industry.

What we are seeing is either we have a grand slam with like Wicked and Leanne Morgan or shows that are really struggling.

What that has done is fewer tours are out this fall.

They're waiting to see if things get better.

I think all of us have been like, will you buy a ticket for a show next April?

Are you gonna wait and see how things go?

That's what we're seeing.

And in utilities, our operations team did such a phenomenal job, and I want to reiterate we reduced it electric by uh 15% or and then gas by 43%, and our costs still went up by three and a half.

So even though we're taking it down in double digits, our rates still keep going up overall.

But the good news is we got some stability because we have built this structure with our teams with the board.

Um, Prairie Home Alliance has been a wonderful partner.

Not only they want their name on the building, they buy tickets, and I'm gonna embarrass Steve Jackson.

I think he bought 150 additional tickets to Wicked alone for family and friends because he was so proud of the marquee.

These are the kind of partners we want who have a buy into what we're doing.

Our Coke sponsorship, this doesn't happen in real life, but it did.

They came to us, they had one year left on their deal.

They go, your business has grown 10% a year every year over the last three years.

We want to tear up your deal, extend you five years and give you a 23% raise.

That happened because they want us to be successful.

Um, we have to work with our leadership citywide, discover Peoria, the city, mayor's office.

We're out recruiting events with multi-year deals.

Three wonderful examples is the IKWF wrestling tournament, PowerPlay volleyball, and the music educators.

All of them are under five year new deals that start this coming year.

Promoter relationships.

We are nothing without our promoters, Hot Wheels, Live Nation, Feld, Outback, and about 30 other promoters.

They come to Peoria.

A lot of times we get a first phone call.

I wish I could tell you what we're gonna talk about, but on Monday, what listen, we have two major arena announcements that we are just giddy about to tell you.

They're a listers, it's gonna be amazing.

These are gifts that have come to us for 26 that we're hoping will really get the building excitement back.

Um, American Theater Guild.

It is the only nonprofit Broadway presenter in the country.

And somebody goes, well, why'd you go with a nonprofit instead of someone just wants to make money?

Staging the future.

They want to give back to the communities, they're not in for profit.

We are a little bit, you have to admit.

But doing these great shows.

So after Wicked, we are now actively looking for that next 10 pole show, two and three and four years, because that's how far out Broadway is, and that success is gonna open those doors.

Uh, and then finally, my company, Legends Global.

I think opening doors is a big one.

I can pick up my phone anytime and call three or four venues and find out is that show selling, is that show working, or this guy won't return my phone calls.

And I usually have a friend that can get that call.

It's helped us be very successful, as you've seen by our numbers.

Just a little smattering of things that are coming up.

Uh, the top left of the thorn, uh, that's tomorrow night and the next night if you'd like to buy tickets, that's a good one.

Um, but we do everything from Broadway to concerts, whether it be country, rock, uh, you know, comedy, it's just been a joy to all the different things that we're able to bring.

So I asked the staff, as I mentioned, I work in catchphrases and parables, like, what do we want to be next year?

And I said, Well, Ruth Chris says perfection.

Well, that's gonna set us up for failure.

We're human, we're not gonna be perfect, but you know what we can do?

We can connect.

We can tell a story, we can get your attention, and we can have that moment, and that is totally achievable.

So I want to end this with a little personal story, but also show you what we have there.

In that picture, it's the Peoria Civic Center Authority, it's the mayor's office, it's Legends Global, it's the Prairie Home Alliance.

All of those people need to be part of this for us to succeed.

And that marquee is very personal to me.

1981, as a 13-year-old, this is what I was listening to.

I thought this was the coolest place you could ever go to.

It doesn't exist.

If you'll notice that marquee, it's pretty darn close.

And seeing it being photographed over and over again, we thought Wicked, Leanne Morgan, my security guy, and then this is the end of my story.

He comes up to me and goes, hey, can we move the security lines?

Because people are standing and taking their picture, and it's kind of slowing things up.

And I said, of all the requests you've ever asked, this is an absolute no, go back and do your job.

We're gonna have people taking pictures all the time.

So, with that, uh, thank you for listening, and I hope you enjoyed hearing this as much as I enjoyed presenting.

Thank you, Mr.

Igart.

You know, that was an amazing presentation.

I love the ending story.

It was very personal.

Um this is quite impressive.

The numbers, I mean, you're really putting Peoria on the map, and you're doing some amazing things.

I see both Sutherland out there too, and uh I know you have a great team.

Yeah, Madam Mayor, if I may.

I think you have a whole box of my staff.

That's how dedicated they are.

They're giving up their night to come to a council.

Can you hold your hands up?

Leadership.

Thank you, and thank you all.

Mr.

Simonis, I see you out there, Rick Simon is there as well, the chairman.

Um, yes, and we have our uh liaison to the Civic Center, Councilmember uh Riggenbach is our our council liaison.

Councilmember Rigambach.

Thank you, Madam Mayor.

Thank you, Mr.

Edgar, for an amazing um report.

And I think I think we can all just give you another incredible round of applause for what you and the team have accomplished this year.

So thank you for the leadership that you provide, and thank you for recognizing the staff that's here because I wanted to make sure that my colleagues understand that as much of a rock star as you are, Rick, that those are the people that make you who you are.

And and we recognize that, and I recognize that as a liaison every month at the authority meetings.

Just a couple numbers that I want to pull out of this incredible um report.

The adjusted gross income crossing the eight million dollar mark.

That's a milestone that 10 years ago would never have been dreamt of.

And to see that having grown consistently since COVID, I think I think that's a very important thing.

I I love the best month ever slide as well with 56 event days.

Now, when I was going to school March, I had 31 days, so to have 56 event days and 31 days again speaks to the incredible staff that that transitions the the facility into the different um the the events that they have.

And then the final comment I'll make is where the guests come from.

You know, we talk a lot about is is the civic center worth it?

Should the city have done that?

You know, Dick Carver and that that council 45 years ago, they get I don't think they get second guessed too much when you see numbers like this.

And to think that 65.9% of the visitors to that civic center come from outside the area, not the Tri-County area, but beyond that, that just proves what a magnet it is and the significance this has, not only for downtown Peoria, but the the community at large.

So I I'm just thrilled to be able to represent council on the authority board and look forward to seeing what 2026 will be.

And as um Mr.

Edgar noted, it's gonna be a different year having the arena shut down for the ice plant, yeah, which is gonna be make the Riverman game experience even greater.

But but just keep that in mind.

Um that $8 million might be a little bit different next year at this time.

So thank you very much.

Thank you, Madam Mayor.

And you asked for another round of applause.

I agree.

If there's no more uh comments, oh, we got one here, Councilmember Sear.

Thank you, Madam Mayor.

Thank you very much, Mr.

Edgar, for being here and all the work you've done over the last many years.

Um my first comment has to do with I asked you to ask uh a couple numbers or question about some numbers, but I want to thank you for getting involved today with the uh Scottish Right.

It kind of breaks my heart to see them go on sale, and you were able to save a couple shows, I believe.

So thank you very much for for doing that.

And I'm looking forward to next year or so with our uh amphitheater.

I mean, uh, we need some help.

I mean, we're not in the business of booking shows like you are, and you're doing a very great exceptional job.

So I'm looking forward to hopefully you'll be able to participate with the park district and and hopefully help us uh be very successful on the riverfront also.

Uh just want a couple questions in your budget.

I don't know how well versed you are in your budget, but under HRA taxes, the subsidies, we're showing just a negative number this year.

Why would that number be negative compared to the last three years?

Yeah, and I'm gonna try to take a very nuanced conversation and simplify it as much as I can for the time sake for everyone.

Um we have several um issues for or challenges next year.

One of them is uh we have had our capital budget funded through grants for the last years.

We are now using the HRA money to fund capital, and our capital budget is approximately 1.4 million, so that's 1.4 million we're taking away from the operating budget and pushing to capital.

The other thing is is our closure.

Our board, we had a discussion that we did not want to take our hardworking staff and furlough and lay off during the construction, and our payroll is about $300,000 a month.

So there's about $1.2 million in payroll over that closure time that we're gonna fund without having the arena open.

The other one is we have no wicket.

Wicked is a massive success that comes every couple years, and if you'll notice in that chart, 2019 lanking this year, you get a pretty big bump.

We don't have that bump, and even though we have a fantastic series for Broadway, we're about 10 shows short because we don't have that blockbuster.

So those type things had an overall impact on a negative number, which would normally be a positive.

Okay, thank you for the explanation.

Last uh comment is about the update renovation in the Civic Center.

I have to be honest with you, the last many months when every time I go to a hockey game, basketball game, uh, and in the hallways over there, I mean the bathroom.

I mean, the place just looked unbelievable.

I mean, such a great, great improvement.

The shows are unbelievable to go, like I said, a Bradley game, a hockey game, or any of the shows I've been to.

Just it's a it's an exceptional experience at the Civic Center.

So thank you very much.

Can you give us an update?

Since no 20 million dollars come from this body, can you give us an update how the renovations are going?

Uh what I've mentioned is are the things that we see, but I know there's so much more and investment that we don't see.

How's it going?

Well, absolutely.

The first things we took care of were the required things.

Um, my terminology, the unsexy stuff, boilers, chillers, roof, things that you just take for granted.

It was incredibly embarrassing when you couldn't have an event in the arena when it rained or snow without water coming through the roof, and literally we had to block off seats.

We don't have to do that anymore.

So that gives us an advantage.

One of the other ones, back a house investments that you don't see, one of the knocks was our dressing rooms were abysmal to beyond Bismal.

We renovated those, and now we have a real star dressing room.

And the first time Live Nations uh main booker came into town, he's like, Oh, that's not so bad.

And we kind of took that as a thing, like, yeah, Peori, we're not so bad.

And now we're building on that.

So all of those things back a house, and I know my my buddy back here, Eric, who's our tech guy, he still wants more.

Um, because when we originally came in 2019 with our list of needs, not wants, it was 47 million.

Between the state and this body, we've got about 45, which is fantastic, but that 47 million grew to over 60.

So there's still a significant list that we need to attract over the next few years.

Thank you very much, sir.

Thank you, Madam Mayor.

You're welcome.

I'm gonna go back to councilmember Riggenbach and uh ask you for a motion to approve the presentation and the annual budget.

I'm happy to do that, madam mayor.

So moved item 25-271.

Seconded by councilmember Euler.

Any other questions or comments?

Please cast your ballots.

Councilmember Valpula.

Hi.

Motion passes unanimously.

In the words of my mentor, Dr.

Romeo B.

Garrett, keep on keeping on.

Thank you.

Thank you for your time this evening and hope to see you at a show.

Madam Clerk.

25-272 is a communication from the city manager and finance director com troller with a request to receive and file the 2026-2027 biannual budget.

And on your desk, there should be a copy of the budget.

Mr.

Manager.

Uh thank you, Madam Mayor.

Uh, it's that time of year again, so we've got the budget here for you to look at.

I just want to uh give you a very quick highlight this evening, and then we'll uh jump into the budget in great deal, uh great detail uh next week when we have our special budget meeting.

Um this is a biennial budget, so it's a two-year budget that invests in 2026 and invests 298.1 million dollars, including 128.1 million dollars in the general fund uh into the six strategic priorities of our strategic plan infrastructure, community safety, business growth, downtown development, embracing equity and improving our quality of life.

Um we have 136.3 million dollars in reserves proposed at the end of 2026, uh including 56.7 million dollars in the general fund.

Um we have sufficient resources to make our debt service payments for next year, and whether any future economic downturn.

This budget fully funds public safety pensions and prepares the city for the next phase of our combined sewer projects, the two largest fiscal challenges the city faces.

Uh the 48.9 million dollar community investment plan focuses on our greatest needs, uh streets and roads, 17.1 million dollars, stormwater and sewers, 14.9 million, vehicles technology and cybersecurity, 10.4 million, facilities 7.8 million.

Uh this budget uh ties our departmental goals to the city's strategic plans.

Uh it funds the neighborhood mini grants, housing repairs, affordable housing, uh, and the demolition of vacant structures.

It leverages and continues to leverage state grants to fight crime and respond to mental health and behavior health issues in the community.

It expands our fire training, our recruitment, and continues the accreditation program.

Uh we have continued emphasis on maintaining what we own with our existing infrastructure and our continued investment in the growth of small businesses throughout our community.

So now I just want to kind of give you a quick walkthrough before we we ask you to just receive and file this because we'll really get into great detail.

But if you turn to the to the uh second page in the book, uh there should be the table of contents, and I'm just gonna point out a couple of things as you go through this.

Uh the introduction and overview of our financial structures on the first um pages up to page 32.

So from the very beginning, just to page 32, that gives you kind of the background of how our our fine our financial system is structured.

The budget overview starts on page 33.

The budget transmittal uh is on page 34 with a strategic plan overview on page 37.

Um we talk about 2025 and our estimate for where we're gonna end 2025 on page 46.

We have the budget and brief, which is really where we get into kind of the budget for revenues, expenses, our capital equipment on uh page 49.

Um we talk about staffing page uh staffing changes on page 58, our fund balances and the change in fund balances over the two years on page 60, uh, and then future considerations.

I our you know the finance director and uh and my outlook of what we think are some of the issues you need to be thinking about in the future on page 61.

And then our funding sources uh begin on page 66.

The fund summaries where we analyze each individual fund that we have begins on page 84.

We have summaries by department beginning on page 197 in the book, and then we have our debt service schedules on page 232, and then we wrap up the budget with the capital improvement plan that begins on page 239 in the budget book as well.

So the timeline that we have is that the budget's been placed on file with the county clerk.

Uh thank you, madam clerk.

Um we have the uh beginning next week.

We'll come back to you with the special meeting where we'll walk through in great detail what's in the budget, but we'll also provide you with the estimate of the property tax levy.

So that'll be coming to council uh next Tuesday evening.

Uh that's so that's a special budget meeting that we'll have.

Uh on October 7th, we'll have a budget hearing where we'll have our our annual budget hearing for the public to weigh in on the budget.

Um that again is another special city budget meeting that we'll have on that night.

Then on a regular council meeting of October 14th, we'll have our truth in taxation hearing as well as the continued budget discussions uh during that regular city council meeting.

On October 21st, we'll have another special budget meeting.

And then on October 28th, we hope to finalize all of the budget discussions at our second regular council meeting in October so that we can adopt the budget at a special meeting on October 4th.

So Mr.

Manager, just going back to September 23rd, which is today.

November.

Uh, where the proposed budget is placed on file in the city clerk's office for public viewing.

It's also online.

Yes, we're gonna we have the budget online.

It's it's a a book that it's also a digital version of it, so we'll have it so the public can move you.

So someone, if they want to see it online, do they go online to the website of the clerk's office or or is there another area they can go to they can go to the the finance department's budget web page?

If you just type in budget in the city's webpage, it'll come up.

Okay, that's where it'll be.

Okay, very good.

And I I corporation counsel corrected me.

I said October 4th to approve the budget.

It's November 4th is what we're November 4th.

That's the plan.

All right, any questions for the manager, Councilmember Kelly?

Okay, is there a second second seconded by council member Jackson?

Any other comments council member Seer?

Thank you, madam mayor.

Can we just ask for uh maybe it's not I don't even call a report back, but uh every year I ask for the same thing uh on the CIP program.

Can we break it down next week when we start conversation into uh council five council?

Uh you mean a report by council district?

Correct.

Yes, we can we do that, please.

Thank you.

Thank you, madam mayor.

Okay, you're welcome.

We've got a little homework to do, everybody.

Good reading for the weekend in the evening.

Um more comments.

Please cash your ballots.

Councilmember Valpula.

Uh motion passes unanimously.

Madam Clerk.

25-273 is a communication from the city manager and corporation council with request for the following.

A adopt an ordinance approving the purchase of real estate at 1601 North Moore Road, Peoria, Illinois, including parcel identification numbers 14-17-100-011, 14-17-100-12, 14-17-100-013, and 14-17-100-014 at the sheriff's auction on June 24th, 2025 for a purchase price determined in the discretion in the discretion of the city manager within the funds allocated in the fiscal year 2026, state of Illinois budget line item appropriation for the city's land bank.

And item B is to adopt an ordinance amitting the City of Peoria 2024-2025 biannual budget relating to the general fund for the purchase of 1601 Northmore Road as well as due diligence costs in the additional amount of $875,000.

And item B requires two-thirds vote of council members voting, no less than six votes, and we need separate motions on each, please.

Okay, thank you.

Uh Mr.

Manager or Corporation Council.

Thank you, Your Honor.

Welcome.

I want to point out first of all, we need to fix an error in the date.

The sheriff's um auction is actually tomorrow, September 24th.

And we'll make we'll note those changes on the ordinance, and I want to make that change today.

As the council knows from our briefings, um, the council's prior approval of a purchase agreement.

Um which oddly enough was on June 24th.

Um contemplated that the Expo Gardens uh board would meet and approve uh a purchase and sale agreement consistent with letter of intent that we executed with that board.

In fact, they have not met to consider that matter.

Uh because of that, the bank proceeded with foreclosure proceedings, received a summary judgment in uh in August.

We have now intervened successfully in the case and established our lien position.

The city's lien and the for stormwater fees and uh on a couple of the parcels totaling 457,000 is now perfected.

We have a priority just behind the bank, and so tomorrow's auction, uh the bank will appear.

They intend to articulate a bid less than their total amount of debt due, but uh slightly more than what they had agreed that we had agreed to in June because of their additional interim costs.

The city will have the opportunity then to bid.

If there's no other bidders, we anticipate being able to resolve the matter short of the bank's indebtedness.

If there's another bidder there, we can bid uh the bank's indebtedness and our entire lien without having to put forth the funds in our lien.

So we feel confident that we'll be in a strong position to acquire the property at the sheriff's sale.

We've asked for the council to give the city manager the discretion to determine the amount of the bid with the knowledge that uh we'll be able to bid our paper if it if we uh are forced to bid up to the bank's full indebtedness of about 1.4 million.

Um we will um uh if we're successful at that um sale so that the city council knows uh there's a formal process in the courts to confirm the sale and 30 days after that confirmation hearing, which is presently scheduled for October 1st, the city will have possession of the uh premises.

Um if there's any leaseholds on the property, we'll have to deal with those tenants.

We think those will be minimal, but there may be some uh issues there.

Uh we can uh brief the council more in depth on those outcomes after the auction tomorrow.

Um so we're asking for the council to consider the ordinance allowing for us to execute on that method of purchase, which is different than what the council previously approved.

And then the other item before the council is the necessary budget amendment meant to give us authority to bid up to the amount of funds that were appropriated by the state to our land bank.

Thank you, Your Honor.

You're welcome.

Are there any questions for uh council Hayes?

Councilman Sear.

Thank you, Madam Mayor.

I uh found it I find it so difficult anymore to really try to find what the truth is.

You know, everybody's put their own spin in the story, and depending on how they feel about this deal.

So it's very hard for me to find really what the truth is, but one thing is for sure in my mind is this question for Mr.

Mayor.

Do we have the money in our bank account yet from the state?

We do not.

We do not.

So until we do have this money, I can just can't support us spending some money until the money is there.

So uh my store has not changed on the get-go.

So thank you, madam mayor.

You're welcome.

Councilmember Carmona.

Thank you, Madam Mayor.

Uh yeah, I have to echo those sentiments.

I want to remind this whole body that when this was first brought to us, um, it actually was not a popular uh decision of to purchase the land because we were gonna have to use our own funds when this uh grant miraculously came to our door, then that's when it gained some traction.

Uh, and because uh my colleague Dennis here said we don't have the funds now, and I'm not confident that we're gonna have them any time in the future because three months have already passed, and um you know it just still hasn't worked out the way we thought it was, so I can't support it anymore, or uh as well, madam mayor.

Thank you.

Thank you, uh, Councilman Carmona.

And I just want to uh reassure the public that we do have a grant allocated from the state through the Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity for uh two million dollars for our land bank, and it can be used to purchase property.

And I have actually spoken spoken with the um chief of that agency who has assured us that this is an appropriate use of the funding and that we will receive this funding.

Um councilmember Allen.

Uh thank you, Madam Mayor.

Uh at this time I'd like to move to approve item A, please.

Item A.

Yes, Bill.

Seconded by Councilmember Gordon Young.

Any other questions on item A?

Please cast your ballots.

Councilmember Valpula.

Aye.

Motion passes with two nays, Cir and Carmona.

Councilmember Allen.

I'd like to move to approve item B, please.

Seconded by Councilmember Gordon Young.

Any questions, comments on item B?

Please cast your ballots.

Councilman Valpula.

Aye.

Motion passes with two nays, Cyr and Carmona.

Thank you.

Madam Clerk.

The last item, 25-274.

And I want to note that there was an error on the number on the original agenda.

So it is 25-274.

Is a communication from the city manager and corporation council with a request to receive and file a report back on off-premise advertising billboards.

Corporation Council Hayes.

Thank you, Your Honor.

Um, Maz Perkins uh is here to finish the report back.

Council will recall that we had previously provided uh an exhibit, which is hundreds of pages of information about current billboards, and we have an update to complete the items that were requested uh by councilman Euler.

And so Miles will take us through that material.

Thank you.

Good evening, Madam Mayor, Council.

Thank you for giving me the floor tonight to present on off-premise signs.

I'm working on a larger project with planning and zoning regarding the sign ordinance, so this was a perfect fit to specifically look at a niche uh which is off-premise signs, and it um puts into context the larger project we're working on.

Councilman Euler's second request was regarding the physical condition of billboards and how other municipalities regulate billboards, including annual inspection and registration.

There's a lot of paperwork in front of you, including the previous report back that was completed by staff, which included location and ownership.

With regulations, I tried to make it a little bit more readable.

So I added subcategories of size, height, spacing, location, technology, and illumination, materials and construction, inspections, and landscaping.

With all of this information, I did also try to make a chart for you.

It's still a lot of information.

I understand it was a lot for me to process as well.

And Leah's staff is amazing and knows this information like the back of their hands.

But for me, I apply the law as part of my role for the city.

So when looking at this, I did rely on them heavily to understand and interpret it.

The current cap of off-premise signs is at 83.

So based on all of the information we compiled, we do have a few recommendations which we would implement with the larger sign project.

The first part is regarding the inventory.

With that cap at 83, there are two additional signs that were not included in the original inventory in 2019.

The first is located at Northeast Jefferson, and the second is on also on Jefferson.

One of the signs could be considered abandoned per our code.

And the other one was requested to be included in the CAP.

We did send notice originally to the property owner at the time.

Requested that the city include it in the cap.

Part of staff's recommendation is to include that sign in the cap, but not the abandoned one.

So I apologize in advance.

Math is not my strong suit.

But the cap should be set at 81 instead of 82 if council considers all of staff's recommendations, including removing the three city-owned billboards.

So on to the next point of staff's recommendation would be including the terminating the three city owned uh billboards or off-premise signs.

There are three leases that the city controls with Adams Art Outdoors to keep the CAP and also to promote uh good faith with the community.

The city staff is proposing that the city terminate those leases and reduce the cap.

Lastly, based on my review, I do think that uh an inspection and permit fee would be warranted.

A lot of municipalities do have an annual permit fee for off-premise signs, um, with some municipalities or communities having an additional fee for electronic signs.

To rationalize an additional permit, uh, we I asked Kyle to provide me numbers of the positions for the city employees that would be doing the inspections, estimating about two hours of work uh a year per sign.

Um there is a rational justification to impose a fee for a hundred dollars per sign, and this wouldn't include electronic billboards as we don't have a city inspector currently that is an electrician.

So if there was an additional inspection component for an electronic billboard, um, that would have to be verified by an independent electrician.

The goal of this report back is uh to provide information to the council, but also to provide the city or to make the city more cycling pleasing to um encourage property owners to maintain their signs uh with this with the annual inspections.

Um we do feel that if the signs are being maintained, that there could be a self report report.

We've done that in other areas.

And with that, with this self self-annual inspection, there would be no permit fee.

Any questions?

Thank you, Council Moss.

Councilmember Euler.

Thank you, Madam Chairwoman.

First question, when would you expect this larger proposal that you're working on to come before the council?

Director Doolin is working on that with Leah to have a public component to involve the public on their input.

I don't have a set date at this time.

If direct if Leah or Director Doolin do, um they could provide it, but if not, um it's in the works.

I mean, is this six months down the road?

Is it next month?

The review is complete by staff.

Um I I can't speak on to the exact date.

Um, I would have to defer to Director Doolin or Leah.

Good evening.

Um we have been working internally with a consultant to review our sign regulations just to identify what maybe is not in alignment with regulations and where we can make some adjustments.

Um at this point, we're still kind of finalizing some of those issues.

The next steps will be to bring that to a public viewing and and ask for input from the public for proposed changes, just like with text amendments, as that would be.

So we haven't identified an exact timeline for that.

Um we want to make sure we do it thoroughly, completely.

Um, so we're just making sure we're ready.

After the public input, then we'll bring all of that to you for consideration.

So I apologize, I don't have a set timeline.

I'm hoping sooner than later, but we just want to make sure we're thorough and have everything ready for that public process.

Okay.

Does that make sense?

Yeah.

Okay.

Say that we were to want to keep them or keep one of them, put it out for a bit.

I'm just curious what the process looks like of taking it down, bidding it, somebody else, putting it up, you know, what are the steps?

You know, what is what what does a person have to go through to do that?

So, one, all three of the city's owned sites for those signs are legal nonconforming.

Meaning that if any of those signs change, like um if you wanted to change the pylon signs to a to a uh monument sign, we wouldn't be able to do it because it's legal non-conforming.

If though if the sign was damaged beyond repair, it couldn't be replaced.

And so many of the signs in our community are in that setting because the council over time has become more and more restrictive.

These signs have been up there through a couple different evolutions of restrictive changes in our sign code and our thoroughfare uh uh designations.

So there are very few places today where you could put up in the city of Peoria a new pylon billboard sign.

Um and a most uh I think 80 percent of our sign locations throughout the city are legal non-conforming, meaning if they were destroyed, they couldn't be put back in place.

Um our leases right now with um all of them are with Adams.

Adams is asking us to take major reductions in the leases.

Um and so they're they're squeezing the revenue side.

They don't want to renew the leases again.

Um and if they're gonna reduce the revenues in the way that they're looking for, like one of them is a ten thousand dollar annual lease with a CPI adjustment, they want to go to six thousand with no CPI adjustment, similar reductions to the other sign.

And so that's why staff felt, well, maybe it's time to just say for these three signs that the city's basically gotten kind of by accident, maybe it's time to get out of those.

And so that's the background of our of the city's side of that.

Um, and so if if those signs were going to change, it would be a matter of whether they're properly zoned anymore for whatever change it would be.

Um so the the industry right now can change its existing signs to electronic through a permit process.

But any other change, physical change in the sign, um creates this tension that they would need a waiver, which we have not granted to date on any of these restrictions for sign locations, and so there may be a difficult uh process to change the sign.

So uh the leases basically say if we end the lease with Adams there to remove those signs within a period of time, and so once the signs removed, a new one couldn't go in because it's not a properly zoned spot for it.

And so that's that's where um there's some issues about the whole environment with signs about if the lease isn't going to be renewed, you're kind of stuck with that with that provider.

And so um I'm probably the genesis of the idea to get let's just get rid of them because if we're gonna have less economic benefit, maybe it's time to just recognize this isn't a conforming spot for that use anymore.

This, of course, is not my decision, it's the council's decision.

So that's why we've identified it as a staff recommendation.

So as it's structured currently, an owner that has one is pretty much committed to having to stick with the person that they have the lease with because they won't be able to do any changes to the sign that they have, and if the lease expires, that company is obligated to take it down.

Right.

So if the company removes the sign, now it's gone.

So you don't benefit by the legal non-conforming status, which would allow you to keep it up.

Once it's removed, that goes away, and you're just stuck with the underlying zoning, which doesn't accommodate sign in many of the sign locations.

Now, some of the signed locations are you know legal and conforming, uh, but that but the vast majority now are legal nonconforming.

A large portion of those are legal non-conforming because they're so close to other signs.

Again, our sign regulations have gotten more restrictive, so we've increased our setbacks and things like that.

And so those are things that um our ZBA takes up on waiver requests, and on um if somebody wanted to modify zoning of a parcel, we might get that waiver request here by council, but council won't see all the waiver requests because they go through the ZBA, and if somebody's not happy with that outcome, the remedies hit in the circuit court.

So we don't see an awful lot of those here unless it's part of another zoning package.

So there isn't a very clear path to having a more attractive sign on the property, considering one of the concerns is the condition of the ones that we have, other than just making repairs, you can't do anything to make it better looking.

So one thing that we've been asked to look at uh by if I may, Councilman Carmona is uh proposal from industry about hey, let's make these uh pylon billboards uh a uh uh monument sign.

So the sign that's eight feet from the ground up, and many of them are electronic, and you see them you know in a lot of commercial settings, uh a lot of commercial settings are getting to the those signs, those certainly have some aesthetic values that compete with pylon signs, and many people say favorably.

Um, and so that would be a process we can look at if directed.

Um, and um I asked Councilman Carmona to let us get this report done before we took up the invitation to look at that.

I'll just share with you preliminarily that some of the places where a pylon sign works because it's up in the air won't work on the ground.

Um, and there's a real issue about um distraction with electronic signs that we're concerned about in a commercial setting where we do authorize electronic signs, but we always have to be cautious about setbacks and um conflict with traffic.

Um and IDOT has some regulations in that regard too.

So if we're looking at that to maybe incentivize the improvement of the aesthetic by moving from pylon signs in the air to um uh monument signs on the ground, um those are things we can look at um as part of a future evolution of our sign regulations related to off-premises advertising, and we'd probably inculcate some of the idea of our on-premise signs in that.

And um, we had a staff had a great conversation with Councilman Carmona about this uh a week and a half ago, and uh we'd look forward to that conversation, but that would pose some challenges for staff, as I've mentioned.

Okay, thank you.

Councilmember Riggenbach?

Thank you, madam mayor.

Corporation council, if I may continue that train of thought for a minute.

I just want to make sure that I've got this right.

If hypothetically, these three signs of the city owned would be conforming.

What is our obligation to renew the lease?

As I think my colleague just indicated, the understanding is you can go with anybody you want, but the minute they make changes, it becomes a non-conforming, and so they that it's to no avail.

Right.

So our current, however many percent are with the one um sign shop, they've they've got uh monopoly, if you will.

Maybe that's not the right legal word to use, but they they've got everybody um tied up because if they make any changes to the structure, then the sign has to go down.

Yeah, there'd be um there'd be there are some it's a restrictive environment, no doubt.

Um to the point of our what is our obligation?

These leases have auto renewal clauses, so they'll they'll continue.

But the conversation between between us and Adams is Adams doesn't is saying they want to get a new deal.

Well, that new deal isn't as good as the deal we've got.

So we're better with the auto renewal, and that's where we're at.

At some point, they may call the issue and say, okay, we're not renewing.

Then we might a lot of owners would be worried about that revenue or income opportunity.

The the city didn't get into these leases directly.

We got into these by accident.

We had acquire these properties for different reasons over time and stuff.

So uh for us, we're not as we're not dependent on the revenue issue, and I think that the council is articulated that these aesthetic issues are important.

They've said you can't put a sign like that there, but we have that sign there because we're grandfathered in.

But in the meantime, if they're willing to continue the auto renewal, there's no reason for the city to motivate change.

We'd be asking for the council to consider a new lease if it was improved terms, but because they're not improved terms, we're not we're not really eager to put that in front of the council and suggest that's the way to go.

So that's why our recommendation would be uh that maybe it's time to terminate these leases.

To take that a step further, I think when councilman Euler and I had met with uh uh property owner, they felt handcuffed that they they had no choice but to renew with the previous and now we understand why.

Um it's a little convoluted to say the least.

Um but I think the city has has made it clear going back to the previous signed ordinance that billboards in the city are not a desired um factor.

So wow, I'm just I'm sorry if I'm stuttering here, but this is just really a lot.

Next question though would be who would pay the annual inspection fee, the the property owner or the signed company we would require the signed companies to pay those annual fees.

I think that would be the way I would like to see it as well.

And I think 100 is pretty insignificant for a company.

So I would, you know, as this evolves, I would want to look at a higher rate than that.

Right, and um I know it's early in the game.

And it is showing good conduct.

I think Maz mentioned it showing good conduct over time would be able to self-inspect and not pay the fee.

And so um if if they're not taxing staff with work, we wouldn't charge them.

So there's a way to make it business as business friendly as possible to have a permit fee uh to show that if you show good conduct over your portfolio, you would you would be able to self-inspect and and not pay a fee.

Yeah, all right.

Um I think there's also something called council inspects um as I've been driving around town since this came up.

I've I should have a pad of paper to or to record it on my phone.

Every billboard I see that is dilapidated and disrepair.

So thank you.

inspect and and not pay a fee yeah all right um i think there's also something called council inspec um as i've been driving around town since this came up i've i should have a pad of paper to or to record it on my phone every billboard i see that is dilapidated and in disrepair so thank you cooperation council thank you madam mayor welcome uh council member oiler would you like to make the motion move to receive and file seconded by councilmember kelly any other questions or comments please cast your ballots councilmember valpulo I motion carries uh unanimously uh thank you uh assistant director allison and council ma's that's a lot of work we appreciate it no problem here sir welcome madam clerk we are at un unfinished business we have none none then we're at new business uh new business i just want to uh start by taking a moment to thank everyone who attended last week's Illinois Municipal League annual conference in Chicago I thought it was a great opportunity for us to uh not only attend the workshops and and listen and learn but also contribute uh councilman allen was a moderator for one panel and a participant in another panel uh I thought that was a great opportunity to showcase Peoria and also I mean to network with other council members and and leaders from across the the n the I was gonna say the nation but across the state so we had six members of our council actually attend which was higher than any other number since I've been on council attend that conference we also had our city manager there we had our our city treasurer there we had our city clerk there so I I thought Peoria had some really good representation and just want to encourage you to continue to uh participate.

Thank you.

Councilmember Jackson thank you madam mayor and um I am just appreciative of the opportunity to have been able to participate in the IML you know one of the big takeaways I got uh was the opportunity to learn what other communities were doing and you know as we sought to get information from experts some of which were from around the country you know I think the consensus was that this was information we would all uh be able to bring back to our communities and um you know if we're able to implement some of these ideas it not only enhances each municipality but I think collectively it makes us as a stri a state much stronger so thank you uh for the opportunity the other item I have is a report back request for um community development director doolin uh can you come up sir um might take a little bit of time to compile some of the uh information I I would like to uh do some research and it basically deals with quality of life issues if we could sir I'd like to get a report back on the number of apartments in Peoria with units of 50 or more uh names of those property management companies um and um number of police calls made to those facilities uh higher numbers uh and the purpose and uh thirdly sir if we could uh get information with regards to code enforcement um violations uh within the last uh two to five years or so um I've just got a lot of um questions coming from uh different areas in and around the district and I'd like to uh be able to take a look take have an opportunity to delve into some of that data and uh see where um there might be opportunities for um maybe some some changes uh we could try to put that together I don't know the exact numbers so I'm not sure how long I know it's gonna take a little time so we'll look and see what we can do and we'll shoot everyone an email about how long we'll think it takes so thank you yep thank you madam mayor you're welcome councilmember Regenbach thank you madam mayor welcome I'm sure um everybody's heard by now and we've been talking about this off and on that the salvation army actually broke ground on their new um men's shelter last week while we were at IML unfortunately thank you director doan for representing us well at that and I just I just want to recognize the continued effort of um the salvation army to address these issues and this one in particular has been one that has our attention at many levels so it's always good to see the ball moving forward um second of all director powers I see you in the room I was gonna I've talked to him about this off and on but I just want to publicly ask for an update from IDOT on the Knoxville reconstruction project that's something that's been on the books the state

And I just I just want to recognize the continued effort of the Salvation Army to address these issues and this one in particular has been one that has our attention at many levels.

So it's always good to see the ball moving forward.

Um second of all, Director Powers, I see you in the room.

I was gonna I've talked to him about this off and on, but I just want to publicly ask for an update from IDOT on the Knoxville Reconstruction Project.

That's something that's been on the books, the state's appropriated money for that, and um we they established a CAG, a citizens advisory group, which hasn't met now for probably 18 months, if not two years, and we have a new second district councilman since that last CAG meeting also.

So I think perhaps if you could um tell iDot we'd like a meeting, Councilman Carmo and I hadn't talked to him about this, but um that's that's a is a big project that divides our two districts.

So I think the two of us and um city staff should sit down with iDot and see exactly where we are on this.

So do you want the status that we received or do you just want me to take that in request?

I I I want a meeting with IDOT.

Okay, all right, because I do have the current status as well.

All right, we'll set up the meeting, Council.

Thank you.

Councilmember Jackson.

Thank you, Madam Mayor.

Um yes, and one other uh point.

I I just wanted to make mention.

Director Powers, uh, if you could step back to the podium.

Uh since our last meeting, uh we have been fortunate to see major uh road construction taking place on MacArthur.

Uh, and for the benefit of the folks, the general public who may not be aware.

Could you just uh let them know the nature of that work, sir?

Because um there are a lot of people who did not attend some of those meetings and are probably wondering what is going on.

It is there's it is yeah, it's a full one.

It's a reconstruction is what is going on.

Uh it's a reconstruction is what's going on on MacArthur.

So it's a heavy project.

It's uh actually I wasn't prepared to brief here, I'd tell you where we were in the status of it.

But um that's is what is happening on MacArthur.

It's a major construction project will be going on throughout this coming year, I believe.

Um I'll get a full report back for you next meeting, so you would have it.

I was not prepared to brief the project.

Well, I and I apologize.

You know, it it's happened since uh uh I I think I don't I'm trying to remember if it was uh after our last council meeting, but it it's a major thoroughfare, and I you know I just uh know people are probably wondering what's going on, and I I'm sorry, I don't mean to put you on and I don't expect anything uh thorough, sir, but just for the benefit of the drivers and the public and the folks who come from you know who would travel from up the hill going down through East Peoria.

It's uh it's a heavily traveled road.

We will get you a current status on that.

It is an it brief is fine.

Thank you very much.

But thanks to IDOT.

Uh we finally are seeing a long-awaited project take shape.

Thank you, madam mayor.

Thank you, Director Powers.

You betam clerk.

We are at citizens opportunity to address the city council, and we have not received any cards, so then we are at executive session.

Okay.

I would like to invite a motion to adjourn and to convene in closed session immediately following the adjournment of the city council meeting pursuant to the open meetings act 5 ILCS 122 C11 to discuss pending litigation or probable or imminent litigation and pursuant to the open meetings act 5 ILCS 122 C21 for approval by the body of closed session minutes.

Um move by council member Allen, seconded by council member sear.

Please cast your ballots.

Councilman Valpula.

Hi.

Thank you for your service.