Good evening, everyone.

It is 6.03 p.m.

on Tuesday, December 9th, 2025.

I'd like to welcome everyone present in our historic city council chambers.

I'd also like to welcome everyone in our city council.

Um, as who's watching on Cable Channel 22 and the Peoria YouTube channel.

Madam Clerk, 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.

Here.

Councilmember Kelly.

Here.

Councilmember Euler.

Here.

Councilmember Riggenbach.

Here.

Councilmember Valpula.

Present.

Councilmember Vespa.

Here.

Madam Mayor, we have a quorum presence.

Excellent.

Everyone is here.

This is our final meeting of City Council meeting of 2025, and we have quite a full agenda tonight.

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

Madam Clerk.

We are at proclamations.

We have one proclamation tonight, and it is the 125th anniversary of Family Corps.

I'd like to ask Family Corps CEO and Lading Ferguson, Family Corps Chief Program Officer, Ron Tyler, Family Corps President of the Board of Directors, Todd Hasty, and Family Corps's first vice president of the Family Corps Board of Directors.

First Vice President.

Thank you all for joining us tonight.

We're as originally known as Associated Charities and Philanthropies.

And we're as established as Associate Charities and Philanthropies in the Assembly Room of Peoria City Hall in 1900.

The agency has operated as Family Corps since 2010.

It has also been known as the Family Welfare Association of Peoria, Child and Family Services, Counseling and Family Service, and Counseling and Family Services.

I remember all those names.

No matter the name, Family Corps has consistently evolved to meet the needs of families while remaining rooted in its founding values.

And whereas Family Corps provides services to 19,0164 clients and families every year.

The agency works with schools, the court system, and other social service agencies to connect counseling, intervention, preventative education, and other support services, such as assistance with adoption and foster care, single parent services, and youth outreach.

Whereas Family Corps plans to continue its mission of instilling hope by creating the right balance of resources and care to foster and equip equip healthy, productive children and families.

And whereas as the agency commemorates its 125th anniversary of service, the city of Peoria congratulates Family Corps on its continued efforts to promote safe environments for children and families.

Now therefore, I read Ali, Mayor of the City of Peoria, Illinois, do hereby celebrate the 125th anniversary of Family Corps in Peoria, Illinois.

Mayor Lee and County members, we want to thank you on behalf of Family Corps, the Board of Directors, and all the employees for recognizing this wonderful anniversary that we have, but it started here in this building, which we really appreciate.

Not only the visionary leaders in the 1900s, but the visionary leaders that are still here today this evening and all of you seeing the needs in the community.

So thank you for the partnership.

You're welcome.

Thank you for all that you do for our community.

Madam Clerk.

We are at the approval of the minutes.

Councilmember Regenbach.

Thank you, Madam Mayor.

I move to approve the minutes of the joint city council and town board meeting held November 18th, 2025 as printed.

Seconded by Councilmember Kelly.

Any questions?

Comments.

Please cast your ballots.

Motion passes unanimously.

Adam Clerk.

We are at the township portion of the agenda.

Item number 25-338.

A request to approve the November 2025 actual expenditures and to approve the December 2025 anticipated expenditures for the town of the city of Peoria.

Trustee Gordon Young.

Thank you, Madam Mayor.

I move to approve item 25-338.

Seconded by Trustee Allen.

Any questions or comments?

Please cast your ballots.

Motion passes unanimously.

Madam Clerk.

We are now at the consent agenda items.

Item number 2539, a communication with the request to approve the 2026 Peoria City Council regular meeting schedule.

Item number 25340, a communication with the request to approve the release of the remaining city debt owed by the Expedition Gardens.

A communication with the request to approve a two-year charter extension for the Joint Commission on Racial Justice and Equity.

25342, a communication with the request for the following.

And to authorize the city manager to execute the necessary documents.

A communication with the request to authorize the city manager to execute the collective bargaining agreement negotiated between the City of Peoria and Mechanical Systems Maintenance, Local 353 from December 1st, 2025 through November 30th, 2029.

Item number 25, 345, a communication with the request to approve program manager services through December 31st, 2028 for the following.

A, an agreement with Hanson Professional Services and the amount not to exceed 1,250,000 for Transportation Program Manager Engineering Services.

B an agreement with Millennia Professional Services of Illinois and the amount not to exceed 2,625,000 for construction program manager engineering services.

C an agreement with Mead and Hunt and amount not to exceed 2 million 750,000 for sewer and combined sewer program manager engineering services.

An agreement with FOF Infrastructure and Environmental LLC and amount not to exceed $1,250,000 for solid waste program manager engineering services and E.

An agreement with HR Green Incorporated and the amount not to exceed $2 million for the stormwater program manager engineering services.

Item number 25 dash 346.

A communication with the request for the following.

A adopt an ordinance approving a business district plan for the city of Peoria Glenn Glen Hollow Business District.

B adopt an ordinance designating the Glenn Howell, the Glen Hollow Business Development District, and C Adopt an ordinance imposing a retailer's occupation tax and a service occupation tax and the Glen Hollow Business Development District.

Item number 25 dash 347 appointment by Mayor Ali to the sister city commission with a request to concur.

Jarrell Glass, Angela Weck, Abigail Appleton, Timothy Doyle is a reappointment.

And that includ concludes the consent agenda items.

Thank you, Madam Clerk.

Are there any items to remove from consent?

Councilmember Allen?

No, it's all good.

Uh thank you, Madam Mayor.

I would like to pull agenda item 25-341, please.

Can you repeat that again?

Um agenda item 25-341.

341, okay.

Councilman Sear.

Thank you, Madam Mayor.

Uh item number 25 340 and 25 343.

Councilmember Carmona.

I think you madam mayor.

Uh item 25 346, please.

346.

Yes.

Councilman Oler.

Thank you, Madam Chairwoman.

25 344.

Thank you.

Okay, can I get a motion to approve the other items?

Move by Councilmember Euler, seconded by Council Member Jackson.

Uh any questions or comments?

Please cash your ballots.

Motion passes unanimously.

Okay, madam clerk.

Here we go.

25 340.

A communication with a request to approve the release of remaining city debt owed by the exposition gardens incorporated.

Councilmember Sear.

Thank you, Madam Mayor.

Uh, Mr.

Manager, welcome back.

I hope you're doing very, very well.

Thank you.

You don't look any better, but hopefully you feel better.

Sorry, sorry, sir.

It's cold outside.

Okay.

Uh for the sake of accountability.

I just can't.

I I know it doesn't mean anything, but I mean this organization's corporation owes the CWP Aurea over $450,000, $225 is the the uh what they owe us, I believe, and $225 is penalty or interest on what they owe us, something like that.

But anyway, I know it doesn't mean anything, but I just I can't vote for this and just sweep it under the carpet.

So I'm a no for this.

I don't know if we need any motion or anything like that, but um I don't know what you can say, uh Mr.

Manager about this, but take this thank you, ma'am mayor.

Councilman, is uh you know our um the city had the opportunity to acquire this property through a foreclosure process as part of that foreclosure process, uh the exposition gardeners authority um met with the city and the bank and asked the bank and the city to uh forgive the additional debt.

The bank had uh 201,000 dollars, that's more than community bank at 201,000 deficiency judgment out of the foreclosure, and as council is aware, we um perfected our stormwater utility liens at the time it was um in the amount of about 457,000 dollars, but uh additional stormwater liens accrued after that while the foreclosure was pending.

Uh so the total amount of debt is as you expressed uh uh uh 400,000 uh over 480,000 dollars.

Um the forgiveness of that level of debt, usually um uh you know we would pursue debts like that.

Um but um the bank the uh bank and the city when we met with uh with exposition gardens were faced with the the exposition gardens threat that they would appeal the foreclosure.

So the bank issued a satisfaction immediately of the outstanding amount of that deficiency judgment.

So they released it.

And I indicated because of the timing of city council meetings that I would just ask the council to forgive that debt.

I did share with council that I think that debt is likely uncollectible.

Exposition gardens authority has no operations, they don't have a place because we're now in possession of the property, and so I shared with the council that perhaps we would be writing this debt off at some point in time in the future and that I would ask the council to take the same step the bank did recognize the insolvency of the entity and write off the balance of the stormwater debt.

Thank you, Council.

And that sharing was in a closed session meeting.

So uh Mr.

Hayes, thank you for the explanation.

But am I I mean I'm not an attorney, but am I incorrect in my thinking that we need to protect this city from people that owe us money and maybe want an opportunity to open another business or sort on some other boards that if we forgive the debt, they would have a clean slate and be able to do whatever they want.

Am I correct in saying that?

Um I I think that the council has a discretion to forgive debt or not, and I try to stay away from articulating an answer to a should question.

It is a difficult decision for the council to make whether to forgive debt or not.

I do think that at some point in the future I'll be faced with the prospect of advising council this debt's uncollectible, but uh and taking care of this now would clean things up, but that's within the discretion of council.

I move not to forget the debt until you have to take those legal steps.

I move made the motion.

You made a motion?

Yeah, move not to forgive until uh Mr.

Hayes had to uh take some more uh legal maneuvering.

So you're moving to deny this motion.

Correct.

This okay.

Not to forgive.

Is there a second seconded by council member Carmona?

Discussion.

Councilmember Euler.

Thank you, Madam Chairwoman.

From a practical and fiduciary standpoint, the debt is uncollectible.

And so while I understand the idea that you're protecting the taxpayer by leaving it in place, you're actually costing the taxpayer money because now the legal department will have to continue to pursue this action, not just in staff time, but in financial legal fees and court cost to then at some point come back again and ask us to write it off.

So financially it makes no sense whatsoever to maintain the debt on the books.

From a pragmatic standpoint, this was an organization that was created for the benefit of the public.

And to me, it's really a slap in the face that we took the land and now we're gonna tell a public body that was created for the public benefit that we're gonna hold this on top of your head as well.

It makes no sense to me whatsoever to um deny taking this debt off, and so I'll be voting against the motion.

Councilmember Kelly.

Thank you, Madam Mayor.

Um Mr.

Corporation Council, what happens if we do not what happens to this entity if if uh we do not forgive the debt?

Uh the stated purpose from the representatives was that they wanted to maintain and have uh the charter for the Heart of Illinois Fair, even though they have no practical plan to hold that fare.

Uh but they felt they expressed that there was some concern that that charter would be in jeopardy if they had outstanding debts.

Thank you.

Um if they came to us with a plan to reinstate the Heart of Illinois Fair, and uh they still had this debt hanging over their heads.

At that point in time, this council could forgive that debt.

Is that correct?

Uh the council would have discretion to forgive the debt in the future, yes.

Okay.

So I don't know what the rush is.

Uh uh.

The it seems to me that sometimes we get into things like this, and there are ramifications of it that we don't that we're not familiar with.

I think it is likely to make zero difference.

But there's this outside chance that something weird might happen.

And I I don't I don't want to be uh uh I don't want to have the city exposed to that.

If they want to come back and they say we've got a plan to redo the Heart of Illinois Fair, we can act at that point and and that would be fine.

Uh at this point, if we do nothing, nothing changes.

So I will be supporting uh the motion.

Okay.

Thank you, madam mayor.

You're welcome.

Councilmember Allen.

Uh thank you, Madam Mayor.

Uh Corporation Council Hayes, can you speak to the original agreement that was approached to Expo Gardens that ultimately they didn't act on, but wasn't the debt being leveraged in that agreement originally?

It's uh in June, we had a letter of intent executed with Exposition Gardens.

Uh the basic tenants of that or elements of that agreement was that the Exposition Gardens would sell the property to the city for uh the city satisfying the Morton Community Bank mortgage.

Um and the city had negotiated a discounted amount for that, and then the city would forget forgive the outstanding stormwater utility debt, which is the debt that we are that the the request is to forgive that debt.

So that deal that was struck in June was never perfected because since June, to my understanding, the Exposition Gardens Board has not met and never took action on the documents that would have allowed us to proceed with that transaction.

So the bank went through with the formal formal foreclosure, and we then, as you know, came back to the council to obtain uh approval for a mechanism to allow the city manager to bid at the sheriff's sale.

Um so that's how we ultimately acquired the property.

Um the cost of that was about $75,000 more than what the city had originally agreed with uh through the letter of intent and the bank uh to acquire the property for.

Uh thank you for that explanation.

So originally when we made our initial proposal, we were already prepared to void the debt.

And so I think now to continue holding this debt over Expo Gardens or whoever still represents Expo Gardens, I think at this point really doesn't make a lot of sense.

The old adage, you can't squeeze blood out of a turnip.

I mean, unfortunately, Expo Gardens, which as Councilman Oiler said was uh a quality of life opportunity for our community, but the last several years have gone on uh tough financial times.

And if they are able to resurrect the fair in some capacity, the chances of them doing it in the city of Peoria are honestly slim than none considering the acreages they would need to execute a fare.

So I I think it's best at this point, and I know there's a lot of feelings about the particular property at Expo Gardens and them losing it and us taking it over and now looking to convert it into single family housing, but I think it's best for us to shut this chapter.

Um there's a lot of uh emotion evolved in this, and I understand the the business uh case in this and possibly creating up precedence.

Um, and I know that the stormwater utility fee is always a a point of contention, especially in the Allen household when we get that bill every four months.

But I think though that we need to close the chapter on this book so that way both parties can move on.

Thank you, Madam Mayor.

You're welcome.

Councilmember Carmona?

Thank you, Madam Mayor.

For me, this is uh just a measure of accountability.

If any of us had debt like this, nobody would let us uh write it off.

Um I do disagree with what Councilman Oiler said.

Um I understand uh his reasoning behind it, but we didn't take this land from anybody.

We were forced to acquire it because of what could happen if we let it fall into the fate of you know the free market.

So we've done a lot already, and I agree with this whole issue that the city is being treated as a mechanism for bailout.

And because I don't want this to continue, I think that we do need a measure of accountability, which is why I am supporting the motion.

Thank you, Madam Mayor.

You're welcome.

Councilmember Vespa.

Uh thank you, Madam Mayor.

Um Council Hayes, um, did we ever represent to exposition gardens that we would be forgiving this debt um in exchange for them not appealing our purchase?

I was very cautious in that moment and told Exposition Gardens lawyer that I would merely present the opportunity to council to write it off.

We did not make a binding agreement because I didn't have an authority to bind the council to that outcome.

So what I told Attorney Dans was I would present the motion, which is what I've done, and I've avoided trying to persuade towards an outcome other than to recognize that I did represent that we would present that opportunity to council.

Thank you.

Okay, I appreciate that explanation.

Um so I mean our hands aren't tied here.

We originally had an agreement to um to you know waive the debt.

Uh they did not hold up their end of the agreement.

Umfortunately, we had to spend more money to acquire the land than originally thought.

Um so you know, I there are a lot of hard feelings around this uh this horseshoe, I think for good reason.

Um but on the other hand, this is a non-profit that has a lot of goodwill throughout the community and has built up a lot of goodwill throughout the community throughout the decades.

Um I do not believe that they um they have the money to pay this debt.

I believe they are a turnip um holding on to this debt, you know.

It's it's uncollectible, but I mean I I understand what Councilman Euler was saying.

You know, we shouldn't spend any any time trying to collect it, not even a postcard, I think.

Um, but I mean we don't have to.

I mean, we can just keep it on the books.

Uh we don't have to take them to court um and try to try to squeeze blood out of a turnip here.

Um so I mean I I'm not sure that they've been good faith actors, but on the other hand, I don't want to squeeze or impede this organization from doing good, maybe setting up a fair somewhere else, even if it wouldn't be in the city of Peoria.

Um ultimately I I don't I don't see the impetus for us to to waive the debt.

I don't see how it's in our best interest.

So I I think I will support Councilman Sears motion.

Thank you.

Welcome.

Councilmember Euler.

Thank you, Madam Chairwoman.

I would just like to clarify Councilman Carmona's comment that we were forced to take.

We were not forced to take, we exercised a right and voted to acquire.

Thank you.

You're welcome.

The motion is to uh deny release of the remaining city debt owed by exposition gardens.

Please cast your ballots wrong.

Motion fails six to five.

Voting no Jackson Regenbach Euler, Gordon Young, Vespa, no, I'm sorry, not Vespa, Alan and Ollie.

Madam Mayor.

Thank you, Your Honor.

Council Hayes.

Part of the problem with having a motion in the negative.

Pardon me.

Part of the problem with a motion in the negative is we just didn't do anything just there.

So now I would ask the council whether they want to take action on the request to approve the release, because we'd need a positive outcome for that.

So I apologize for that little uh parliamentary move, but we need either action or no action on the control request.

Thank you, Honor.

Yes, you're welcome.

Um is there a motion to approve?

Move by Councilmember Euler, seconded by Councilmember Regenbach.

Please cast your ballots.

Motion passes.

With five no votes.

Velpula, Kelly, Sear, Carmona, and Vespa.

Thank you.

Madam Clerk.

Item number 25-341, a communication with the request to approve a two-year charter extension for the joint commission on racial justice and equity.

Councilmember Allen.

Uh thank you, Madam Mayor.

I pulled this particular item uh due to my employment with Peore County government uh as the chief divorce equity inclusion officer.

Uh I serve as council liaison to the commission and I have for for several years, but because of the uh intergovernment agreement between the two bodies, I will be recusing myself from this vote.

Thank you, Madam Mayor.

Understood.

Uh Councilmember Kelly.

Thank you, Madam Mayor.

Um I I view this as uh an extension of something that we don't have much information on.

I'm willing to go ahead and vote for the extension.

But I would, you know, we've gotten a couple shiny reports, but nothing really has happened.

Um this is what five years old at this point.

Am I right?

And we've had two reports.

Both of them said that we had a racist government here, which I took issue with.

Um I'll do this, but I would like to see what this giant commission has accomplished.

There's an annual report every year.

Councilman.

Yeah, well, I I am in uh possession of those.

I don't see much that's happened except a lot of nice.

Yeah, I'm sorry.

I'm sorry.

I um it it they haven't been very satisfactory to me.

Um so I will move to approve.

Sir a second, seconded by council member uh Valpula.

Continued discussion.

Councilmember Sear.

Thank you, madam mayor.

Uh I feel a little similar to Mr.

Kelly, but more importantly for me, I want a question for uh Mr.

Manager.

Uh do we have any uh financial commitment to this that's tied to this uh extension?

We've had we've had the financial commitment of helping to prepare the report um supporting the efforts of of some of the training of the the commissioners um working with the county on that.

We've intended to kind of share those expenses over the years.

Um it hasn't been a significant dollar amount that we've had, it's been probably under 10,000 each year.

So we don't have a line item for this commitment as part of a general fund.

Yep.

Um it's unfortunately for me, there's a motion on the floor already, but I would uh I'd love to defer this item until they give us a I I wouldn't want to see a presentation of what they want to accomplish the next two years if possible.

Um just more I'm sorry, you know we've had them here not long ago.

I understand, but it'd be nice to like you said, there's an annual report, and we should see them at least once a year.

I'd love to I'd love to see them before we we we do this.

That's all I'm saying.

But again, there's a motion on the floor, so but that's m just my opinion.

Okay, um council member Gordon Young.

Thank you, madam mayor.

Just a question.

Um, I'm not sure who can answer the question, but um, because I've had the pleasure of attending uh these meetings in the past and just learning some of the processes and the relevance of it, and also I do recall uh the meetings and and the presentation.

I think it's gonna be important that council is very very specific on what you're asking for, because there has been a presentation, and I found to be very relevant.

So even if you go back to do something different, how do we know that it's gonna be what you expect?

And also the second part of that is have any of you attended any of these meetings to see what they are about, because I think firsthand that'll really give you a great idea of the relevance of it.

Something to consider if you haven't.

So I don't know, so there was a question in there.

Um, you know, are they open?

I know they are, but I'm just being, you know, making that they are okay.

So I'm getting some nods.

So perhaps you guys can try to attend so that way you get an idea of what is happening behind the scenes beyond the really nice uh paper presentation, which is great, but then also they have come and presented as well.

Just a reminder, this is happening.

We got to be specific, otherwise, you're gonna constantly, you know, I mean, do it over and over and over.

And I thought you did a great job to begin with.

We got to make sure we know what we're doing, where you headed at.

Thank you, madam mayor.

Thank you.

Now we have a motion on the floor to um approve the two-year extension of the city county joint commission on racial justice and equity.

Please cash your ballots.

Motion passes with one extension, Alan, and one Nay Carmona.

Madam Clerk.

Item number two five three four three, a communication with a request to approve a contract with government consulting solutions to serve as the city's lobbyists in the state of Illinois and the amount of 7500 per month, and to authorize the city manager city manager to execute the necessary documents.

Thank you.

Councilman Sear.

Thank you again, Madam Mayor.

Uh, Mr.

Manager, I'm not against it.

I'm just trying to understand a bit more.

Uh, under overview, the communication we get there at 343 talks about uh they will endorse different issues for us and they will um okay.

We'll work it says right here we'll work closely with the mayor and the member of the city council.

Well, firstly, I've never been here eight years to see nobody ever called me, or I've never never had any conversation with any of our lobbyists.

So can and I'm not against that, but I'm just trying to understand we have four state representatives in our area, and to me their job is to represent us.

So explain to me why do we need to invest in other uh what is that 80, 90,000 for lobbyists when we have four representatives in this area.

Well, I think if you if you were to talk to our legislative delegation, they'd tell you that it's very important that we have representation in Springfield with the thousands of bills that are brought forward every session.

Um it's not often that that it's not always the case that our legislators are able to stay on top of everything that's coming that could affect us, both positively and negatively, uh, and that having uh representation in Springfield is very important uh for us, not only in advocating for specific Peoria positions on legislation uh or appropriations, but also for uh being defensive and making sure that we're uh addressing any bills that may be negative towards the city of Peoria.

So uh those are the reasons why we do that.

Uh we can certainly, this is a new firm that has uh more representation than we've had in the past.

We really had had um two firms that were representing us in the in the last couple of years.

Um this so this will provide us more opportunity for them to engage, I think, with the council uh and talk about that uh as we go forward with this with this uh new set of of uh of lobbyists.

Uh and I do think that this is money well spent uh as we look at uh what we're trying to do to not only protect the city's interest, uh, but to advocate for any kind of funding we can get from the state on our behalf as well.

So, how many lobbyists have we uh had working for us the last eight years?

Oh, over the last eight years, we had one lobbyist that was working for us uh up until uh Mayor Lee was sworn in, and then we had uh two lobbyists that were working for us uh in this last session.

This firm GCS has four lobbyists.

Um the mayor and I were on a call with them today, and the four of their lobbyists were on the call with us.

Um so as we kind of walk through the legislative program, which we'll talk about here in a little bit.

So you know, I think that that you know, Peoria County's had had a number, they've had three lobbyists over the years that they've they've that have represented Peoria County.

Um it it is not uncommon for municipalities of our size uh to have representation in Springfield.

And again, this money comes from the general fund.

That's correct.

Move to approve, madam mayor.

Is there a second seconded by councilmember Euler?

Um I would also want to thank uh Councilman Riggenbach for participating in that interview process.

We had input from our representatives to Councilman Sear.

They weighed in and this firm really comes highly recommended, and I'm very impressed with what my expectation is what we're gonna get out of our new lobbyists.

Um councilmember Riggenbach, did you want to comment at all?

Yes, thank you, madam mayor.

I I would say the may the city manager did a really nice job of summarizing the importance of this, and as you look at our um state representative delegation right now, um leader booth is the only one that is solely in the city of Peoria.

Senator Kaler's district stretches all the way to Bloomington now.

So while he's a born and bred Peoria boy, well not born perhaps, but he's definitely a Peoria boy at heart, he does have multiple constituencies that are pulling him in different directions.

So I think this really helps us stay alert and have people looking out for our interests regardless of what's going on.

And um, as the mayor you stated, that they came in um full force and were very impressive.

So I'll be looking forward to meeting having everybody meet them at our January workshop.

So I'm definitely supporting this as well.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Councilmember Euler.

Thank you, Madam Chairwoman.

I definitely see the need for a lobbyist, but I want to echo Councilman Sears' points that if this were the same company on the agenda, I would definitely be voting no.

I think we got a big zero from them during their time of service, and I would question if they even knew where the city of Peoria was because our lobbyist prior to them was here on a regular basis and interacted with the council, and I didn't see one single communication from the last firm during the last term.

So I want to make sure that that expectation gets set up front.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Okay, no more comments.

Please cash your ballots.

Motion passes unanimously.

Madam Clerk.

Item number 25 dash 344, a communication with a request to authorize the city manager to execute the collective bargaining agreement negotiated between the city of Peoria and Mechanical Systems Maintenance, local 353 from December 1st, 2025 through November 30th, 2029.

Councilmember Euler.

Thank you, Madam Chairwoman.

Uh Mr.

Manager, can you outline the changes in residency from the last contract of this one?

Let me see if I can get our HR director, our assistant city manager can possibly outline those changes.

I know the numbers, not the residency, so I'll be quite because I didn't think we made any major changes.

So I think it's just 25, isn't it?

So I wasn't in this negotiation, but I'm I'm familiar with it in general.

The uh residency requirement went from 20 miles to 25 miles on this particular on this contract.

Thank you.

Just want to clarify the fact that I'll be voting no on this item.

I think that the employees who collect a paycheck from us should also be living contributing members of our community and paying into our financial system that pays their paychecks, and so I do not believe in allowing residency to go outside the city.

Thank you.

You're welcome.

Is there uh a motion to approve this item?

Move by councilmember Jackson, seconded by councilmember Riggenbach.

Any other discussion?

Councilmember Carmona.

Uh thank you, madam mayor.

I think that Councilman Euler brings up a very good point.

Uh it's it's really frustrating when we do pay uh employees that uh don't live in our area, um, but they could take advantage of certain services that we have and stuff like that here if anything happens to them here.

And I just do think it is I I think it's important for somebody to live here if they're gonna be uh receiving a paycheck from the city.

So um I will uh not be supporting this motion.

Okay, thank you.

Please cash your ballots motion passes with two nays, Euler and Carmona.

A adopt an ordinance, approving the business district plan for the city of Peoria, Glenn Hollow Business District.

B adopt an ordinance.

Designating the Glen Hollow Business Development District.

And C adapt an ordinance, imposing a retailer's occupation tax and the service occupation tax in the Glen Hollow Business Development District.

Thank you.

Councilmember Carmona.

Thank you, Madam Mayor.

This will not be a civic speech on that pesky constitution that I love so much.

So my main concern is the eligibility study claims that every plot is blighted.

Now, if anybody in the crowd or listening at home wants to Google a blighted house, blighted shopping center, you will see something completely different from what Glen Hollow is.

I think objectively, because I drove there through the whole parking lot, walked around all the sidewalks, saw some deterioration in some of the curves, but by and large, this eligibility study, in my opinion, is a distortion of the truth.

So, assistant city manager, sorry, did do we actually go out and drive around and look at the claims from these studies?

So, first of all, I would say that we you know we bring in a person, a consultant that has familiarity with our state law, understanding what the parameters are for us to do our evaluation.

Um I would tell you what you see as blight to you, may not be deterioration to your eyes, but as it relates to the threshold for what is considered a deterrable um property would be the threshold for which it's the beginning of deterioration.

So even though you look at a parking lot and because they're not big giant potholes, that your car is being damaged.

The fact that though the if you go to that particular area, the only parcel that has had any modifications or anything done into the parking lot has been target property only.

Once you get beyond that, everything else has not had any type of maintenance done to it in quite some time.

If you go to the Best Buy location, you do see some deterioration in that.

So no, it's not to the point of where we are to disprepare to have to um I would say uh a tear down of a building, but it is at a threshold that would qualify so that we can be able to mitigate some of those issues earlier so that we can have that area continue to thrive.

So the money that is being utilized for this would go back into not just the infrastructure of the building, but the infrastructure of the area.

So lighting um any type of road that the city might even own would be able to utilize these funds to be able to ensure that the area is maintained appropriately so that we don't get to a point of deterioration of where we have to look at demolition of property.

Thank you for that clarification.

Um a big part of this too is the you know the study claims that this money is obviously gonna be used to try to fill some of those parcels in.

Um concern is like a contradiction because Best Buy and Party City and you know that shopping center was full.

Why then didn't the developer maintain and take care of the property as he's supposed to?

I mean, I think that's a very valid question uh to ask because the citizens, the city, you know, taxpayers don't own this property, but they are being asked to uh well probably mostly unknowingly, they're gonna go in there and get an extra one percent on the bill that they pay in order for uh this developer to do things that they're already supposed to be doing.

So I have a big issue with that, which you all already know.

Now this was on the consent agenda for a reason.

I think it has plenty of support uh around the horseshoe.

Um I know that I'm one of the ones that it's very against this.

Um if this is the will of the council, I believe that we can do better by the citizens of our city.

Um I think that we need some sort of policy, uh, some due diligence to identify properties that are actually in need uh by looking at vacancies, what I would just say actual blight, uh, new investments, uh something that requires accountability and safeguards our citizens from bailouts and routine expenses that are supposed to be now paid by them.

Um also a policy that treats local entrepreneurs and national chains fairly, so we're not just benefiting big box stores.

Um I think we've already set a bad precedent with this conversation that in this potential business development district because already uh later on we're gonna be voting on the developer who uh has another shopping center that I would say is one of the healthiest in town, asking to increase their uh point seven five percent to a full one percent and extend the life of the special service area.

I think that's um kind of a sign that people will be knocking on the doors of City Hall, every single developer to make sure that they also get their one percent from citizens, which turns into a city that is built on a bunch of crazy taxes, which nobody likes.

I because I'm very concerned about um transparency and making sure that we pick the right um properties to actually have the authority to tax people more with our permission.

I'd like to make a motion to defer this item until we can come up with a policy, an objective policy to establish clear standards and criteria for BDD and SSA approvals.

We've got uh thank you, Councilman Carmona Councilmember Allen My comments were to the original motion, so I'll let us vote on this and we'll come back.

Did you just move?

Okay, second, you want a second?

Okay, continued discussion.

Uh council member Kelly.

Madam Mayor, I had comments on the original motion.

Uh not on the deferral.

I'll I'll be voting for the deferral, but uh I'll save my comments until this comes up again.

Okay.

I'm sorry, I did not hear the deferral.

Who who made the deferral?

You made the deferral.

Okay.

You seconded the deferral.

Yes.

Okay.

I understand.

Okay.

We're gonna vote on the deferral.

Okay.

Related to the deferral.

Thank you.

Councilmember Orloy.

Thank you, madam chairwoman.

Uh keeping my comments to the deferral, I would just say that we can delaying again.

We continue to facilitate the ability to develop this plaza, as there are people looking at this and other plazas in the area for uh new investment purposes, and I hear on a daily basis the lack of retail in our community and continuing to push this out and not do the things to allow us to compete with other communities, doesn't put us in a seat that allows us to continue to grow our economy.

So I will be opposing a deferral.

Councilman Briggenbach, did you have a comment?

Okay.

Council you're welcome.

Councilmember Allen, did you have a comment on the deferral?

That only that I will be deferred.

I will be opposing the deferral.

Thank you, Madam Mayor.

Okay.

And um, just a clear uh point of clarity.

If we do not pass this today, we will have to start over again.

So this would have to go through a whole another a new process as we have timed out this current ability to pass this um business development district.

Okay.

The vote is on the deferral.

The motion was made by council member Carmona, it was seconded by council member Sear.

Please cast your ballots.

The motion fails.

Um with no votes by Valpula, Jackson, Riggenbach, Euler, Gordon Young, Vespa, Allen, and Ali.

Can I get a motion to approve?

Move by Councilmember Allen, seconded by Councilmember Gordon Young.

Any continued discussion?

Excuse me, Madam Mayor.

We'll need three separate votes for each item.

Okay.

We're on we're on item A, moved by Councilmember Allen, seconded by Councilmember Gordon Young.

Please cash your ballots.

I did ask for a discussion.

I didn't see a light.

Did you did you have your light on?

Well, three years.

Councilmember Kelly.

Thank you, Madam Mayor.

Um I have good friends in the ownership of this shopping center.

Nevertheless we seem to be on a trend that says to me this is going to keep going and going and going.

If we approve this, it's another signal to shopping center owners to let their properties deteriorate.

That way they can get the taxpayers to take care of their properties.

Or whether we could get a consultant to say that they qualify.

I'll bet there are all kinds of them in the city.

I don't believe that our taxpayers should be responsible for the maintenance of shopping centers.

I'm sorry.

If we like this outfit that much, let's let's vote to take the money out of our general fund and fix their potholes and whatever.

I don't think we'd go for that.

But we go for dinging the taxpayer for this.

And if we approve this, we're going to approve the next one and the next one and the next one.

We have coming up a really well-taken care of shopping area that's using this system.

And they want to renew it.

I mean forever.

I I think we're going down a trail here that we should not be going down.

We are not representing our taxpayers.

Do not vote for us.

Our citizens vote for us, many of whom are business owners, etc.

We're getting ourselves into a place that we're going to find difficult to get out of.

So I even though, as I say, I have friends at this shopping shopping center.

I can't, I can't agree to this.

We need to develop different incentives than taxpayers paying for this stuff.

Thank you, Madam Mayor.

Councilmember Riggenbach.

Thank you, Madam Mayor.

I was very apprehensive on BDAs and SSA's for retail development when this came up a number of years ago.

And I made many of the same arguments that I'm hearing tonight that while it's opening the floodgates, everybody's gonna be doing it.

Well, you know what?

I think this is the third one in the 15 years that I've been around this horseshoe that that has actually come forward.

This isn't something that we are instructing them to do because their property faces X, Y, and Z.

This is something that the business owner, the property owner, the people who are taking care of the business on a day-to-day basis know what the business needs.

The reason I I I could argue the reason Westlake is one of the finest shopping centers in Peoria is because they've availed themselves of this very tool, and that helps them stay a step ahead of the competition.

And we all know I had somebody in the break room of my office today asking me about retail and Peoria.

We all know how struggling the retail environment is across the country, and we are just a microcosm of that.

So for us to tell the business owner that us 11 people around this horseshoe know what their business needs better than they do.

I think that's kind of insulting.

And I I really think that if if they have a product that they are comfortable raising their sales tax on themselves, um we should say go for it and make us all proud.

And I I think we've seen that already in the areas that have incorporated this.

And I certainly am not a retail guru.

I I don't even like to shop half the time.

Um, but uh I I'm not gonna be the one who tell to tell them this isn't isn't the way to help your business.

And the state has a very prescribed process, as the assistant city manager pointed out on how these are put into place.

They the needs and the definitions, you know, to use the word like blight means something.

I could name a shopping center in my district that um I would like to see improved, but you're not gonna have any sales tax revenue from these vacant storefronts, so you have to be proactive.

And I I applaud um the manager, the property owner here for for having the foresight and the a vision for what they want that center to become.

So I will be supporting this.

Thank you, Madam Mayor.

Thank you, Councilman.

Uh Councilman Allen.

Uh thank you, Madam Mayor.

Um, again, I appreciate the the conversation.

Me and Councilman Carmana had a conversation earlier today, and we agree to disagree on this matter.

Um Sisters City Manager uh Richardson, can you talk a little bit about when your economic development team is on the recruitment trail trying to field uh offers and interest from retailers, you know, what are the conversations that they are telling you when it comes to selecting a site within the city of Peoria, let's say if we are trying to fill the old Best Buy or trying to fill the old Dunham Sports, for example.

Sure.

Well, one, I think that there was a request from this council for economic development to be a little bit more active in bringing business into Peoria from the retail standpoint.

Uh that was a conversation we had last uh budget uh cycle, and so I took that into our staff and I said to them, we need to look at all our traditional financial tools, and where do we need to believe we focus on?

And that's why you're seeing a number of these instruments coming in front of you at the end of this year.

I would say that the Best Buy conversation of the relocation kind of started off this conversation of what do we do when we have a business that the property that is currently at is not meeting its needs, and the costs for that property to adjust to meet those needs are significant enough where the business the property owner cannot meet the needs because they're still that private entity that we are not involved in.

That's the relationship between the business and the and the uh property owner.

And what the disadvantage that I kept hearing from is that we don't have any tools to our veil to avail us to help support us in reducing those costs.

So if I take a Best Buy that, if you go into that building, there unless you have a big box need of a store that size, you're gonna have to rezone that property so you can have multiple uh uses for it.

That is a very significant cost more than what that property currently is valued at.

So then you have a building that's left empty until you have a property of a business entity that's willing to take on that cost.

Um, and so you start looking at locations throughout the city.

The reason why this was a prime location and why we're very particular.

I do not sit in front of you today, council, without having done my due diligence and saying, what is it that this particular area need?

And with Best Buy Leaving, we have a very large parcel that is vacant.

The property owners coming to us trying to think of ideas and solutions to how they can bring different uh types of business into that space.

We worked and connected with them with other uh businesses that are interested in locating in Peoria, and the problem comes down to cost.

Now, I don't want to talk about our our our community across the river, but I do want to remind people that it is just not the city of Peoria.

The Peorias that live here that pay play pay sales tax.

I would tell you this location is probably our highest traffic location of any of our areas that come to City of Peoria outside of the city.

So you have more people coming outside of the city to come to the target to Lowe's or to even the bookstore, because one, that's the only bookstore of that magnitude in the area.

And we track this.

So we looked at the data, we looked at traffic counts.

We also looked at sales receipts.

We recognize that at this location, you know, outside of Target, which does groceries, you're not able to tax on groceries.

So that is not something that is able to be a taxable on the one percent.

It's looking at um general merchandise, sports goods, and so forth.

This location was the perfect location that fit a BDD, and the beginning of a deterioration of the site.

So I would not recommend a BED in every location because it wouldn't work.

Unfortunately, in the district that you're in, Councilman Riganbach, we know the parcels you're talking about.

A BDD would never work because you have majority vacant vacancy and you have a grocery store.

So there's no income generated really from that.

So we have to be very intentional and look at what the tools we have, be at TIFF, which really doesn't work because they are already vacant places.

These buildings are not all vacant, and the way that TIFF works, there's not enough increment to support it because EAV is not that low.

So I would say to you that answer is we look at everything, we have these conversations, and then we as staff go back and understand the tools that our state prevails us to use, and we know that there's a comfort level.

Any type of agreement that happens between a property owning and the city and BDD will come back to council like we do already with our redevelopment agreements with TIFFS.

Those same processes exist.

You all receive those um those agreements before those agreements have been approved.

So we do have a process in place that allows for you to vet the types of uses that we are looking to uh utilize these funds for.

It is not just a pool of money that they get to come and dip in.

They do have to have an agreement, and those agreements will continue to come in front in front of the council as they uh avail themselves.

Thank you uh so much for that detailed explanation, you know, and I think the latter part of talking about what guardrails will be in place to ensure that this isn't funds that are collected by the different developers.

And I do also want to provide the caveat that there are multiple uh property owners within the Glenn Hollow shopping center.

So it isn't just one entity that owns the entire shopping center, it is multiple entities that own property there.

But I think it's important again to discuss that you all have done your research, you all have decided that this is a good option.

And for myself as a district representative for the shopping center, and I'm thinking about not just what tomorrow looks like, but I'm thinking about what does this area look like 25, 30 years from now.

And I don't know about you all, but like I like to go in stores and try on pants.

I don't like to order things online.

And right now, we have to be proactive to sustain our retail options within our city.

And sister city manager Richardson talked about our friends across the river, and a lot of times people come up to me and say, Man, everything's going to East Peoria, everything's going to the heights.

Well, respectfully to them, they're using these same financial incentives to recruit retailers to their different municipalities.

And that's just the space that we're in.

When developers come to us, they're asking what incentives you can provide.

If you say you can't provide anything, then they go somewhere else and they get that incentive, and then they'll be having the river cutting ceremony, and our constituents will be asking us, how come they got to go across the river to try on some pants?

So I think that we have to be intentional and be proactive.

I think we have to ensure though, to Carson Councilman Carmana's point that we don't want an onslaught of these, but it sounds like based off of the criteria, not everyone is even eligible.

So I appreciate staff's uh intentionality on this.

I think again the research you all did.

I know some of the data that was shared with me from W Vent Secret when we did our Zoom informational was that 40% of the people that shop at Glen Hollow shopping center come from outside of the city of Peoria.

And this isn't a blanket tax that everybody is paying in the city of Peoria.

Only if you go to that shopping center, you will be paying into that selective tax.

And so I do want to throw that caveat out there as well, too.

This is not something that I take lightly as someone who's trying to balance my own household's finances, but I know and talking to my constituents and talking to many others, the amenities that you all want to have living in an urban city like the city of Peoria.

You want to have quality shopping options, and this is how we can sustain this.

So thank you so much for the explanation, and I hope my colleagues can support me tonight on this.

Thank you, Madam Mayor.

You're welcome.

Councilmember Vespa.

Thank you, Madam Mayor.

Um so yeah, I I think uh, you know, Councilman Riggenbach uh raised a good point.

You know, this is not something that we're requesting.

This is something that the commercial landlords are requesting.

Um, you know, in a perfect world, I I'm not sure I I wish that this existed, this law existed, but we didn't pass it.

Springfield passed it.

Um, and this is the world we live in.

I think East Peoria is three of these districts, um, and all the neighboring communities seem to have at least one.

Um so you know, in a perfect world, I would say, you know, commercial landlords, if you need one percent more, you know, in revenue uh to fix up landscaping, parking lots, infrastructure, then just raise the rent one percent.

Um, but for some reason uh that you know they don't want to do that.

Um, and so it falls on us.

It falls on us because our competition's doing the doing this.

Um I will say one of the benefits is that is that the money collected, as uh assistant city manager Richardson said, Um, you know, we can assure that it does go in into the improvements into the parking lots and in the landscaping.

Um, you know, which you've seen at Westlake is fantastic.

Uh you know, Westlake is sparkling.

Um I I mean, I I I think it's not our job to protect them from themselves.

You know, these commercial landlords might lose business.

Um, maybe they like having the receipts say that it's up, it's you know, us that are the bad guys with the one percent tax.

Maybe that's that's what's appealing.

Um, I don't know.

But um, I mean, if if they want it and it keeps them here, uh, we don't see any more uh commercial flight.

Um, and it's an optional tax, you know, it you know, you don't have to shop there.

Um, I think it's good that we uh let everybody know that we possibly can that there is an extra one percent if you do shop there.

Um I'm I'm going to begrudgingly support this.

Thank you.

You're welcome.

Councilman Sear.

Thank you, madam mayor, assistant manager Richardson.

Thank you very much for your comments.

Helps me a lot.

I just want to make sure I understand our and I heard Mr.

Vespa just say something again, but I want to make sure I understand.

So the collection and the distribution of the funds.

Who will be in charge of that and who will have will be accountable for that?

So it is collected by the the Department of Revenue, and then we would have a designated fund for those dollars.

So we will have it in our we'll call the BBD fund that will then sit in those dollars would sit there.

So as they come through the revenue, then we then would have they'll disperse them back to the city.

So, how will the money be distributed distribution or how will be the distribution after we get the money?

What would be the qualifications?

So that's something that once we so the implementation of this tax will not occur until next year, later next year.

So we will have time to come back with some type of plan that we would want to put together as it relates to what that document look like that we currently do with our TIFFs.

So right now we have a very extensive like uh process with our TIS, or we ask for additional information, project information.

Um, your you know sources and uses and so forth like that.

So we do have that information so we can have an understanding of what the gap is that we're trying to help fulfill.

So that those types of uh activities would continue to work.

We would just have to move myself working with the city manager and the incorporation council will put together that document so that we can make sure that whatever it is that council has eyes on as well.

Thank you very much for explanation.

Um Mr.

Manager, uh I love um Councilman Carmona's uh suggestions.

Uh obviously there's a I see a big need for us to have some training or maybe a policy session.

I will be supporting this motion, but I'd love to to hear from you very soon how we can have some training for us or maybe a policy session before we have the next BDD.

Would that be possible?

We can certainly look at putting something together and having a policy session on that.

That's if that's council's direction, we can do that for sure.

Thank you, Mr.

Manager.

Thank you, madam mayor.

You're welcome.

Councilmember Carmona.

Uh thank you, madam mayor.

Um to everybody in the crowd, everybody listening at home.

You've heard it.

If you want it to play in Peoria, you better pay.

What will amount to tens of millions of dollars that goes into this fund is money that most people will not have a clue is being taken from them.

Because even though we have a good crowd in here today, the reality is that most people just won't know that this is happening to them.

They'll just chalk it up to inflation, rising costs like every day.

We're taxed in so many different ways that it's things like this have become institutionalized norms for government to do to its own citizens and to allow businesses to do to its own citizens.

Those tens of millions of dollars and all the ones that have already been collected from other counties.

I don't care if they do it.

That's great, good for them.

But it's still taxation without representation because you're not gonna get a dividend check back from this great development.

Best case scenario, you get more places to spend your money.

Thank you, Madam Mayor.

Welcome.

Councilmember Gordon Young.

Thank you, Madam Mayor.

I would like to follow Councilmember Carmona's uh comments with the citizens of this community are smarter than we give them credit for.

Um we want, and meaning all of us want better, we want options.

And the reality is this is the way things are going now, and we're always getting, we we always hear how everybody else is doing it and doing it better.

When we get an opportunity that was presented to us to take advantage of, you know, I think we gotta be careful that we don't insult the citizens of this community, and also uh assistant manager Richardson.

I want to thank you and your staff for all the hard work.

I know you did your due diligence, and I appreciate that and the work that you all do because when you like you said, when we when you see blighted, we see something different, right?

But we also want to make sure that we're supporting the businesses here, making sure that you know when people go into these places, they're safe, they're structurally you know good, but also like I said, we don't want somebody tripping the parking lot.

We don't want people to not want to go there, but at the end of the day, I think we got to be really, really careful when we're um and you know, getting we're bordering on the line of insulting the citizens of this community and also the staff that are doing the work, trusting the process.

It's almost like we need to have a template for all the departments to do it the way we think it should be done when we're not the experts in those particular uh fields.

So again, thank you for your work.

Um, and again, I just want to thank the citizens of this community for entrusting us because they are much much smarter than we give them credit for quite often.

Thank you, madam mayor.

Welcome.

Councilmember Kelly.

Thank you, Madam Mayor.

And uh Councilmember Gordon Young, thank you for the theme of your remarks that our people are rather bright.

I'll get to that in a moment.

I would like to remind the council that retail is the end of the line as far as economics is concerned.

You start with wealth creation over here, you pay wages, etc.

etc.

And so that people can go out and buy something.

It doesn't do a whole lot of good to reinforce the end of the line when the beginning is the part that really needs help, and it takes care of everything else.

Um, and we're not, in my opinion, we're not doing that because we as a government body are very, very dependent, in my opinion, overly dependent upon sales taxes.

Sales taxes are punishment to people for buying in our city.

The thing is, every city does it, so it doesn't look like that.

Okay.

But why would we penalize people?

You know, you want to you want to help retail, cut sales tax.

Oh, no, no, no, we can't do that.

Okay, that would help retail, and that would help our people.

I'd close by coming back to uh I I also want to say to uh to our assistant city manager.

I appreciate very much the work that you do, and I know that you work very hard at this, and uh I appreciate it, and I think I think our citizens should appreciate it.

You are working with the conventional tools that everyone else works with.

These tools don't work all that well here, they don't work all that well anywhere.

And what they tend to do is uh I'm not saying anywhere, I'm sorry.

In most places, these tools don't work.

Um but we do them because they're conventional, and we're we are afraid to step out and try something new.

But I think the work you do within the constraints we have is very, very good.

Finally, I'll end by saying going back to what councilwoman Gordon Young had to say.

I think our people are bright.

I would like all the council members to ask themselves if this question came to your constituents.

How would they vote?

Thank you, Madam Mayor.

Welcome.

Councilmember Euler.

Thank you, Madam Chairwoman.

I uh ask my constituents questions like that on a daily basis, and I can show you the text messages, emails, voicemails on why we don't have retail and everybody else does.

I guess also one of the things that uh comes with nearly a decade of sitting in this chair, other than the fact that I have a lot less hair than I did when I started, is the fact that I've seen this iteration go around a few times, and I know for a fact that Dillard's is not here because we weren't willing to do this some years ago.

Uh Von Maurer isn't here because we weren't willing to do this.

Bergner's is gone because we weren't willing to do this.

We have to be willing to compete.

That's the reality of the situation, and I don't want to belabor the point because I made it the last time we spoke about this topic.

But we can sit here and say we don't want to do the things that it takes to get the retail and to give our citizens the amenities that they ask for.

But what's the alternative?

Are you okay just sitting by and watching our constituents complain about the fact that we don't have these things and somebody else does?

Somebody else is getting the tax revenue off of those things that we could be getting.

Somebody else is getting the property tax revenue off the buildings that are occupied when we're talking about how we're going to satisfy the vacant strip malls.

All of these things are part of a bigger ecosystem that we get elected to make decisions on and protect.

And so philosophy is great, but at the end of the day, I got elected to make decisions, and I'm here to do that.

So I will be supporting going forward with this.

Thank you.

You're welcome.

Councilmember Carmona.

Thank you, Madam Mayor.

Uh for the record, no one's ever called me uh to demand that we have more places to shop.

When I get calls, it's always about safety.

Um I'm not disputing what you're saying because I know that people some people do want more places to shop here in Peoria.

Umager uh Richardson.

If I came across as impolite, I'd like to apologize to you.

As far as um the citizens of Peoria, I'm the one trying to keep the money in your pocket.

I think you are intelligent.

I am not here to help subsidize capitalists who aren't reading trends.

I am here to uh protect the constitution and um to do right by every citizen in Peoria, which is why um I feel so strongly about this.

Thank you, Madam Mayor.

You're welcome.

We are voting on item A, adopt an ordinance approving a business district plan for the city of Peoria, Glenn Howell Business District.

Please cast your ballots.

Motion passes with two nays, Carmona and Kelly.

Councilmember Allen.

Uh move to approve item B, Madam Mayor.

Seconded by Councilmember Gordon Young.

Comments, please cash your ballots.

Motion passes with two nays, Carmona, and Kelly.

Councilmember Allen.

I move to approve item C, Madam Mayor.

Any questions, comments?

Please cash your ballots.

We need a second.

Pardon me.

Councilmember Gordon Young.

I was just seconding his emotion has motion.

Oh, I'll just let me know.

Okay.

Please cash your ballots.

Motion passes with two nays, Carmona and Kelly.

Madam Clerk.

We are at regular business items.

Item number 25 dash 348.

A communication with a request for the following.

A approve agreement with the Hanks Foundation for a donation to construct the D Hanks Amphitheater and the amount of 11 million dollars.

And item B, receive and file a presentation from the Hanks Foundation.

We'll need two separate motions and there's handouts for the agreements of the exhibits A and B.

Thank you, Madam Clerk.

Mr.

Manager.

Thank you, Madam Mayor.

I'm going to turn the floor over to our corporation council, but I just wanted to have a minute to just give you a couple of opening remarks.

We have elected officials of the park board as well as the staff of the park district.

We have core construction.

We have Epstein architects, we have Terra Engineering, and they're going to give a presentation after we walk through the donation agreement.

And so I'm going to turn it over to our corporation council to talk about the donation agreement, walk through what's in that, and then we'll we'll get to the presentation.

Okay.

Council Hayes.

Thank you, madam mayor.

Uh the agreement uh contemplates the uh design and construction uh of the amphitheater at Riverfront Park.

Um as the council may know, uh Riverfront Park was acquired uh by the city through the uh Illinois Department of Natural Resources and National Park Service through a project agreement, and so there's some complexity to this agreement related to that.

Um staff has done some preliminary discussions with those entities, and we're confident we'll be able to successfully get approval, but that approval is a necessary part and is incorporated in this agreement.

So first we have to get the design approved by the city because we're gonna be retaining directly the design professionals and the construction entities.

Then that design has to be preliminarily approved by the Hanks Foundation because they're providing the funding for the project.

Once that preliminary design has been approved by both the city and the Hanks Foundation, we'll be submitting it to the National Park Service and the IDNR for approval.

There might be some adjustments to the plans through that process from the various entities that have a hand in it.

But uh central to the agreement that the city struck is we'll be directly retaining and contracting with those design professionals and construction entities because at the end of the entire project, this amenity will be owned by the city of Peoria.

And so we want to make certain that we have direct contracts with those entities.

One element of this agreement, which is unique, we don't see this often, but uh the Hanks Foundation has determined already that they want to select the design professionals as well as the construction entities, and we're gonna we've agreed in this agreement to use our home rule powers to do that.

We know the firms that they've identified, and we're confident of their ability to do a project like this, or we wouldn't be suggesting to council that we agree to this.

In the future, Hanks might decide to change an entity, and any kind of change of entity would be subject to city council approval as well.

And so we do want the donor to have the flexibility to select the design professionals that they want to design the project and the construction professionals that they'd like to contract.

But they are competent um professionals, and if there's a switch, we'll make sure that that soup that future firm would be selected.

I don't have any reason to believe that would be there, but that's a component of this agreement.

We want to make sure the council's aware of that.

The donor would fund all the design and construction, and so we've segmented out the different steps.

The design step will be directly contracting with the selected design entities, subject to funding from the Hanks Foundation for the cost of those designs.

And then once those designs get through that approval process that I mentioned earlier, we'll proceed with the con with the construction.

There'll be quite a bit more transaction in the construction activity because all the different draws and everything, and so there's an elaborate element of this related to that draw mechanism.

And so there's an elaborate element of this related to that draw mechanism.

The Hanks Foundation wants to make certain that they are aware of all these expenditures.

And so we'll be going through a process with them to make sure we're approving the design expenditures and the construction expenditures as we go forward.

One of the exhibits for this agreement isn't there.

It's just a note because that very elaborate funding and distribution system, we want to retain the design professionals, and that we'll be doing that agreement, and that was always anticipated that that would be a document that's subject to change.

Exhibit A and exhibit a B of this of this A is supposed to be the legal description.

I want to apologize to council.

I didn't get the drawing of where this would land until this week.

And so representing the legal description is a depiction of the proposed site, and we'll get back to a precise legal description once we have the engineers figure out what that description is.

In addition, that legal description could change through the design phase as well as through the approval phase through the IDNR and the National Park Service.

And so the whole project might is going to have some flexibility, perhaps, and ultimately what that parcel identification is.

Same with the design of the actual facility.

You've got in front of you and in the exhibits that you'll see in the presentation, a depiction of the preliminary design.

This still has a lot of functions to go through.

But once that's established, then we'll, as I mentioned, we'll be submitting that for approval to the uh Park Service and the DNR.

Um so I was happy to receive some input from a citizen about a couple of typographical errors in my document that I will be correcting.

There's some misidentified sections by number and 3.1 in your document is 3.15.

That should be 3.13.

And that mistake carries out through a number of those sections.

So we'll be correcting those errors.

And I apologize for that.

I dropped the word out of 4.1.1.1.

So obviously the escrow funds will deal with both the design and construction of the foundation funded facilities, so that'll be corrected.

And then in section, what should be section 10.1.2 is identified as 11.1.2.

And we want to identify that the city would designate an authorized representative from time to time.

So I apologize for those uh typographical errors and uh flexibility of this document also requires some flexibility from this body, and I appreciate it.

Um but I'd be happy to answer any of your questions about the agreement.

Um, and uh thank you for your time.

Thank you.

Councilmember Kelly.

Item A.

Is there a second?

Second by Councilwoman Gordon Young discussion.

Councilmember Carmona.

Thank you, Madam Mayor.

Uh Council Hayes, um, as I look through this um agreement.

I just had a quick question.

Um if there's some sort of like unforeseen circumstances that affect the budget.

I just wanted to know if there's like a way we can um allow other donor funds, foundations or grants that could come alongside this agreement, if that would be possible.

And the only reason is because I have a couple architect friends that have expressed that obviously as things change.

Um a lot of things get restricted with the the budget, and so I'm just curious if this agreement would allow for something like that.

Obviously, still keeping in mind that this is the Hanks Foundation, the majority there, you know, naming rights and all that stuff, and we do appreciate this.

Uh I think all of us appreciate uh what they're doing for our city.

Uh, but I but could you speak to that at all?

So obviously, in any major project like this, particularly with the scope and the cost of this project, budgeting is part of the obligation of the uh of the professionals that are retained that'll be part of that contracting that we do to make sure that the budget estimate is maintained, and so if there are augmentations required, that source of funding would have to be identified.

The city is not obligated to provide additional funding beyond the contribution, other than for site remediation costs.

So this site originally was a rail yard years and years ago before the city acquired it, and so we may bump into some environmental concerns.

We'll be looking through bound field funds if there's a remedy that needs to be had.

We often are able to access grant funds for those types of purposes.

But other than that, the city's obligations end at the sort of proposed boundary sites.

And so that $11 million amount has to be able to satisfy all of those costs of design and construction.

And I think anybody with a with a project like this is going to estimate some overages and things like that.

So that's part of that responsible budgeting that'll be part of our contracting and oversight with those individuals.

That said, like you said, maybe something comes up and we have to find another source.

That's certainly something the city would undertake at that time, but we don't anticipate that today.

Keep in mind that the whole riverfront park.

Promised money that hasn't come for the riverfront park.

That we're hopeful that this is uh sort of an incentive for our state officials to pay attention through the benefit of the Hanks Foundation.

We're tremendously lucky to have the ability to make this investment in our riverfront, and we're hopeful that that will help trigger the state into funding the riverfront park grant so that we can undertake that.

And we certainly feel that part of the nice part of TARA being part of this design team is that there are our designer on the riverfront park as well.

And so hopefully we'll be able to combine these elements and execute on a tremendous riverfront park project.

That state part of that though is still in that state limbo.

And to your point, we may need to look for other things to augment this, but right now we're not obligated to do so.

Okay.

Uh I appreciate it, Council Hayes, and thank you, Madam Mayor.

You're welcome.

Councilmember Gordon Young.

Thank you, Madam Mayor.

Corporation Council Hayes.

I I don't know if you can answer this question.

This is under section 7.3 ticket revenue share to donor.

And it says the Hinks Foundation has stated that the one dollar ticket revenue would be used for academic scholarships for regional students.

Do you know how they plan to track that?

So it it's my understanding that the Hanks Foundation is not engaged in a lot of that activity because of course they don't have this funding source.

And so we don't have a lot more detail than that at this point in time to share, other than the Hanks Foundation has been clear about its intention to utilize that to benefit uh educational opportunities in the arts area.

Okay, do you know if that like that's going to be written in though?

And will there be like an accountability measure?

Yes.

Yeah, so any time we have events in the riverfront, there's tickets that are sold.

So you can you can audit the number of tickets that were sold at an event and go back and and you know, if that additional dollar has been added under the ticket, you can you can have whether it's a promoter or whether it's a park district, you know, holding an event that uh you'll be able to track that and we'll be able to work through that to make sure that those dollars were passed through appropriately.

Yeah.

I think it's I think it's a wonderful idea.

I think it's great, but I'm also like how many scholarships, how many you know I mean, like what's the dollar amount.

Um, you know, when we say regional, what does that mean?

Um I just would like a little bit more clarification in terms of that piece, other than I have any further questions.

Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Mayor.

You're welcome.

One final point.

Um councilwoman, we did include a non-discrimination clause just to be protective on that issue, and that's at 7.4 to guide uh the Hanks Foundation on their um on their contributions, their charitable contributions would be non-discriminatory.

Their whole basis of existence is as a charitable foundation.

So there's some oversight there as well from the federal tax authorities about their purposes that they've stated in those documents and in that regulatory scheme.

And so we have confidence that um the Hanks Foundation is going to follow through as they state.

But there's also not only this agreement where we'll have some limited oversight, but also the federal government uh with regard to the foundation's tax status will be monitoring that.

Thank you.

Thank you both for your explanation.

Thank you, Madam Mayor.

You're welcome.

Councilmember Allen.

Uh thank you, Madam Mayor.

And under uh item uh 7.2, I do just want to put this out there for the audience that the uh revenue sharing provision will uh not be limited to long-standing festivals such as the Fine Art Fair, Oktoberfest, Solofest, Iris Fest, Viesa El Rio, and India Fest.

So I wanted to state that, then I appreciate them understanding it, those are long existing programming that we're having that they won't be included in the revenue sharing.

Is that correct, Corporation Council Hayes?

That's correct.

We want to make certain that our traditional items wouldn't be affected by this revenue share, even if those events utilize the amphitheater.

So thank you.

Yep, thank you.

Thank you, Madam Mayor.

You're welcome.

We have an item on the floor to approve an agreement with the Hanks Foundation for a donation to construct the D Hank amphitheater in the amount of 11 million dollars.

And we have a motion and a second, please cash your ballots.

Motion passes unanimously.

Mr.

Manager.

Thank you, Madam Mayor.

At this point, I'd like to ask Kevin Graham of Terra Engineering to come up and uh he'll walk through a presentation of the possibilities that we're envisioning for the D amphitheater.

Mayor Alley and City Council uh just wanted to say thank you on behalf of Jim Hanks.

Uh Jim wanted this dream to build an amphitheater to honor his wife that passed away.

Uh he's a what he's a Washington guy, he went to Eureka College, University of Illinois and Chicago, then on to USC for his doctorate.

And uh he made drugs and sold them, but they were legal chief.

Uh he was run a pharmaceutical company, was very successful, and uh what a great gift uh that the city has just received, I believe.

So uh the Hanks Foundation thanks you very much and uh enjoy the presentation, and again, this is just a conceptional uh first look of what possibilities can happen on that riverfront.

So pretty exciting times.

Thank you, Mayor Manier.

Thank you.

Uh again, my name is Kevin Graham with Terra Engineering.

Thank you, uh Mr.

Manager.

Thank you, Madam Mayor and Council.

Um behalf of our entire team, and it was kind of mentioned terror engineering with Epstein uh Global.

Patrick is gonna help me with the presentation.

Um, and then our valued uh partner core uh construction um Caleb is here tonight as well.

They're really working with us as we go through this process to look at cost to look at right sizing this, so that as we're going through the design, we're providing you with accurate and and reliable information.

So when we were last before you on September 9th, I believe, um, we presented kind of what that general idea might be.

Where might this happen in the riverfront and and how might that be the AS Amph Theater be called the Riverfront its new home?

So tonight we're excited to come for you and provide a little bit more uh insight as to and a preview of what these possibilities, what the conceptual ideas um may look like and go towards.

So with that, we'll launch into it.

And then this is just a little bit about the whole uh mission statement of the Hanks.

I don't expect you to read that.

Um your information, but the proposed site um, as we've we've talked about is um on along the riverfront between the Murray Baker Bridge and the River Plex uh as it as it sits.

It's approximately about five to six acres of land and kind of drawing that a magical boundary on the on the far side closer to the gateway center.

It's kind of that that flex part of that.

Um but roughly that's kind of the area we're looking at.

Um what I want to go through is kind of a little bit a little bit of the features.

You know, the the area currently has veterans memorial, has the gateway building on the side, um, the playground that was taken out.

There's a few little remnants of that, but has really you know this site, um big open green space.

Um and yes, we have had conversations concurrently and actively through this process with the DNR and entities to talk about the use of standards and requirements to make sure this this fits in with what we are we're envisioning.

Over the past few years, number of years, uh City of Peoria, the park district has hosted some very wonderful events on this site, some festivals, cultural events, concert series, um, and really that's kind of what we're looking to continue with moving forward, but making that part of the fabric of the riverfront that is celebrated and takes it to another level.

So, how are we looking to do that and what are we looking to do?

In doing so through this process, we looked at and wanted to learn from some of the other venues around the country in the Midwest that have some of the similar understandings and and issues, concerns uh that we've looked at here.

Um places in North Carolina, uh Cedar Rapids, we went to looked at Nebraska, a number of different events, spaces, and said right sizing this, looking at the amenities, looking at the operational aspects and challenges that they've faced and said, how do we solve that here?

And then we even looked at it and said, would that fit here?

Are we right sizes?

Do we have the right kind of parcel?

This is the Cedar Rapids one, it would fit in here.

It actually operates very similar to what we're looking at here.

Um or in Aurora, uh, we have a venue that we'd operate a little differently, but again, does it fit on this site?

Absolutely.

So I think we have confidence in the sizing of this space.

We did prepare to and you approved a master plan for the riverfront a few years ago.

And within that master plan are a number of different features, but a key couple of them, items number 19 and 20 on there were festival grounds and a banchel.

And really looking at this specific area for heightened infrastructure improvements and bringing in a more of a structured uh venue for this site.

This actually imposes this into the site.

So, what are we looking to do with this site?

Um, as you look at the the area kind of between and what it does is kind of positions the uh pavilion, and I would point to different things, but you're looking at different, we're looking at different screens here, so I won't do that, and for the people at home.

Uh but we have uh a uh performance pavilion, the D performance Pavilion, which is uh more closer to the river, facing back towards the skyline of the city and towards the bridge.

We think this uh orientation is a little more uh it's dramatic, you know, both for the performances.

Uh it sets the stage out where it's visible as kind of an iconic structure and on the lawn.

It allows us to have other aspects to the to the services of this, both from how do they load in and out for operationally as to as well where we can include encourage some of the VIP and uh other uh uh accessory um items which would be just kind of pop up in close proximity to the riverplux and how that becomes an attractant to attracting talent to come to this venue.

We've looked at where should we have concessions and how do we uh bring people into the site, maintaining kind of what is how the park district has operated it to date of utilizing that coming underneath the gateway building, and you so we have a maintained secured entrance uh point to the to the site.

Um a number of different amenities um uh are on this from VIP sitting, seating areas to how would we control storm water?

Um of the things that I that we learned and and witnessed at a couple of the different venues, and there was one in Lexington that I happened to be there uh for another uh event, was this idea of kind of breaking the space up so that and you kind of see the the wider walkway kind of running through an angle uh parallel to the stage that what that does is when we have those smaller community events, we now have a space they feel like they fit in and doesn't just become this wide open field.

So it kind of helps us maintain and write size, feel where we're at in the in the lawn.

And I think that you know becomes important to those smaller cultural events that are happening that you host on a regular basis, or new ones perhaps that want to take part in the riverfront.

And I think that's you know, a wonderful opportunity for the for the lawn.

What might this overall look like?

Um, this is just kind of a uh rendering of what it could look like on the riverfront.

The bridge is so dramatic and dynamic.

Um it's wonderful every time I you know I turn uh turn the TV on and see the bridge lit up, and uh we want to accent that.

And I think some of the images that um Patrick is going to walk through and describe the architecture.

When we envision this riverfront, it was really playing off of Peoria's history and heritage, the cultural heritage of the city, the historic and the industrial heritage of the city, and bringing in that element into the design, I think is really important.

So with that, I'm gonna let Patrick uh take over and kind of walk you through what some of our very early possibilities might be.

Um Madam Mayor and Council members, thank you for your time.

I'm Patrick Carrata, I'm the architectural design director at Epstein.

I'll walk you through briefly through some of the ideas and concepts that went into the stage design in particular.

Uh and as Kevin alluded to, the Murray Baker Bridge was actually an important inspiration to the stage design.

Uh we were really drawn, obviously, by the historic importance of this particular engineering feat.

Um, but we also drew some inspiration as far as um ideas like connectivity, which is something that a bridge brings between communities, which is very important.

Uh as you zoom closer to the bridge, we actually start to uh really be drawn to some of the engineering elements like the angularity of the steel, the perforations, and obviously that's really brought to life uh by the lighting, as Kevin mentioned, especially in the evening.

And as architects, we're really um drawn by our context.

We're also we were very inquisitive about our context, but we also wanted our stage to complement what was around us.

So you see some of the angularity and the elements that you could uh reference from the bridge being injected into our design.

We're also in a uh float floodplain, so anything that lands on the ground could be an issue as far as debris being caught when it does flood.

So actually having two columns uh come down on a B shape serves a purpose as well.

It limits the number of points that touch the ground, which was also important, and also the splaying of the column in the rear uh opens up the corner again for uh water debris, but also serves a purpose for access from our loading area.

Uh, but we really wanted um this stage to be part of the community, even when it wasn't being used for events like you know, rock and roll concerts or orchestra, as we shown in the previous uh image.

So we thought that uh it would be important uh for this um you know, a stage to have an icon iconic form and something that was recognizable and and could be used year-round, whether it's you know a yoga class as depicted in this image or somehow have some synergy with the riverplex uh nearby.

So we wanted to go a little beyond um let's say two walls and a roof, which is typically what a stage is, and we thought about that connectivity that the bridge has, let's say in theory.

Uh, and we thought about you know, how can we make this a little bit more engaging for the community?

So we looked into things like uh you know, punch cards and Morse code and even QR codes as sort of these fictional doorways into a world of information that you could access.

Uh so we thought, you know, maybe the facade could be that kind of doorway to this additional information.

So we introduce a pattern that could be readable and scannable by you know certain types of devices.

So if somebody were to approach it during the daytime when there's not a performance, they'd be able to almost go on the scavenger hunt, if you will, see search for this uh code or QR code on the facade, and then be able to access you know, it could be a message from a performer, it could be a message from uh Jim Hanks and the Hanks Foundation, it could be a graduation that was filmed here.

So we we sort of developed a memory bank or an archive for all these shared memories of the community, and we feel like this will keep the the stage engaging uh and give it a life of its own.

Uh we obviously had to size the stage uh based on some minimum requirements.

It's kind of hard to see here, but the stage had to be a 40-foot by 60 foot minimum footprint, it had to have some clearance requirements for rigging and lighting.

So we are addressing all these um sort of technical requirements, and we have to make this uh function for a concert.

And again, these are prel preliminary renderings.

We look for feedback as we move this forward, but we just wanted to show you the exciting uh possibilities with the stage design.

And then finally, I think this kind of summarizes the beginning of the presentation when we talked about context.

Uh, we think that the stage design could complement the bridge uh really well with its angularity and also have this very iconic form.

Uh, and something that is a lesson from you know, now 22 years of doing this is that if you can synthesize a shape into a couple of lines, it's typically you're typically on the right track for something iconic, and that's kind of what we were aiming for.

So thank you.

Well, thank you both.

Uh Mr.

Graham, Mr.

Carrata, it's beautiful presentation.

I'm impressed.

I mean, it just looks amazing.

I love the elements of the bridge incorporated into the design of the stage.

I mean, it just looks like an art sculpture.

And uh, yeah, it's it's very beautiful.

Questions?

Um Councilman Rigenbach.

Thank you, Madam Mayor.

And it's the councilman whose district will host this uh magnificent um amphitheater.

Let me say thank you first of all to Mayor Manier and the Hanks Foundation in general.

I think I speak for all of us around this horseshoe, and saying we're just overwhelmed by the generosity and the vision and how this ties in with the master plan.

There's just so much synergy that um we're we're will be forever grateful of.

So make sure you give um Mr.

Hanks our deepest gratitude.

And Kevin and Patrick, wow.

Um, as the mayor just said, this iconic, I think, is not an understatement in any way at all.

So this is to be incorporating a structure like this in a floodplain with all the other concerns.

And I I got a message from one of my constituents, make sure that it isn't facing the North Valley because they still have nightmares of a concert a few years ago.

So this just hits all the all the points that many in the constituents of ours has been have been talking about, and again, um we'll be excited to see this um be fine-tuned, but the iconicness of this just really speaks to me and um job well done.

Thank you very much.

Well said, Councilman Ringab.

Hill never let us forget this is in District Three Part of our downtown, and uh thank you to the Hanks Foundation, Mr.

Hanks, um Mayor Manier, great to see you again, Emily.

Thank you all.

We are we really appreciate it.

Before we oh well, maybe maybe we'll get what I'm gonna ask for.

Uh Councilman Kelly.

I guess I'm being a little contrary tonight.

First of all, I that I think the work done so far is wonderful.

I of course we're all very very grateful for this gift and selection of Peoria and the selection of the site in Peoria.

I think it is wonderful.

I uh I remember I I was on a uh team uh for a new building some years ago for a new church, and uh went around.

People were asked what they wanted in the church.

They were talking about capacity, and they were talking about this and that, and it came to me, and it's the same thing that I will say this evening.

It should be also iconic.

Um the design that we saw originally, that sloping arch.

Maybe there's something impractical about it.

But it was a beautiful building.

This to me is a little brutalist, and we are um brutalist in architecture, the architectural term.

Um I know that you know the bridge is uh is a uh uh something that inspires, and our uh industrial background is something that inspires.

I I get that, but this is a place to enter another world, it seems to me, and something beautiful would serve.

If this is built this way, I'm sure it'll be great.

And it certainly is iconic with just a few lines.

But lines a few lines can curb as well.

Um I do I think the idea of the memory panels is fabulous.

And I I'm a little confused.

Are these to be like taken off and nuance put on, or I mean how or they're permanent?

Okay.

I have a speech that I want to give you to put on one of those, you know.

But uh, so the idea would be that they they it becomes a living museum because you can with that code that can be reprogrammed in that size.

Um the panel doesn't have to be changed.

I see, but we can change on the back end uh the messaging and that the send house down.

That's a wonderful idea, I think.

Uh really terrific idea.

Um that's all I have.

I would just ask.

Let it be beautiful.

Thank you.

Can I get a motion to receive and file the presentation?

Moved by Councilman Sear, seconded by Councilman Carmona.

Please cash your ballots.

Motion passes unanimously.

Thank you, gentlemen.

Thank you.

Madam Clerk.

Item number 25, that's 349.

A communication with the request to approve the 2026 annual city and county joint legislative agenda.

Mr.

Manager.

Uh thank you, Madam Mayor.

It's that time of year again where we uh approve our annual legislative agenda.

Um we have our legislative breakfast is scheduled for January 9th with our legislative delegation in the uh county and the health department.

We have seven requests for direct sponsorship for our legislators.

Um the first obvious uh has been uh our opposition to any modifications or or pension sweeteners for police and fire.

Um uh tier two modifications.

Um the second is um focusing on the missing middle housing issues that we see uh and the challenges of finding housing for people that make between 80 and 140 percent of the area median income.

Uh the third request came from the police chief, which is um some modifications to the juvenile court act of 1987 that would focus on repeat juvenile offenders.

Um the fourth item is uh the request that um the state level off the 911 surcharge for uh downstate communities, everyone outside of Chicago, um, and setting that at $2.50.

Um the uh next item is some clarification on a law that was passed uh last year pertaining to the certifications for building inspectors.

Um just asking for more time and some more flexibility for uh that I think there'll be some efforts that'll be pushed by the suburban building officials to do that.

Um we have the the next two requests are our economic development incentive request that if the state is looking at at what other states are doing that we become more flexible and nimble in our ability to provide economic development incentives at a state level.

Uh we feel that we've got good economic development incentives at a at a local level, but it's really at the state level that we could use more assistance.

And then last uh this kind of ties in with what the the other item from the police chief.

It's just allowing that uh juvenile police reports could be disclosed, particularly on auto thefts.

Right now it's very difficult.

You have to go to court to get that released, and um it's difficult if uh a car is stolen by a juvenile to to get that police report released, and so we're just asking that that some effort uh be taken there.

Um we have some funding requests, both vertical and horizontal, but primarily uh we have four appropriations.

Uh the pet uh Mr.

Corporation Council mentioned one earlier, which was um the riverfront funding.

We also are waiting on $25 million for Main Street, uh $3 million more for MacArthur, and two and a half million dollars for street lighting.

Those are appropriations that have been approved uh by the General Assembly uh year in and year out over the last several years, and we just haven't been able to get them released from DCO, so we'd like to see that coming forward.

Then we have some vertical um horizont uh uh requests uh including the vehicle and pedestrian barrier system for downtown and the riverfront, uh the warehouse district parking structure, and then the relocation of the state street post office.

Um we have several uh road requests uh if there's funding available, pioneer parkway, Laramie Avenue, Prospect Avenue, um, uh University, and then the Springdale Cemetery Road Network.

Uh and then we have some just some general legislative support items that we've included uh over the last several years, uh, as well as uh we have the uh request that came from Councilman Kelly for the site valuation tax, which would change the way that we would assess land um uh taxation here inside the city of Peoria.

And so that's our legislative agenda.

Okay, councilmember Regenbach.

Thank you, Madam Mayor.

Um very good comprehensive list, Mr.

Manager.

I think it encompasses many of the things that we talk about frequently, and I'm happy to see the opposition to any tier two pension obligations being the number one item on the list.

But in light of the next council agenda item, I think it would be appropriate to perhaps add another item, and I'm not sure the exact verbiage we want, but to ask the state to increase um funding for homelessness support for mental health resources and facilities and support for substance abuse treatment and facilities.

Those are things that are um often discussed here, and our hands are frequently tied.

So if we could put that on and finesse that as you did the other items, if you would, but um, let's make sure that those are included in our list.

We can do that.

What what area would that be?

Well, who's tied up?

Um just trying to determine the category.

What category might that be, Mr.

Manager adding homeless funding for the unhoused uh funding for mental health and substance abuse?

I I think we can put it under another support, and and that way they know that that's something that we would certainly advocate for and ask that they would support if there's those appropriation efforts going forward.

Okay, good recommendation, thank you.

Um the only thing that I would want to see, Mr.

Manager.

I I think it's a great comprehensive request list.

Umce we get it approved by council and before it's sent out to all the places that it will go.

I would just want to make some formatting uh adjustments.

Okay, okay.

All right, can I get a motion?

A move by Councilman Riggenbach, seconded by council member Jackson.

Any other just excuse me.

Yes, and with those additions that Councilman Regenbach recommended.

Please cash your ballots.

Motion passes unanimously.

Madam Clerk.

With a request to approve an agreement with Phoenix Community Development Services to support New Hope apartments at 301 Northeast Jefferson and amount not to exceed 300,000.

Mr.

Manager.

Thank you, Madam Mayor.

I'd like to turn the floor over to our community development director, uh Joe Doolan to walk through this item.

Uh thank you, Mayor.

Thank you, Council.

Thank you, manager.

Uh I apologize a little bit uh for the wording of the item in front of you.

Uh this was all uh happening last week, and we need to get something to put in place with you to have a discussion.

Uh so we'll be asking for a slightly different request towards the end.

Uh, but I wanted to walk you through kind of uh the current situation uh because I think there's been a lot of reports out there and a lot of things going on, and I want to kind of make sure everyone is on the same page where we're at.

So uh a little historical background.

Uh New Hope Apartments is a permanent supportive housing complex located at 301 Northeast Jefferson.

Uh it's kind of a joint effort owned by Pure Opportunities Foundation and Phoenix Community Development Services with Phoenix Community Development Services kind of managing the day to day at the property.

Uh they really are uh the partner that we go to uh when we are trying to provide housing uh when a lot of different other places in the city of Peoria won't take someone for when they're ready to be housed.

Uh you know, whether that's a history of evictions, poor credit, uh just just some struggles that that they need to place, they're ready, they've gone through the processes, they've uh cooperated with our social service agencies, they're ready to be housed, but we're still trying to get over that hurdle of finding housing.

So they work really hard with us when we relocated people out of the motel project last year.

A lot of residents went to uh New Hope apartments.

So uh unfortunately uh the last two or three months, uh they've seen some struggles uh due to some tenant behavior uh that they have made some decisions to they got rid of the tenants that were causing the issues, so it's not a reflection of all the tenants in the space.

Uh it's a reflection of a few, uh, and it's caused problems for everyone there.

Uh October 14th, they uh had a someone tamper with one of the sprinkler heads uh that caused 12 units to be damaged, eight of units which then went uh they were able to get back online but left four units down.

Then unfortunately on September 20th, they had another fire that was intentionally uh set by a resident.

That one caused damage to 20 units, security system, elevator control access systems, and the fire alarm system.

Uh both of those uh incidences were reported to their insurance company for claims they're working through those issues.

Unfortunately, after that October 20th incident, uh their insurance company then dropped them from coverage uh due to the multiple claims they have.

Uh they're still trying to figure out going forward about the insurance issue as well.

That gets us to kind of why we're here today.

Uh last Tuesday, uh there was another intentionally set uh fire at the property on the fifth floor.

It caused the sprinkler system to go off, uh causing additional significant damage to multiple units at the building, uh, leaving about 34 units at the building uh unfit for human habitation.

At that point, city staff had a meeting with our fire department.

Uh the damage was done to the point too, the fire alarm system was not operational.

So the sprinkler system still works at the property, which is great, uh, but there's no active fire alarm system at the property.

Uh in talking to the fire department, uh, without that fire alarm system, uh, they did not feel like it was safe to occupy unless uh fire watch was put in place uh 24 hours uh seven days a week.

Uh and so unfortunately uh Phoenix, based on all those incidences, uh did not have the staffing to do it, and we wanted professional staff to be able to handle it.

The cost to a fire watch uh for the standard we need is about $2,500 a day.

It's two workers overnight uh working with the Phoenix staff and then one worker during the day.

After that fire, uh we reached out on Thursday of last week to the state of Illinois.

Christine Haley put us in contact with the Department of Human Services, uh, and then they also uh everyone reached out to the Red Cross.

We were very, very lucky the Red Cross stepped up and said we'll help uh in this situation.

Unfortunately, they temporarily uh they provide temporary assistance.

That's kind of the nature of what they do.

So they said, but we'll come in for the next 14 days, uh, set up in your auditorium, uh, just help have some more personnel in the building.

They provide all the food for the residents affected by the fire and just kind of handle the auditorium issue.

Uh some of the residents that were in those units that were displaced ended up in the auditorium as kind of a temporary makeshift shelter uh why we go through.

So Red Cross has been very uh supportive of those efforts and kind of helped us put together this plan to get us where we're at today.

Uh so that kind of is the past of where we've been at.

We've been kind of troubleshooting day by day, things that have come up at that building.

Um, and so then kind of where do we go forward here in the request in front of you?

I think part of it is important to understand New Hope has operated at a deficit for significant amount of time.

They they aren't able to save up large kind of capital money for future needs.

Another one for about five or six hundred dollars.

They just don't keep up with the needs of the building.

Costs about 140,000 for them to have this its staff 24-7.

Uh it costs about 80 or 90,000 for pest control all year.

Uh and then obviously their insurance costs were very high too.

So it's not like over the years they've been able to severely save up for these emergencies.

A lot of times when they have tenants moving in and out, it costs substantial amount of money to get the units back online.

Uh and all those things kind of contribute to the financial issues they were having at the property.

Uh so we've been working with them the last six to nine months when trying to figure out a solution long term.

Uh and then unfortunately, with the federal government changes uh that have may or may not be taking place, and I'll get into that in a second.

Uh it provides just a lot of uncertainty going forward for the nature of this property.

So a lot of that said, uh where we kind of go from here, uh, Red Cross is exiting the property on December 18th.

Unfortunately, at that point, uh, we will be at a place where the people in the auditorium are going to be uh not allowed to be at the building, and that represents about uh 20 to 22 people.

Uh the good news is at this moment, Pathway Ministries and Dream Center both have capacity to handle those 22 people.

Uh so if they will uh have a place to go in a shelter if they choose to do so.

Uh one of the things that we really struggled with last week was if the building is posted and we have to make room for 80 people, the shelters indicated they don't have the capacity to do that.

But they did have the capacity for uh the 22 individuals that are in the auditorium.

Unfortunately, just with Red Cross not being able to provide the staffing levels for the auditorium, uh, and Phoenix not having the staff capacity to uh continue to provide that fire watch there.

Uh that's kind of the path we're gonna have to take.

After that, uh the next kind of deadline we're looking for the occupied units is February 28th.

With the changes at the federal level to go from permanent support housing to temporary uh, I mean to transitional housing, the rent mechanisms and grants for that property just do not make sense.

So our recommendation tonight is to kind of uh for you guys to authorize the city manager up to $300,000 of the $520 some thousand dollars we have remaining uh that were specifically uh repurposed from American Rescue Plan money uh to general fund money, but still with the intention of using it towards homelessness services, uh, to give the city manager the authority to use that to kind of minimize the impact as much as we possible.

Uh it'll pay for the 24-7 fire watch at the property of the security guards up until about uh February 28th when we'll be looking at the property uh likely shutting down as it's currently uh situated, and then also add that will cost about 225,000, we're guessing, uh, based on what we're currently spending and what the contract is with the security firm.

That'll leave us about 75,000 of that 300,000 to uh have some further assistance for the tenants that we were be looking to relocating and find different housing options for.

Uh so I'm happy to answer any questions.

Phoenix representatives are here as well.

Uh, I think you know it's obviously uh a band-aid on a situation that's bad.

Uh that I wish I had a better solution long term for in our community.

I think the federal government changes about going from permanent supported to transitional housing uh were something that was going is going to cause our social service agencies a lot of problems going forward.

Uh, yesterday uh in response to a lawsuit by multiple jurisdictions across the United States uh who are suing over the changes, had actually uh rescinded the notice of funding opportunity uh and the changes that were in that.

Uh the problem with that is they rescinded the NOFO, so there is no current NOFO out for continuum of cares to actually respond to.

Uh so it was already a delayed process that likely the funding wasn't gonna go out to social service agencies until May of next year.

The grants that were anticipated to start going into place in January, February, March, you know, just depending on those timelines.

So by rescinding the NOFO, making changes and putting it out again, it's likely that May deadline is actually gonna be pushed further uh into the future, uh, which will not only leave these projects but some other projects in our community uh in limbo, not exactly sure what funding is available and not funding available.

So I think after multiple discussions with all of our social service agencies and our partners and just the capital needs at New Hope and the struggles it's had, uh, kind of that needs to be our path going forward is to look at that February 28th, kind of as a deadline of trying to get all of the social services agencies rallying together, trying to find and minimize the impact as much as possible, similar to what we did with the Motel project last year.

Councilman Allen.

Uh thank you, Madam Mayor.

Uh Director Dillon, I've I've told you this before, and I just want to publicly uh give you your flowers again.

Um this is definitely in the all duties as a sign part of your job description.

If you have taken this on and just even things you just given us all of this, and I know um you know, this isn't necessarily your lane, but you're you're running with this, and I know you have a staff behind you, and so I just want to commend you for that.

Um, and then also shout out to President Call and then the rest of her staff from from Phoenix, and this is such an unfortunate situation that you all find yourselves in.

And so uh the silver lining of this, fortunately, we still have this allocation remaining from our American rescue plan funds.

Um I agree it's a band-aid to uh very severe wound, but what we don't want to have happen is 72 individuals find themselves unhoused as we answer the code as part of the winner coming up.

So um I definitely will be supporting this effort tonight um in hope that some of these challenges to some of the federal uh actions um you know are able to be uh reversed because um uh unfortunately the forecast is not looking good as we look to try to address this issue of the in-house in our community.

So again, thank you to you, thank you to everyone involved, and I'll be supporting this tonight.

Thank you, Madam Mayor.

You're very welcome.

Councilmember Carmona, thank you, Madam Mayor.

Uh Director Doolin.

Um I really appreciate all the additional work that you're doing to try to solve issues like this.

It's uh greatly appreciated, I'm sure.

Um I just want to make sure that I heard correctly and clarify the I guess the the lapse of insurance.

So after their insurance was dropped, were they noted were they notified and did they re-get get other insurance?

I I'm not sure if I heard that part.

Yeah, so um uh from you know, and uh Chris calls here, but from from this will be their that would have this their third claim in about four months to already uh multiple claims throughout the years just based on kind of the nature of the business.

Uh, you know, they do have some liability on the insurance, it's basically on the property.

Yes, they were aware that that they didn't have property insurance at the time.

Uh, you know, they're trying to see what they can do.

This isn't necessarily just uh a new hope problem, it's kind of a problem we're seeing across the country and some of these uh permanent supportive housing facilities that uh tenants are are sometimes cause issues and are very hard on the building.

Uh so they are exploring every option that they can.

Uh, there might be an opportunity in the future to find that insurance.

That's what they're diligently working on.

Uh, but yes, they were aware.

Uh thank you for that.

Um, you know, I'm inclined to support this because we have obviously we have the funds to do it directly for that purpose.

Um I just I wish we had a way to recoup some of that cost, not for obviously City Hall, but because the the fund that we have is not gonna last forever, and um it is we're gonna need it indefinitely.

So um, yeah, like I said, I'm I'm I'm gonna support this.

Um, but I hope that we can somehow recoup some of that cost through the insurance.

Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Mayor.

And okay.

And we we uh we will have those conversations with Phoenix, anything that's eligible from from past expenses, things like that.

I mean, I think they're willing to work with us on all those things as well.

Um, we've had many discussions with the state with um uh Jason Marks at the emergency uh management uh with the county about what we could maybe submit to the state too.

So we will explore all that.

I'm not sure if if we will get anything back or what we can do, but we're continuing to look at that and we'll make sure to to look at everything we can.

People often ask us what keeps you up at night.

Well, I know that this situation has literally kept you and your team, Chris call and her team up at night and working overtime, overtime, overtime, and throughout the day and night.

So I want to express our appreciation for your efforts and your leadership in trying to resolve this situation.

What involvement has I see uh CEL Crawford here with PHA?

What involvement has the Peoria Housing Authority had in this?

Yeah, so um sorry I didn't mention that.

Um part of that discussion, uh, they are involved of what happens on February 28th.

Uh, you know, there are multiple different funding sources for the tenants in these properties, different rental subsidies, different vouchers.

Uh Director Crawford uh met with with Kate Green at the Continuum of Care and Chris Call uh last week uh about possibly whatever they could do they could look into about transferring some of their project based vouchers into tenants based tenant based vouchers that can go with them.

I mean when we talk about some of the residents at New Hope, some of them have been there for four or five years, not caused any issues, would be good tenants in other locations if those vouchers can go with them.

Uh so she's she's been a great great support working with us, uh, willing to have those conversations with us, uh, use their creativity to do whatever's possible.

And I think that's kind of what it's gonna take with the other funding sources uh that the continuum of care might lose is what we can do to maximize every resource we have available.

Uh and the housing authority, just as they were with the Motel project and moving people into different units, uh, continue to want to be a partner with us in this discussion as well.

So appreciate their their help.

Sorry, I did not mention that.

But I had a long item.

So yes, thank you for your contributions.

Councilmember Euler.

Thank you, Madam Chairwoman.

Um, I had heard the county board of health was asked for over 100,000 yesterday for the same effort.

Are there other organizations that are being asked for funding as well?

And what is the status of those?

Yeah, so we uh had a discussion with uh Monica Henderson at the Peore County uh Health Department.

Uh if you all remember we gave them substantial money uh from American Rescue Plan specifically for housing, uh then the county matched that.

Uh since then we've launched uh the flexible rent program that they gave back the money to the city, but it doubled because it was the county's money.

Uh to essentially uh not to veer off topic, but a program that essentially uh allowed us some really flexible money to help those who are experiencing homelessness who have an income.

So you're uh someone who might be on social security uh and get a monthly check every month that could go into senior housing, but they don't have the money for the deposit or the moving expense.

Uh that program has been in place for about a year and a half now.

We've been able to successfully place about 60 uh three different units of people experiencing homelessness and housing.

Um that money uh because of our success and not needing as much per family as we thought we would.

We have money left over that still needs to be spent uh by the end of 2026.

Uh it has a little longer shelf life of American Rescue Plan money because uh we have a contract with them to do it, even though they gave us back the money.

Uh so we feel this kind of fits really well into that program.

Uh so that is why we made an ask of of getting that money because A, it needs to be spent, B, it fits well into there.

Uh and so kind of that's where that ask came from.

I think your question of asking other money from people, uh, we haven't made a direct ask of other organizations yet.

Uh we did have a call with multiple organizations uh about how they can support this effort.

Uh that's where the Red Cross came in to provide the food and the supplies and things like that.

Uh we have uh had multiple discussions with uh Carl and OSF about making sure they have healthcare professionals going in and out of the site now and then kind of until things change just to address those mental health issues and provide that mental health support.

Uh but as those are the kind of resources we've been looking for.

Uh we haven't made a financial ass to anyone else yet.

So if they were to approve this, is that in addition to the 300 that's on our agenda, or is that part of this 300,000?

Uh I think I don't have quite the answer to that.

Uh I think we would use that money obviously first as much as we can, specifically because that money is designed for the flexible rent and uh has more of a deadline than our money.

Uh I think you know, we're asking originally put the 300,000 up there.

Uh just penciling out what the fire watch is going to cost till February 28th is about 225,000.

Uh so if we need the additional funds, uh I think that that we will use them.

Uh, but to answer your question, I'm not sure.

Unfortunately, they don't meet again until January 26th.

Uh so even if they made a decision on January 26th, we'd have liked to be between now and then working to uh provide tenants other opportunity and provide some of that financing necessary.

I think if they do provide that, we'd obviously use that money first.

This 225,000 until late February, is that just to have someone keeping a watch on the property?

Is that just to have someone keeping a watch on the property?

Yes.

I manage a 24-hour door staff at another building, and that's what I spend for the entire year.

So I I would really encourage you to take another look at that.

Yeah, so last Wednesday uh when we had to find a fire watch, uh, had to really appreciate the the police department who called four or five different uh security companies to see if they would offer assistance.

They all said no.

Uh they all said either A, they don't have fire watch insurance to be able to cover it, or they're just not interested in providing that assistance.

Uh we were able to find one firm who was, it's uh about sixty-five dollars uh an hour uh per employee from the 7 p.m.

to 7 a.m.

shift.

We have two employees, and then the 7 a.m.

a.m.

to 7 p.m.

we have one.

Uh and they have to be walking as the fire watch kind of walking each floor every 20 minutes.

Uh so that's kind of the requirement that we have to have in place and kind of being transparent with where that money is coming from and how it penciled out.

So does it really take a security professional to watch and see if somebody started a fire?

Uh uh there's some insurance requirements involved to to be uh I think that's what makes our fire department feel more comfortable to do is and then it doesn't it also helps that they are security personnel to make sure that uh if other issues are coming up, they can assist with those as well.

And then am I correct to understand that Phoenix has no insurance on any facility at this point?

Any facility in Peoria?

Correct.

Or it's just New Hope.

Just New Hope.

But the other properties are insured.

Yep.

Okay.

I I thought you had said this was a bigger problem with the insurance than just this building.

So I wanted to cover it.

No, I mean like globally, like uh other permanent supportive housing across the country are seeing these similar issues that being.

I just wanted to make sure if this is something we could be discussing about another building at another date.

No, right now, uh yeah, the rather uh the other ones and the other ones are all pretty much newer construction.

I think one of the other things going against this building is I think it was built in 1920.

Uh so it's an older building.

Uh most of the other projects are fairly new construction, so uh much better warranties on stuff, things like that.

Okay, thank you.

Welcome.

Councilmember Gordon Young.

Thank you, Madam Mayor.

I just wanted to take time out to thank you, Director Doolin and your staff, but also to thank the staff of uh Phoenix Development.

Uh, you know, you're working hard, and it's like every time you take one step forward, there's two or three steps back, you know, between funding cuts, between, you know, just the lack of housing that we have in this community, and then here we have this happen.

Um, I want to say to the the residents, I see you.

I see you.

Um I just had somebody today come up to me crying and afraid that she wasn't gonna have a place to stay, and she said that she stays at New Hope, right?

Um, you know, we are committed.

I am committed to helping any way that I can.

I think this is something that um goes beyond the 300,000 dollars, way beyond that.

I mean, it's like it put a hole there because that could have been used to elevate, right?

But things happen.

And um as a community, I think this is time times when this is times when we'd come together and we definitely should come together.

You definitely have my support on this.

Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Mayor.

You're welcome.

Councilman Raggenbach.

Thank you, Madam Mayor.

And Director Doolin, not to sound like a stuck record here, but um thank you for being the quarterback who brought all the this team together in so many ways.

And I see Nicole Morrow, our housing coordinator in the background, we know the work that she does in this space also.

So Nicole, thank you very much for being here.

And um the Red Cross, Phoenix, the continuum, PHA.

I mean, what what what a team and um I think I've heard the phrase it takes a village.

Um you know, truly thank you, all of you for for being part of this.

And um if there's any um affirmation as to the request I made to add to our legislative agenda about the need for more funding, I think this just really exemplifies why we need more funding and whether it's at the federal level, and I understand the continuum has had conversations with Congressman Lahood, who's gonna be meeting with the HUD secretary.

So I mean, you know, we we we just need to be advocating every chance we get, and I'm so glad to see so many of the residents of New Hope here.

I think that's a powerful message for us to to understand what's happening to these people that live here in Peoria alongside of us.

So um thank you for for coming out and um let's let's move for the approval of this item.

And I would like to offer the correct verbiage if I may.

Yes.

So the communication should read.

This is a communication from the city manager and the director of community development with a request to authorize the city manager to spend an amount not to exceed 300,000 to assist with new hope apartments located at 301 Northeast Jefferson.

Okay, is there a second second by councilman councilwoman Gordon Young?

Any additional discussion?

Councilmember Kelly.

Uh Director Doolin again, as everyone has said, thank you so much for the work you're doing.

Um is it true that the uh perpetrators of uh lighting fires, etc.

Uh were arrested.

Uh were put in the county jail, and we're uh and the tri the charges were dropped by the state's attorney.

Um I don't know the specifics.

Chris, do you want to only the perpetrator of the fire that was done October 20th?

Because since that took down the security cameras, we are not able to determine who set the fire last Tuesday.

There's no footage.

So that perpetrator on October 20th was arrested, was released within hours from the jail, and then the charges were dismissed by the state attorney's office.

That's correct.

How about the other incidents?

The sprinkler one, there was no arrest made on that charge.

I thought we had multiple fires.

That's what I'm saying.

There were the fire October 20th resulted in the arrest that got dismissed.

The fire last week.

There's no security cameras, or to show show who did it.

It was on the fifth floor of a building.

I do think you could be referring to that our agency had a third fire at a different building that was a deliberate arson, and that person remains in custody.

That is not a new hope resident.

That was at Madison Apartments one.

Uh was there one of these uh suspected uh arsonists or whatever tried to get back into New Hope and was told you can't come back here.

That's correct.

We have there's a process, and we have um the police chief has been down there with us.

There's a legal process you have to go through to publicize no trespass.

But additionally, the assistance from Director Doolin helped in that that unit that was damaged.

They were able to come very quickly and say that unit could not be habitated, you know, or uninhabitable for the condition it was in.

So that then gave us more emphasis to be able to say, or you know, more permission to turn the person away.

Because our clients are leaseholders, they hold a lease, and so they are protected by landlord tenant law in the state of Illinois.

And so there are certain processes that we have to engage, but we are very much aware that tenant behaviors cause the three incidents in that building that got us here today.

I'm I'm glad that you are trying.

Uh, because uh those folks I think have uh forfeited their that is correct.

Yeah, but I want to draw your attention.

People have talked about the residents that are here.

You know that I don't see the residents that I don't see any arsenis here.

Yeah, so thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you, madam mayor.

You're welcome.

We have a motion on the floor and a second.

Uh Councilman Riggenbach read the uh read the motion that's a little different from what you see on the agenda.

Please cash your ballots.

Motion passes unanimously.

Thank you.

Thank you to all the partners.

Madam Clerk.

Item number 25, 351, a communication with the request for the following.

A approve an intergovernmental agreement between the city of Peoria and the Greater Peoria Sanitary District for the outfall pipe repairs project and the low bid amount of 1,574 210 with an additional authorization of 157,000 for 20 for contingencies for a total project amount of 1,731, 630.

Um this requires two-thirds vote of the council, um no less than six votes.

Um this will also require two separate votes for A and B.

Thank you, Madam Clerk.

Mr.

Manager.

Um thank you, madam mayor.

I'm gonna ask that director powers walk through this item.

Mr.

Manager, mayor council, good evening.

Um actually the clerk summarized it very well.

Basically, there's one bid, our standing partnership with GPSD and ongoing outfall repairs.

Um bid was received by the district.

It greatly exceeded what we had anticipated from the engineer's estimate.

We were able to identify funding to meet the requirement and go forward with the agreement.

Uh if you agree, uh the district has already signed the agreement as you may note.

The locations are noted on a map uh enclosed, and I'll stand by for any further questions you may have questions.

Can I get a motion?

Uh Councilman Oiler move for item A, seconded by Councilman Kelly.

Any questions?

Please cash your ballots.

Motion passes unanimously.

Council.

Thank you, Mayor.

Thank you, Council.

Move for item B, seconded by Councilmember Kelly.

Please cast your ballots.

Motion passes unanimously.

Again, thank you, Mayor.

Thank you, Council.

Madam Clerk, item number 25, Dash 352, a communication with the request for the following.

A adopt I'm sorry, accept the transportation grant from the Illinois Department of Transportation and the amount of 66,213, and B adopt an ordinance, amending the City of Peoria 2020 revised budget relating to the general fund to recognize the receipt of the transportation grant funding from the Illinois Department of Transportation and the amount of 66,213.

Uh this item is um also requires two-thirds vote of the council.

Um, and we'll need two separate votes.

Mr.

Manager.

Uh thank you, Madam Mayor.

I'm gonna turn it over to the police chief to walk through this item.

Good evening, madam mayor, council, city manager.

Uh this grant is uh to improve highway safety to programs that were described to this grant.

Um there's 14 key areas that we'll focus on, but the main thing to understand is this is those campaigns that you see clicker ticket, uh sober driving campaigns, um, and we have specific dates that we'll be doing these campaigns, and that's with this funds that overtime for our number one complaint in our city traffic.

Any questions for the chief?

Congratulations on the grant.

Thank you.

Can I get a motion?

Move by councilman Allen, seconded by councilwoman Gordon Young.

Please cash your ballots.

This is item A.

Motion passes unanimously.

Councilman Allen.

Item B.

Seconded by Councilwoman Gordon Young.

Any questions, comments?

Please cash your ballots.

Motion passes unanimously.

Madam Clerk.

Item number 25-353, a communication with a request to adopt an ordinance proposing the extension of the duration of the Westlake Special Service Area in the City of Peoria, Illinois, increasing the West Lake Special Service Area sales tax rate, and providing for a public hearing and other procedures in connection therewith.

Mr.

Manager.

Thank you, Madam Mayor.

At the request of the uh property owner Westlake Shopping Center LLC.

Um they are requesting that that they would increase the special service area uh supplemental sales tax rate from three-quarters of one percent to one percent, and extending the um uh termination date of the SSA to July 13th, 2055.

This would necessitate that we establish a public hearing before we start this process, and that's what's in front of you tonight.

Is this just setting the date of the public hearing?

Council excuse me, Councilman Allen.

Uh thank you, madam mayor.

As Mr.

Manager said, this is to set the public hearing.

I forecast a lot of conversation uh as we lead up to that uh public hearing.

Um but again, this is just establishing the public hearing, and so without further ado, I would like to move for approval.

Seconded by Councilman Sear.

Any discussion?

Councilman Carmona.

Did you guess it was gonna be me?

Thank you, Madam Mayor.

Um I'm not a fan of the uh the way we disseminate information to have public hearings here.

Um not blaming the staff or anybody else, it just is what it is.

Umfortunately not many people have or citizens have time to listen in to city council to come here after work and whatnot.

Um not gonna support this motion.

Um big surprise.

Um thank you, madam mayor.

Okay.

What'd you end with?

What was that last statement?

I'm not gonna support this motion.

Just making your comment.

Yes, ma'am, thank you.

There's no specific recommendation though.

No.

Yeah.

Not yet.

Settlement.

It will be okay.

Thank you, Councilman Carmona.

All right, we have uh a motion and a second.

Please cash your ballots.

Motion passes with one nay Carmona.

Madam Clerk, item number 25, dash 354, a communication with the request to receive and file.

The month ended, October 31st, 2025, an audited financial report.

Mr.

Manager.

Thank you, Madam Mayor.

I'm gonna turn it over to our finance director, Kyle Craig.

Uh thank you, Mr.

Manager.

Uh the report in front of you tonight is for the end of October.

Um, we have two more months of reports for the year.

Um, what I will say is is I it's gonna be kind of similar to the reports I've been giving you over the last few months.

Um, we are slightly below budget on revenue, but we are closing the gap of what it was last month.

Last month it was around three percent, so now we're about one percent, so that trend will continue.

Um on the expense side, we are below budget on our expenses.

Um, and in both cases, we're ahead of where we were last year.

So those are really good trends in terms of what our expectations were.

Um, if you go a little bit deeper into the report, you'll see kind of uh um where I have the kind of my still belief and the conversations that I have with council um on where we'll end the year.

Um, if you look at the specific charts around home rule sales tax, state sales tax, income tax, and property tax specifically.

Um, those are on a cash basis.

So the trend that obviously we're seeing is is that we're seeing numbers that are um larger than we that uh are above last year.

So um I'm still comfortable in what we told council during the budget process is where we'll end the year.

Um and with that I'm available if there's any specific questions from council.

Thank you, Director Craddy.

Councilman Sear.

Thank you, madam mayor.

Thank you, Director Craddy.

Just a quick question with the uh property replacement tax.

Did you what were your your estimate for the 26?

I don't remember for the 26th budget.

The 26 the 26th budget IML at the time of the budget had an increase of about uh five percent for next year.

Um so I think our number was around 10 and a half million was our estimate for next year for next year.

Okay, thank you, sir.

And just I don't know if it's a question, just a comment.

I mean, it's getting late here.

There's a couple items on page nine of ten under expenditures.

I'm just concerned a little bit every time we go over five or ten percent.

We have two items that actually are over 19 and 20 percent.

Uh I'm just gonna keep an eye on that.

Hopefully, maybe I can talk to you tomorrow in the future about that.

I don't really have any questions for that, but I'm just it's just a big miss so far.

So I'll probably give you a call, just talk about that.

Okay, and Madam Mayor, I'd just like to make uh to move to receive and file.

Okay, seconded by council member Allen.

Any questions or comments?

Please cash your ballots.

Motion passes unanimously, Madam Clerk.

Item number 25, dash 355, a communication with a request to receive and file, a presentation on the city of Peoria strategic plan.

Um Mr.

Manager.

Uh thank you, Madam Mayor.

What I'm gonna do right now is turn it over to our assistant city manager to walk through a presentation on the strategic plan and as well to talk through the dashboard that we have that will you know track the measurement and progress that we're making towards achieving the strategic plan.

Wonderful.

All right, good.

I will be briefing my comments because the the nate, the late the nate ah, see, the night is getting um late.

Uh so good evening, madam mayor and council members.

Uh what I wanted to do tonight is give you a brief update on where we're at with the strategic plan.

Um, Councilman Riggenbach, I remember in 2023 when I came up to the council and requesting for this uh funding to do the strategic plan that was a community-informed process.

You wanted to make sure that we were implementing the plan and not just doing this as a rudimentary activity or exercise.

So tonight I want to show you at the council over the last two years our effort in implementing this the current strategic plan.

I want to update you also on just the process and the systematic approach we've taken to ensure accountability and measurable outcomes, something that you all requested as part of this process.

Uh so tonight I'm so excited to um publicly display our dashboard, which is now on our website, and I am going to figure out how to do this.

Um there we go.

I'm good.

So as you recall, we have our six priorities of our strategic plan, which is quality of life, downtown development, community safety, and um and embrace diversity, equity, and inclusion, business growth and prosperity, and infrastructure.

So the staff, as we began to be do the process of implementation, we really had to think about the framework for how we wanted to do this.

And what's in front of you is how we as the departments start looking at our strategic plan.

We have this very clear policy direction from the council, which is at the top, those are the priority priorities that you have set forth.

And then within the strategic plan itself, you have objectives.

So that's the community level um outcomes that we focused on, and then what we took is a different approach.

Uh, for the last two years, we've been meeting as a leadership team every month for almost two and a half to three hours at times, figuring out how do we execute the strategic plan in a more comprehensive and collaborative effort.

So, no more salling our efforts to being public safety is only for police and fire, or commute a quality of health is community development or infrastructure's public works.

Every department, you as you've seen in the budget process, has a piece of how we implement your priority, your policy direction.

And so, this is just to demonstrate the process for which we look at the activities that we're gonna be showing you on the dashboard.

Secondly, we use this also as a tool to create an internal team outside of the leadership team.

So the leadership team includes our directors and our number twos within the departments, but we also decide that you know what this is a great part opportunity to involve our staff, our junior staff, in this process of implementation.

And so we it's a more of a training ground for them as well.

So, what we've done over the course of the last year is we've given some improvement processes that they have been looking at.

And so you don't see them in the strategic plan dashboard today, but you will in 2026.

And this team of staff, which I have to commend them, they are doing this on top of the work that they're already doing in their departments, and some of them even coming off night shifts to come to a morning session to do these activities.

They are defining their practices within the strategic plan, and they're looking at a number of process improvements that will help facilitate some of the activities that we are gonna discuss.

I also want to take the moment to just identify those staff just real quickly, just because those individuals really have put a lot of effort, and I want to publicly acknowledge them.

From human resources, we have Tanya Rickman and Ryan L.

Peter from our legal department.

We have Max Walton and Stephanie Thor Thornhorst host, excuse me.

Um, for our city manager's office, we have Uriah Kilgalin and Blood and Blake Eggleston Fire, we have Nick O'Connor, public uh police department, we have Chris Collins, IS, Jason Biller, Community Development, Alamnia Doey, and Matt Smith, Finance Department, Christina Ingold, and Amanda Hall, ECC, Brianna Agnew, and Public Works, Loretta Adams.

And I just want to acknowledge those staff members because they have really put in a lot of effort and time and energy in talking to their staff, their colleagues, to help us think about from their lens how we can better implement strategic plan the strategic plan.

So I just want to give that um them some kudos.

So let's get on to the show.

This is really what I'm here to show you tonight is our strategic plan dashboard.

And I practiced this this morning and yesterday, so hopefully we are able to get this going.

All right, Paul, now the keyboard doesn't want to work.

Is it let's see?

I did this twice and now it doesn't do it.

Let's see.

Now I'm going to be aspicious.

This is what happened when you want to do technology in real time.

Apologies, I'm gonna keep us moving.

Yep, see we practice this.

Anyway, so as Paul continues to get us going, I would talk through the dashboard.

So our dashboard is now live on our city website at PeoriaGov.org forward slash strategic plan.

And where you will be able to see the dashboard, you'll also be able to see the plan and all the activities that led up to the creation of the plan.

So what nice what is nice about the plan is that it's iterative, it's not a document, it is a living dashboard.

What does that mean?

So on a monthly or weekly basis, on a monthly or quarterly basis, we're looking to make updates to the plan.

Now, sometimes we have to say not everything is given to us on a monthly basis, so that's why we're still trying to figure out will a quarterly or weekly basis work.

Thank you.

So I am going to this is a big, uh, I have to tell you, the mouse is bigger than the actual screen size, but we'll work with it.

Uh zoom.

There you go.

So what I would like to show you today is where does the city uh plan live?

So if you see every priority is displayed on the dashboard.

When you click on the dashboard, you then begin to be able to see, and now this has gotten too big.

Excuse me.

Uh we practice this, and it's still so you'll see that this is the council's uh not only priority but their uh goal, which is they're displayed here, and then here where you see in our descriptions, these are your objectives.

These were the how do we how do we actually fix these these issues to actually address the the goal that we want you to be able to achieve.

And so what you're seeing here is as we continue to fill out the strategic plan and continue to do the work, we'll begin to fill these in.

So as last um budget process, you saw the department had goals.

So what we are now showing you here is if you go over to financial stability, you'd see the activities that we've are upcoming that we've identified in our our budget process that the departments are gonna be focusing on.

And as you see in here, we also talk about things that we're working on that may not be able to uh currently be displayed.

So what's nice is that you're getting to see real-time activities being worked on as a staff, and over time where it says upcoming, they will then go to on time.

If there's a delay, they will say there'll be a signal for showing a delay, or if it's something that's completed, it will show completion.

And it'll allow for us to even put some explanations and updates at the bottom so that if there's some additional details that we want to display, you're able to do so.

So if we continue to go through downtown development, I remember at this the meeting in um October, we talked about downtown development, and there was a question of why is there nothing present?

As you can see in downtown development, we have several areas that we are focusing on.

Real um renovate revitalization and development, downtown safety and livability, riverfront and the destiny and being a destination uh location.

So what we start looking into the actual activities, what you start seeing is what are we doing as staff to address these issues.

So we go into the actual partnership that we're working through.

So, like tonight with the the passage of the Hanks Foundation uh project, we can add that now to our strategic plan as an activity.

And then you keep going down as we're working with our community partners, our CDOs, as they have activities that we are partnering with them, we can then continue to add that information into this.

This is a living document.

This is not static.

So as we have new information, the dashboard will be update to reflect that information.

And as we grow, because there might be information here that we're not talking about today, but over the course of 2026, as a council, you may have some additional priorities within the current six priorities that you want us to focus on, and then we can add those adjectives into the strategic plan as we continue to build this out.

This is going to continue for now up until the end of this current plan, which is scheduled to um conclude in 2029.

Now we'll be at that point, council make a decision probably in 2028 how we want to proceed in 2029 with reviewing the plan.

But the document on a quarterly basis will be presenting to some form of fashion the council and update us as to the dashboard as we continue to train staff and as we continue to iterate and look at how we can better present things.

You will see some additional additional um updates to this aesthetically as well as information-wise.

So again, we will love your feedback and your um if there's any feedback from your perspective that you want to make sure is being reflected.

We will love to hear that, and we will definitely make uh to receive those that feedback.

And of course, we want this to be understandable to our community members.

We want them to be able to see in these uh activities what they came to a two-day uh community engagement activity, see reflected as what we're trying to strive for.

So, with that, I will stop talking and give you the floor to ask any questions.

And again, I want to also just really quickly I want to truly thank my partner in crime in this effort.

Kyle Craddy and I have really been hand in hand every single day.

I think all we do maybe once a week is talk about strategic plan.

And with that, we have two excellent, amazing up and coming, just great employees that have really done the effort in making this dashboard be what it looks like today.

And I want to acknowledge Blake Eggleston and Amanda Hall for all their efforts to have to deal with me and Kyle and the amount of information that we're throwing at them all at one time and then telling them, okay, come back and figure out how to make it work.

And they always did.

I just want to want to give them a public acknowledgement for their effort because what you're seeing in front of them is 100% their work and dedication, and it would not have happened without them.

So I really want to give them a thank you for their effort.

So with that, I'll give the floor back to you, Mayor Mayor.

Thank you, uh, Madam Manager, for continuing to make the strategic plan a priority and delivering on your promise of a dashboard.

Uh, I recall that the purple uh was act.

Uh so that was just for the please don't close, those are two separate things.

Oh so if I go back to the dashboard, that's a good point.

So um there is a color scheme to this, and we will make sure the legend is up here.

But in the legend, you will see when it's upcoming, which means we haven't started the work, it's purple.

When we are working through it, it's green for progress, and then when we're completed, it's blue.

Blue.

And we're trying to be mindful of sensitivity of people's color schemes, and so we're trying to use primary colors that does not impact um ADA issues.

Okay, great.

I I love the color coding.

So yes, great job.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Councilmember Allen.

Uh, thank you, Madam Mayor.

I just wanted to give kudos to you, city manager uh Richardson and the rest of the team here.

Um, this is a great uh accountability tool for our organization and allows for our constituents to go to our dashboard in real time and see how we are performing and uh what are our growth opportunities as well too.

So I appreciate you all.

And um, under your leadership, I'm not surprised that we have this.

And uh a shout out to the pop model.

I know a little bit about the pop model.

So uh yeah, I just wanted to give you your flowers on this and the rest of the team.

Thank you, madam mayor.

You want to make a motion to receive and file?

Motion to receive and file this item, ma'am.

Okay, seconded by councilwoman Jackson.

Um, thank you.

I can't wait to get my hands on it.

I well, I'll look forward to your feedback, Mayor.

Thank you.

Please cash your ballots.

Motion passes unanimously, Madam Clerk.

We are now at unfinished business.

Item number 25 dash 334, a communication with the request to concur with the recommendation from staff to adopt an ordinance, approving the special use in the class C in district to establish a halfway house for the property located at 1924 West Southwest Adams Street.

Um, the motion on the floor is to adopt an ordinance approving the special use in the class C in District to establish a halfway house for the property located at 1924 Southwest Adams.

Okay, Mr.

Manager.

Thank you.

We have with us our assistant community development director Leah Allison, who is here to follow up on this deferral of this item from the last month's meeting.

Thank you, Madam Mayor, Council.

I'll just give a brief recap.

Grow community is here tonight requesting a special use for a halfway house at 1924 Southwest Adams.

It's an existing developed property that will include 12 bedrooms to accommodate 10 to 12 parolees as a transitional housing residents.

It will be staffed with three staff during normal business hours, have 247 after hours security on site as well.

The use is allowed through this process as a special use.

But as I mentioned, GROW is here with representatives to answer your questions that you had mentioned at the last meeting and would you know like the opportunity to speak to you as well.

Sure.

The leading representative for GROW, we'd like to hear from you.

And there were some questions that were that came up in our last meeting, and maybe you can help to answer some of those questions.

Yes, please.

Well, good evening, uh Madam Mayor and the Peoria of City Council.

My name is Francine Poole, and I serve as the director of real estate and development for Grow Community.

We appreciate the opportunity to speak with you regarding our proposed acquisition and development for 1924 Southwest Adams Street.

We'll be happy to answer any questions you have, but I'd like to give you an opportunity to hear me out because as the as a real estate director, and then also here the re-entry director, so you can get a little bit of an idea about the how the program is.

So if you would just hold your questions to the end, I would sincerely appreciate it.

Thank you.

Can you spell your last name for me?

Sure.

Pool is P O O L E.

Okay.

At Grow Community, my role is to oversee all property acquisition, development, planning, rehabilitation oversight, and compliance with state and municipal requirements.

Every project we pursue undergoes a strict and comprehensive due diligent process to ensure that we are investing responsibly and that our work contributes meaning meaningfully to the communities we serve.

Before we move forward on any property, including 1924 Southwest Adams, we follow a structured evaluation process.

We hired a local reputable architect that the City of Peoria approves.

We conduct a full professional inspection to identify structural needs, environmental concerns, and required upgrades.

We prepared a detailed performa outlining expected costs, contingencies, and long-term operational stability.

This information is then submitted to Ida, which is the Illinois Housing Development Authority, which reviews our plans and provides an initial approval before we proceed to any form of acquisition.

Please note that Ida is a state institution that has a very rough and tough thorough evaluation process.

We have done other projects with Ida in Chicago, in which demonstrates our credibility and ability to deliver a good product.

Once IDA gives preliminary confirmation, we move into the initial closing checklist, which includes verifying zoning compliance.

This is why we are before the city council today seeking a special use permit.

An essential step in our process to ensure that the property's future use aligns with the city requirements and community expectations.

Regarding concerns about renovation costs, here is the financial structure of our project.

Grow community has been awarded 475,000.

It's a grant through IDA for this development.

Our purchase price for the property is 207,500.

All remaining funds, over 250,000, are allocated direct to directly to repairs and rehabilitation of the property.

Much of the construction work will be performed by Grow Construction.

Our internal construction construction division.

And some of the participants are in Grow Construction.

So once they get out of the program, they actually get hired to be part of the Grow Construction family, which significant would significantly reduces labor expenses and ensures quality control throughout the project.

We anticipate anticipate beginning this project in spring of 2026 with targeted completion date in the fall of 2027.

Our timeline accounts for permitting supply availability, workforce scheduling, and the detailed rehabilitation needed to bring this property to the standard our organization is known for.

This project represents more than a build building, it represents opportunity, revile revitalization, and long-term stability for residents who need it most.

We are committed to transparency, responsible investment, and sustained collaboration with the city of Peoria.

We thank you so much for your time, your consideration, and your continued support as we work to bring high quality community services to Peoria.

I will now turn this over to our director of re-entry, Gregory Williams.

Medication is wearing off.

Pain is emanating, but that's okay.

It's for worthy cause.

Grow community.

Started as a therapist, did the first pilot program for the workforce development program.

They're successfully running right now in Chicago.

Additionally, I've been supervisor for the community department, which handles just regular walk ins and people just coming in off the streets, et cetera.

Now I'm currently the director of re-entry, and I work with uh men who are dealing with uh severe trauma, not only the trauma that they have experienced in the streets, but the trauma that they experienced while incarcerated.

One of the things I want you to remember about Grow Community is that it's healing boys and restoring men, uh, thus transforming the community by making sure that we take time out to pour into individuals that have been traumatized as well as being incarcerated.

And if I have time, I would want you to understand something very seriously that that that resonates with the incarcerated population.

I met a young man that I worked with.

He had been in the Cook County jail for approximately somewhere between three to six months.

The individual got out on bond finally, went home's uh stayed uh with his girlfriend.

What happened is is that in the middle of the night, this young man got up, and I want you to know that I have been working with this uh young man for a while, and I have been working with his fiance also because the trauma extended, extends all the way to the household sometimes.

And so while working with them, uh we became uh uh it became more like family counseling versus me just counseling him, and that was no charge to them.

That was just a charge to them for, and that was paid by insurance, it's not out of pocket.

And so we also do pro bono, and I want to make sure you understand that when we can't get the insurance for the uh individual, we work primarily with men.

We will do it pro bono.

All it needs to do is to be approved.

But I want you to realize that this, as I digress, I want to go back to the young man.

That as he got up in the middle of the night, uh, he woke up in the middle of the night, went to go relieve himself to use the restroom.

However, he got up and did not make it to the restroom.

He made it to the wall and the dresser.

While I received the call at around 11 o'clock at night, I noticed that it was on my Google line, which means that it's a it's a client calling.

This is when I was doing actual therapy.

The gentleman was sleep, went back to sleep.

She tells me she gets on the phone, she said, uh, Mr.

Williams, you need to come and get him.

You need to do something right now.

I said, Do what?

What's going on?

She tells me, say, he's walked over by my dresser, urinated on the dresser and the wall, and he got back in bed like nothing happened and went back to bed.

I want you to understand how traumatized these individuals are prior, even after they have been incarcerated.

I I said, Well, let's do this.

Let them stay until I can come tomorrow, and we'll talk.

Long story short, I get over there and I talk to them.

I ask the gentleman, I separate them because I need to have them to talk to me in private.

Then I need to talk to her, and then I need to talk to them together.

I talk to them, and he lets me know.

I said, So I have a question for you because you urinated in in the house, and he said, I don't even recall that.

I said, Well, you sleepwalking.

Do you think you're a sleepwalking?

No, we eliminated that.

The other piece that I understood, then I start asking him another question.

Draw me an outline of your cell.

And when you finish drawing me the outline of the cell in proximity to where the bedroom was situated, that's where the toilet was.

You understand that it is embedded in them when they come out.

Not all, but most.

There is a severe level of trauma that they experience while they are incarcerated.

So we need to be there to help them.

They asked me to take over the re-entry department, and it has grown in Chicago, and we have we have a program that works.

We have a program that's sustained.

There are three gentlemen here at least that have stories that have that are success stories that have that are working for growth.

One is in school in Governor State University now.

Um we've seen tremendous transformations.

So without any hesitation, I really want you to realize that they have been through some traumatic experiences, but they have been able to overcome.

And so some of the barriers that we deal with is transportation when they come out.

So you have transportation issues.

Why do you have transportation issues?

I'm glad you asked.

Because there are barriers going through different neighborhoods and territories.

Because sometimes what they have done while they were on the outside that caused them to go into on the inside, does not allow them to walk freely through different areas.

And grow community, we solve, we help solve that problem.

And how do we solve that problem?

By allowing our therapists to go to them.

This works.

This also, I want you to know it helps them to deal with their parole stipulation.

Some of their parole stipulations require that they go in different places to do different things, get their identification, uh, making sure that they have insurance, uh, parole stipulation, they have to have therapy.

That's where we come in.

That's where the reentry department starts at, therapy.

The therapeutic process is important, very important for this population.

Because sooner or later, and I visited multiple prisons in Illinois.

I made it my business this year to see at least I was in at least a dozen prisons.

I made it my business to do that because I wanted to see where are the people going.

And do the cities have a plan for this population.

And we have a plan.

And there's not planning for every situation, but we have a plan for this population, and I want you to understand something.

I believe I can stand now and got my knees loose.

Let's get you got one more minute, please.

That's all I'm gonna take.

That's all I'm gonna take if you just give me that.

So I want you to understand that we will go to the let me let me fast-track it then since I have one minute.

We will come to the client and make sure they satisfy their parole stipulations.

We have case managers who will also assist in that process.

The stipulations usually start with with therapy.

They also usually, there's a 45 review day period that they need to have had therapy with a counselor.

Then we look at the workforce development program, and I'll be through workforce and then the housing.

The workforce development is directly tied to that.

If you're in, if you have a re-entry counselor, and then you want to go into the uh workforce development program, what has to happen is that you need to get a recommendation from your therapist.

Now, then you have to apply just like a regular job.

So we're training them to go forward.

Not to not to be crippling them, but to train them to go forward so that they'll be able to do this.

Now, in workforce development, we have a unique thing called we have uh uh screen printing, screen printing and uh therapy.

So group therapy and screen printing.

So now you're getting a dose from the therapist, right?

So look at it like medication.

They're seeing the therapist one to two times a week, which is intense outpatient therapy.

Now they're in workforce development, they receive this a six-hour program, and you pay for six hours.

Now, three hours is in the workforce side, learning, learning and training how to do uh screen printing, shipping and receiving.

And the other part is the uh is the uh cognitive behavioral therapy work model, workforce model, so that you have therapy to deal with workforce situations because you have some of our guys have never had employment.

Some are at 35, 40 years old and are just now having their first job.

So they have to be walked through this process.

We have that process.

Now, in order to get into housing, you have to apply for it.

But you only can apply for it after you've been in the program eight weeks, which means you have eight weeks of intense outpatient therapy, and you have uh you have work training.

Can you wrap up?

I'm wrapping it up.

This is it.

The last part, Madame, uh please forgive me.

Um so the last is is that we're making sure that they get an honest chance.

When you get ready when they uh apply for the workforce housing with uh re-entry housing, which is transitional housing, what you have is the opportunity to pay rent.

Rent is 100 a week in Chicago, the average price is 275 a week.

When they finish up with the program, we are making sure this is three things they have.

They have they have their therapy satisfied the program, they have their work, they're working and they're earning income.

Three, they're in housing, and what we're gonna do when they finish housing because they have a budget coach, we move forward, and then when they're ready to move, if we transition them into another home, now they have rent receipts, they have work history, and then we will pay their first month's rent.

That's what we do at Grow.

And that's what I that's all I have in that moment.

Thank you.

Thank you.

We have some questions uh from the council.

I'm not sure who they'll go to, but I'm gonna start with uh council member Oiler.

Councilmember Oiler.

Thank you, madam chairwoman.

Uh the main reason why I asked for the deferral at the last meeting was to receive clarification on where these residents would be coming from.

One of my main concerns is that I am not supportive of the idea of them coming from areas outside of the city of Peoria.

Okay.

And I have not received anything since that last meeting.

Okay.

So let me uh satisfy that.

One one of the most important things is if we're coming into a city, we want to work with that city.

Uh, we're working with the men that are returning home to this city.

And so usually that's the residents of this city.

We don't go outside the city to get residents for this program.

We work within the city limits.

So we take the ones that come back from uh who have been released from prison, usually they come back to where they were uh at home at.

And then uh or we also work with the people that they bring in wherever they come from.

If they come from and release them in your city, they're in your town.

And we prepare, we're prepared to uh work with them.

Uh, but we're not looking to bring people in from other areas uh as far as that's concerned.

That's not what we do.

Do you have some type of a charter or something in writing that outlines that specifically?

If you would like to have an MOU or memorandum of understanding, we'd have no problem producing that for you.

How do you get notified that there is someone eligible for this program?

Where do you get them from?

Parole.

Uh usually parole.

I'm like I said, I'm in I'm in multiple prisons, and I visited uh just a a lot, a vast number of print penitentiaries this time.

And I've noticed that I've noticed that I've seen Prioria constantly seeing Peoria, people being released to Peoria, people being released to East East St.

Louis, people being released everywhere.

But I I uh that's how we get our our information.

That's how we we work with uh guys being released.

The other piece is that we make sure that if I'm out there, I have them sign a form where we we get their information so we we are able to reach back out to them.

That's how we really do it.

And then now I'm I'm also prepared to meet with parole to see if we can work directly with uh the commanders in this particular area.

And have you had any type of uh community meeting with the folks that own businesses?

I don't think there's that many residences, but there's a lot of business owners in that area, particularly interested in this concept and what the plan is.

Okay, so I have no uh seem to you you want to answer that question if there is an answer to that.

In terms of meeting with somebody, uh business owners in the area.

Are you speaking of specifically on on Southwest Adams Street?

Adams Street and the surrounding streets that would be affected by the change and zoning.

Yeah, well, you know, I I was around there and I didn't really see any any real businesses that were thriving.

I mean, that the position where that that Adams Street property is, it's on a corner, and it's kind of desolate.

Well, I think one of the neighbors who's here next door would probably take exception to you saying their business isn't thriving.

So I mean what I mean by thriving, and I apologize to that to that to that owner.

What I mean is is that I we didn't recognize um a lot of businesses there because the the the position of where the property is, the it's just it's the area is very it's it's desolate, it's it's quiet, there's not a lot of there's not a lot of activity.

The property sits back off of Adams, so it it sits on a corner, so there's not a lot of activity right there.

So again, you know, we didn't talk to any business owners there around the area because simply we just didn't see them when we were there.

We did it was just a it's very quiet where the air where the where the property sits.

Well, there's quite a few of them here this evening.

Would you be open to having a community meeting with them before we take this item up at a future meeting?

Um I mean I yeah, sure.

Absolutely.

That makes sense.

So I would I would ask what may I ask what the concern is I yeah, they'd be happy to have a meeting with you to talk about that.

So with that, I'd move for a deferral to the second meeting in January so that there's an opportunity to do that with the holidays.

Is there a second to that motion?

Yeah, oh well.

We have a second by councilman Kelly to defer it.

It's up to the council to decide whether to do that or not.

Uh his motion was to defer it to the second meeting in January.

If anybody wants to speak to the deferral, you can.

Are you done, Councilman Oiler?

Okay.

Councilman uh Jackson, you want to speak to the deferral?

Well, um directly related to the referral.

If those folks are here tonight, uh wouldn't it be uh only fair to give those business people who are present tonight an opportunity to introduce themselves and uh find out.

I spoke with one person on the phone, and Madam Mayor, um I'm um I I travel that area all the time.

The closest business that I saw was the bar across the street.

Um there's some warehouse businesses structures, uh the old Illinois American, uh no, the old Illinois furniture store, which is a warehouse now.

And I I spoke, I got a call briefly from uh I think Mr.

Corey, who said he was going to be here tonight.

So I mean, I would highly it would make sense to me that if uh these folks are present tonight, please please come forward with the well I'm we have a motion to defer unless you're willing to def delay that until well they they indicated when I when I spoke to two of them on the phone, they would come here for the express purpose of conversation tonight.

I understand.

No, couldn't we have a deferral point for well we can vote on the deferral.

Do you want to speak to the deferral councilman Riggenbach?

Yes, ma'am.

Okay.

Thank you, madam mayor.

I will be supporting the deferral because I have a number of questions that I would like to relay to Ms.

Poole um after after the vote because there's there's a number of things.

I I love the concept of what you do, but how much can I say?

Um with the the the budget of 450,000 dollars is just not realistic.

So I I think there needs to be further discussion, and if you could meet with some of us council members before that next meeting, I think um we'd be able to have that back and forth.

So definitely see the need for more time on this.

Okay.

Um in terms of the the the budget, uh the property had a professional inspection done, and our performer is using that inspection.

So the the property can be done for the amount that I stated because we've already had the construction crew out.

I've had estimates from roofing and windows.

So we've already, you know, the the budget is there.

450,000 is 475,000 is the grant, and then the the property uh acquisition cost is 20, what I say 209.

So the remainder is what we'll be using to renovate the property.

So keep in mind though, grow construction is an internal division too.

So we have our own internal division of contractors and and skilled laborers that will be doing the renovation.

I think we should call it all the values.

Yeah, I mean, I it's we've already done that.

We have a motion on the floor to defer until the second week in January.

There's a second meeting, sorry, second meeting in January.

There's also a recommendation that um a meeting be held with some of the business owners in the area, Madam Mayor.

Yes.

Oh I I need to keep going with this process.

Does anybody else want to speak to the deferral?

Councilwoman Gordon Yang.

Thank you, Madam Mayor.

Um, I just want to know if we could clarify for Grow what the expectation is, because I feel like they should have been told this before this meeting at the initial deferral that they needed to meet with business owners.

Um because we keep moving the line.

So, like can we at least give them some idea of what the expectation is so that they know and then when they come back, we're not moving the line again.

We're gonna have to vote on the deferral and see where we land.

Okay, okay.

The motion is to defer until the second meeting in January.

Uh please cash your ballots.

Oh, what okay?

Don't vote yet then.

Yes, you want to speak to the deferral?

Yes, I I do.

I didn't see your butt.

I didn't see your light.

Okay.

Um I'd ask I'd like to ask the representatives.

I'm I'm sure you'd like to have this resolved tonight, but it looks like uh a deferral is likely other than the inconvenience of it.

Is there anything that uh goes bad in the meantime?

Or or can we can you can you accommodate the deferral uh even though you'd rather not have it um in that time frame?

Yeah, so we have uh a seller that's eager to get this done.

Um Ida is was anticipating us to have an answer for them on whether or not this special use permit was going to be granted.

So we have to go back to Ida and restructure our meetings because of this.

Um if you ask me, do I want it done tonight?

Absolutely.

I understand because now I have to go back to Ida and you know, explain.

Um other than that, I can just say, and I just want to make sure you understand whatever the renovation costs is not gonna cost the city of Peoria.

You the only thing we can really talk about is the deferral.

Okay.

And that you've you've answered my question.

I don't want to cut you off, but no, no, I understand, but I just we can't discuss the facts.

Okay, no problem.

Um I I guess I think that's important for us to know, but uh so thank you, madam mayor.

You're welcome.

Councilman Carmona.

Thank you, ma'am.

Um I think that it's logical to um and I I wish this would have been done a little bit earlier.

I I do really appreciate um what Gro uh is doing.

Um obviously it's very important to try to help try to help each other out to get on the on the right track.

Um, but I think it is very logical to um, I mean, there's a special use requirement for a reason, I guess, and um to speak to neighbors and just to put their mind at ease, I think would be very beneficial.

Um I've reached or I've uh been contacted by businesses that um are you know it's the fear of the unknown, you know.

And um, I I just think a conversation would really go a long way to set some of those concerns at ease.

Thank you, Madam Mayor.

You're welcome.

Councilmember Jackson.

Um thank you, Madam Mayor.

I just to Councilmember Carmona's uh point.

I was at a uh neighborhood association meeting um a couple weeks ago, and Mr.

Halloway was there.

There were no concerns, at least not raised at that meeting.

He's not what there were no concerns raised at that meeting at that particular time.

Okay, uh, and if you're familiar with the area, it's largely industrial.

There's not very many houses around there, uh madam mayor.

So I'm not sure what neighbors you're talking about.

The the closest neighborhood association.

I was at their meeting a couple weeks ago.

I didn't hear any major concerns.

Mr.

Halloway was there as well.

So what are you saying?

What I'm saying is related to the deferral.

Well, what are you saying?

I'm I'm just I'm just relating to his point.

He said neighbors need to come and talk about it.

I I don't know what that had to do with the deferral.

Okay.

I'm just saying it's largely industrial.

So I where those where these neighbors are, I'm not sure.

At least in close proximity.

Okay.

Now there are I'll just leave it at that.

Okay.

Councilman.

Thank you, Madam Mayor.

Sorry, I just wanted to clarify what I meant by neighbors is the immediate, you know, people, the businesses around there.

I didn't mean neighborhood associations or residential.

So just wanted to clarify that.

Thank you, Madam Mayor.

Okay.

The motion is to defer to the second meeting in January.

If this passes, hopefully we will have some action.

The second meeting in January without continued deferrals.

Please cash your ballots.

Motion passes with one nay Allen.

Madam Clerk.

If there isn't any additional unfinished business, we are now at new business.

Is there any new business?

Do we have citizen comments?

Thank you.

No cards?

No I can't.

No cards, okay.

All right.

There are no citizen uh comments.

So 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 at 5 ILCS 122 C11 to discuss pending litigation or probable or imminent litigation and pursuant to the open meetings at 5 ILC S 122 C21 for approval by the body of closed uh closed session minutes.

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

Please cast your ballots.

Jackson Reganbach.

Yeah, Jackson Reganbach.

Okay, thank you for your service.

We are adjourned to closed session.