If everyone would take your seats, we're going to get started with our meeting.

Thank you.

I left something for you to read.

Good evening, everyone.

It is six oh two PM on Tuesday, February the tenth, twenty twenty six.

I'd like to welcome everyone.

I'd like to call the meeting of the Piore City Council to order, and also to welcome everyone who's here in our council chambers, as well as our listening audience watching on cable channel twenty-two and on the City of Peoria YouTube channel.

Madam Clerk, the council mics are open.

Please call the roll.

Mayor Ali.

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.

And Councilmember Vespa.

Here.

You have a quorum present, Madam Mayor.

Thank you, Madam Clerk.

In just a moment, we're going to take a moment for silent prayer or silent reflection.

And then we're going to have the Pledge of Allegiance that will be led by members of Boy Scout Troop two nineteen who will lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance.

I just met these young men and um I thank Mr.

Wayne Cannon and Miss Neva, the scout leaders for bringing these young men here and helping to develop them and their character.

And and thank you all for the service that you're providing to our community.

Please come join me.

Okay.

I have a special notice that I'm going to read a notice to our township electors pursuant to public act 095-0761.

If you desire to have an item considered on the agenda at the annual town meeting to be held on Tuesday, April 14th, 2026, at 6 o'clock p.m., you are required to bring a specific request signed by 15 or more electors to the township clerk's office no later than March 1st, 2026.

And our township clerk is also our city clerk.

Any group of registered voters may request an advisory question of public policy for consideration by the electors at the annual meeting by giving written notice of the specific advisory question to the township clerk in the same manner as required for an agenda item under subsection B of Section 30-10 of the Township Code.

Thank you.

Madam Clerk.

We're at proclamations.

I've asked a couple council members to assist with the proclamations.

Our first proclamation presented by the city recognizes February as Black History Month.

I've asked Councilwoman Jackson if she would share that proclamation.

Thank you, Madam Mayor.

Whereas the City of Peoria celebrates Black History Month and recognizes that people of African descent have been a part of our community since 1773, when John Baptiste Point Du Sabo purchased land here, according to historian Romeo B.

Garrett.

And whereas historian Dr.

Carter G.

Woodson created Negro History Week in 1926, and it eventually expanded to become Black History Month.

The achievements of Black Americans have now been annually acknowledged and celebrated in the United States for 100 years.

And whereas, since 1976, every US president has officially designated the month of February as Black History Month.

February was chosen primarily because of this because the second week of the month coincides with the birthdays of both Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass.

Lincoln was influential in the emancipation of slaves and Douglas, a former slave, was a prominent leader in the about in the abolitionist movement which fought to end slavery.

And whereas the theme for this year's Black History Month is chosen by the Association for the Study of African American Life and History is a century of Black History Commemorations, focusing on exploring the impact and meaning of Black history commemorations and examining how they have transformed the status of black people in the modern world.

And whereas this month is a time for all Americans to reflect on the rich history and teaching of black Americans whose contributions to our economic, cultural, political, and social development are vast.

And whereas the City of Peoria is proud to honor the history and contributions of Black Americans in our community throughout our state and nation.

Now, therefore, on behalf of Mayor Rita Ali, uh the mayor of City of Peoria, Illinois, I do by here, I do hereby celebrate 100 years of Black History commemorations in the United States and recognize February 1st through March 1st as Black History Month in Peoria, Illinois, dated this 10th day of February 2020 AD.

Happy Black History Proclamation recognizes National Engineers Week.

And joining us today are Lauren Duvall.

She is the president-elect of the Society of Women Engineers, Central Illinois section.

She is joined by Colleen Walsh, the outreach chair of the Society of Women Engineers, Central Illinois section.

So welcome, ladies.

I've asked uh Councilwoman uh Bernice Gordon Young if she would share the proclamation with us.

Thank you, Madam Mayor.

Whereas founded in 1950, the Society of Women Engineers, SWE is a not for profit educational and service organization that is the driving force that established engineering as a highly desirable career for women.

And whereas SWE empowers women to succeed and advance in their aspirations while receiving recognition and credit for their life changing contributions and achievements as engineers and leaders in our community.

And whereas, comprised of 280 members, the Central Illinois section of SWE has focused on outreach, professional development, advocacy, and work life integration, integration for the past 34 years.

And whereas in 1951, the National Society of Professional Engineers created National Engineers Week to draw attention to the contributions that engineers make to our society.

And whereas this year, National Engineers Week will be held February 22nd through February 28th.

On February 22nd, the Central Illinois section of SWE will celebrate by partnering with the Peoria Riverfront Museum to host an open house for elementary through high school students interested in science and math.

Several professional societies will also participate.

Now, therefore, Rita Ali, the mayor of the City of Peoria, Illinois, do hereby recognize the Central Illinois section of the Society of Women Engineers for their support and advocacy of National Engineers Week.

In Peoria, Illinois, dated this 10th day of February 2026 A.D.

Thank you and good evening.

My name is Lauren Duval, and I currently serve as the President elect for the Society of Women Engineers, or SWE, Central Illinois chapter.

The Society of Women Engineers is a not-for-profit nationwide organization founded in 1950.

Our overall mission is to empower women to achieve careers as engineers and leaders and display the value of diversity and inclusion in the fields of engineering and technology.

Our goal is to promote and expand a positive image of women in engineering and demonstrate that STEM careers or careers in science, technology, engineering, and math are a means of improving quality of life.

The Central Illinois chapter currently includes 250 members spanning from Peoria to Urbana Champaign, Springfield, and Decatur.

We also partner with two student chapters, one at Bradley University in Peoria, and the University of Illinois Urbana Champaign.

Since its charter in 1992, SWE Central Illinois has made a profound impact in the local community through various outreach, advocacy, and professional development events.

In 2025, our section awarded a scholarship of $2,500 to a college student residing in Central Illinois and pursuing an engineering degree.

It is our mission to continue to provide opportunities like this to our members and community year after year.

This is all possible thanks to our generous donors, members, and our deeply devoted executive board committee members and volunteers.

Thanks to the financial support of Caterpillar and the SWE program development grants, our outreach committee has been able to open thousands to expose thousands of K through 12 students within our community to areas within science, technology, engineering, and math.

If you are interested in learning more or joining our section, please visit us at Central Illinois.org or connect with us via Facebook or LinkedIn.

I will now invite Colleen Walsh, our outreach committee chair, to give an overview of the upcoming Engineering Day activities taking place at the Peoria Riverfront Museum on February 22nd.

Thank you, Lauren.

Good evening, everyone.

My name is Colleen Walsh.

As mentioned, I am the current co-chair of our outreach committee for Sweet CI.

Our outreach committee works with various local organizations and events to host STEM-related activities aimed to engage and inspire students of all ages.

Just to name a few examples from this last year, our volunteers collaborated with the Girl Scouts for their day at the Capitol event, Career Spark 2025 that was held at the Civic Center Plaza, the GEMS Club with an event at the Morton Public Library, and Caterpillars Introduce a Girl to STEM Expo.

And just like last year, we're kicking it off with the 2026 Engineering Day at the Peoria Riverfront Museum.

SWEE is going to have several tables in our usual spot by the front entrance, featuring a wide variety of recurring and new fun activities.

So come try it out.

That's not this Sunday, but next, February 22nd at the Riverfront Museum from noon to 5.

Sure to drop by.

Thank you.

I'll try to have my grandchildren there.

It's a great event.

I encourage everyone to attend.

Thank you, ladies, for your leadership with SWEE.

Thank you.

Madam Clerk.

We are at the approval of the minutes.

Councilmember Riggenbach.

Thank you, Madam Mayor.

I moved to approve the minutes of the City Council meeting held January 27th, 2026, and the minutes of the special city council meeting held February 2nd, 2026 as printed.

Seconded by Councilmember Kelly.

Any questions, comments?

Please cash your ballots.

Motion passes unanimously.

Madam Clerk, we have one town item.

26-41 is a request from the town officials to approve the January 2026 actual expenditures and to approve the February 2026 anticipated expenditures for the town of the city of Peoria.

Trustee Gordon Young.

Thank you, Madam Mayor.

I move to approve item 26-41.

Seconded by Trustee Allen.

Any questions or comments?

Please cash your ballots.

Motion passes unanimously.

Madam Clerk.

We're at the city portion of the agenda.

We're at the consent agenda.

26-42 is a communication from the city manager and assistant city manager with request to approve a three-year renewal contract with ESRI Inc.

for maintenance and support of the citywide GIS platform in the amount of $90,300 per year and a total of $270,900 for the term of the contract.

26-34 is a communication with request to adopt an ordinance amending appendix A of the Unified Development Code relating to street walls.

26-43 is a communication with request for the following.

B adopt an ordinance to designate the redevelopment project area for the proposed Northwoods Mall Tax Increment Financing District.

And C adopt an ordinance to approve a tax increment allocation financing for the proposed Northwoods Mall Tax Increment Financing District.

And 26-44 is a communication with requests for the following.

A to adopt an ordinance approving the redevelopment plan and projects for the Adams Liberty Tax Increment Financing District.

B adopt an ordinance designating the redevelopment project area for the Adams Liberty Tax Increment Financing District.

C adopt an ordinance to approve tax increment allocation financing for the Adams Liberty Tax Increment Financing District.

D, adopt an ordinance approving the First Amendment to the Warehouse District Redevelopment Project Area.

And E adopt an ordinance providing for and approving the First Amendment to the downtown conservation redevelopment project area.

And that concludes our consent agenda.

Thank you, Madam Clerk.

Are there any items to remove from consent?

Councilmember Allen.

Uh thank you, Madam Mayor.

I would like to pull item 26-043, please.

Thank you.

Councilmember Carmona.

Thank you, Madam Mayor.

Uh, item 26-044.

Thank you.

Can I get a motion to approve the rest of the items moved by Councilmember Sear, seconded by Council Member Gordon Young.

Any questions, comments, please cat cast your ballots.

Motion passes unanimously.

Thank you, Madam Clerk.

26-43 is a communication from the city manager and assistant city manager with a request for the following.

A adopt an ordinance to approve the redevelopment plan and project for the proposed Northwoods Mall Tax Increment Financing District.

B, adopt an ordinance to designate the redevelopment project area for the proposed Northwoods Mall tax increment financing district.

And C adopt an ordinance to approve tax increment allocation financing for the proposed Northwoods Mall Tax Increment Financing District.

And we'll need votes on each, please.

Okay.

Councilmember Allen.

Thank you, Madam Mayor.

I pulled this item because I know that, including myself, many of our constituents, they're not necessarily uh the most uh proficient when it comes to these economic development tools that we discuss around this horseshoe.

Uh a com common acronym that we hear all the time is TIF, uh, which is a tax increment finance district, but what does that truly mean?

And I think uh before we go into these long-term agreements of how this can be a benefit to our community, I thought it'd be good to kind of uh unpeel this onion a little bit.

And so to assist me with that, we have our assisted city manager Kimberly Richardson uh to answer some some questions.

So I just want to begin by um just answering a asking a series of questions just to kind of help us get to the nuts and bolts of this.

So uh assisted city um assistant city manager Richardson.

What is a TIFF?

Good evening, Mayor and Councilmember and good evening to uh all those watching.

So to educate the community on the TIF.

Tax increment financing is a tool that is used as a way for us to have redevelopment occur in areas that typically are not able to generate enough interest from the private sector for read in redevelopment.

So what I would, you know, trying to be very clear how to phrase this because I don't I can get in the weeds of jargon.

The creation of the tax increment financing district, um, one is there as a tool for our redevelopment and development of projects in areas that are hard to invest in.

So when you think about a tax increment financing district, I would like to use our warehouse district because people are familiar with warehouse district, and that is one of our more popular TIFFs.

If you recall the warehouse district years ago, decades ago, um as a TIFF is a 23 year term to be a district, then you have the ability to extend it for an additional 13 if allowed to do so.

But remember what the warehouse district was, it was a warehouse district, so it was very much industrial driven.

And as those industries left the area, you end up building an area of blight.

What is blight defined as?

Those are vacancies.

So you have a high level of vacant buildings, you have infrastructure that no longer is conducive to the area for which it was meant for, and you also have your equal assessed value of those properties going down.

An equal assessed value is very important with a TIFF because just like your home, it has a value to it.

A property has value, and if it continues to go down in value, that means that one that property has to pay less in taxes because they're that value in that property is lessened, and that burden then is spread out to those other tax uh other properties that are increasing in value.

So what a tax allow what the TIFF allows us to do is be able to mitigate some of that depreciation by having a tool for interested parties of the private sector to reinvest, but also the city can utilize those dollars.

And these are not dollars that are coming from our general fund, these are dollars that are allocated through a plan that you're gonna be hopefully adopting tonight that says we can use X amount of dollars for redevelopment of property for infrastructure and for other means and services.

So, what does that mean for the public?

That means that a private entity like the Warehouse District took years for development.

So that first half of that of the life of the TIFF was really slow development.

You had spurts of development from early adopters of the TIFF, but really it was our investment in the infrastructure by the city that accelerated development from the private sector.

Because the private sector saw, okay, the city is investing in this area.

We have this ability to take these buildings and redevelopment to housing because there's a need, and then you started seeing businesses or excuse me, developers looking at that area as how as an area of investment.

But it took time, and it took the means of different mechanisms of C in federal dollars to make that happen.

And so when you have a TIFF, that is a part of it.

It's not gonna be overnight, it's gonna take time, but it's intentional plan so that the community of businesses and developers can see as anyone in the public can see.

We are looking at this design this targeted area for redevelopment for this reason because but for these dollars and tools, the redevelopment would be very, very slow and memic and maybe at times never non existent.

So of the 12, excuse me, of the 11 TIFFs that we have, all but all of them pretty much have seen a growth in our EAV in those districts.

And that has happened because redevelopment is occurring in those districts.

Now, if you didn't have it, and you just leave it to the private sector to hopefully come in, it might be a spurts starts and starts and stops.

But when you look at the tool for a TIFF, it really does be give the property owners some ability to reinvest the money that they would have gone directly into property taxes back into their business.

So I'm giving a lot of information and one swoop answer, but hopefully I've given enough to satisfy your question.

No, that was a great explanation as a again a TIF district neo fight myself.

I appreciate that.

Um this particular area that we are proposing the TIFF, it is entitled the Northwoods Mall Area TIFF.

Why was this particular area um appropriate for this type of proposal?

And how long have you all worked on this to get us to this place where we are today to propose this to the council?

So, like a lot of our tools that we come back to council for requests for implementation, it's driven by a need coming from the private sector, from the the development sector, saying, Hey, we are interested in coming to Peoria.

We're looking for where the best properties are, and what are some of the incentives do you as a city have?

Now, if we lived in a in a land where everything was equal, we wouldn't need these incentives.

But we don't live in that land, and so they are looking at multiple locations for development.

And they're gonna find what one they do look at demographic information, they look at you know, traffic, they are looking at the you know, housing and the pretty much income of their potential customers.

And so they have uh a di an area, what they call MSA area, that they have, and it could be a big ring, and it can include multiple multiple municipalities in that ring.

And if in Peoria we're competing with other municipalities have these tools, they might look at it and say, you know what?

We could get a better deal over here, we're gonna relocate into this community.

And now we've lost those sales tax dollars, property tax dollars, and so forth.

So when we started seeing a number of inquiries about the Northwoods area, and it's just not the Northwoods mall that this TIP is encompassing.

It's also Brandywine Road across the street, which is have buildings that have been sitting vacant for several years from now.

It includes all the hotels in those areas that have been problematic in redeveloping over the last several years.

And so we recognize we kept getting these requests, and so we do what we we are supposed to do by state statute.

We do an evaluation.

So we have our company that we use is Jacob and I'm sorry, I'm gonna say Jacob and Klein out of Bloomington.

They are experts in TIFF.

We are very glad and very fortunate to have them in our area.

They come out and do an assessment, and it's they are looking at everything.

Our engineering, they're looking at infrastructure, they're looking at buildings, they're going in there evaluating every parcel that could be considered in the TIFF district.

And then they come back and they have to do a almost like a uh an evaluation to say does it meet the but for clause?

And if it doesn't meet the but for clause, we are not able to move forward per the state statute.

So they come back and they give us their evaluation, which is in this book, which is in our part of our plan, and they talk about the deterioration.

And what the Northwoods area shown is that there's significant deterioration due to inadequate infrastructure that meet today's demand, and also just because of changing and colds and so forth, there are things in here that require some updating for how buildings are laid out and platted and so forth, conservation needs and and so.

So, with that being the issue that we were trying to address, we recognize that also we see trending is that malls are being reut are being reinvented in different ways.

And we're seeing that people are looking at malls, especially in this area in this in this state for redevelopment of housing on uh the excessive parkings area because you no longer need as much parking as you used to back in the day when everyone drove to the mall.

And so we knew that there might be projects that may fit this area someday in the future.

And instead of waiting until after the fact where we have a project already pinned and ready to go, we wanted to get ahead of it.

And so that was a part of the impetus of us starting to look at this.

And we began talking and discussing about the TIFF in 2024.

We hired Klein in early 2025, and we are back to you with the plan in 2026.

So it takes some time, not all the time.

Does it take a year to do a plan review and go to the statutory hearings and meetings and so forth?

But for this, it did take some time because it was a large um land mass that we were looking to TIFF.

Thank you.

And colleagues, I appreciate your patience this evening.

Just want to ask a few more questions.

Um you spoke to some of the eligible expenses of a TIFF district.

Can you speak to how does the city um extract the money from the TIFF and then what guardrails are in place to ensure that the funds are not being misappropriate and are being used for their intended purposes?

Good question.

So the TIFF is not one.

So we have a TIFF agreement.

So once we identified a potential developer who wants to utilize the TIFF as a tool, we then work with them to come to a what we call a redevelopment agreement.

And this is required by the state of Illinois.

We have to do redevelopment agreements for every TIFF reimbursable project.

So with that redevelopment agreement, our usual, unless there's circumstances that are above our norm, we typically don't allow but 50% of the total project costs to be reimbursable by TIFF.

And a lot of the reasons, because one, we don't want all the increment to go to the project, because then if there's things that we want to do as a city, i.e.

depot street uh creation or any type of infrastructure, we wouldn't have any money to be able to do those projects.

So we are very careful of making sure we don't give every dollar back to the developer for the project.

We do try to have a standard of 50%.

Um sometimes it's it varies, it could be less or more, but our standard is 50%.

Now, as the property, as we go through and assess the value, we go have our tax accessor review the project property.

They're able to identify what the EAV equal assessed value of that property, which is the at that at that time.

We then do calculations over the course of the life of the TIFF.

So depending on how far along a TIFF might be, that's how long we might give a project ability for reimbursement.

Now, mind you, we have typically a cap of 50%.

So what we do is we provide a calculation of estimate.

And if you are part of the if you when you receive the RDA as city council, you will see in the appendices the calculation with the estimated um tax increment that will be generated.

And then it also talks about what's the city portion, what's the developer portion, and in some cases what the school district portion is.

Because in some of our TIFS, we do have an allocation to the school district.

So that's all spelled out where how much the money, but it's all coming back from the property itself.

It's not coming from any other dollar source, it's coming from the generation of any increased value of the property that's going back into the property.

So they're paying the same property tax.

Property tax does not increase based off a uh rate, it increased because the EAV increased.

And if the EV EAV increases, then they get that increment.

If the EV EAV doesn't increase, they don't get that increment.

So it really is the much the more work in updating the pro the property and enhancements they do to the property, they will have a higher chance of having a higher EAV, and that is what is then returned back to them.

Most cases come um our RDAs start, they don't start collecting on the EAV usually until year two or three after the project has started because they're not collecting that um increase, that increment just yet.

So they have to give them themselves some time for that increment to generate in order for that EAV to be kicked in.

So we do have in the RDA a schedule that they have to complete to tell us what they have used that funding for.

Once that is released and is reviewed and say that it matches up with what the agreement says, then we will then begin the process of releasing those funds for reimbursement on an annual basis.

But they cannot just get reimbursed just automatically.

They still have to keep up on paying their taxes, any outstanding fees, any uh licensing, anything that they still owe the city as it relates to other uh fees and taxes, they still have to pay in order for them to be reimbursed those dollars back.

Wow, I feel like I've uh attended TIFF 101 this evening.

I appreciate you, uh, I really do.

Uh I do want to acknowledge uh the general manager from Northwoods Mall.

We have Miss Julie Revolver on the back.

Julie's doing an amazing job at Northwoods Mall navigating the the nuances, the challenges and the opportunities uh that is operating a large scale mall.

So Julie, we appreciate everything that you're doing.

Um I do believe that this is going to uh continue to allow us to support existing developments that are in the current TIFF proposal, but also to be prepared for the future, um, having that long uh range planning in mind.

So uh with that being said, I would like to make a motion to approve uh item A of 26-043, please.

Seconded by uh councilwoman Gordon Young.

This further discussion, council member Carmona.

Thank you, Madam Mayor.

Uh Assistant Manager uh Richardson, thank you very much.

I sent you uh quite a bit of questions, and uh I really appreciate you answering all those for me and my colleagues in email form.

Um I have um some objecting uh objections to uh TIFFs in general, I guess, especially in a very highly taxed environment like we live in right now, which is the city of Peoria and the state of Illinois.

Um do you see any concern with if a TIFFs basically if a TIFF's goal um, no matter how you chalk it up is to increase the taxes of an area.

Um do you see that as pop problematic in any way for future business uh potential business that we may have um in that area when we already have a very high burden when it comes to taxes?

The two is not a tax rate increase.

The tool is an EAV supported increase.

So right now, a lot of our buildings that are vacant are decreasing in EAV.

Equal assessed value, as I said earlier.

When that increase um occurs, and I'm not a and I please I'm not gonna be our finance director tonight, but I'm gonna give you a little bit of what I learned, and I can also uh bring up our our um consultant here, uh, Mr.

Klein to speak to it even further because he's more expert at this than I am.

But if you think about our tax burden as a city as a property tax burden, our commercial properties are so important because typically they have a higher rate that they are than we as as residents.

We pay our tax rates, everyone sees it.

We all have that same rate.

But when our commercial properties continue to decrease in value, that decrease means that me as a property owner is paying more to subsidize that EAV loss.

And so to that point, if I'm a property owner and I'm a business owner and I'm using this tool to increase my AV EAV, that only benefits me as a property owner.

That my value on my property is increased, which means hopefully the profit of my of my business is better because I'm not having to have a sunk cost in my property because there's no other businesses around me because they're all vacant buildings.

So there's no, there's no type of uh if it's a commercial space, you might have some very little commercial um uh generated of of retail uh retail costs.

So there's a lot of ripple effects to it.

Because we're talking about commercial businesses that are you benefiting from this.

So when you talk about raising of the property tax, um property tax doesn't change.

The EAV change, just like we all saw that this year in our property, where we had to pay our property taxes this year.

All of us saw our property increase, our property bills increase.

That increase didn't come because our property tax rate increased, it increased because our EAV rate increased, which means from a standpoint, if I sell my house tomorrow, I hopefully will make a profit because I'm not underwater.

Well, think about that with our businesses who are beholding commercial properties.

If the EAV keeps dropping and the businesses around me are vacant, the likelihood of me jumping ship and going somewhere else is higher because I'm losing revenue because I'm in a building in an area that is lowering EAV every year.

And that's what's happening.

When you have all that vacancy in areas that could be redeveloped, we tried waiting it out.

We waited for the private sector to jump in and do the redevelopment.

And they haven't.

And so what's happening is that that redevelopment isn't occurring.

So the goal is we're kind of hedging our bets that if we build it, they will come.

So if we build a tool that makes sense that we know is successful in other parts of our city, the goal is that we will have that reinvestment occurring in that area, and that EAV property will go up, which means burn on me will go down eventually.

And that EAV property will go up, which means burn on me will go down eventually.

I mean, that's a big conversation why the PNC bank is a project that's very important in the catalyst in our downtown, even.

So I hear the reasons for a property tax rates, that's a different conversation.

I cannot speak to.

I can only speak to the EAV, and that's the reason why one might say their rates are increasing, but then I also mean that other market is also market value is also increasing.

Yeah, thank you very much.

I um I I am aware that it is based off of the AV, um, which is why this is kind of complicated for some people.

Um overall, if it works out well, the payment of property taxes that you will have to make is gonna be much bigger than it was before.

And one of the reasons why I'm concerned with this is because I guess another way to put it is that a TIFF, if it works out well, its objective is to grow an area, it's growth, uh, which is a good thing, and I completely acknowledge that.

Uh but growth always uh increases the demand for public services.

Uh and the one I'm most um concerned about is public safety.

And so if we are diverting the increment, um not to go to the regular things that it should traditionally go to, but go back into a development where we already um, in my opinion, because I've spent plenty of time with the um police chief, I've talked to the city manager about this.

That citizens don't really call me because they want more places to shop.

They're actually pretty concerned with safety.

That is the main uh call that I get.

And so one of my main concerns about this is that it does divert money that should go to public safety and other taxing bodies, and it directs it back into the TIFF area.

So I do understand that TIFF districts do work.

I I understand that they're utilized pretty much everywhere.

Um, but it's not like they don't come with any sort of risk like what I'm talking about.

I was just saying this, and I can only I'm gonna keep it very brief.

The concern that you raise assumes that the EAV is rate is rising with no intervention from the city.

So that means is that property values are going up in the city has nothing, and there's no investment from the city through our TIF or any other tools to support that growth.

I will tell you where has that happened at so far in our city where we've seen a natural growth from a developer without any incentives that did not happen from city intervention commercially.

I haven't seen a chat.

I only know of things that we've done proactively in years past to build the ecosystem and the infrastructure to allow for that organic growth, but it also requires some form of government intervention, be it the city dollars, federal dollars, or state dollars.

I haven't yet seen growth happen organically in our commercial corridors that we are identifying as blighted areas, not because the businesses are blighted, is because the infrastructure is blighted, it's because the building is not being maintained.

How does that impact one's property tax to increase?

Councilman, if I could add when you're talking about public safety, our general fund is predominantly funded by sales taxes.

Okay.

This TIFF is focused on improving the one of the largest areas of sales tax generation in the city.

So it's important that what we're doing when you're making when and this is a self-financing tool.

This is where property owners are looking at this saying, I want to make an investment here, and I'm going to utilize my additional property taxes that I'm going to pay.

We're going to work with them and have a deal where we offset that cost over time for them for that development that they've made.

But this is an area that generates an enormous amount of sales tax for the city, which helps to fund operations like police and fire.

So that's where because where where do we levy our property taxes?

The city's property taxes go towards pensions and roads.

And that's it.

Uh fair enough.

Uh, much appreciated.

Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Mayor.

You're welcome.

Councilmember Kelly.

Thank you, Madam Mayor.

And uh Madam uh assistant city manager, you've done a superb job in explaining things.

And I think you do a superb job anyway, even though you and I disagree about some things.

I don't know what you're talking about, sir.

I was agreeable with the council.

Okay.

Um I have a uh trick question for you.

If we have a TIFF someplace, and somebody adds a hundred dollars worth of uh EAV to it.

Okay, but the TIFF district EAV goes down a hundred dollars.

It's my understanding that we say we we keep the increment on the new property.

Is that correct?

So the EAV hasn't changed, but we get the increment.

I think that is the case, for instance, in the East Village TIFF, right?

We've got increment along Knoxville.

Some businesses along Knoxville improved and you know did some good things and whatnot.

And yet after inflation, the EAV of the East Village TIFF has declined.

When we had South Town, right, which is a long time ago now, 1978.

Okay, when we had South Town, the EAV of South Town continued to go down, down, down.

And that was during a time of fairly good inflation.

Okay.

Okay.

Um what that did to the numbers here in City Hall was that the base on which your growth is uh counted, your base kept going down, which meant that with no growth at all, the percentage went up.

I pointed that out to the folks who were in charge of it at the time.

They figured out that Peoria, Illinois, under their mathematics was from 1978 to about 1995, was growing at 38 percent a year because of this wonderful calculation being made.

I said, where is Hong Kong?

Where's Singapore?

Why aren't they coming here so they can figure out too how to get 38 percent growth per year?

I think a lot of the accounting is not so hot.

Our city with our total economic force after inflation has been going down for 15 years.

Our EAV has been going down after inflation, which means we've got a whole city that needs help.

Our and I I wouldn't, I I will not dispute that some of our TIFFs have worked.

As a matter of fact, uh when the warehouse district was being proposed, I came once again to I wasn't on the council at the time, but I came to City Hall again begging the folks to say, don't do another TIFF.

TIFFs aren't good.

They said, no, this one's gonna be different, which I'd heard every time.

Well, this one was different.

Guess what was different in the warehouse district?

We were actually going to rebate taxes back to the developer and bingo, the warehouse district TIFF is working fairly well.

It sounds a lot like tax abatement to me, which is one of the things I like.

One of the things I don't like about TIFS and it's perhaps personal, is that we take the increment and we do things that are the regular city's responsibility to do.

We go in and take that money and do infrastructure stuff and all this stuff.

That's our job to start with.

That's not special.

It's not a special thing in our city to oh we'll we'll have streets.

No, you we have to have streets.

Okay.

We uh um and also your 50 percent number.

I think we just approved not too long ago somebody to go up to 100, right?

Well, it's uh every every RDA is different, and I would just like to remind you that the East Village TIFF has grown in its EAV over the course of several years because we had development occur that did not require us to do a TIFF project.

So sometimes so here's the thing new new development happens in the TIFF, and they don't have the same um eligibility of costs that a redevelopment has.

No, I I think I understand that those things that happened there didn't get didn't get any help.

Yeah, but I just want to make clear because I'm not very familiar with your numbers, but the numbers that we submit to Lenoir Comptroller shows that all of our TIFS except for one has increased in EAV.

Yes.

And the one that isn't but not after inflation necessarily.

I can't speak to that piece.

But that's important.

But that's not how we report to the city.

I know.

I know.

But I also want to make sure you recognize the infrastructure we're talking about, like the depot street lot was not paid out of the general fund that's competing with other dollars across the city to create a plot that's gonna only benefit those who are utilizing the businesses or residential around that area.

The TIFF pay for that lot.

So that is why reinvesting and using those dollars is a great opportunity to then allow for us to you to redistribute the funds that we have a finite dollar amount to the needs of all city of Peoria.

So I hear what you're saying, sir, and I just want to acknowledge that your philosophy, even if we disagree, I understand your abatement philosophy, but they're still paying their property taxes.

And they have to get the increment.

And sometimes that estimate that we put on paper may not be the full increment that they're gonna get because the increment is real, and the has to have that growth.

So what we do is estimate.

That's why everything says estimate it.

It doesn't mean that that EAV is gonna grow that quickly that fast.

So they recognize that's a risk, but that also allows us to have a developments happening in those areas.

So I do I do hear you, sir, and I acknowledge your comments about abatements.

Thank you.

It's not just about abatements, but but thank you.

I I just want to point out we have a city that really needs help, not just this area and that area and this area.

We have legacy legacy businesses in our city, and we have some brand new businesses in our city, and but in our general economic system applies to those people and makes it difficult, makes it hard.

And those are people who've been here forever, those are people who raise their children here, they you know, all that, and they you know, they don't get a special deal because TIFS are a special deal for a special area, and I think they're done with the best of intentions.

I'm not I'm not saying that uh you know there's any evil here, but we do not work on our whole community, our whole community is paying these these very high taxes.

And we're not doing all that well.

And you know, these kinds of things I think are a mixed bag.

They're certainly a mixed bag for the school district.

Um I'm I'm just not a fan.

I am a fan of all the hard work.

I am a fan of how good our staff is.

I you know, I I just wish we'd work on some other things that are far more general for our city enough.

Thank thank you very much, madam mayor.

You're welcome, uh Councilman Kelly.

I think we have to be very careful about putting out information that is not factual.

And and you said a couple things that is not factual.

Uh one, you said the that the East Bluff TIFF, the EAV continues to decline.

You said that the EAV of the city of Peoria continues to decline.

Can I request, Mr.

Manager, that you have our director of finance?

Send us the information showing the history, the direction, and I know it's a positive direction for our EAV, but to send that information to council over the last several years.

He can choose how many years he wants to include in that report, but I would like to get that report this week.

Thank you.

Councilmember Sear.

Thank you, Madam Mayor.

Thank you, Ma assistant manager Richardson.

Just a couple questions, maybe a comment.

Number one, a uh TIFF district.

Can we have a TIFF district in a residential area?

Yes.

We can.

And we do.

Okay.

Which where do we have one in Peoria?

East Village, South Village are both predominantly residential TIFF districts.

Okay.

And people can get help when they uh under resident their residential property.

Well, I don't understand the question.

Are they going to redevelop their property?

Yes, when they redevelop or change, no, uh invest in their property.

I know in the East Village, we've used the funds to support, we uh we have rehabilitation programs.

And so we do have those programs available in the East Village TIFF, um, which is ongoing, and it actually I don't have the exact number because it's happening, I don't have that down with me, but there is an existing program right now for business in the East Village that meet certain criteria to be able to access those dollars for rehabilitation of their homes for different projects, be it roof, uh landscape, I think some other things I can't speak off the heck right now, but the program does exist.

Um our programs that the housing programs that we are currently going through with church um Churchill, and there's another project that's happening in the South Village TIFF that is related to our um housing program.

They are using TIFF dollars to support those projects.

So we have done residential projects as well as individual um housing housing projects in those dist uh TIFF districts where there's funding available, right?

Because again, the access re the access revenue comes from the increased EAV.

It's not coming just out of the general fund.

Thank you.

Uh do you have your presentation in front of you that that we got?

Did you have that in front of you or not?

Like page six of 138 example.

I'm just gonna, and it's not important that you have it, but uh are you talking about the Northwoods or in the PNC?

Uh the Northwoods.

Okay.

Actually, they're probably all the same.

It's kind of a general question here on the talk uh talk to us about the clock.

When does this clock start?

It says for 23 years, correct?

Correct.

When wouldn't the clock start for the 23 years?

And uh part of my question is write the next letter after that next paragraph talks about uh finances for redevelopment.

It's cannot be null more than 20 years.

Is that do I read this correctly?

What's the correlate correlation between the two items?

Excuse me.

Steve Klein to answer those questions because he's more sued to talking about the tax law when it comes to those questions.

Thank you.

I think that what you're referring to is the difference between the life of the tax increment financing district is 23 years.

The last year that the city would actually receive increment is in the 24th year because of a one-year lag between assessments and when taxes are collected and paid.

This is 23-year program.

I believe what you're pointing to in the ordinance is a reference to if the city were to issue bonds, then under the IRS rules, essentially municipal bonds would be limited to 20-year period.

If you're using the TIF district revenue, uh you're pledging revenue from the TIFF district for death service on the bonds, then you would be limited to 20 years or the remaining life of the TIFF district, whichever is shorter at that point.

So some would just make sure I understand what you just said.

Somebody come in in year 15, a new development in year 15, they want some financing.

They wouldn't go into financing, could not go any longer than eight years in your expense.

I'm saying that if the city were to issue bonds, revenue bonds, that you would be limited to the remaining life of the TIFF district to be able to pledge the TIFF revenue towards the repayment of those bonds.

If you're working with a developer on a pay as you go basis, you would have the remaining years of the TIFF to reimburse them as well on a pay as you go directly if if that were the case.

Thank you very much.

That answered my question.

Question for uh and I it's probably not the place to talk about that, but I'm just curious.

Uh Mr.

Manager, the Fifth District, the last 30 years been a great example, I think, of development and growth and and everything that's happened in Peoria.

What are some of the tools that were used for this growth in this in the fifth district over the last 30 years, in your opinion?

Well, you know, recently we've just adopted two TIFFs in the fifth district.

So we have the Galena Road Industrial Park TIFF, and we have uh Dinah Plains uh TIFF.

So we have we have two of those TIFF districts that have been established.

Um when we did Grow Cell 1A, which was largely a residential development, we used the special assessment process so that the developers would kind of share in the cost of putting in the infrastructure that was needed uh from the sewers and roads perspective and sidewalks.

Um all that was uh was done utilizing the special assessment tool.

Um that also incorporated uh the issuance of debt from the county as they put in the Wilhelm Road Bridge.

So there were other other public bodies that were part of that project uh to help to grow uh the fifth district as well.

So um those were all the tools that we've utilized and and continue to utilize.

We've also used the um to success.

I think we've utilized the urban enterprise zone to allow for uh developers to take by right the the ability to take a sales tax exemption on building materials um or they could take um and abate property taxes if that's something that they wanted to do as well.

Are you planning on using any of these tools for the expo garden?

Um yeah, I think that we you know that's something that will, as we work on getting the um the proposal uh issued, we're looking at the urban enterprise zone as as a potential location, and uh we'll certainly uh you know put into the proposal the opportunity for the developers to look at at other incentives that we may have up and to up to and including special service areas or special assessments.

Thank you, sir.

Thank you, Ms.

Richardson.

Thank you, ma'am mayor.

You're welcome.

Councilmember Riggenbach.

Thank you, Madam Mayor, and thank you, um, assistants and the manager for that thorough discussion.

But I think there's a couple things that are really important to point out that I hear from a lot of people that we don't have enough shopping opportunities, frankly.

I mean I maybe you don't, Councilman Carmona, but I I do hear that.

With all due respect, Ms.

Ravala, um, we really do appreciate the leadership that you have given to Northwoods Mall and and the um transformation of that into a local um hive of activities.

So thank you very much.

But I I think it's it's important to know that um there are a lot of different needs for the city, and one of our core objectives is to grow Peoria.

And to grow Peoria, that means we have an EAV that's increasing.

And the higher the EAV grows across the city, that means potentially, I'm not promising this, we could actually lower the property tax rate at some point.

So I I think it's really disingenuous for us to think that a high EAV is a bad thing.

That's our goal is to see our properties worth more than ever before.

And this is not in any way, shape, or form a tax increase.

This is this is reimbursing the developer out of the increment that those taxes produce.

So it is a self-funded, I think somebody mentioned earlier way of economic development.

I think the city has learned so much about how to use TIFFs in the years that I've been sitting around this horseshoe.

When I came on um Midtown Plaza was just failing.

And I think something to point out with that TIFF, as well-intentioned as it was, it was a project-driven TIF.

They put the TIFF around the promise of a new Cub Food store.

None of this TIFF does not is not for one specific purpose.

This encompasses Northwoods Mall.

It encompasses the properties along Brandywine.

It encompasses properties along Westlake Street.

So it it avails this tool to a much broader cross section than zeroing it in on one specific project.

I think it's really important to also note that we've been talking about this at the horseshoe level since for over a year.

And this isn't something that staff just dreams up.

This is something that they take from us when we do our strategic planning.

And we talk about growing Peoria and we talk about brainstorming all the different things that that can look like, including a vibrant shopping district.

So I I think this really hits the nail on the head on so many levels.

And until the state changes it or offers different tools, I think we would not be doing our constituents a favor by not embracing this.

So I will wholeheartedly support this motion tonight.

Thank you, Madam Mayor.

You're welcome.

Well said, Councilman.

We have a motion on the floor.

We have a second, and it looks like no more discussion.

Please cast your ballots.

Motion.

Excuse me.

Motion passes with one nay Carmona.

Madam Clerk.

We need a motion on item B, please.

A B and C.

Okay.

Councilman Allen.

Uh thank you, Madam Mayor.

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

Seconded by Councilmember Gordon Young.

Please cash your ballots.

Motion passes with one nay Carmona.

Councilman Allen.

Thank you, Madam Mayor.

I'll like to move to approve item C, please.

Seconded by Councilwoman Gordon Young.

Please cash your ballots.

Motion passes with one nay.

Carmona.

Madam Clerk.

26-44 is a communication from the city manager and assistant city manager with a request for the following.

A adopt an ordinance approving the redevelopment plan and projects for the Adams Liberty Tax Increment Financing District.

B, adopt an ordinance designating the redevelopment project area for the Adams Liberty Tax Increment Financing District.

C adopt an ordinance to approve tax increment allocation financing for the Adams Liberty Tax Increment Financing District.

D adopt an ordinance approving the First Amendment to the warehouse district redevelopment project area.

And E, adopt an ordinance providing for and approving the First Amendment to the downtown conservation redevelopment project area.

And we'll need separate motions on each each, please.

Thank you.

Councilman Carmona.

Thank you, Madam Mayor.

I really appreciate all the conversation about the TIFF districts.

A lot of um what I was gonna say was either said by other people are already got addressed.

Um I do have a few questions regarding this one specifically for Mr.

Manager.

Um the cost that it took to purchase a PC building and uh the operating losses and all that stuff.

Are we going to are we projecting that we'll be uh recuperate those costs?

So we're currently in discussions with the developer that we had issued a request for proposals on this project.

Um we're in the midst of those negotiations, but one of the points that we've talked about is uh that the city would like to see that we get reimbursed for the the the acquisition costs.

Um that's something as we finish the negotiations, we'll bring that back for council for their consideration and deliberation.

Okay.

Um thank you for that.

Um in this proposal as well, and I know this is just to establish the TIFF, but um I can't remember what page it was, I didn't write it down, but it made mention of potentially four million dollar parking deck.

Do you have confidence that something like that could happen because of the condition of that parking deck?

And you know, I think that's gonna be a discussion point with the the developer that we're talking about about what is the future of that deck and what they would like to see.

And I think that's something we'll have to take a look at.

I I it's gonna be a challenge to save the deck, I think.

Just based on the cost.

Sure.

Okay.

Thank you, Madam Mayor.

You're welcome.

Councilmember Kelly.

Uh thank you, Madam Mayor.

Uh Mr.

Uh Manager.

The the item item A is approving the redevelopment agreement.

No.

I'm sorry.

I'm sorry, the redevelopment plan is a good idea.

So that's the TIFF plan.

Yeah.

I'm sorry.

The reun redevelopment plan.

Um this is not uh premature.

I mean, what's the redevelopment plan versus the redevelopment project?

So this TIF plan is was put together in order to say this area qualifies for redevelopment as a TIFF district.

And so that's what you're asking to approve in item A.

Oh, it's not.

Oh, well that that's pretty easy.

That well, it doesn't it doesn't it refer to item C or uh did I read this wrong?

I probably did.

It does not refer to item C, which is a redevelopment plan.

So item A.

Or exhibit C.

Item A is the redevelopment plan.

Item ordinance B is the redevelopment project area.

Ordinance C is approving the tax increment allocation financing.

Okay, that just basically means the tool that we'll use is the TIFF.

And then items D and E, because these properties were in previous TIFFs and we're taking them out of those TIFFs.

Yeah, it's amending those plans to say they're no longer in those TIFS.

Okay, so we don't really have a redevelopment.

The re the redevelopment agreement.

Development agreement will come back at a later date after we've concluded negotiations with the developer.

Okay.

Okay, thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Mayor.

You're welcome.

Um excuse me.

Councilmember Jackson, this is District 1.

You want to Yes, ma'am.

Um Madam Mayor, I would like to uh make a motion to approve item A.

Is there a second?

Seconded by Councilmember Euler.

Any discussion?

Councilmember Sear?

Thank you, Madam Mayor.

Just a quick question, Mr.

Manager.

Uh can you talk to us a little bit about the difference between an RFP and a QFP?

Well, I think uh and I uh I probably need to clarify that.

I think we issued a request for qualifications for uh developers.

We had three developers that submitted um and we have uh chosen one.

We're still in the midst of doing the the negotiations with that developer, and hopefully we'll uh be able to come back to you with the the recommendations and talk about not only the their development experience where they're they've they've done projects, but uh why we feel that they're the best and most qualified to do this work.

Thank you, sir.

Thank you, madam mayor.

You're welcome.

When do you plan to do that?

Soon as we get the negotiations completed.

I I really can't put a time frame.

I I can't put a time frame on it right now.

We're we're still negotiating that.

I wish I could, but any other discussion.

This is item A.

Please cash your ballots motion passes with one nay Carmona.

Councilwoman Jackson.

Thank you.

I would like to move to approve item B.

Seconded by Councilmember Euler.

Okay.

Any discussion?

Please cash your ballots.

Motion passes with one nay, Carmona.

Councilmember Jackson.

I'd like to move to approve item C.

Seconded by Councilmember Euler, please cash your ballots.

Motion passes with one nay, Carmona.

Councilwoman Jackson.

Move to approve item D.

Seconded by Councilmember Euler, please cash your ballots.

Motion passes one nay.

Carmona.

Councilmember Jackson.

Move to approve item E.

Seconded by Councilmember Euler.

Please cast your ballots.

Motion passes with one nay.

Carmona.

Thank you, Madam Clerk.

We are at regular business.

If we have no regular business, then we would be on to unfinished business.

And if we have no unfinished business, we would be at new business.

Okay.

Is there any new business?

Uh Councilmember Reggenbach.

Thank you, Madam Mayor.

And thank you, Councilman Sear, for reminding me to make this announcement about the EVGC, the East Village Grow Cell TIFF, does have a housing program that is specifically targeted for the homeowner.

And with you know, it feels kind of like spring today, so it's never too early to start planning those projects.

Last year we had a record number of participants in that program that have taken advantage of that to get grants, matching grants to make those improvements to their home, whether it's for the new roof, the windows, or or what the project may be.

So, yes, indeed, the City of Peoria does have a TIFF program targeted for the homeowners of the East Village Growth Cell.

So contact your contractor and get some ideas going right now.

Thank you, Madam Mayor.

That's great.

Thank you.

Open the door for a commercial.

Councilmember Kelly.

Thank you, Madam Mayor.

Mr.

Manager, I should have asked you this before.

Um can a redeveloper like we're the redeveloper we're talking about with the PNC building.

Um apply for things like historic tax credits, et cetera, without a city participation in uh bringing about the uh the development.

Yes, I think that a developer can avail themselves of uh state and federal historic tax credits uh depending on the location where the development is, whether they're they're engaging with the city or not.

Generally it's layered in as a number of different you know funding sources, so okay, but the and that that's a major item in in this uh in the PNC building.

That's correct.

Okay.

Thank you.

Uh thank you, Madam Mayor.

Welcome.

Madam Clerk.

We are at citizens opportunity to address the city council.

Okay, and I have one card, and it is for Mr.

Gregory Barta.

Uh greeting RLE and Council members.

I didn't know coming here tonight I was going to be educated on TIFF and EABs, but I was.

Um of about 200 homes on about 70 acres at the former Expo Gardens.

And the 200 home number, it's my understanding has to do with the sewer system there that it can't hold more than 200 homes because that 70 acres, um, putting 200 all homes on that um comes out to about 2.85 homes per acre, which leaves a lot of um, let me see here.

Um leaving substantial space for green infrastructure and roadways, and if needed, community solar arrays.

And I think the I know the price range that the city is looking at is the 250 to 300,000, which reflects current home prices in that um expo garden area.

Um this is an exciting opportunity for this the people of Peoria in the city of Peoria and urban planning to be on the forefront of renewable energy, addressing climate change, and creating green energy jobs with this 200 home plan.

There is an urgent need for all of us to address climate change and create and as a result create green energy jobs.

The possibilities for this 70 acres are numerous, and to do forward thinking on this development that looks to clean and sustainable energy future, and not just the same old get-by practices.

I know right now the international building code is what is being looked at for the homes there.

Um I'm highly encouraging you, the leadership of Peoria, the City of Peoria to investigate incorporating clean energy into the Expo Garden Subdivision project, utilizing state and other funding sources to keep the home prices in the 253 on the thousand price range.

Senator Kalo is a resident of Peoria, and he agrees this would be good for the city, and we should do something new.

As a senator, Senator Kaylor said he would be very willing to partner with you, the City of Peoria, pursuing clean energy proposals for this expo garden subdivision project.

One I just googled and like one option for this residential subdivision.

It could be developed as a 70-acre 200-home high performance net zero subdivision.

Now, this is just an idea.

Healthy environments.

Thank you for your time.

Nice presentation.

And I hope you will consider looking at taking this project as an exciting opportunity to make something exciting for the Peori area up there by Expo Gardens.

Thank you, sir.

Thank you.

Madam Clerk.

We are at executive session.

Okay.

I would like to invite a motion to adjourn and to convene in closed session immediately following adjournment of the City Council meeting pursuant to the Open Meetings Act 5 ILCS.

122 C11 to discuss pending litigation or probable or imminent litigation and pursuant to the Open Meetings Act 5 ILCS 122 C21 for approval by the body of closed session minutes.

Move by Councilman Oiler, seconded by Council Member Riggenbach.

Please cash your ballots.