All right.

The hour of six o'clock is here.

So I am going to call to order the Tuesday, June second, uh common council meeting.

As always, we're going to start with the Pledge of Allegiance.

I'd ask everyone to stand up evil.

We will start with Are there any absences?

Vice President Allen.

Yes, thank you, President.

We have Alderman Malik Frazier and Alderman Marilian.

Thank you so much.

They will be marked as excused.

So then the next item of business would be the approval of the Journal Council proceedings, the minutes for May 26, 2026, and May 19th, 2026.

Second from Alder Horton.

All those in favor, please say aye.

Aye.

Opposed.

All right.

The motion carries.

For the next one for proclamations, we have two very important uh items for tonight for proclamations.

However, uh we do not have the proclamations to read tonight.

Uh so unfortunately, those will be read uh at the next uh council meeting as opposed to tonight because I don't have anything to read.

Um so apologies for that.

Uh that brings us to our next item of public comments.

I'd ask the clerk to read the instructions for public comment, please.

The public comment section is opportunity for citizens to speak directly to the common council.

Speakers will be limited will limit their remarks to three minutes.

There shall be no dialogue or interactions between the speaker and elected officials or staff.

This time is not intended to be debate or discussion.

The common council shall not hear personal complaints or attacks against any city employer or elected officials or any matter related to an individual claim, citation, appeal, or lawsuit.

Profane, disruptive threatening, or conduct that otherwise impels the safety or later effective conduct of the common council meeting is equally unacceptable during the public comment period as it is during all other portions of the city meetings.

Candidates for public office may not use this opportunity to campaign for office.

Speakers during the public comment period shall follow all rules of the common council and rulings of the chair, including a decision to terminate the remarks if the speaker does not adhere to these rules.

Public comments shall not shall be limited to ideas or concerns regarding the city of Racine.

We encourage you to submit any details concerning in writings to the city clerk's office or your alderman where they can properly document and direct for response.

This evening there will be 15 speakers.

Um after your time is completed, the microphone will be turned off.

So the first speaker tonight.

Looks like we're having some hard time.

Yeah, if you can.

If somebody can press the button on that.

Can you there we go?

Oh, I can hear myself.

Okay, my name is Sharon Campbell.

Uh, I have lived in Racine for 53 years in July in the same house on 725 Florence Avenue.

Uh I worked in the school district as a principal for 32 years, uh, which I totally and completely enjoyed on most days.

Um I worked on a committee for this of the city council when uh John Dickert uh appointed me, and I worked about two to three years on that committee.

And I worked uh, and that was the housing committee.

Um I'm here to talk about Pearl Street.

Um I am a gardener and I drop off my uh yard waste uh religiously, and uh I have discovered that over the time that I've been doing that about 15 years, it used to be five days.

I'm watching the time.

It used to be five days, and last year it was two days, and now it's one day.

And I didn't know that until I tried to drop my stuff off last Wednesday.

But I talked to you, uh Alder Jurgensen, and you were very helpful with me for me.

Um when I went there, I was astonished.

The line was quite long because it's only one day a week, but also it looks so different than when I was there before, even last year.

Um, I'm concerned about the neighborhood because the piles are huge, and it used to be one that was taken out regularly, and I get I assume it's because there's no room in the inn, so to speak.

So at any rate, I I'm concerned about how it's how that impacts the neighborhood as well.

Um I was told that I could use a south side location, and I call the public works department, and everybody there has that I've spoken to is excellent.

So I want you to know that.

Um, they said I can't use the south side location because that's for hard things like air conditioners and and other things, not for grass, not for yard waste.

Um, our city has 75,000 people.

Where will we go to drop off our things when it's full?

Um, and I don't have an answer for that.

Um, for me, this is a major problem.

I'm an environmentalist, I believe strongly in our city.

I've lived here 53 years, I've watched things grow and improve.

I raised my family here.

Um, I'm just hoping it can be fixed or looked at in some way.

Um, I hope you will review it and make a recommendation.

Uh, you will see me here until I know what's going to happen.

Thank you for your time.

Thank you.

Our next speaker will be Jim LaForte, uh, address of 1105 Carton Drive, and they are speaking on Festival Park.

Thank you for your allowing me the time to speak.

Um, I was at the emergency meeting.

It doesn't appear that there's going to be any resolution anytime soon.

And I think no matter what the resolution is in the future, we're kicking a can down the road.

As an event organizer, I can tell you that one of the biggest issues I see is advice on the contract management and operation of the land and structures compromising the civic center.

Advice on such policies and regulations as it deems necessary for the use of the civic center, in cooperation with the contract management of the civic center, advice on contract management's rental of the civic center, or its various parts of for private and public functions, and recommended to the common council rates to be charged for use of the civic center and various elements.

Oversee contracts, management's responsibility for such services as building maintenance, custodial services, landscape maintenance, and kitchen operations.

Review annual budgets for operation of the civic center as developed by the contract management in cooperation with the commission, which budgets shall be submitted to the mayor in accordance with the standard budgetary procedures, and report from time to time to the mayor and common counsel as the commission may deem appropriate upon request of the mayor or common council.

Basically, what I'm getting at, when you eliminated the Civic Center Committee, you eliminated the voices of the festivals, the constituents, the vendors, and everybody in between.

You may be worried about a contract with the city and the management.

We have 20 to 30 contracts we're working on right now.

Right now I'm dealing on vendors that want to go elsewhere, food trucks that want to go elsewhere because they're guaranteed to have their event.

We continuously have to plan a year in advance.

So when you voted to eliminate this civic center committee, you took away our our voice.

We have nobody to work with, and we have no way to come to any conclusions moving forward.

Plain and simple.

Hi, my name is Robert Roydman.

I'm at 810 Saxony Drive.

Last meeting I spoke as a member of Simon Morama.

Today I'm speaking as a homeowner.

We have continually had raising taxes.

And the reason for the rising taxes is all the lawsuits that this city has gotten into and lost.

I'm sick of it.

You know, if there was common sense when this city, we wouldn't have these lawsuits.

And our taxes could be reasonable.

You're forcing us senior citizens right out of our homes.

Like I said, I didn't have anything prepared, but thank you.

Our next speaker is Keith Fair from 1316 Park Avenue.

Good evening.

The people Racine deserve honest answers and accountable leadership.

For years, many residents have watched redevelopment and gentrification efforts reshape our neighborhoods while longtime black residents and black owned businesses struggle to survive.

We are told that new investments will benefit everyone, yet too often the people who built these communities are displaced while outside investors reap the rewards.

Black families are being priced out of the very neighborhoods they help create.

Black owned businesses are closing their doors due to lack of resources, support, and access to opportunities.

Meanwhile, millions of dollars are invested in projects that appear to prioritize revenue generation over the needs of existing residents.

At some point, the gatekeepers of power must make a choice.

Do you represent the people or do you represent political parties?

Special interest and those with the greatest financial influence.

Accountability is not optional.

The residents of the scene deserve to know who their elected officials truly serve.

We deserve transparency, honesty, and leadership that places people above politics.

Racine has once again been ranked amongst the worst cities in America for black residents against that backdrop.

We are being asked to celebrate 250 years of American history.

Celebrate what?

For many in our community, the lived reality continues to be economic inequality, housing instability, educational disparities, and systematic barriers that have existed for generations.

We cannot be expected to applaud symbolic celebrations while real problems remain unaddressed.

We cannot be expected to ignore what we see with our own eyes.

The people of Racine are not blind to the challenges facing our city, nor will we accept narratives that attempt to disguise them.

This is about partisan politics.

This is about truth, accountability, and justice.

If the concerns raised here make some uncomfortable, then perhaps this discomfortable should lead to reflection and action.

The people Racine know who has stood with our communities and who has remained silent.

The time has come to move beyond rhetoric and deliver measurable results.

We call upon Mayor Mason and the City Council to recommit themselves to policies that protect residents from displacement, invest in black-owned business, expand economic opportunity, ensure that development benefits those who already call Racine home.

People deserve answers, people deserve respect, and people deserve a government government that works for them, not around them.

Our next speaker is Jeff Kingsfield, 5903, Rigency Hill.

Thank you for the opportunity for letting us speak on the festival site.

I think it went to where it became unacceptable amount of fees to try to run a festival there.

Patrick brought festivals back.

And he went in there, he worked, he brought this facility back to a working condition.

He made it feasible for people to rent the facility and put on a shoal for racine.

There's life there where we didn't have it before.

As far as contracts, um, I think it's very sad that you let the date go by at the first of the year that he didn't have a contract and go to a feasible time to help put shows on.

Um there's a lot of companies, international, national, local businesses, and etc.

I just want you to look later on on the back of this shirt and on the arms.

Those are all businesses that support us.

They have their hard-earned money that they give us and expect us to use it wisely.

You have put us into a situation without a contract, and it's very sad.

We have a lot of budget out there that we have invested, and they had faith in us.

We needed faith out of this city to put the show on, and I just feel that it needs to be where you work with somebody that's trying to bring something back instead of fighting with them.

Um, we as a group have always tried to make it affordable for families.

We don't charge for that facility.

We don't we have free music.

We try to keep the food reasonable set families can come down and afford the the area and use it, and at this point, you are really killing us.

So I next speaker will be Jackie Lombar from 1113 Layered Avenue.

Good evening, members of the council.

Thank you for your time.

My name is Jacqueline Lambert, and I have lived in Racine for over 30 years, and I reside on the 1100 block of Laird Avenue.

I'm speaking tonight on behalf of myself and approximately 90% of my neighbors about the alley project.

At our last meeting, we submitted a petition signed by nearly every resident on our block.

That level of participation reflects a clear and unified position.

We oppose this alley project at his current as it is currently being funded.

The current proposal would assess my individual property approximately $6,500 with similar assessments applied across my neighbors' properties to reconstruct a public alley.

I want to be very clear, no one on this block is disputing that the alley needs improvement.

The issue is how that improvement is being funded.

Wisconsin relies heavily on property taxes to fund local government services, including infrastructure.

Residents already contribute significantly towards public works through those taxes.

The question here is whether it is reasonable or necessary to layer a large direct assessment on top of that existing burden.

Tax incremental financing districts are designed to capture the growth in property value and use that revenue to support eligible improvements within the district in accordance to the adopted project plan.

I understand those funds are restricted for approved uses, and I am not claiming they can be applied without limitation, but it is reasonable for residents to ask whether all available district-related funding options and alternatives have been fully evaluated upon before imposing significant direct assessments.

Under the current proposal, residents who cannot pay the assessment up front would be placed on a multi-year repayment plan with interest with rolled into their property taxes.

Over time, that increases the total amount paid substantially.

The current proposal is six percent interest over ten years.

My personal property would be a bill would be a nine thousand dollar bill if I don't have the 6500 up front.

In addition, under like state and local tax collection rules, if property taxes become delinquent, penalties and interest apply and prolonged delinquency can ultimately lead to loss of property through the tax foreclosure process.

For residents on fixed or limited incomes, that risk is not theoretical, it is real.

Again, the issue is not whether improvements are needed, it is whether the chosen funding structure appropriately balances infrastructure needs with the financial stability of our residents.

For that reason, I am proposing two practical alternatives for consideration.

First, if a full reconstruction cannot be supported through existing funding mechanisms, the city should re evaluate a phased or repair-based approach.

This would maintain functionality while avoiding large immediate assessments.

Second, the operational factors should be reviewed.

Heavy municipal vehicle truck traffic, especially garbage.

Thank you, ma'am.

The three minutes are up.

Our next speaker will be Maureen O'Toodall from 315 Wolf Street.

Hello.

One is a school psychologist who's been working here for the past five, six years.

She gives back to the community.

My son, unfortunately, suffers from depression.

And because of the farm bill of 2018, THCA is legal in this state.

It's THCA.

It's a hemp product.

I don't even know what the heck it is.

Except I know it has caused my son to run up $8,000 in debt on my credit cards because they do not check signatures.

They do not check the name.

The Puff Palace at Erie and Three Mile is open for 16 hours a day.

8 a.m.

to midnight.

They do not have to follow any federal laws as cash only or debit cards.

It's nowhere near the increases in Illinois on dispensaries.

That's about 30%.

It's increasing some percentage of potency, or I don't even understand it.

And my son was in trouble.

He destroyed my home.

I had to call the police to remove them.

And the only one who called me back was the alderman, which I forget his name, and I'm sorry about that.

This man right over here.

So all those people lost my vote, because I can still vote.

And all I can say is this community, I don't know what's happening.

I'm I observed people going in Puff Palace, coming out, sitting in their cars, smoking joints.

I'm not an idiot.

I mean, I did grow up in the 70s.

And then they drive away.

I called some drug enforcement people that never called me back for a whole week, and they just up to me on the bed to saying, well, the next time you see it, call the police.

That's the solution.

It's legalized weed.

Make it federal.

And you'll eliminate all this crap going on.

The next speaker will be Dan Damont from 2406 North Maine.

You want to call me?

It's 312 A136020.

Check.

Okay, I didn't see the clock running.

So well, I don't even need to write stuff down anymore because I've been here so many times to talk about this.

And it just mind-boggling that everyone in this city sees what that hospitality center has done to our city and to our downtown.

That license should have been revoked 13 years ago.

They've failed every one of the stipulations to have a license.

And we continue to let that stay open.

I'm not saying get rid of it.

You gotta move it.

So, first of all, the bus stop was removed.

That was gonna solve the problem.

Nope, didn't do it.

Let's put railings up so they can't sit on the ledges at McGwin Towers parking ramp.

Nope, that didn't do it.

Let's bring a cop post down to Racine.

Nope, that didn't do it.

So now the great minds of this city, let's tear down the parking ramp.

Makes a lot of sense, doesn't it?

I have tenants from my building down there.

I don't own the building anymore, thank God.

That said to me, Dan, how is this gonna happen?

How can this happen?

I have no idea.

Where are we gonna park?

I said, Well, Park Town Memorial Hall by the library.

Have you seen the library lately?

Oh, yeah.

So until we start with that hospitality center getting closed, and I'm not talking in a week, it needs to be shut down tomorrow.

People, every time I see people, they're like, do they drive downtown and go through the city and see that corner every single day?

The guy who's running my right are running a restaurant now in my old building.

He's struggling.

Have you seen the attendance at our first Fridays and stuff like that?

No one's coming downtown.

And we know how to start cleaning it up.

And you guys, you need to do it.

And is this coincidence?

How come last two meetings I've been here?

Corey's not here.

Hmm.

He's doing a great job.

Our next speaker is Corey Prince, 1921, Center Street.

Uh oh.

Good afternoon.

My name is Corey Prince, uh founder and one of the organizers with the Racine June Teacher Parade.

Uh, tonight we're here to invite you all to come out, every member of the council, city employee, and every resident of the city of Racine to come join us on Saturday, June 13th at 11 a.m.

for the fourth annual Racine, Juneteenth parade, which you can watch from Main Street between 5th and 14th Street on 14th Street between Main Street and Grand Avenue, and on Grand Avenue between 4th Street, 14th Street and Carran Butler Drive.

Juneteenth is more than a celebration.

Juneteenth marks the day when the last enslaved black Americans learned that they were free.

More than two years after the Emancipation Proclamation was signed.

Juneteenth is a reminder that freedom delayed is freedom denied, and that progress has always required people willing to fight for justice.

At the last common council meeting, several several of our alders encouraged residents to attend the Fourth of July parade as our nation celebrates its 250th anniversary.

Yesterday, the city declared June Pride Month.

I personally also celebrate our nation's history, and I support recognizing the LGBT community.

I support standing up for immigrant rights, the unhoused, and every community whose rights and dignity deserve protection.

But I also wanted to remind us today that none of those movements exist in the form that we know them today without the long struggle of black Americans for freedom and for civil rights.

The fight against the institution of slavery paved the way for the civil rights.

The civil rights movement helped establish the framework that many other communities have used to pursue equality and justice today.

The freedoms that we celebrate did not appear on their own.

They were won through sacrifice, courage, organizing, and perseverance.

As we watch history being challenged and rewritten, some places erased.

Juneteenth deserves more than a passing mention.

It deserves the same enthusiasm, visibility, and public embrace that the city celebrates other celebrations and commemorations with.

Each of our elected officials, we ask you to show up.

Bring your families, bring your communities, share with your organizations, with your constituents, and your listserves.

Let's turn the city out and celebrate freedom together, just as we will for the 250th anniversary when everyone still was not free.

Thank you.

Good evening.

My name is Dan Kaiser, and I own the former Pew Marina and surrounding properties.

I'm here to oppose the Riker Court assessment.

As a property owner directly affected by this proposal, I believe it should be considered within the broader context of the area's future development opportunities rather than an isolated road project.

Last fall, the city was discussing purchasing my property at 90 Raker Court as part of a larger redevelopment opportunity.

I offered the property at a substantial discount because I wanted to help move something forward.

To be clear, I did that solely because I wanted to see investment and progress in this area.

After that effort failed, I received notice of this road project.

Regardless of whether the two are connected, the result is that a property was recently being discussed as a part of a broader redevelopment opportunity and is now being evaluated solely through the lens of a road assessment.

My concern is that Riker Court is being viewed as a standalone road project when it clearly is part of a larger area that includes city owned land, public park access, and future development.

More broadly, I think Racine sometimes focuses on the cost of doing something without fully considering the cost of doing nothing.

Construction costs are not what they were five or ten years ago, and development is difficult everywhere.

Investment doesn't happen because we want it to.

If this assessment moves forward, my portion would be nearly $350,000.

I remain committed to Racine and to the businesses that we operate here, but assessments of this magnitude inevitably affect future investment decisions and the ability to deploy additional private capital into the community.

In the three years I've owned businesses here, I've watched many discussions about development, but very little has actually moved forward.

Every investment I make, I evaluate on at least a 10-year time horizon, often much longer.

Nothing is an overnight success.

Time, patience, and a long-term vision are what ultimately create lasting results.

At some point, we as citizens and you as elected officials have to ask yourself where do we want racine to be in 10, 20, or 50 years?

We invested here because we believe in racing, and we still do.

But we believe the city needs to think bigger, act with greater urgency, create an environment where investment is welcome and encouraged.

I respectfully ask the council to reject this assessment, take a broader look at the future of this area as well as other opportunities that exist through the city.

The question before you tonight is not simply whether the road should be replaced, but whether we are making decisions that encourage investment and position rates seen for long-term success.

Thank you.

Our next speaker will be Patrick Flynn from 4124 Mona Park.

Thank you for hearing me today.

Um, this is the only way I can talk to you guys.

So I've been silenced for eight months, so I need this opportunity.

Um I'm not gonna I'm gonna have a structured uh speech here, so I'd like to go with that.

So regardless, um, we have successfully managed Festival Park, but the proposed agreement that that has been granted to us for another two years fails to address three critical concerns that make our ongoing operations unworkable.

If we're to move forward, these issues have to be resolved before we sign this contract.

Um, the sign ordinance.

We're asking that Article 3 regarding the signs be stricken entirely.

The mayor said that it shouldn't be in there regardless, but if you're gonna create a new proposal, a new ordinance, that language has to be removed.

It re the language that's in there prevents us from putting signs up for all events.

So Salmonarama, Saints on the Lake, Harbor Fest.

All of those rely on promoting their sponsors to generate income to produce these events.

So we need your help with that.

And I sent you an email on what all the other venues do in the state of Wisconsin.

So hopefully we'll align with that.

Second is utility costs and contingencies.

We need a realistic protections in Article 6, Section 6.4 regarding utility costs.

To be clear, we are not asking the city for upfront funds.

We have been entirely self-sufficient in covering these costs.

However, we need contingency language and to protect against extenuating circumstances that could impact our ability to keep the lights on.

Specifically, we need a stipulation that upon common council approval, the city will cover utility costs in the event of a financial shortfall, but only if the $200,000 deficit guarantee provided by the city has been completely depleted.

It is necessary safety net for the unpredictable operational hurdles.

Third, the unorthodox demand that we absorb all losses.

We strictly manage these facilities on behalf of the city.

It's highly unorthodox and frankly unreasonable to expect a management company to absorb the city's operational losses without also sharing in the profits.

If the city wishes to restructure this into a profit sharing agreement, we would gladly reconsider.

But the under the framework, current framework, we are not in a position to take on the city's financial risk.

We remain committed to these facilities and the value that they bring to the community, but partnership requires a contract that is fair, functional, and grounded in the realities of the event management.

We cannot sign until these three are properly addressed.

So we thank you for tonight, but we're not signing the new contract.

I would ask the audience we're we're still calling up next speakers.

Mindy Flynn of 204124 Mona Park.

Um anyone who knows me knows I absolutely hate speaking in public, but after last week's meeting, I was too angry to stay silent.

Later this month, Patrick and I will celebrate 35 years of marriage.

And trust me, I could give you a list of complaints about him.

But what happened here last week was absolutely unacceptable.

To listen to that was horrible.

Here are the facts, though.

Patrick provided his proposal last June of 2025, exactly as instructed.

Since then, no negotiation had negotiations have ever happened.

Instead of doing their job and negotiating, the city attorney and the city administrator spent their time scouring the festival hall staff emails looking for dirt.

We were all subjected to them dragging my husband through the mud, reading half emails and a single one-sided complaint from one event.

The city attorney claimed Patrick spent the first three months of the year trying to remedy an issue with a city-owned marina.

What he neglected to mention is that during those three months, the city did nothing to assist with the marina release, nor did they begin the contract negotiations.

It's where we raised our kids, it's where my two grandchildren are growing up now.

He has always been a hard worker, but in nearly 35 years that I've known him, I have never seen him work as hard as he has since he took on this contract.

He works 12-hour days, seven days a week.

He comes home from work and he's constantly working on it, and it is a labor of love.

If you ask his employees, they'll tell you that he isn't just sitting at a desk.

He is physically present in every part of the operation to make the venue successful.

He is asking for just three things to make the contract work.

Look at popular opinion.

The city wants the civic center to be successful, and you already have the right people in place to make that happen.

You'd be fools to let it end.

Our next speaker will be Christine Dowry.

I'm sorry, would you repeat that one?

Christine Goddry.

Good evening.

Um I am here to um ask for reconsideration of a claim that was brought in front of the finance committee last week to deny my claim.

I'm here to explain why the city is liable and the claim should be paid.

The city workers came out, looked to see where the water was coming from, said it was from uh some pump.

But when they were asked at the meeting if the city workers did anything to remedy the ice, they said no.

They did nothing.

The ice was so bad around my car.

It was in the middle of the street.

There's a bus stop there, there's a school bus that goes down.

The safety of the people who live there was at jeopardy.

And my calls for help were denied.

Nobody, nobody, Alderman Horton did call me back.

Um, and the city was going to send people out, but they did nothing to help remedy the the ice that was in the middle of the street.

That is the city's problem, not mine.

I'm taking responsibility for my car being parked where it was.

It was parked legally in front of my building.

So the city needs to take responsibility and rethink my claim and pay it.

I'm not asking for an outrageous amount of money.

I could be asking for a lot more, but I'm not.

I'm asking for something that is reasonable that will comp that will help me out, because right now I have nothing.

Absolutely.

So I am asking the city to reconsider and prove my claim tonight.

Thank you.

Next speaker is Ashley Hurl Collett from 5719 Heathers Way.

Good evening.

I want to establish that I'm speaking as a concerned citizen of Racine County as a whole, and the friend, daughter, sister, and caregiver dis to city of Racine citizens.

I think we all expect the city to maintain our roads to be legal and safe, and at the very least, usable.

Chris expected the same of the city when she parked legally on the street in front of her home in January of 2026.

Though we've come to understand that the water which flooded and froze her vehicle was not illegal either.

What I find hard to understand is how the city doesn't find themselves liable for inches upon inches of ice that has invaded and encased a car, public street, an area location that a public bus line, a cop house just a block away, and a student public bus runs down.

Her property was a total loss because of the negligence of the maintenance workers of the city of Racine and the lack of action anyone took to provide proper support for the temperatures and weather conditions we were expecting.

Then when she reached out for help because of the poor planning, admittedly, no one came to assist her with her property that was actively being damaged.

They only came out to decide if they were responsible for the water that was pouring into the streets.

And with this claim, she intends to repay those people as a responsible and accountable person that she is.

That's who Chris is asking you all to be tonight.

Sorry.

Accountable for the city and the lack of planning, care, concern, and action they took to maintain the roads during extreme temperatures.

Racine experienced in January, which has left her without a car, a job, and now a home for the last four months.

Thank you for your time, and I pray that you are all able to make a good decision tonight on her behalf.

And the last speaker tonight will be Pat McGloy from 3316 Illinois Street.

Good evening.

My name is Pat McLeod.

I'm the business manager for St.

Lucie Catholic Church, and I'm the chairman for this year's Saints on the Lake Festival to be held at Festival Park June 26th through 28th.

I've been chairman of the St.

Lucy Festival for 30 years.

Securing sponsors is critical to the success to the success of any large fundraiser.

As important as securing sponsors is the ability to acknowledge their sponsorship during the event.

This is done in numerous ways, but one of the main and most effective methods is to put up banners and other signage to acknowledge and thank these businesses and individuals.

Approximately two weeks ago, I learned that signage may not be allowed at Festival Park during our event.

As of yesterday morning, I still had not heard back, so I called again and was advised that he was out of town for a week at a conference.

However, as of now, I have heard nothing.

Within the next 48 hours, I need to provide our banner vendor details of the sponsors so they can order product and begin production.

I must say that after all I must say that after almost 10 months of planning, it is very disturbing to find out 30 days prior to our event that we may not be able to put up signage during our festival.

This will result in the loss of close to 25,000 in sponsor fees, which we have secured.

In all my years running St.

Lucy Festival, this was never an issue.

And obtaining these sponsorships was key to the success of our festival year after year.

I'm not sure of the reasoning behind what is going on, but I must say it's extremely detrimental, not only for our festival, but for the future of other events to be held at Festival Park.

I'm certain that any organization planning a large fundraiser would not want to consider a venue where the owner says you are not allowed to acknowledge sponsors.

We have had excellent cooperation and support from 5K events.

I know that others that other organizations working with them feel the same way.

As a career businessman, the position of the city on this subject for us, the other festivals in 5K is counterproductive and not logical.

These events bring thousands of people to downtown Racine and the lakefront, but going forward, this could all be in jeopardy if the city chooses to make such poor business decisions.

I certainly hope that Saints on the Lake Festival can get a resolution to this issue within the 48 hours mentioned previously.

Thank you for your time.

All right.

So we also have a note here.

Aller Kelly is also excused for this evening.

Um that concludes the public comments.

This takes us to a presentation by Laura Million, the deputy director for the RCEDC to provide a mid-year review.

Good evening, everyone.

I'm Laura Million.

I'm the deputy director with Racine County Economic Development.

They're going to be pulling up my presentation momentarily.

Pleased to be here to share a little bit of an overview of RCEDC and how we work with the City of Racine to be able to support economic development in the community.

So RCEDC has been around since 1983.

When we first started, our main focus was on proactive business attraction as well as supporting existing businesses with expansion projects.

Our current efforts really focus on four areas, and I'll talk a little bit about those.

So we have a strategic plan that we adopt every year.

So business attraction, where we're trying to attract new development and businesses to the community.

Under that particular area, we're also working to attract new, encourage new housing development.

We have business expansion and entrepreneurship, which means we are proactively outreaching to businesses to understand what their needs are, what their focus is, and seeing what support they may need and how we can connect them with resources.

We provide technical and financial assistance.

We have several local loan funds, which I'll talk a little bit more about.

And more recently, we've launched entrepreneurial programs, including Biz Starts Racine.

The third area of focus is talent attraction, which is focusing on sharing why Racine County is a great place to live and work and trying to tell those stories of the people who live here.

We do that at Greater Racine County.com, and we've got social media channels for that.

And we're also engaging with our higher ed partners to encourage young talent that are in the area, such as at UW Parkside and Carthage, helping them stay in the community and connecting them with businesses in the community.

And the last area is making sure that we're fostering partnerships and identifying new opportunities to make sure that our organization and our programs continue to be relevant.

So when we work with a community, we really look to see how we best can support them.

In the city of Racine, we have several priority projects that we support, which includes hold on just a minute, let me get my note here.

Um engaging on multifamily housing development, supporting outreach to existing businesses, providing technical assistance on priority development projects in the city, supporting the revolve the Brownfield Revolving Loan Fund and monitoring compliance of development agreements, including with Fisher USA, Marlowe, and Summit Packaging.

We also work to coordinate marketing efforts with the community.

So we proactively seek opportunities to reach out to businesses as well as developers and partners to showcase the community and opportunities to invest here.

We tap into our established networks with site selectors, developers, and real estate professionals for specific projects.

And we look to really connect our businesses with support programs such as the Small Business Development Center, WIBIC, SCORE, and others.

If a business connects with us, we talk to them, help them help to understand what their needs are and determine what resources may be appropriate, and then help them through navigating those resources and the funding opportunities.

The thing I'd like you to remember this evening, if if you're thinking about RCDC or you're talking to a business of how best, you know, do I connect them with you?

Does it make sense?

Certainly have them call us, but access to loans, grants, and incentives, finding a site in Racine County, which includes locations in the city of Racine.

We've got resources on our website.

We've got resources for small business and entrepreneurship on our website, but I often talk people through those resources because sometimes it's a little overwhelming.

Tools to promote Racine County, as I mentioned on Greater Racine County.com, and we also have data on the local economy and development trends in the community.

So I want to highlight a few programs.

I mentioned our financing programs.

RCEDC is a certified development company.

We provide SBA 504 loans.

Those are usually larger loans for fixed assets like real estate construction equipment and leasehold improvements.

We also have several local loan funds that are available to businesses as well.

Those tend to be smaller, and we are able to do those loans without support of a bank partner.

Excuse me.

Does anybody happen to have a that would be great?

I don't should thank you.

I'm sorry.

All right, thank you.

Much better.

All right.

One of the things that we've been focusing on is how do we support improvements in downtown Racine?

Um, and I know this is a program that's come through some discussion in the Finance and Personnel Committee and the CDBG committee as well.

We worked in partnership with Downtown Racine as well as the City of Racine to encourage additional development in downtown.

So the downtown Racine Corp has received two grants that we're helping administer.

So one is a pre-development grant, which helps businesses that are considering a location in towntown do their due diligence, helping them do feasibility studies, understanding the market.

There's also the business enhancement grant.

All information on these grants is available on our CDC's website.

And there are a couple of deadlines coming up.

We're reviewing those grant applications and tranches.

So the next one is on June 8th, and then the next one after that is on June 22nd.

We also have dedicated loan funds, some of them from our C E D C and then we're also looking to use funds from the CDBG funds from the city, but we're we're working through the details of that, and it's taking a little bit longer because CDBG funds have very specific stipulations.

We want to make sure that they're deployed in the right manner to attract businesses and that they we don't have any issues there.

Another program that is important for businesses to know about is the Racine County Match Grant.

This is a program that Racine County funds on an annual basis.

It provides grants of up to $5,000 and it requires requires a 50% match, but it is great for minority businesses, women and ethnic minority and veteran-owned businesses to access these funds for consulting, training, and marketing cost.

And we are a business can actually apply for this grant several times in a row up to and receive up to $15,000 from the program.

A recent success that we had was Ambitious Vibes Candle Company, and I think this one's interesting because Annalisa Garcia, who went through the our Biz Starts program, is now open on Main Street.

So our Biz Starts Racine program includes a three-part, it's a three-part program.

Phase one is training for six weeks, and then it has mentoring for about three months, and then there's opportunity for those entrepreneurs to work with a student consultant team.

As a result of that work, Annalisa was able, she identified that she wanted to open up a retail operation.

She identified a storefront in downtown, and she's now connected with a couple of grant opportunities, the Racine County Matching Grant as well as the downtown Racine grant to be able to support her as she started her operations.

And just to note, she was actually operating prior to attending our BizTarts program.

Um, our Biz Starts program is not only for startups, it's also for existing businesses to help them be able to just improve their their understanding of what it means to operate their business.

One of the other areas of focus for us over the last several years has been on housing.

Um, this is a need across the country.

If you read the paper, there's a need for additional housing because prices are really skyrocketing.

Um we did a couple of different housing studies, one in 2020, um, which noted that we needed about 4500 units in Racine County over five years.

We've seen about 4900 residential units added, and there's still a need for about 4300 units in Racine County.

That's about equally split between multifamily and single family housing.

What we continue to do is work with the scene county executive on advancing ways to encourage single family for sale housing.

Um, we're still working on that initiative, but know that that is something that we continue to work on.

We continue to work to attract prospective housing developers to the community, and we're pleased to be able to partner with the city to encourage housing such as the Lincoln King Town homes to move forward to provide um housing opportunities for city recent residents.

A couple of other highlights uh from our programs this year so far.

We've assisted uh businesses with eight Racine County matching grants, four loans have been completed to City of Racine businesses.

There have been eight DRC business enhancement grants approved.

We've completed three 33 technical assists, and just to give you a little bit of background, those are requests that come directly into RCEDC where we um respond to the business or the individual.

It could be from um you know an alder person or anybody who who calls us to to answer their question on what resources are available and to help them navigate.

Some of those have included mostly small business resources, connecting them with uh groups such as Wibbick and SCORE, and just guidance on just how to navigate and starting a project.

We've had 10 business call visits.

That means we're actually meeting with businesses to understand their needs.

We've got planned commercial corridor walks in June in downtown West Racine and Uptown, um, and we have engaged with 13 businesses on potential expansion projects that have ranged from entrepreneurship and startups to retail and manufacturing.

A couple of upcoming events to note.

Um we have a QuickBooks program for entrepreneurs that's available.

We're doing a marketing program on July 30th, um, and then our Biz Starts Racine Cohort Number Four starts on September 3rd.

And lastly, um, another opportunity for our talent that are in the area.

So any business that has a summer intern, they can send this to the summer intern mixer event.

It's an opportunity for interns who are in the community to get to know other interns and see a little bit about our community.

Um, that's on June 25th.

All that information is on RCDC's website.

So that's a little bit about our CDC.

I would offer if anybody's interested in learning more.

I'm happy to talk to um, you know, schedule time to talk a little bit more about our programs at another time.

Thank you so much.

Are there any questions at all this evening?

I'm seeing none.

Thank you so much for coming and presenting.

All right.

So this takes us to communications introduced to council.

Uh we would start with uh referred to committee of the whole, uh, Vice President Allen.

If you could push your button, please okay.

Item 0518-26.

Communications sponsored by Alder Widener for referral to the committee of the whole discussion of management of cell phone usage during common council and standing committee meetings.

All right, there was a motion by Vice President Allen.

Uh second from uh Alder Widener.

Uh, all in favor say aye.

Opposed.

Motion carries that has been referred to the committee of the whole.

Uh, we would now go to referred to finance and personnel.

Uh Vice Chair Horton.

Thank you.

I refer to following items to finance and personnel 04 uh 045426 communications sponsored by AutoLand, submitting the claim of Jacquin Cole, senior for uh for consideration of disallowance.

Next item 0455-26 communication sponsored by AutoLand, submitting the claim of fleet response on behalf of Aspen Tree Expert LLC for consideration for disallowance.

Next item 0456-26 communication sponsored by underland submitting a claim of realistic builders in for consideration of disallowance.

Next item 047326 communication sponsored by Alderland requesting appearance of first choice apprenticeship program to provide a presentation including the percentage of residents and percentage of those who have consistent employment or who are enrolled in a certified apprenticeship program from the funding of $15,000 provided from the November 10th meeting.

Next item 0489-26 communication sponsored by Mayor Mason and Council President Jorgensen submitting the 2027 budget calendar for consideration 0490-26 communication sponsored by Mayor Mason and Alderland requested it to apply for the 2027 beat patrol grant 00704 0491-26 communication sponsored by Mayor Mason and Alderland requesting to apply for the 2026 Bureau of Justice Edward Byrne Justice Assistant Grant Control Number 00705 0492-26 communication sponsored by Alderland requesting permission to accept a donation from Zach's Fish and Chicken 2 LLC for RPD.

Next item communication sponsored by Mayor Mason requesting the transfer of the city owned property at 1134 Dr.

Martin Luther King Drive to the community development authority.

Next item 0495 communication sponsored by Mayor Mason requesting authorization to transfer the property at 1703 Homes Avenue to Racine County and receive the property at 1561 Home Avenue from Racine County.

We have a motion from Alder Horton.

We have a second from Alder Pabone.

I do see that there is a request from Alder Whitener.

Thank you.

I have a question regarding the item that's being referred number 0489 regarding the 2027 budget calendar for consideration.

Yeah, we can ask the uh the clerk's office to get that updated and have that attached to it.

Uh could we also have that sent to the Alderman prior to the finance committee meeting so we have an idea of what that calendar is gonna look like prior to the finance committee meeting next Monday?

Sure, I would expect it that it would be attached and sent off by tomorrow.

Thank you.

Seeing no other requests, all in favor of those referrals, please say aye.

Opposed.

All right.

Those are referred to the finance and personnel.

Uh, we will now go to um the public works and services chair, Alder Harmon.

If you push your button for me, please.

Thank you.

Thank you, Chair.

Item 0461-26 communication sponsored by Alder Whitener to remove festival hall parking lot from ABM contract and designating it, designating for festival hall management.

Item 0462-26 communication sponsored by Alder Widener for specifications and redesign to improve the band shell at Festival Park.

Item 0510-26.

Communication sponsored by Mayor Mason requesting permission to use city right of way for the fourth of July parade on July 4th.

Item 0475-26.

Communication sponsored by Alder Harman submitting bid results for contract 2026097, City of Racing Dredging Project.

Funding is available in the following org objects zero six zero four eight four five seven five seven zero.

Item 0485-26 communication sponsored by Alder White submitting the lease agreement for toys for TOTS.

Submitting bid results for contract 2026 098.

McMahon Ramp Demolition.

Communications sponsored by Mayor Mason proposing that the City of Racine celebrate the racing pride day and pride month commemoration and celebration in partnership with the LGBTQ plus community.

Item 0499-26 communications sponsored by Mayor Mason requesting permission to close Main Street between State Street and 7th Street and 6th Street between Main Street and Wisconsin Avenue on July 5th, 2026, between 12 p.m.

and 10 p.m.

for the racing gathering for America's 250th.

There should be one more on the Oh, I apologize.

And then item 0511-26 communications sponsored by Mayor Mason, asking that the yield sign on Bird Avenue and Oregon Street and Bird Avenue and Illinois Street be replaced with a stop sign and adopting the attached ordinance to reflect the change.

Thank you.

There's a motion by Alder Harman, second from Alder Pavone.

So the first one looks like Alder Allen.

Thank you.

This is for item 0461-26.

I'd like to pull uh have that set aside, I believe, for several considerations.

Now this cannot be received in file, but instead refer to the financing personnel because we would be breaking a contract.

So it sounds like you're making a motion to refer.

I I am making a motion to refer this to finance and personnel.

Is there a second?

No second.

All right, the motion dies for lack of second.

Looks like Alder Whitener is in the queue.

Yeah, I just had a question again that there is an omission of an attached ordinance to item 0511-26.

So I'm wondering if we can be provided the ordinance that uh was to be reflected in this referral.

It's not sure thing.

I'm sure the clerk's office has that noted and we'll get that attached.

Thank you.

All right, seeing no other lights in the queue.

Uh all in favor of supporting those referrals to public works and services, please say I.

Opposed.

All right.

Oh, there's looks like there is a light.

Nope.

All right.

All right, so that takes us now back to uh referred to public safety and licensing.

Uh Alder Pete, if you wouldn't mind pushing your button.

Thank you.

I'd like to refer to the following items to public safety and lighting committee.

Item number 045826.

Communication sponsored by Alder Whitener, Queen's Corner Store, LLC for waiving all licensing fees for the duration of construction interfering with Queen's Corner Store.

Item 046026 communication sponsored by Alder Demark, requesting RPD provide an update on current plans and strategies to address feeding throughout the city.

Items 46426 communication sponsored by myself, submitting a renewal request for cigarette tobacco and electronic vaping device retail license applications for the 2026 through 2027 year.

Item 46626 communications sponsored by myself, submitting a change of agent application for cigarette tobacco and electronic vaping device license for Speedway LLC.

Item 46726 communications sponsored by myself, submitting a change of agent application for a cigarette tobacco and electronic vaping device license for family dollar or Wisconsin LLC DBA family dollar.

Item 46826 communications sponsored by myself, submitting a change of agent application for cigarette tobacco and electronic vaping device license for family dollar LLC, DBA Family Dollar at 3701 Durand Avenue.

Item 46926 communications passed by myself submitting a change of agent application for a cigarette tobacco and electronic vaping device license for family dollar of Wonson LLC located at 3919 Washington Avenue.

Item 47026 communications sponsored by myself submitting a change of agent application for a cigarette tobacco and electronic vaping device license for Dullen Group LLC DBA Dollar Store General located 4901 Washington Avenue.

Item 47126 communications sponsored by myself submitting a change of agent application for a cigarette tobacco and electronic vaping device license for Dulagan Group LLC DBA Dollar Store located at 4111 Durand Avenue.

Item 47226 communications sponsored by myself submitting a change of agent application for cigarette tobacco and electronic vaping device license for Dulgan Group LLC DBA Dollar General Store located at 3440 Douglas Avenue.

Item 047626 communications sponsored by myself submitting a list of liquor license which have not submitted renewal paperwork for intoxicating liquor and fermented malt beverages for the 2026-2027 year.

Item 47826 communications sponsored by myself for the licensed premise report.

Item 47726 communications sponsored for by myself submitting a list of liquor license which have not submitted renewal paperwork for intoxicating liquor and fermented malt beverage license for the year 26 through 27.

Item 47926 communications sponsored by myself, requesting any consideration and formal expression of concern or other actions pursuant to the police report.

Item 048026 communications sponsored by myself, requesting the appearance of Lysander Vale for a new operator's license.

Item 48226 communications sponsored by myself, submitting a new application for a Class A retail fermented malt beverage and intoxicating liquor license for Max Western CBA West Town Foods located at 3326 16th Street.

Devon Divert Cart Agent Item 48326 communications sponsored by myself submitting an application for a sidewalk cafe with alcohol for the new cafe box me LLC DBA The New Cafe located at 600 Main Street, Alan Francisco, agent, and item 48426 communications sponsored by Alder Kelly and Alder Davis to conduct a traffic study on the Washington Avenue corridor from Lathrop through Uptown.

Also that the police chief and director of public works present the committee any traffic calming measures in this area that are currently available.

Move to approve.

Looks like Alder Widener is in the queue.

Thank you.

The first item that's being referred 045826.

Uh that is a communication submitted by me.

And uh the genesis of this request is a speaker that we had at a uh public comment period, I believe at the last council meeting.

I have not had any contact with the owner of Queen's Corner Store, so she really does not know that I've submitted this communication on her behalf, so I would ask that the clerk's office send her a letter to let her know that this item is going to the public safety and licensing committee next week.

Thank you very much.

For anyone who didn't hear that with the microphone wasn't on the clerk's office, said that they always send you.

They always send those letters uh out, so it's already taken care of.

All right.

So this has been uh motioned and second.

All those in favor of referring these to the public safety and licensing committee, please say aye.

Opposed.

All right, this carries.

Uh so now we go to the committee reports.

Uh so we're gonna start off with finance and personnel by Alder Horton.

Do you have any items for separate consideration this evening?

Yes, I know.

I have two.

First item for two.

I mean 0402-26 communication sponsored by Alderlands.

I mean the claim of Christine Daughtery for consideration for disallowance recommendation of the finance and personnel committee on 526, 26 that the claim be disallowed.

There was a motion uh for disallow from being the chair, is there a second?

There's a motion from Alder Horton, second from uh Alder Mack.

Uh it looks like we have Alder Weiner in the queue.

You um, as you all may recall, we had a long night last Tuesday night.

We had almost a three-hour uh common council meeting, followed by both the finance committee meeting and the public works committee, which both met at the same time.

So I was not able to attend the finance committee as I had a commit with public works.

So my concern on this item is um I don't know what the vote was from that generated this recommendation.

So if someone could tell me what the vote was on the motion to disallow this, I'd appreciate that.

Yeah, I think the clerk's office may be looking, but I I remember that one.

Uh my fellow committee members can keep me keep me honest here.

I believe it was um three uh for disallowance and two uh abstentions.

Seeing some hot heads nod on that, so I think that's what it was.

Thank you.

I have a question for the city attorney's office, uh, and that would be under what circumstances does an alderman uh recuse themselves from of voting or abstain from voting.

So in all I don't have your okay, perfect.

Uh so an alderman has to recuse under situations in which they have a direct financial interest in alder can abstain from voting at for any reason that they want, and they do not have to disclose why that they abstain.

Okay.

So I'm gonna say this that I see happening more and more often than ever in the past.

Aldermen choosing to abstain from voting on votes that are difficult.

We're not elected to abstain from voting.

We might find voting on some items difficult, but it is our responsibility to vote.

Um I'm gonna ask that this item be sent back and that the claimant be offered the opportunity to provide the document that wasn't provided that would garner more discussion on her claim.

So, for example, the reason the claim in part is being denied, is she did not provide an itemized statement of the relief sought as required by law.

So the claimant was requested an amount of damages of an amount of money, however, she did not submit an itemized statement.

I'd like her to have the opportunity to do that, as I don't believe that anyone from the attorney's office ever provided her with the information that was needed for her to provide that.

So I would make a motion to send this back to committee.

All right, there is a motion uh and a second.

Uh did the motion maker wish to speak anything more on thank you.

No.

No, all right.

So I did uh looks at the attorney's office.

Having been at that discussion, you'd brought up the uh uh Mr.

Chairman.

If you wish to speak to this item, I'd like you to remove yourself as chair.

Yeah, I'm not looking to speak Alder Widener, uh the attorney's office.

So I'm I'm recognizing them.

Uh if I am going to step down, I would.

Thank you, though.

So, like I was saying, uh, the attorney's office is looking to provide some context just on the background for this item.

Yes, so this claim was denied not just for the lack of the itemized damages.

Uh we the city of Racine also contests the liability for um this incident in short.

Uh the ABM explains the the general basis of our contestment.

Um, so it is not just that lack of itemization.

Thank you for the background.

Uh the next Alder in the queue is Alder Harman.

Thank you, Chair.

I appreciate it.

I wanted to comment on the voting with regards to this.

There were two votes that abstained.

I appreciate that the attorney's office explained the difference between recusal and abstaining.

All Alders, every last 15 one of us have the right to abstain from a vote.

That is what the attorney said.

And while Alder Weiner states that all alders should be voting, the attorney again stated that Alder Weiner is called a point of order.

Please state your point of order.

That point of order is that we are speaking on a motion, not a comment that was made previous.

Yeah, so this motion looks like the the discussion leading up to it was about uh that so I I would count this as germane.

Um as long as Alder Harman keeps it to this vote that was taken.

That seems to be a reason for sending it back.

Thank you, Chair.

I appreciate it.

Yes, my comments are about the vote with regards to this item.

And again, three people voted against it, and two people chose to abstain.

And for each alder, we have the right to abstain and to not bring something back simply because people have not chosen to vote yes or no.

We have that right.

I would like for us to continue to remind ourselves that we do have that right, regardless of any other aldermen stating that we all should vote.

Our vote to abstain is a vote, and don't let anyone think make you think that it isn't.

Thank you.

Thank you.

We have Alder Allen in the queue next.

Okay, thank you.

Uh my comments are that I would like to refer this also back to finance and personnel one because I think there are some questions that could yet be asked.

I wasn't there at the meeting to know if certain ones were asked.

I did look into uh some of the notes for the meeting.

There were questions, I think of of responsibility, and if it were uh to remain the decision of the committee, and then we voted on it that the city was not held liable, then I feel like it would be uh helpful to give the claimant information on where she can seek you know wholeness for this live for who is liable because I I read into what may have caused the the additional ice not not disregarding the weather conditions on that day that would create ice.

So I would like to see it go back to finance and personnel to have some additional questions answered before we uh bring it back to the full counsel for a vote.

Thank you.

I'm seeing no other lights in the queue, so I'm given a last call here.

Otherwise, we will go uh and vote on this item.

And I believe we're voting with the iPads tonight.

It's been a little bit since we've done that, so I'd ask the clerk uh to open up the voting for the iPads.

Oh, looks like Alder Horton.

Um, just for some clarification, I know there was a second on the motion for this to go back.

Is that what we voted on now?

Okay, yes, yes.

So to clarify, this is an item for separate consideration of the motion is to send it back to finance and personnel.

All right, thank you.

Any other questions?

All right, so the clerk will now open up the iPads.

There we go.

All right, uh, so we have uh uh eight yeses, oops, uh three no's uh if we can have the clerk, yeah.

So we'll what we'll do is we'll do a voice vote or excuse me, uh roll call vote on this one then.

If the clerk will please call the roll.

So just for clarification, there's a question on the voting.

It looks like uh the clerk is unable to go back to it, so we'll just make sure we have it manually uh recorded.

Alder Hodges, Alder Allen?

Yes, Alder Pete.

Alder Demark.

Alder Harmon?

No.

Alder Pavone?

Aye.

Alder Weiss?

No.

Alder Davis?

Aye.

Alder Mack?

All right.

Alder Weiner?

Elder Horton?

Eight eyes, three notes.

All right.

So it was eight eyes, three no's.

Uh the uh motion carries that has been referred back to finance and personnel.

Uh Alder Horton, if you wouldn't mind pushing your button, I believe you said you had one more uh item for us tonight.

Yes, I do.

Uh 0432-26 communications sponsored by Mayor Mason requesting to approve a contract with G Strategies for the Lincoln King community and Lincoln King Community Center project.

Recommendation that the Mayor City Clerk be authorized ran into a contract with G Strategies LLC, an amount of 150,000 dollars through March 31st, 2027 for the fundraising services for the Lincoln King Community Center and Cleaning Project.

Funds are available in 45010521022912 uh for this contract move to approve.

All right, so we have a motion to approve from Alder Horton.

Is there a second second from Alder Mack?

Uh so that would be uh looks like uh first we'll give Alder Horton.

Did you wish to speak to your motion?

Okay.

Uh Alder Weidener is the next in the queue.

Thank you.

I just have a question uh maybe for the finance director.

Uh on this item.

Sorry I didn't give you a heads up before.

So I don't recall ever in the past, although I may have forgotten that we have paid uh outside entity to do fundraising on behalf of any of our projects.

So maybe give us a little history on this if you wouldn't mind.

Sure, absolutely.

Um so in general, this project in particular um at this point would if there was to be more fundraising, it would be more of the private foundation fundraising, which is not something in general you're right, Alder, that we have done before in the past.

This company specializes in that type of fundraising.

That's not something that we have expertise internally to do.

Um this project right now, as it sits, it has about a $15 million bond.

We initially bonded 17 million.

So the choice for the common council would be do we continue fundraising efforts into this private fundraising capacity?

That would look more like sponsorships, if you will, naming rights, that type of thing for the Martin Luther King Junior Community Center.

Um so that's what is before you is for a company to go out there, found these find these foundations like coal philanthropies, those types of foundations, and see whether they would be wanting to do those types of things.

So did this item go out for bid?

It did not go out for bid.

Wouldn't uh wouldn't something that has a contract of over $50,000 have to go out for bid?

Not with common council approval.

So common council can approve this tonight and it would not have to go out for bid.

But the council didn't know that this contract is being uh supported without it having gone out for bid correct there are many items that come before common council and get approved without going for bid.

DPW brings them Park Springs um regularly.

Oh I always assume that we followed state statutes and well that when a contract came before us it had gone through the proper procedure if I may a clear in which it had gone out for bid in the contract before us was a contract that had been bid.

So I want to clarify just one thing.

State statute does not cover professional services contracts, professional services contracts are our city ordinance.

$50,000 is correct, but that is not state statute.

So just to be clear, professional services is not covered under state statute.

Okay.

So but it is our city ordinance.

It is our city ordinance, correct?

So our ordinances are important, and if we're going to do something that conflicts with our city ordinance, we would be made aware.

So it should have been in here somewhere that this item did not go out for bid.

So I guess my next question would be what can you tell us about G strategies LLC?

Anything?

Do we what do we know about them?

Um I I do not work with them regularly.

They are more of a again, philanthropy fundraiser.

This isn't necessarily my item.

I happen to be here tonight to speak on it, but um I so who would I ask who these who G strategies are?

So this would be more of a Mayor Mason question.

I know that they help with other things relating to philanthropies.

They've helped us in the past with a couple of things earlier in the Lincoln King project.

Okay.

So then last question would be can you tell me what this account is in which the funds are available?

Yep, so that is some of the interest earnings on the bond proceeds that we borrowed earlier in the year.

So really it would be interest earnings from those bonds.

Okay.

Thank you.

I'm gonna speak to this item.

So I'm gonna speak to this item just for the simple fact we do have ordinances that we are expected that we're gonna comply with.

This should have gone out for bid.

Um I think it's happening more and more often where and I think that see we saw that happen at our last common council meeting where uh an entity was offered a contract uh for to operations of the civic center.

That did not go out for bid.

It's either the city administrator or the mayor going out and finding people and offering them something without it ever coming to the council or following the ordinance.

So I do believe we have to do fundraising for to offset the bonding that we had approved for building the um the clinic, but uh we have to follow our own ordinances.

So I'm gonna vote against this item simply because it does not follow our ordinance.

Thank you.

Uh we have looks like Alder Davis is next in the queue.

Thank you.

I'm not sure if my question is for the city attorney or for um director Fisher.

When we are taking on prefer professional service agreement with individuals, are we to ensure that um they are up to date on their filings with the department of financial institutions institutions?

Like, do we are do we have to ensure that they're in good standing to provide these individuals funds if vote if voted?

Sure, that's a good question.

Yeah, for the contracts that are over depending on $25,000 for public construction work, $50,000 for professional services.

We do what's called a SAM search in general for those types of organizations just to ensure that they're in good standing.

Okay.

So when this item came up and I was taking a look at it, what I found for G strategies is that they're currently they've been delinquent since January 1st, 2026.

Del delinquent what to filing the Department of Financial papers.

So are we in place to vote on this if they're not um up to date?

Um that is a good question.

Sorry, I threw that you like because I don't know if it was yours again.

It is completely up to the common council how they choose to vote on this item.

Again, common council can approve or deny this item.

So it's totally up to you what you want to do with this item tonight.

But typically you you check the SAM and all to ensure that they're they're up to date.

Yes.

Oh, that's all I want to know.

Thank you.

Thank you.

We would go to Alder Allen next.

I'm going to uh not make my comments at this time.

Thank you.

All right, so Alder Pabone is next, then thank you, Mr.

Chair.

I think what we're hearing is there's an amount of confusion on the floor from a number of alders, and I think rightfully so.

So what I would like to see happen, and what I would like to make a motion for is we could defer this item to the next council meeting because the mayor is the one that sponsored this, but he's not here.

So I think there are ballot points raised by Alder Um Davis and Alder Um Widener as to if we're going to exceed the 50,000, okay, but we I think we need some more information, and considering that the mayor is sponsored this item, I think he's the best one to provide that to the council where the council can then make a decision on whether or not it wants to uphold his recommendation.

So I would move to defer this item to the next common council moving uh meeting.

Thank you, Alderman.

There is a motion and a second.

Uh our parliament were that's that's in okay.

We were just checking to make sure if we had to take action on the defer on the deferral versus the uh original motion to approve it, but that is in order.

Um so now the um motion on the table is to defer to the next council uh meeting.

So is there anyone who would like to speak on this item?

Okay, I am not seeing uh any lights.

So with that, we will open the roll.

Um I think we're gonna go with the iPads again.

Um looked like it was was accurate from the last one, no objections.

So when the clerk opens the roll and you see it on your iPad, please vote as you wish.

Okay, that is uh 10 yeses, one no.

Uh so that carries uh that item is uh deferred to the next council meeting.

Uh and then just to clarify with uh Alder Horton, there were no other items for separate consideration, correct?

Correct.

All right, so then without objection, the remainder of those items will be placed on the consent agenda.

Uh that takes us to public works and services uh with uh the chair, uh Alder Herman.

If you could push perfect, thank you.

Thank you, Chair.

Um I would like to have item 0396-26 communication sponsored by Alder Harmon requesting a final resolution for paving the following accessible streets that are listed in our agenda.

The recommendation is to approve.

Thank you.

And that was a motion.

Is there a second for that item?

All right, so there was a motion from Alder Harman, second from I think that sounded like Alder Pete.

Um, Alder Alder DeMarc.

That's why I asked.

It was that corner of the room.

Uh all right, so the motion is second.

Uh Alder Harman, did you wish to speak to your your motion at all?

No.

No.

Alrighty.

Uh it looks like Alder Widener is in the queue then.

Thank you.

Uh I bring your attention to this item because what was discussed at the public works committee is something different than's happened in the past, and I think it's important for people to understand what we approved.

And I don't see it in this report, but I want to be sure that it is publicly noticed.

So on item 0396, these are the accessible streets.

You see a long list of streets that were proposed.

Most of these streets were eliminated.

There's a few that uh were left.

In the past, people were not given notice that their street had either been deleted from the project or that their streets were approved for reconstruction, and when that construction would take place and when they and when they could expect to see uh payment required for the their abutting property uh charges.

So what we discussed in committee is with the streets as with the alleys that all those abutting property owners that got notices that their street or alley was up for uh review, that they would get a notice letting them know that their street had been deleted or that their street was gonna go forward.

And I think it's important for everybody to know that.

I was kind of surprised to learn last year that uh people did not get a notice when their street or alley was deleted.

So that should be part of the record.

I know we discussed it, and it's not on the report, right, Eric.

Okay.

So I know I asked for separate consideration on the alley portion.

Um, and rather than repeat myself, the same thing applies to the alleys.

So we don't have to call that one out.

All right, so there is a uh motion and a second uh to approve the streets uh that are that were not deleted.

Is there I don't see any other lights, I just want to give a final call here.

Is there anyone else who would like to speak on this item?

Seeing none, uh, we are gonna have the clerk uh open the roll.

Same process that we've done.

Oh, Alder Pavone uh coming in uh 11th hour.

Thank you, Chair.

I would just like if I could to direct a question to Engineer Multer about uh the streets for this item.

Thank you.

So my question is for these a lot of some of these were not necessarily that uh the committee had decided I chaired that meeting, but the committee had decided to approve or not approve based sometimes based on a percentage, sometimes it's only one person, what have you?

If these were to go back, what is the time is it feasible for them to go back before the committee for another review um given the length of contracts or whatever to get these of repairs done?

I I'm sorry, I'm misunderstanding your question.

So if these were to go back and uh before the committee again for reconsideration, and they were to be approved or denied whatever what have you, is that going to impede the process of the repairs for these, you know, because it's gonna take go back and then back to council for another approval, or is there no as long as they get approved, it's it's fine.

I I I mean the schedule are you talking about the approval schedule?

So we I mean our preliminary resolution goes out in January, we send out letters, they have usually about a little over a month before they before the public hearing, and they have once a public hearing happens, they got 10 days for comment period to end.

We close off the and it's usually the Friday before the committee um meets again, and then the committee we we present the committee with what we have the fours and against at the committee.

Yes, I understand that part.

My question is if this let's say this were to get delayed to go back to to the committee, okay, to be for it back for approvals or denials.

Is that going to affect the ability to repair them in a timely manner?

Other than just another couple weeks before they started.

I I mean I I think that I I we just go with what the committee or and or council tells us what is approved.

Um I don't want to I mean deferring, yes, just because we need to get these done approved and in the budget for next year.

Okay.

So that was my it's it's a shoestring timetable uh basically.

Um we and we go through this every year, so to defer it again.

I I we have no problem with the with the comments of no, you know, notifying the residents of their deletion.

Um we could do that, that's no big deal.

Okay, all right, thank you.

Okay.

Oh, we have Alder Whitner for a second time maybe I misunderstood the question of the alderman from the 15th district.

I think he was asking for those streets that were deleted.

When will those come back for two years for the streets?

Unless an alderman requests.

Unless, yeah, it's yeah, we've got several avenues of uh of things getting added to the preliminary resolution.

Allees I bring up.

Um, so I I'm jumping ahead to the next uh next item, but um they're kind of you know, two of the same alleys I bring up, um, and it's because it's by ordinance, uh I bring up uh I want to say 10 percent of the lowest rated alleys annually, so I usually pick my ones and twos.

Um, and then this year for next year's public hearing.

I'm also gonna bring up all the gravel alleys uh because they're technically zero, but we just regraded them three years ago.

I was waiting until that regrading basically is uh null and void again.

So that answer question it did.

Okay, all right.

We have uh Alder Allen.

I and I may I direct the question also to you.

Uh so for this for the streets in Alice that are in district nine.

I know that I was present at the meeting, but I also know that my district they these individuals do not want their streets.

Is it still too late for me to advocate for them again?

You guys vote, we just present the information.

So if you find support, you guys can do whatever you want.

Okay.

I just wanted to clarify was was the um if you push your your button, I can there we go.

No, my question was about specifically for the streets that are in district nine.

I know my vote was not to have them include because I I do realize that my constituents, you know, they're very adamant about not wanting to have that fiscal burden right now.

But with what Alder Pavon asked, and when it could come up for reconsideration, and if we brought it back to the committee, you're saying that it's I know it's up to us, but do we have to bring it back to committee for me to advocate for them again for for the streets that are specifically in district nine?

That yeah, if I if I can you're you're you're asking if you if there is streets on here that you would that were selected to be repaved if you're um if you were looking to have them not repaved, um I believe in our attorney can be bringing those back to the committee, like pulling those out uh from here and bringing them back to the committee.

Oh, I see.

So not not uh disallow because I this meeting is where we're either repro approving or rejecting them.

So you're looking to send them back.

And I would I believe that would go back to Alder Prabone's comments earlier.

That that was those are the comments.

Uh Alder Pavone for a second time.

Thank you, Mr.

Chair.

So I'm gonna make it really simple.

I would like to vote uh to sorry, I would like to defer this item back to the public works committee just to have a more robust discussion.

Again, I know some of these only had a small percentage, which was a driving factor for them to be denied, but I do think it's worth a revisit.

Um again, circumstances right after that special council meeting, but then we'll have um everyone back together at the committee.

Not that any of these that were approved would be denied or vice versa, but I do think with some of the questions from some of the committee members, I do think it's appropriate to send it back just to have the discussion again.

So I would move to defer to refer back to I just want to make sure okay.

Uh so the motion then is to refer uh back to public works and services.

Is there a second for that?

Second um from Alder Allen.

Um so now the the new motion uh on the table is to refer uh this item back uh to the public works and services I uh committee.

There are a couple uh folks in the queue, so just want to remind everyone we've now switched gears a little bit.

The the item on the the table to be discussed is to refer it back.

Uh and so that would be uh Alder Harman.

Thank you, Chair.

Um the question to refer it back had been presented to DPW um administration.

They stated that there is a shoestring timeline to get this done, and that they will do whatever the city council says, but that it wouldn't it wouldn't be efficient to do that.

The individuals that have questions are the committee members of the DPW department.

All the people who have questions with regard to this had the opportunity to discuss this at the last committee member meeting because they're all committee members.

In addition to that, when we had public hearing about this, we read the rules on how individuals and residents can come can submit their objections, submit their disapprovals to the aldermans, to the chair, to the department, through email, through public hearing, and we also have suggested that even if it's the majority of the people who are saying no that they don't want it done, they have that right.

But if only two or three are saying that they don't want it done, it impacts the entire community because it continues to get worse, the price does not go down, everything continues to get higher, and it still needs to be done to refer this back to the committee from to have the committee members not understand it and to refer it back so that they can understand it more when they can contact DPW to understand the process themselves seems counterproductive and is taking up a lot more time than this committee or anyone else has.

When the committee members themselves have access to understand all of what they're voting for and against, and to be knowledgeable as committee members before they come to city council so that others can ask them questions instead of them having questions.

Thank you.

Uh Alder Davis is next.

Thank you.

For the orders that wish to refer it back, are there streets in your district that you would like to now take out and ask us to delete or add it if it was on there already?

Can is that something that we can now?

I'm looking over to the city attorney.

Is that something that we can do now if they have a street that was previously presented to the committee?

Are they able to speak to our wish to delete this street or I wish to add the street back?

I'll answer the question in two parts.

So the first part is we do have a motion pending, so we would have to resolve that.

But after that, every single street that is noticed on here can be either chosen to be deleted to have the Portland uh cement concrete paving or the uh the blacktop one.

I forget the I forget the acronym for it.

Um but you can choose for every single street, one of those three.

It does not have to be limited to the four streets in one curb and gutter that have been recommended for approval by the committee.

Okay, and thank thank you.

And looking at the resolutions, not the resolutions, the summary, it has who was for and against those percentages in here for which streets and whatnot.

Committee understand that that this meeting happened on the day that we had a long meeting night, but however, there was opportunity to discuss this.

What I will say is after this motion, any orders that have a street or an alley and these items that they wish to delete or add, speak to that now so that the other um alleys and streets can move forward.

As DPW stated, it is a what a shoestring timeline.

So it is this is the longest discussion in a committee meeting I've had about the proposal for streets and alleys because it takes normally takes place in public works.

So I I I ex I respect that you've done your due diligence during that time.

So if there's any orders that didn't have a chance to review the YouTube video or reach out to DPW, now is your time to speak to that, and we can move forward.

Thank you.

Uh the next all that in the queue is Alder Weitner.

Thank you.

I'm gonna speak against the motion to refer back to the committee.

Uh Alder Davis is absolutely correct.

We can make a motion uh if it's not referred back right here tonight to amend the resolution.

We can either add streets back in or we can delete streets out.

Um we can do that with the streets.

We can do it on the next item, which is the alleys, if that's something that the alderman wishes to do.

Um we are on a on a timeline, and I know last year we did the same thing.

We deleted and added streets on the council floor, and I will speak to the uh public works and services committee that we had.

We had a full and robust thorough discussion on how the whole process works because most of the members of the public works committee are new, so the staff was very generous with their time, having waited from 5.30 until almost 7:30 before they were able to even start the committee.

We were there until after 9:30, and and everything was thoroughly discussed, so we understood completely what and why we were deleting the streets that we deleted and why we were uh keeping the ones in.

But I understand that aldermen may have a preference on removing or adding their street to either one of these projects, and tonight is the time to do that.

Thank you.

All right, thank you.

Uh Alder Allen.

Well, thank you so much.

So I'll just start with.

Yes, I did attend the meeting.

All of us were not in attendance.

Uh I did understand the process.

I had an opportunity to meet with DPW when I first got elected, so I took a lot of notes.

Uh, I went and I did vote against, and I heard most of the people that came into first of all our council meetings, and then I did go around.

I I tend to go around my district often, and there seems to be uh a resounding uh outcry against taking on more fiscal concerns during this year.

Now, and so I specifically spoke to the streets that are in mine for another opportunity.

I said another, not the first opportunity to advocate for the people that were saying that this is not the time that they can afford to do it.

And my question that I asked when I spoke the first time, though I did feel like it aligned with Alder Pavone, was more of can we pull my streets from District 9?

That was my question, so that they would not be part of this consideration tonight.

But uh and I and I do have notes from the previous meeting.

Thank you.

Uh Alder Mack would be next.

I might be speaking against the motion.

The heavy lifting is done in committee.

It's a long arduous process.

I can relate because I spent the last two years on the public works committee going through this process.

We established some guidelines at the time, although they're just guidelines that I'm assuming that the current committee use guidelines also.

And so um as pointed out, things can be added or deleted at this evening's meeting, but I I would like to caution that we have aging infrastructure in the city, people complain about poor roads, and at some point uh the costs continue to escalate.

Um at some point it has to be done, and whether it's done next year or deferred a few more years, um it eventually has to be completed.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Uh Alder Pavone.

Thank you, Mr.

Chairman.

Question is for the city attorney's office.

So um, although I made the motion and Alder Allen seconded it, technically, this belongs to the body now.

Is that correct?

So it cannot withdraw, it has to be voted on.

That is correct.

Okay.

I was misunderstanding what um I thought Alder Allen was saying.

So if I will vote against my own motion just so that way if all other alders have streets or whatnot in their district that residents have reached out, then they can do the advocating upon the uh for them regarding these or if they want to add them back in or get them deleted out.

So thank you.

Thank you.

Uh I see no one else in the queue.

Uh so that means uh we would go to uh voting on this um item.

Just to be really clear with everyone here, uh the the motion before us uh is to refer this back to committee.

Uh and it's been discussed of what happens you know with each one.

So if you vote no on this item, uh we would revert back to the original motion, uh which was to approve the committee recommendation, and from there would be able to take other uh motions, you know, amendments or approve or deny it, we'd be able to take action on that.

So what we're voting on right now is uh whether or not you'd like to send it back to committee the whole item.

Um so a yes vote is to send it back, a no vote is to revert back to the original item and continue discussion.

So I asked the clerk to open the roll.

The clerk is opening the roll, please vote as you wish.

All right, so that would be one yes, uh ten no's uh and that means that this motion fails, so we do revert back to the original motion, uh which was from Alder Harman to approve uh based on the the committee's recommendation, and so from there, uh if there's any alders that wish to speak on the original item or make any motions based off of that original item, now would be the time to do so.

Alder Widener Thank you.

I just want to be sure everyone understands the streets that we are approving our Biscayne Avenue from Oakwood Drive to Monarch, Deborah Lane from Delaware to Winthrop, Holland Avenue from Road to West Sixth Street, Indiana Street, from Duran to Pierce Boulevard.

We're also do approving the curb and gutter for Biscayne from Oakwood to Monarch.

So the longer list that you see on the previous page are all the streets that have been deleted.

So if any of those four streets that the committee approved for repaving, you wish to remove from the project, now would be the time to do that.

Or if there's any streets from the list that we deleted that you want to approve for repaving, now is the time we can amend the resolution to do that.

Thank you.

Thank you.

I am not seeing any other lights.

Um which means that if there is no one else who wishes to speak or make motions on this, uh we would go to vote on the original motion, which was to approve as recommended.

Uh last call.

All right, I ask the clerk to open the roll, please.

The clerk has opened the roll.

Please vote as you wish.

On to um back actually back to Alder Harman.

Uh did you have any other items for separate consideration?

If you wouldn't mind pressing your button, sorry.

Yes.

All right, which is the next item for separate consideration.

Thank you, Chair.

Um item 0397-26 communication sponsored by Alder Harmon requesting a final resolution for the paving of the addresses and alleys listed below.

Recommendation is to approve.

All right, we have a motion from Alder Harden Harmon, second from Alder Pabone.

Um if anyone would like to speak, there we go.

All right, Alder Weidener.

Thank you.

I'd ask that this one be withdrawn from separate consideration.

This can just be added to the consent agenda.

The issues that I brought up regarding the streets and the alleys we addressed during the streets, so there's no reason to rehash unless, of course, there's someone that wants to delete or add an alley to this resolution.

All right, so I see Alder Pabone uh has his light on.

If there is anyone else who would like to have this for separate consideration, if it's not Alder Pabone, please push your button.

Otherwise, Alder Pabone.

I just wanted to make sure is it okay to withdraw if it's already been motioned to approve and second it, or does it have to be voted on now?

Yeah, I was getting some clarification for the city.

City attorney.

So he was saying that if we can it's it's germain to ask the body if there is anyone else who would like it for separate consideration.

Uh and if not, then it sounds like we are it is um allowable to put this back to the case.

Okay.

So I'd give a first call, second call, last call.

Sounds like that item can go back on to separate consideration when we do the the motion at the end of this section.

Um for the consent agenda, yes.

Uh Alder Harman, were there any other items for separate consider?

No.

No, Chair, there's no no other items for separate consideration.

Okay, so then that means uh without objection, all of the remaining items will be placed on the consent agenda.

Okay.

Um go ahead here quick.

That means we're now going to Alder Pete uh for public safety and licensing uh committee's report.

Yes, I have two items for separate consideration.

The first item is zero zero four zero four twenty six communication again.

There we go.

Okay.

Communication sponsored by myself, submitting a new application for a class B and Class A.

I'm sorry, Class C wine license for Banquit Hall brand is LLC, DBA Banquet Hall.

Brand is located at 3319 Marchington Avenue.

Move to approve.

However, I would be making an amendment to this item uh because of some changes in the federal law or the state law when it comes to bringing the alcohol into the premise, as they could have done before the beginning of the year.

All right, so I think the way we'll handle this, there was a the original motion for approving the the committee's recommendation.

Is there a second for that?

Second from uh Alder Horton.

Um Alder Pete, you'd have the the floor now uh to talk about your original motion, or it sounds like make a possible amendment.

Yes, it's just an amendment.

Uh the motion is to amend it the changing the verbiage really from people bringing in a cooler.

That's the part they can't do anymore.

That's so that should be uh taken out.

That's all thank you.

I'll the city attorney make sure we've got that.

So to clarify on this, the uh premises description on the liquor license.

Um the prior business model of this banquet hall, which was legal up until the first of January of this year was that people could bring in alcohol in a cooler.

Um we had a good neighbors meeting with the applicant.

Uh the language about people bringing in alcohol was supposed to be stricken from the premises description and amended at committee meeting.

Um we we missed it at committee meeting to be quite frank.

And so I believe this motion is to amend the premises description to remove the phrase people bring in a cooler.

Yeah.

Thank you.

So we have a motion or motion to amend from Alder Pete, seconded by Aller Pabone.

Is there any discussion on this item?

We have it as we have the amendment first.

Any discussion on making this change?

Seeing none, uh, I will ask the clerk to open the roll for this amendment, and then we'll vote on the main motion after this amendment is there either voted up or down.

The clerk is opening the roll, please vote as you wish.

All right, that is uh 11 ayes uh and zero no.

Uh so that means that the motion uh amendment carries we'll go back to the original motion, which was to approve as recommended with the changes to the premises report.

Uh looks like saying Alder Pete.

Uh I don't have anything except the next item.

Okay.

Uh for this one, we'll go and uh vote on it uh as amended now if there's no other discussion.

Uh so just to clarify this is the original motion with the the change that we just approved in the previous amendment.

Clerk is opening the roll, please vote as you wish.

All right.

That is 11 ayes, zero no's.

Um the motion carries.

Uh, we're back to Alder Pete.

Uh, what is the next item for separate consideration?

Item number 43126 communication sponsored by Alder Wagner for the Department of Community Safety to present quarterly reports of all department activity granted applications received, applied, and pending and the expenditures to the public safety and license committee, with the first presentation being June 1st of 2026.

I would let yield to Alder Widener.

I believe that you for the way it's written, your motion would be to approve uh so move to approve the committee's recommendation.

Is there a second?

All right, seconded by uh Alder Widener.

Uh there we go.

Alder Waiter.

Thank you.

This doesn't really need separate consideration.

All it needs is the attachment that there was a presentation that was given by the director of community safety, and the attachment is not on the agenda, and it should be as this item was approved.

And then I believe that the committee also approved going forward that there would be uh quarterly reports given to the committee regarding the activities of that department.

All right, so based on what we just done before, uh, was there anyone else who wanted this item taken out for separate consideration?

First call, second call, last call.

All right, so then this item would go back uh to the consent agenda.

Uh Alder Pete, were there any other items for separate considerations?

Sir there aren't.

There are not.

Okay, so then without objection, the remaining items would be placed on the consent agenda.

All right, so then we go to the Office of the Mayor report with Vice President Allen.

Thank you, President.

Okay, direct referral communications item number 04326.

Communication sponsored by Mayor Mason, making the following appointments.

Affirmative action and human rights commission.

Alder Allison Wise with a term expiring April 30th, 2029.

Sex Offender Residency Board.

Paul J neukor new Turlin.

I do apologize if I we have a point of order, and I think I know we're going with it if you may.

I think we're on page 20.

Um it would be item 04 through 326.

For office of the mirror.

Yes.

Um it would be the transit commission would be the first one.

Oh, sorry, I lost my place.

Thank you.

Okay.

Um 04326.

Subject communications sponsored by Mayor Mason submitting the following appointments.

Transit Commission.

John White for a term expiring April 30th, 2029.

Parks Recreation and Cultural Services Board.

K Gregor for a term expiring April 30th, 2029.

Zoo Board, Tom Ware for a term expiring April 30th, 2029.

Item 40, I mean 048826.

Communications sponsored by Alder Widener submitting bid results for contract 2026.

And staff recommendation to the public works and services committee on 060926.

The contract 2026, 026 West Street and Wilson Street intersection realignment be awarded to AW Oaks and Sun Inc.

in the amount of 207,298 dollars and 25 cents.

So we will go.

Is there any wish for separate consideration?

I see uh Alder Widener has her light on.

Thank you.

I'd like separate consideration of item 0488-26.

Okay.

So just to be clear that sounds like there's no request.

I'm not seeing any lights uh for 04 through 3-26.

So that would go to the consent agenda.

Uh then we are taking up 0488-26 for separate consideration.

And so I believe Alder Allen, was there a motion to accept the staff recommendation on this one?

I'm making a motion to accept the staff recommendation, yes.

Second, all right.

There's a motion from Alder Allen, second from Alder Pete.

Uh Alder Whitner.

Thank you.

I'm gonna make a motion to to refer this item to the public works and services committee.

I think there was some mistake because this item did uh not go to the uh public works and services committee on 6-9.

As a matter of fact, the memo regarding the um the contracts came in on May 26th.

So this item has not been discussed by committee at all.

And because this is uh new funding source for paving.

So if you'll see on the bottom of the page, the funding memo, it's coming from TID 32.

And remember, we just created TID 32.

So this really needs to have a full and robust discussion in the public works and services committee before we approve this contract.

Um, I did send an email to the commissioner of public works today and asked if it was an error that this was on the office of the mayor report, and he said no, he had referred it to the public works committee.

He was uh did not know why that the clerk or the mayor put it on the office of the mayor report.

So I would ask that the committee refer this item to the committee for which it needs to have a full discussion, and that's a public works.

All right, so we have a motion from Alder Widener, second from Alder Mack.

Did you wish to speak on your motion?

I I did.

Thank you.

All right.

Um that would be uh Alder Pavone is next in the queue.

Thank you, Mr.

Chair.

Is I don't see Director Fisher here anymore, so I don't think I think she left.

Okay.

So I would uh agree with this.

I mean, this is again saying the recommendation on the ninth, and today's the second.

So um I think this does need to go back for a need to go in the first place to public works and services just to have that discussion to figure out what's going on here, and maybe we can maybe provide it more context.

So I'm in favor of the amendment to refer it.

All right, thank you.

Anyone else wish to speak and reminder the the new motion on the table is to refer this to uh public works and services.

I'm not seeing any lights.

Uh so I would ask the clerk to open the roll on this item, please.

They're gonna get that open, and once they do, please vote as you wish.

I think we need to get a new mouse for the clerk's computer here.

There we go.

All right.

Uh that motion passes with 11 yeses and zero no's that carries.

Um that has been uh referred to public works and services.

So that now brings us to the consent agenda.

So all in favor of the approval of this the consent agenda, please say aye.

All right, that brings us now to common council announcements, and I see the the lights firing up here, so we have Alder Harman to start us out tonight.

Thank you, Chair.

I have a very special person in my life.

Um, he's been in my life for the last 37 years.

Um, and his name is Robert Harmon.

And so I would like to congratulate him and Danielle Johnson, um, my future daughter-in-law, on their upcoming marriage.

I love them both.

Um, they are getting married this Saturday, June 5th, 2026, and I wish them all of the blessings upon blessings and a long lasting marriage for them and my granddaughter Nora, and I just wish them the best in their upcoming union.

Thank you so much.

Uh Alder Pavona's next.

Thank you, Mr.

Chair.

Just want to say um happy Pride Month, everyone, as well as there's a again the Juneteenth celebrations coming up, very important to attend if you can.

It's always a great time.

Um, also coming up in June will be our dog Tyrus' fourth birthday, so he can't understand, but he'll know I said his name.

And then also in the 15th district at 3840 Douglas Avenue, we had Salmon Wills Pizzeria and Pub just open.

So they are open Tuesday Tuesday through Sunday, um sorry, Tuesday through Saturday, 11 to 9, and then Sunday, 11 to 8.

So it's exciting addition to Douglas Avenue, which um the Douglas Avenue bid is also doing a punch card event.

There's some more information about that on my Aldermanic page.

You could stop by just an incentive to see a lot of what Douglas Avenue has to offer besides fast food restaurants.

So come on out.

Congratulations to Sam and Will's Pizzeria.

And um, let's I'm looking forward to a great June.

Thank you.

Thank you so much.

Uh Aller Allen.

Thank you.

All right, so this is June, and for those of us who are teachers, I wanted to say to all teachers and those that are working in education along with myself.

You know, we've had a great year, but we are all looking forward to the summer.

And to start that off, we have graduations, so I want to say congratulations to my graduates that are in Horlock, Real Walden Park and Case.

I'm looking forward to attending all of your graduations, and I'm going to just now wish you all of the success that you have coming in your life.

Thanks you for all the hard work that you've done and for the teachers that have supported you on your journey.

Uh I did want to re-emphasize that we do have the Juneteenth parade on the 13th.

That happens to be the second Saturday of the month.

So for those in my district that normally meet me for coffee on the second Saturday of every month, we will be celebrating the Juneteenth that day with the parade.

And just for the fellow aldermen, I did send out emails to everyone just to see who I wanted to uh walk together for that.

And then in June, we are celebrating, of course, Father's Day, and along with that comes health month, and something really special for those of us who are environmentally friendly.

It's World Oceans Day as well.

And we are also supporting those in LGBTQIA community and those that uh love and support them.

This is their month, your month as well.

And to everyone else, have a wonderful rest of your week.

Thank you.

Thank you so much.

Uh, we now go to Alder Mack.

Thank you.

I mentioned this last year, and I'll mention it again.

A hundred and two years ago, today, my grandfather became an American citizen.

Except my grandfather was born here in America in northwestern Minnesota.

102 years ago, today the United States passed the Indian Citizenship Act, which gave my grandfather and his grandmother or his father and his grandmother citizenship in these United States.

I also found out two weeks ago that my grandfather was put in a boarding school in Pipestone, Minnesota, him and his sister for four years.

And so I am the grandson of a boarding school survivor.

On a cheer note, hats off to the over your head players for a great run with Salmonorama.

I don't know if uh anyone had a chance to see it, but uh poked fun at um poked fun at us a few times, and uh they did a nice um original play highlighting life uh in the 70s in Racine here, and then um shout out to the parks department for the great work they've done on the new playground.

I took my grandchildren over there the first time they got to see it was over Memorial Day, and my oldest looked at me and he said, Thank you, Grandpa.

And then he started to tell kids that uh he helped plan the playground because I brought him to the initial planning meeting to review the plans.

So we're looking forward to uh hopefully in the very very near future dedicating that uh new playground.

But it's exciting to see all the people that are enjoying it and the smiling faces and the parents watching the kids, and I've been going over not on a daily basis, but pretty close to it, and just asking the adults what do you think?

And uh the comments have been wonderful and positive.

So um thank you to Matt and his staff for doing that.

And while uh Salmon Wills isn't in the fourth district, it is part of the Douglas Avenue bid, which I think half the Douglas Avenue bid is in my district.

Uh I did have lunch there today, wanted to support that new restaurant.

It was excellent.

Encourage everyone to go out and try it, and then um maybe go there for lunch and then go down to the fourth district and have dinner at Mihakalito or one of our uh our great restaurants there.

So thank you.

Thank you.

Uh Alder DeMark.

Um I just want to say uh congratulations to all the kids who are gonna graduate uh this upcoming week or next week.

Um I just wanted to say um happy Father's Day to all the fathers out there and happy Pride Mont.

Thank you.

We now go to Alder Davis.

Thank you.

Uh start with, yes, happy Pride Month is my month, our month.

Okay.

Second, it's already been mentioned that Juneteenth is June 13th, celebrated here in Racine.

The actual day of Juneteenth is June 19th, but please come out June 13th.

What I'm pulling up is as a few of us have mentioned that school is almost out.

Girls Inc.

of Southeast Wisconsin has a summer camp for girls entering third grade, going to eighth grade at the Dr.

John Bryan Center, July 13th to July 23rd.

Go check out the girls' Inc.

uh Facebook page, or follow the orderman, Olivia Turquoise Davis Facebook page as I'm trying to stay on top of activities for our youth during the summer so that we will have a safe, fun, sunny summer.

That is all.

Thank you.

Thank you so much.

Uh we go to Alder Wagner Thank you.

I would like to congratulate the 14 speakers that we had here tonight before us.

Um it's reminiscent of the old days when the council chambers used to be packed with speakers.

Um I want you all to know I hear you, every one of you hear you loud and clear.

I also want to say congratulations, and I hope it's not short-lived to the resurrection of the festivals.

We now have at least three that are on the books.

That I believe opens three days after the expiration of the contract of 5K.

I see here tonight we do not have a city attorney, we do not have a mayor, and we do not have a uh city administrator.

We also have a contract that's in crisis, and we have several festivals that don't know what is going to happen to them moving forward.

We have to take care of our business so that we don't jeopardize the return of those festivals, and that has to be done as of now.

Thank you.

Thank you.

We now go to Alder Pavone for second time.

Sorry, I normally try to get this all out in the first time, but I and all everything going on in June.

I forgot to wish my father Irving a happy Father's Day, along with my my brothers Irving Jr.

Cody and Guadalupe.

So forgot about that.

Whoops, thanks.

All right, thank you, Mr.

President.

Just a quick reminder on Friday, uh June 5th is uh gun violence awareness day.

There'll be a Venet at Horick High School uh from 11 o'clock to 130.

Um, and this is sponsorship with uh the county uh racing county, the city racing, the racing police department, and Milwaukee Wave.

So come out, have a hot dog murder.

So I'm just too uh that day pretty much is to wear orange.

Thank you.

Thank you so much.

I oh okay.

He popped back in the queue for a second.

Um so I see no other lights uh in the queue wishing to speak.

That means that I would uh entertain a motion to adjourn.

We have a motion from Alder Pabone, second from Alder Harmon to adjourn.

All in favor, please say aye.

We are adjourned,