The Woodstock City Council met on March 18, 2025, at 7:00 p.m. in City Council Chambers. Five of seven council members were present, establishing a quorum. The meeting included public comments, approval of the consent calendar, and transmittal of the FY2025/2026 annual budget. The meeting adjourned at approximately 7:50 p.m.
Well, good evening, ladies and gentlemen. I'd like to welcome you to this evening's meeting of the Woodstock City Council. Brief announcements before we get started this evening. First is that the agenda for this evening's meeting will be shown on the uh on the screens in the um uh in the chamber. Um the city of Woodstock operates under what's called a consent format. Consent format means that all items for action this evening will be considered under a single motion and a single vote. Member of the Woodstock City Council may request an item to be removed and considered separately with a separate vote. And members of the public may request an item to be removed as well for separate consideration and voting, and if agreed to by a member of the Woodstock City Council, that item as well will be removed for separate consideration and voting. There are two opportunities for public comment this evening. The first being at the start of the meeting under uh under the public under floor discussion, public comment. May members of the public may come forward to the podium in the middle of the room. If they're willing to do so, state their name and address for purpose of the record, and feel free to make their comments. The City of Woodstock does have a limitation of three minutes for public comment during floor discussion. The second opportunity for public comment this evening is uh when we take uh action uh uh have items for action, the members of the public will be offered an opportunity to provide input to the city council on those items considered for action. Any questions on those brief announcements before we get started? All right, hearing none, I'll go ahead and officially call the order this March 18th, 2025 meeting of the Woodstock City Council to order and ask the clerk to please call the roll. Councilman Flynn, Townswoman McMahon, Councilman Nearman. Here, Councilman Seegers. Here, Councilman Thibault. Here. Councilwoman Zemba. Here, Mayor Turner. Here. The record reflect that five of the seven members of the Woodstock City Council are present in the chamber this evening. That is enough for a quorum. Uh Jane, would you please confirm that the that the agenda this evening is the same as the true and published agenda? Yes, it is. Thank you, Jane. That being the case, ladies and gentlemen of the council, the people's business is duly and appropriately before us. The first item under this evening's agenda is floor discussion, public comment. At this time, I invite members of the public to come forward to the podium in the middle of the room. They're willing to do so, say their name and address for purpose of the record. Feel free to make public comment to the Woodstock City Council, and just uh so the public is aware there is a three minute limitation under floor discussion, public comment by the City of Woodstock ordinance. Members of the public are free to come forward at this time. Yes, ma'am. Thank you. I would ask um if we're not finished at the end of our three minutes, if we'll be as close as we can. I'm here tonight as the commander of the American Legion post-412. In 2012, President Obama signed a presidential proclamation declaring March 29th, the annual observance of Vietnam War Veterans Day. The signing marked the 50th anniversary of the departure of the last American troops from Vietnam, which was March 29th, 1973. A quote from the proclamation states in one of the war's most profound tragedies, many of the men and women who came home were shunned or neglected to face treatment unbefitting their courage and valor, and a welcome that was unworthy of their example. We must never let this happen again. There are 35 names on the Vietnam Venture Memorial in front of the administration building on Ware Road. Twenty-six were in the Army, five were Marines, three were in the Air Force, one was in the Navy. Two casualties of those thirty-five were helicopter pilots and lost their entire crew. The young men hailed from twelve villages around McHenry County, and each death left a hole in the fabric of our public life, whether we knew them or not. The families who mourned them, the communities who lost the contributions they might have made, the children that might have called them father, lost. We lost all of that. The cost of war is devastating, and it makes the lives of survivors grief-filled for decades. I will tell you since researching this project, I have never skipped putting my hand on that memorial in front of the uh McHenry County Government Center on Ware Road.