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[0:33] I'd like to call the City of Council, City Council meeting for September 23rd, 2025, to
[0:41] order. Roll call. Green. Here. Seaton. Here. Houseman. Here. Furman. Here. Stainman. Here.
[0:51] Would everyone please stand for the invocation?
[0:57] I'm sorry, associate pastor of the Heights
[0:59] Church,
[1:07] Joseph Lee, I'm sorry, and remain standing for the pledge of allegiance.
[1:16] I'm going to go ahead and pray for us. Dear Heavenly Father, Lord, I'm just
[1:19] thankful for this time, Lord, thankful for these leaders. God, I pray that you
[1:24] just continue to unify our city, our community. Lord, I pray that you keep
[1:29] our first responders safe. Lord, I'm so thankful for the police officers, those
[1:35] that help serve our community day in and day out, God. I pray that you put
[1:39] but a layer of protection, spiritually, physically,
[1:42] emotionally around our city.
[1:44] And Lord, I'm grateful for these leaders.
[1:46] I pray again for continued guidance and discernment
[1:50] as they install and instill different rules and regulations,
[1:54] Lord, and just pray that it brings you glory.
[1:57] And again, I'm thankful for this time.
[1:59] And we love you.
[2:01] Thank you.
[2:01] It's in Jesus' name.
[2:03] Amen.
[2:06] of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation under
[2:13] God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.
[2:21] Next item.
[2:22] First item tonight is the presentation of the Yard of the Month Award for September
[2:27] 2025.
[2:28] It is
[2:32] Tony and Jan Hayden here.
[3:19] Next item proclamation fire prevention week October 5th is the 11th
[3:40] Whereas fire poses a serious threat to the safety and well-being of our community and
[3:46] prevention is the most effective way to protect lives and property and whereas the members
[3:50] of the council fire department work tirelessly to reduce the risk of fire through education,
[3:56] prevention, and emergency response and whereas this year's fire prevention week theme charge
[4:03] into fire safety highlights the importance of safe practices when using and charging electrical
[4:08] devices and whereas it is fitting to recognize the dedication of our firefighters and encourage
[4:15] all residents to take proactive steps to protect themselves and their families.
[4:21] Therefore, I, Jeff Stamen, Mayor of the City of Council, will do hereby proclaim
[4:24] October 5th through the 11th, 2025, this Fire Prevention Week in the City of
[4:29] council and urge all residents to join in practicing fire safety
[4:37] next business
[4:38] prior to public input is item one ordinance rezoning property to planned
[4:42] before commercial district 1447 north block road at present station to be
[4:49] given by Joseph associate planner Joseph Lambson mayor stem members of the
[4:54] council thank you tonight before you is a rezoning for lurch properties at
[5:03] at 1447 North Bluff Road here in Collinsville.
[5:07] We are here tonight solely due to the materials,
[5:11] not due to the actual use.
[5:14] The use is permitted by right.
[5:16] The reason we're here tonight is because
[5:18] the exterior siting of the building
[5:19] was constructed in corrugated metal
[5:22] with a stucco flex finish
[5:24] in lieu of the approved cement board panels.
[5:29] I don't think I got a clicker up here.
[5:31] here. So this is the zoning map showing the zoning around residential across the street,
[5:38] but in this little strip here, this is all commercial, but it is more or less being
[5:42] used as warehouse space. All the buildings within this district are all metal-sided warehouses.
[5:51] This is just a site photo kind of showing where the building is in comparison to the
[6:00] finished product that was taken in July.
[6:04] So by rezoning this parcel I wanted to
[6:07] make this map off to the right here to show that all of these buildings are
[6:11] metal sided that are next to the subject property. All of the buildings on that
[6:18] same side are of course the residential across the street is not but I will say
[6:23] this the keeping the main and maintaining the character of the
[6:27] area. In the planning commission, we actually had somebody come up and give a speech from
[6:33] one of the neighbors directly across the road from the subject property. And she said that
[6:39] it is more or less agreeable. It is a good use of the material and it looks good. So
[6:47] it fits the character of the area. And that is what staff agrees on, too.
[6:55] So with this,
[6:56] the applicant is requesting a deviation from those material requirements that
[7:01] require those the cement board. As you can see over here on the right it more
[7:07] or less shows that finished product again and then on the top what that is
[7:11] is that's just the approved design as shown in the in the site plan and down
[7:17] at the bottom you can you can kind of see how it's that that on that middle
[7:21] picture you can kind of see how it's that spray on it's got a coating on
[7:24] the top of it, that's to help with fire retardants and things like that, protection, and it's
[7:30] supposed to last up to 30 years. This is just a picture of the site plan of the building
[7:36] showing the approved material on the side right there, the stucco finish, or the cement
[7:45] board panels can't talk today, and then down there on the other side showing the left
[7:52] elevation to that facing north, I believe. That also was the same material being used.
[7:59] But as you can see, and I believe the next picture, or sorry, that's two pictures from
[8:04] now, is the metal building again and how it actually looks. But I was finishing up
[8:13] there more or less. It passes all of our criteria and staff recommends approval for
[8:19] with a request to rezone.
[8:21] And I will be happy to take any questions or anything.
[8:25] Any questions or comments?
[8:30] Clarify it, was there the cement board
[8:32] was originally approved and this is variance from that?
[8:36] Yes, because it was just a small discrepancy, so.
[8:40] Okay, any other comments?
[8:44] Okay, I have a motion to approve.
[8:46] So moved.
[8:47] I'll second it.
[8:47] motion by Furman second by Green roll call green yes see yes houseman yes Furman
[8:55] yes statement yes thank you next item under council discussion the PFAS update
[9:04] water quality the
[9:10] given by director Troy Turner and supervisor Billy Jones
[9:23] Thank you, Mayor and members of council. We are back before you today to provide an update about PFAS in our source water.
[9:33] To briefly summarize the previous presentation to council, PFAS are a group of chemicals made by human industry that have contaminated every corner of the globe.
[9:42] One way our community is impacted is the contamination of our groundwater.
[9:46] water. Since we last spoke, we continue to move forward in the development and implementation
[9:52] of large scale and total PFAS removal at our water treatment plant. Engineers are currently
[9:59] researching and confirming treatment strategies. Once the system is approved, design will
[10:04] begin in 2026, and PFAS removal from all finished tap water is on schedule for April
[10:09] of 2029.
[10:15] When we last talked, we have continued to test for PFAS in both our source water
[10:22] and our treated tap water since we last talked. Based on five years of results, well 15 was
[10:29] removed from service as it was determined that that well produced a finished water
[10:34] product with detectable levels of PFAS. All other wells were able to produce finished
[10:40] tap water with no detectable PFAS. However, new 2025 results show increases in PFAS levels
[10:48] in our remaining wells with detectable PFAS in our finished water.
[10:57] So here's a summary
[10:58] of the results of our most recent tests that took place since the presentation on
[11:04] June 10th. Well, the results came back since the presentation on June 10th. The first
[11:12] sample there, we sent samples off from Wells 9-12 and the finished water
[11:16] resulting from Wells 9-12. We used a lab that had recently been accredited by
[11:22] the EPA to do PFAS sampling. We went with them because they were close and we
[11:28] could deliver the samples by hand so there was no need to expensively
[11:32] package and ship samples across state borders. However, when we got the
[11:39] results back, the lab did not have results for two of the three samples. They cited quality
[11:49] control issues with the samples and they were not run or analyzed. However, the finished
[11:55] sample was analyzed and they did give us that result. At the time those results did
[12:01] not match previous trends that we had expected from the last five years of data. So due
[12:09] to the fact that two-thirds of the samples were inconclusive and one did not match what
[12:15] our expectations were before we couldn't make any determinations, decisions, or come
[12:20] to any conclusions on that sample. We weren't confident in doing so. So we decided to get
[12:25] a second opinion. We reached out to a lab that we had used before and we were confident
[12:30] with and had been PFAS accredited for some time. And we sent them those same three
[12:35] samples almost two months later. When those results came back, the finished sample corroborated
[12:44] the sample that we received from the first laboratory.
[12:52] Okay. So, based on these recent
[12:56] test results, the Water Department of the City of Collinsville now recommends all customers
[13:00] customers filter their city tap water before cooking or drinking.
[13:06] The EPA lists on their website a number of filters and solutions to removing PFAS from
[13:14] water at point of use.
[13:15] They include granular activated carbon filters, reverse osmosis or RO house systems, and
[13:23] anion exchange house systems.
[13:25] systems.
[13:27] Customers can still bathe and wash their clothes in the tap water safely.
[13:38] Currently
[13:39] we are also updating the city website and social media communications to reflect these
[13:44] new recommendations and with that we conclude the update and I welcome any questions from
[13:48] the council.
[13:52] Is there any comments or questions?
[13:55] Yes.
[13:58] I'll just a quick, will we be testing again?
[14:03] We've met all the requirements for testing. At this point, we approve that there's no
[14:09] way to stop PFAS from coming into our source water, so we don't have to test anymore.
[14:15] But what we are doing is moving forward with a plan to remediate and remove PFAS and that
[14:21] will be in place by 2029.
[14:23] Okay. And our reason, I understand the need to remediate and I think we just obviously
[14:27] head down that path. But what if we test it again in May of 26 and those things, the PFAS
[14:34] levels have dropped? Right. Is that even possible? So even if it is very possible because this,
[14:41] our water source comes from an aquifer underground, right, and we have no control of that. So
[15:00] So what will happen is it can fluctuate, it can go up and down. We don't know what the
[15:04] results will be. So this is why we're making the recommendations at this point in time,
[15:09] because our previous wells never had this issue until now. So we're still going to stand
[15:15] with the recommendation and move forward with remediation.
[15:22] My question may be kind of silly, but on the previous slide it said you could currently
[15:29] bathe and do laundry and that. Is there any reason, is that word currently caught my attention?
[15:35] Is there any reason why that would change?
[15:37] No, not for bathing. Not for bathing and laundry.
[15:41] We're talking drinking and cooking is where we recommend and the EPA recommends that you use one of the methods that's listed.
[15:56] Okay. Nothing else more to comment?
[15:58] All right. Thank you for your presentation next time. Thank you. Next item, speakers on the floor.
[16:09] Speakers may address the council under the terms of ordinance number 4765. Time is limited to four minutes per speaker.
[16:16] Please refer to the last page of the agenda for a specific rules governing input.
[16:22] Is there anyone on this left side of the room that would like to speak?
[16:30] Anyone on the right side of the room would like to speak?
[16:35] Okay, being none, next time.
[16:37] Comments and announcements from the mayor?
[16:40] Yes, I'd like to just talk a little bit about,
[16:44] I went to the IML Illinois Municipal League conference this last week,
[16:51] And I just like to give a little kind of a little overview for everybody what what was what we did and
[16:59] Illinois Municipal League the city has been a member of that for
[17:03] as long as I can remember and
[17:05] It's it's an association of mayors
[17:10] Throughout the state of Illinois
[17:11] there's
[17:13] 1294 municipalities they're represented by ML and
[17:17] And they have a conference every year.
[17:22] I've been for the last three or four years,
[17:25] four years probably,
[17:26] and it's just a tremendous learning opportunity
[17:30] for council members.
[17:32] And I, Derek and Donna have been before,
[17:36] and what I'm gonna do, ask tonight,
[17:39] is encourage the rest of the council
[17:40] to attend the training sessions they have.
[17:44] it's three days of training sessions, covering everything from PFAS, there was a seminar on
[17:54] that, legal issues, TIF, economic development, anything that we deal with on a day-to-day
[18:01] basis there is something to learn there. So it's particularly helpful I think for newer
[18:08] council members so I would say Tony and David just recommend that you next year
[18:17] we go to that as get as many as we can to participate and great learning
[18:22] experience and we brought back a lot of information and I know Jessica and Derek
[18:28] use IML information almost every day in their work so it really brings and I
[18:35] think more than are just as much as the training sessions, like any other training seminars
[18:42] whether it's the police or fire, community development. You learn so much by talking
[18:48] with other communities and seeing what other communities are doing and you realize that
[18:54] you're not the only one out there like PFAS with this problem. You can learn how other
[18:59] communities are dealing with it, your neighboring communities and the ones in the suburbs
[19:04] in Chicago. We're all in this together and we're all trying to do the same thing, provide
[19:09] services to people. So IML is our spokesman at the state level. So they lobby for the
[19:18] things that help cities. And we can't do it singly as a city, but as a group, we have
[19:24] a big voice in what we can affect on the state level. And they made some, just recently
[19:29] and it made some very, there's been some big successes
[19:32] on what they've been able to accomplish.
[19:34] So anyway, that's just kind of an update.
[19:37] I know it's a very broad update,
[19:39] but it's, I encourage that we attend as much,
[19:42] we get as much participation as we can, so.
[19:46] That's all.
[19:46] Oh, one comment about the Italian Fest.
[19:54] Even because the parade had be canceled,
[19:59] but regardless of that there was still a great turnout Friday of Saturday night
[20:04] after three different rains it was still a great turnout after it finally stopped
[20:10] raining the place was packed I know the vendors and businesses didn't have as
[20:16] good a night as they did previous years with good weather but it was amazing
[20:21] how the people still came out for a Saturday night after the rain they had
[20:26] that vendors had to put tents back up, the wind was blowing,
[20:30] so, but it was pretty impressive at eight, nine o'clock
[20:34] to see that there was that many people still up there.
[20:37] So, hope for a better year next year.
[20:40] That's all.
[20:41] Comments and announcements from council members?
[20:45] I was gonna mention the Italian Fest as well.
[20:47] I was up there Friday night, it was packed.
[20:49] It was one of the biggest crowds I think I've seen
[20:52] and I didn't get to go on Saturday night,
[20:54] But I was texting and asking how the crowd was and I was told that what you just said that people showed up even after all the rain
[21:01] They were out there. So
[21:03] It seems like it was a pretty successful year
[21:06] Except for the rain
[21:10] Anyone else?
[21:12] Next time
[21:14] Comments and announces from city staff
[21:17] Thank you mayor members of council. We got some good programming to share with you this evening
[21:20] So first I'll have kimberley corn come up and talk about some programming in the parks direct department
[21:27] Mayor Stamen and members of the council, we have our last tunes at Bloom this
[21:30] Wednesday. It's amazing that September has gone as fast as it has. So fingers crossed
[21:35] that we get some good weather. We've had great weather so far and nice crowds, great
[21:39] music. The Duda Bides, I think Dudo is a play on the dude, but Duo, they'll be
[21:47] there tomorrow night. Hopefully you'll be there as well. Free music at the
[21:50] Bloom House. And then I do have something else on here. Alright, we're
[21:54] I'm doing a Make Your Own Scarecrow workshop
[21:56] at Willoughby Farm on September 30th.
[22:00] It is a paid per Scarecrow, so if your whole family
[22:02] wants to come and just build one Scarecrow,
[22:05] it's just $10 per Scarecrow.
[22:07] And then we're working on an Adam Sandler movie night.
[22:09] We will show, put the giant inflatable screen up
[22:12] in front of City Hall, and have a few contests
[22:16] along with this for best Adam Sandler look-alike,
[22:20] any character that is a supporting character,
[22:23] and then a couple's contest as well.
[22:25] So hopefully you can come up and watch a movie
[22:27] and then hang out in the uptown and have a grab a bite to eat
[22:29] or drink at one of our fine uptown establishments.
[22:32] Thanks Kimberly.
[22:33] Thank you.
[22:34] Next I'll have Jamie Lane, our director of the Gateway
[22:36] Convention Center and talk about some events going
[22:38] on at the center here in the next couple of weeks.
[22:40] Hi
[22:43] Mayor and members of the council.
[22:45] We're busy going into the fall with lots
[22:48] of private and public events.
[22:49] What I'm featuring here is a few of the ones coming
[22:52] up in the next month.
[22:53] So the first one is this Thursday. It's the ultimate Elvis concert
[22:58] So I know you've heard me talking about Elvis a couple of times
[23:01] We have an annual festival. That's a multi-day event in the summer
[23:05] But this is a one-night concert with two of the ultimate Elvis champions
[23:11] one is a local Bill Cherry and Cody Dinoeth is the other one so
[23:17] Tickets, I believe start at about $30 and go up from there and there are still tickets available
[23:23] level. The doors open at 7.30 and again that's this Thursday, September 25th. And the next
[23:30] one is this Saturday on September 27th. Confluence Crush is a flat track roller derby and I know
[23:37] you've heard about that one a few times. We are their home track so when they are having
[23:41] their home bouts as they call it, they have them at Gateway. The competition this Saturday
[23:47] Thursday is against a team from Indiana and another one from Iowa.
[23:51] So that's September 27th, doors open at five o'clock.
[23:56] And when we get into October, it's a wonderful time of year for Gateway.
[23:59] We love this event, ARCON 48, they've been coming since day one really in 1991 Gateway
[24:06] started.
[24:07] We started having this event annually, so they were somewhere before us, but anyway,
[24:12] This event is October 3rd through the 5th, and it is a science fiction convention.
[24:19] It's everything science fiction fantasy. There's a lot of vendors, authors.
[24:24] They have a masquerade that's a huge performance competition.
[24:29] And there's tons of costumes. Everyone is dressed up.
[24:33] Some of them are working on their costumes all year long.
[24:35] So it really starts the Halloween season for us down at Eastport.
[24:39] people are walking around is Star Trek,
[24:42] going to the restaurants and hotels.
[24:44] It's a great event.
[24:46] About 2,000 attendees is what their attendance is tracking at,
[24:50] and they sell out the double tree, the dreary inn,
[24:54] and the hotels around Gateway.
[24:57] So that's an exciting event.
[24:59] And the last one I'll talk about is Just Between Friends.
[25:01] It's a STL Metro East fall and winter sale.
[25:05] This is a consignment sale,
[25:08] And it's great prices. It's brand name items, gently used items, a lot of children's items,
[25:15] but they do have adults clothing as well. But it's a lot of clothing, toys, books, baby gear,
[25:20] baby equipment, strollers, that kind of a thing. And it is 50 to 90% off of the retail rates that
[25:26] you might find in the stores. And again, some brand name items. So it is October 9th to
[25:30] the 12th. And this event comes to Gateway three different times in the year, over the
[25:36] course of the year and so people are also looking to clean out their
[25:40] equipment from their homes or their clothing. This is an entity that they
[25:43] can sell items to as well so I just thought I'd mention that as well so but
[25:47] that's it. And last I'll have Joseph Williamson, our associate planner
[25:52] come back up. Joseph is also the staff liaison for the Historic Preservation
[25:55] Commission. He's going to give a little bit of a plug here for the Council of Historic Museum.
[25:59] Thanks, Derek. So Mayor, Mayor Stamman, members of the council, more or less I just wanted
[26:06] to invite you all and invite the public and everybody else who would like to attend to
[26:11] a the night of the museum. This is October 16th from 6.30 to 9. More or less it's just
[26:19] going to be a nice sit-down wine, beer, $25 gets you in the door and you get dinner
[26:26] with it as well and you just get to learn a little bit about local Collinsville
[26:31] history and there may be a surprise guest there from Collinsville's local
[26:34] past so show up and join us thank you that's all we ever said all right next
[26:43] item next item is the consent agenda item one motion to approve payment of
[26:49] bills for the period ending August 29th 2025 in the amount of one million four
[26:53] $575,628.90.
[26:56] Item two, motion to approve payroll
[26:59] for the period ending August 29, 2025
[27:02] in the amount of $862,685.58.
[27:07] Item number three, motion to approve minutes
[27:09] of the September 9, 2025 council meeting.
[27:13] Item number four is a resolution requesting permission
[27:16] from IDOT to close a portion of Collinsville Main Street
[27:19] for the fall festival.
[27:21] And item number five is resolution re-appointing a member to the Parks and Recreation Advisory Commission, Jury Brunmeyer.
[27:30] Is there any items that anyone would like to remove from the consent agenda and vote on separately?
[27:37] Being none have a motion to approve.
[27:39] So moved.
[27:41] Second.
[27:42] Most of my housemen seconded by Seton. Roll call.
[27:46] Green. Yes.
[27:47] Seton. Yes.
[27:48] Houseman. Yes.
[27:49] Furman. Yes.
[27:50] Statement.
[27:51] Yes less is adjournment
[27:54] What have
[27:59] a motion to adjourn so moved second most by green thank my houseman
[28:05] City Council meeting for September 23rd
[28:13] Yes
[28:16] Yes
[28:17] Yes
[28:19] City Council meeting September 23rd 2025 is adjourned