[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

City Council on 2025-09-23 6:30 PM

Transcript