[0:00] I'd like to call this meeting of the Princeton City Council to order. Clear

[0:03] call rule. >> Mayor Mabry

[0:05] » here. >> Council Newland

[0:06] » here. >> Gomez

[0:07] » here. >> McCall

[0:08] » here. >> And Seki

[0:10] » here. >> Would you please stand and join us in

[0:11] the pledge of >> allegiance?

[0:14] I aliance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic

[0:20] for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and

[0:26] justice for all. Very

[0:30] good. Now, before we go on to um public comment, we've got two special guests

[0:34] coming this evening. So, we're going to discuss our I guess best way to describe

[0:39] as our lead uh water service pipes and uh with uh Chamlin Associates is Ryan

[0:48] over here.

[0:58] Hi everybody. I'm Ryan Lane chairman of Associates. Um I don't know where

[1:04] everybody stands on the information that service lines. So just kind of give a

[1:08] brief overview. Let's ask questions. Okay. So lead service lines you have

[1:14] about 3,900 320 of those being led 900 unknown.

[1:22] Um we basically in like 2022 IPA passed a

[1:28] law that lead service line notification replacement act. Um basically you have

[1:34] to notify the residents about it and replace that service lines. So,

[1:40] um, they gave you until 2020, uh, 2027 to fill out the

[1:47] notification or to do the notifications and do an inventory, which you guys are

[1:53] up to date. You have that, you know, that's already done. And then from 2027

[2:00] to like 2034, you have to replace these little service lines. So,

[2:05] and you have to do that at a rate of 7% per year, which roughly in your case is

[2:10] call it 100 lines per year. So, you guys are eligible. So, there are

[2:20] grants, small grants or whatever that really aren't funded to do this type of

[2:25] work. The best bet is being an IPA loan. IPA will do principal forgiveness. They

[2:31] will also loan you money at 0%. For 30 years if you're not a

[2:38] disadvantaged community. Princeton is a disadvantaged community which allows

[2:42] them to do 40-year loan term at 0%. U

[2:51] the I was talking to John before this.

[2:55] Sounds like you guys are doing a lot of potholeing. Last numbers I had were, you

[2:59] know, 1,200 unknowns and they've knocked it down to 900,

[3:04] which is significantly saving you a lot of money to knock that number down. Um,

[3:09] so you don't have to hire um somebody else to come in and do the work.

[3:15] Yeah. So, is there any questions with that or

[3:21] how many are we obligated to to replace to has that number been determined yet?

[3:27] like 900. >> Well, okay. So, yeah, you have 320 lead

[3:31] lines and 900 unknowns. So, as they pothole and knock that number down, it

[3:37] just keeps shrinking. So, there's no definitive number yet. Those

[3:42] » So, it's in the,200 units now and then it could be less once

[3:46] we get >> correct. Yep.

[3:48] » And what does it cost to replace a lead line or line? anywhere.

[3:54] Ballpark number is about $7,000. Um, okay.

[3:58] » Now, when you apply for an IEPA loan, you typically like to ask for more money

[4:04] than you're going to need. So, I mean, if you see loan numbers, they're going

[4:08] to be I'll probably estimate around $10,000.

[4:11] Um, at the end of the month, we have a project bidding into Pew London project.

[4:18] Um, so I'll have hard numbers. >> Sure. You know, I mean, we did one in

[4:22] Cole City a couple years ago, but at the end of the month, we'll have more up to

[4:27] date. >> I mean, 7 to 10,000 per unit.

[4:30] » Correct. >> So, just and I tried to keep the council

[4:35] up to date on this, but we've done three rounds of the inventory. So, basically

[4:40] three rounds of funding at 50,000 a piece to go out and try to do the

[4:44] inventory of of these lines. We're now at a phase where we know enough that we

[4:50] can start to apply for some of the funding even though we're not totally

[4:53] done with the inventory. So, we're getting ready to start that application

[4:57] process to apply for the funds. So, I I think compared to most communities,

[5:01] we're kind of ahead of the game here. Correct. We want to stay ahead of the

[5:04] game while the money's there. >> Yeah. So, you guys are doing a good job

[5:08] by um potholeing and knocking down those unknowns. Now the next step is um to

[5:15] comply with the 7% per year replacement that you have to do. So again roughly

[5:20] 100 lines per year. Um so you could either fund it yourself. The

[5:28] typical funding routes um IPA loan fund it yourself grants but like I said the

[5:34] grant they're really not there. They're not funded unfortunately. Um, I know

[5:40] that's frustrating, but um, yeah, I I've seen, you know,

[5:46] municipal bonds is another one, but typically

[5:51] the best bet you're going to have is an IEP loan. It's 0% for 40 years.

[5:56] » Just just a question now, as far as like you mentioned, the $7,000 cost. If like

[6:02] if there was an individual obviously the city has a total responsibility

[6:07] uh as far as replacing those is there anything that's going to be uh specific

[6:12] to the actual homeowner as far as any cost to them to replace these lines?

[6:20] » Not direct. No. Um I mean if you guys have to um whatever to raise rates to

[6:28] you know pay back the loan then yes. Um Hector I think

[6:33] » but there's a yeah there's a cost. >> Yeah. Right. Right. Right. Now this the

[6:36] way the city the way the city has it is the homeowner owns the service line to

[6:41] the property and then the city owns it the customer owns it from the home to

[6:46] the property line and then the city owns it from the property line to the water

[6:50] man. So, as of right now, the customer if they wanted to replace it, there is a

[6:55] cost for them. If they want to replace their side and then the city would come

[6:59] in and replace our side at no cost. But moving forward, um we're hoping to get

[7:05] grant funds and we're hoping that we can alleviate that situation and start

[7:10] making full replacements and not putting that on our customer. So, as far as like

[7:16] let's say for the homeowner from where the homeowner has a service to

[7:23] where the road or the attachment goes to the main line or uh how much would that

[7:27] cost for a homeowner? >> Well, you're going to probably be in the

[7:31] five or six $5,000 range. It all depends on how far back a house is set, what's

[7:36] in the yard, what you need to dig up. I mean, you're looking at somewhere

[7:40] between three and $5,000 probably for a homeowner to replace their side. Rough

[7:45] estimate. >> Yeah. I guess I I guess that's if you're

[7:47] doing it like on your own like today if you wanted to go replace that.

[7:52] » Yeah. Um >> because that's that's why I'm asking

[7:55] because I know that there's probably like individual homeowners that

[7:58] » uh they hear the lead right away. >> Yes.

[8:01] » And they want to replace it even though it's really not harmful unless you

[8:05] actually disturb it. >> Correct. I've had things

[8:08] » and we've had some already that they've they went ahead and replaced their side

[8:11] and we've come in and replaced ours and it's it's a done deal.

[8:15] » But if if you were to get IPA funds, um they kind of expect you to do the

[8:21] full line the city for for you guys to do the full line instead of leaving

[8:28] partial replacements. it comes with a whole another set of hassle and it's not

[8:33] it would not be a good idea to only replace you know a part of the line. So

[8:38] if you were to get the IPA funds it's recommended to replace the full into the

[8:43] customer's house. So >> on these bills when would you estimate

[8:48] in Princeton the last time light was used? 60s. So, it's in the 80s is when

[8:55] they said you should probably stop using it, but they didn't ban it until

[9:02] later in the 80s. Just from my experience, Don, I think

[9:07] the city of Princeton probably quit using it in the 40s to 50s.

[9:11] » Okay. >> Um, in the 60s, we're starting to see

[9:14] copper in the system for those homes that were built in.

[9:17] » That's somewhat encouraging. >> Yeah. I would say right now that our

[9:21] lead service total is lower than I was expecting before we started this

[9:25] project. So >> So you're finding copper what you're

[9:28] finding. >> We're finding copper in the homes that

[9:29] were built in the60s. >> Okay.

[9:34] That's that's a good thing. I mean it all depends locally on contractors that

[9:38] would homes but >> typically you know IP says after they

[9:43] clear that's even better >> as we go through the process do we have

[9:49] to show compliance somehow do we have to record or somehow

[9:54] » yeah I I have to report annually uh my service line database annually to the

[9:58] EPA and then everyone that has a lead service or has an unknown service. I

[10:05] have to send a letter to them every year and notify them of what they have or

[10:10] what we don't know that they have. Um, so my plan also this year, I haven't set

[10:15] those notifications out. I'm going to do that this fall. But I'm also with that

[10:19] notification, I will also want to send a another pamphlet that would help the

[10:24] homeowner on the unknown services. Help them identify the service by going down

[10:29] to the basement and seeing what they have so they can help us get the unknown

[10:35] services knocked out and get us in a better position.

[10:38] » Is the unknown service like just because we haven't checked it yet?

[10:42] » Correct. >> Yeah. Just we don't have a record of it.

[10:44] » Yeah. Any

[10:48] additional comments or questions? And Brian, do you have any more thoughts?

[10:52] » I did not. I mean, I Teresa, I don't know if uh Dave or

[10:57] anything mentioned the ESA to do that next step. I don't know if you guys are

[11:01] interested in that or if you, you know, are thinking on it and then I can come

[11:06] back and answer more questions. Okay. >> To do the PPR to apply for the IPA loan.

[11:11] I didn't know if you guys were set in a route or anything. I think we're well

[11:15] we'll talk about it. >> Yeah. Okay. We'll get there.

[11:18] » Yeah. >> Geraldine, did you have a question?

[11:21] » The question I have is there a third part to this where okay you got from the

[11:26] street to the owners and then what about the house? Does it mean pipes have to be

[11:31] done in the house? >> Uh mostly the lead services were run for

[11:35] the outside line going into the home. >> Oh okay.

[11:38] » Um there there is a situation where leads solder was used. That's not as not

[11:43] as uh >> I guess a big of a a threat for lack of

[11:47] a better word. >> Lead was a good thing.

[11:50] » Yeah. So, it's mostly the service line outside underground.

[11:54] » I'm old. I have a story. My father always had lead paint and we could add

[11:58] it to make our paint.

[12:03] » So, so it's nice that we're doing this in house. I know. I see the I've had a

[12:07] couple homeowners ask me, you know, they see the pothole done. So, we got that.

[12:11] wonderful vacctor truck that the council invested in probably enough than five

[12:16] years ago. And that vector truck then John's crew goes out and they they suck

[12:20] down straight down so it's a I call non-invasive and they so they don't have

[12:24] to worry about doing any real quote digging. It's still excavating and I see

[12:27] her filling those holes with sand and >> cast. Yep. Looks very good.

[12:32] » Thank you. >> So it's just kind of like he's out there

[12:34] fishing looking for for lead. >> Yep. Yeah,

[12:40] » council had good questions. We appreciate that. So, Ryan, we're good.

[12:43] » Awesome. Thank you guys. >> Seek out here. Go for it.

[12:47] » I'll stick around just in case anybody has questions.

[12:50] » We're glad to have you. >> Now, we're going to go ahead and go to

[12:53] our audit review. And so, we have Matt Schuler from Whipley. And so, Matt,

[12:58] please jump in there. All right.

[13:03] Okay. Thank you guys, everybody. I'm Matt Sheiel, our partner with Whipley,

[13:07] going to go over the results of the audit. Very similar type of presentation

[13:11] as we did last year. So, if you have questions during it, feel free to stop

[13:16] me. Can try to answer what I can. So, thanks for setting up this presentation.

[13:21] So, I love this screen. Um, first thing is just to report on

[13:26] your guys' audited financial statements. We do issue a clean unmodified opinion

[13:30] on those. That's the passing grade. Um, second bullet, opinion date was in early

[13:35] August. Um, we we rewind a few years ago. We were past Christmas doing this

[13:42] audit. So, um, we met the necessary deadlines for, uh, the state, which is

[13:47] great. As part of the audit, we also have to do a report on your government

[13:51] auditing standards because you receive some state and federal money. Um, this

[13:55] reports any internal control findings, um, and just general compliance

[14:00] findings. We did have one uh segregation of duties issues with the library that's

[14:05] been a repeat very very small um department there obviously and then you

[14:10] did exceed your expenditures um compared to your budget so we didn't know that

[14:17] last thing last opinion that we give is the tiff opinion just to make sure

[14:20] you're following the rules and requirements there have a report we had

[14:24] a clean opinion there as

[14:31] Yeah, just a few things to note within the audit. Uh we do have to look to make

[14:35] sure your your deposits are insured and collateralized. Happy to report

[14:40] everything is insured and collateralized. That just means in the

[14:43] event that there's ever a bank failure, you want to make sure your deposits are

[14:47] secured. So net pension liability, there's going to

[14:51] be a few slides in the very end. I'm going to go over the IMRF police and

[14:54] fire. Happy to report uh the liability actually actually declined to 5.5

[15:00] million when you put all of them together. It was 15.7 million last year.

[15:06] Really the big thing was very very strong investment returns. You had 17.1

[15:10] million of investment return compared to 9.6 million last year. So it's roughly a

[15:16] 16% rate of return on your investment. Those are invested in the stock market.

[15:20] So could be some fluctuation there, but see to the positive side, it's it's done

[15:25] well for the city. Overall, there's nearly 110 million of invest investments

[15:29] to pay those pension assets or pay those pension liabilities. I'm sorry. You do

[15:35] have some long-term debt, but you're going to get some more long-term debt.

[15:39] Um, sounds like

[15:43] you did pay down about 2.1 million this year. 1.9 million is due next year.

[15:49] You also have a post-employment benefit liability. That's because of uh of

[15:54] insurance for health care insurance uh for retirees. That liability did uh

[15:59] increase slightly from 6.3 million to 6.9 million.

[16:05] So this kind of just compares numbers, you know, year-over-year. I like this

[16:09] just to kind of step back from all the details of the numbers. So 25 to 26 uh

[16:14] you can see intergovernmental revenues last year were at 64%. This year was at

[16:19] 61%. Property taxes may surprise you only at 10%. So your intergovernmental

[16:24] revenues are really those those monies you get from the state for sales tax,

[16:29] income tax, replacement taxes, all of those. So lion share of how you guys

[16:33] fund the city is through intergovernmental revenues. I will tell

[16:38] you that this excludes your your water, sewer, electric. Okay,

[16:43] as far as the expenditures for again just those governmental funds. So

[16:47] excluding water, sewer, electric, public safety,

[16:50] not surprising, largest chunk uh you know nearly nearly a half 40% of your

[16:56] expenditures and then public work. So like streets and stuff being the next

[17:01] one. >> Those charts are almost identical on

[17:03] both of those lines. >> They are. Yes.

[17:06] before. That's interesting.

[17:10] » So, as far as just some statistics on the the water, the water, sewer,

[17:14] electric, I tried to give you guys maybe a little bit more information on top

[17:18] line is your revenues. Then it's operating cash flows and then

[17:23] net income. Net income can get a little tough to really understand because

[17:27] there's some depreciation in there. There's all these IMRF pension

[17:32] liabilities. I think really the thing to focus in on

[17:35] are really your operating I'm sorry your your u your revenues and your operating

[17:41] cash flows from a uh revenues perspective in 20 five that was 16.3

[17:48] million now it's 17.6 so it was like a 7.6% 6% increase in your revenues

[18:00] to kind of go over some of the pension funding. So we look at it from

[18:06] 21 through 26 with each year kind of shown there incrementally. You see

[18:11] you're at 105 nearly 106%. So fully funded it's actually sitting as an asset

[18:17] which is great. We got as high as 114,22.

[18:22] Those do coincide if you look back with some really, really good stock market

[18:26] returns.

[18:31] Next is the police um pension plan. That is at the highest it's been from 2021.

[18:37] It's up to 79%. Which is great. That's a that's a really solid number.

[18:43] Highest it's been in those last five years.

[18:48] the fire is a little less than that. So, but it's still funded at 67%. Again, the

[18:53] highest that it's been over this time frame, too. So, really good good things

[18:58] to report. That was it. I think that is it. Is there any questions or anything

[19:04] that you want me to maybe go over that if you had a chance to look over the

[19:08] audit report or anything or questions on the presentation?

[19:13] just he mentioned the overexpend say this right overextending what was

[19:19] budgeted so we looked a little bit deeper into this obviously the fire

[19:25] department project started sooner because the cost of steel we wanted to

[19:28] lock that in um engine number eight engine number one and some of the

[19:34] overlap with with staffing because I think it was on wages was one of them

[19:40] and then um we incurred some significant expenses es for economic development

[19:45] this last year that weren't anticipated. So some of the add all those up to up

[19:50] together it it can definitely take you over what we planned for. So but in the

[19:56] end it all worked well except for the engines.

[20:00] We're still working on that project but everything else came out fine. So

[20:05] » sounds like it's all good news. >> It is good. I told the mayor when he sat

[20:09] down I said I'm going to report on some good news this time. So it is really

[20:13] good information to share. So >> we're consistent in the revenues and

[20:17] consistent in the expenditures.

[20:21] So I was happy to see that our investments our revenue is being

[20:26] generated through sound investments. >> Correct.

[20:28] » And that our pensions are in good shape as well. It's terrific.

[20:32] » And when do we have to be fully funded funded on police and fire? What's the

[20:35] mandate? that 30 >> 32

[20:43] » and with that we're when we do the actuarials on those festival we're

[20:47] funding those at the full amount that they're suggesting

[20:51] » 2040 >> 204

[20:56] » okay thank you very much okay thank you

[21:02] » and again we give you the same opportunity Matt you want to speak or go

[21:05] for

[21:08] Thanks, Matt. >> Now, we're going to go on to public

[21:11] comment. Is there anyone here for public comment this evening? You can speak for

[21:14] up to three minutes, and you can speak at the beginning of the meeting as well

[21:17] as at the end. All you have to do is just come up and state your name. Anyone

[21:20] here for public comment? Kent

[21:31] Kent Parish. I first draw attention to another error

[21:35] written into the July 6 minutes. We read the council reiterated they are not

[21:40] required to respond to public comments. This needs corrected to say Mr. McCall

[21:44] stated the council is not required to respond to public comments. And I would

[21:48] like to again remind the persons who report the minutes that they need to

[21:51] report them accurately. Mr. McCall, on July 20, I gave you a

[21:57] copy of the United States Constitution, a segment of the Constitution, and copy

[22:01] of many of the Princon city ordinances, all of which you, I believe, probably

[22:06] had never read, but swore on to support. You then skipped the next meeting on

[22:11] August 3rd. I would like to ask, since July 20, did you read up and study the

[22:16] documents? to support.

[22:22] » I have no need to comment. >> Okay, that's fine. Um,

[22:27] couple of meetings ago, I had done a study on uh the 2023, 24, and 25

[22:32] meetings and how long they were and how much the commissioners were paid per

[22:37] hour. And it averaged out to 2023 $41049

[22:45] per hour. 2024

[22:48] $430.72 per hour.

[22:52] 2025 $32580 per hour. The three-year average was

[22:56] $389 an hour. As I said, according to the 2020 census,

[23:03] the median income, this is the average, many people are far below this for a

[23:08] Princeton household is $51,844. When you divide that by 2000 typical

[23:14] work year uh and work hours, it's $25.92 per hour.

[23:20] The median income for a prince family, it's 66,743.

[23:25] When you divide that out, it's three $3323 cents an hour.

[23:30] These are the commissioners are paid 15 times the amount of the median income

[23:35] for per for Princeton household and 11.7 times the amount of median income for

[23:40] Princeton family. Each of you commissioners are paid

[23:44] $6,000 per year for being on this council.

[23:47] Mr. Newman, at the end of this your third term, you will have been paid

[23:50] $72,000. Mr. McCauley and Mr. Gomez, at the end

[23:55] of this your second terms, you will both have been paid $48,000.

[24:00] Mr. Seleki, at the end of this your first term, you will have been paid

[24:04] $24,000. Mayor Mabry, as commissioner for two

[24:08] years, you were paid $48,000. As mayor, you were paid 12,000 per year.

[24:14] At the end of this your first term as mayor, you will have been paid $48,000

[24:19] for being mayor. Thus, in your three total terms, you will have been paid

[24:23] $96,000. All of this totals $288,000

[24:28] to this board. In contrast, the Princeton Park District, our

[24:33] commissioners are paid nothing.

[24:38] » At the July 6th meeting in response to my complaints about the performance of

[24:42] your time is up, take and uh you come back at the end of the meeting and

[24:46] discuss some work. >> Sure.

[24:47] » Okay. Very good. Thank you. >> Is there anyone else for public comment

[24:51] this evening? >> Very good. Now, we're going to go on to

[24:56] approval of the minutes, please. I move that we approve the minutes from our

[24:58] regular council meeting on August 17th, 2026.

[25:02] Second. >> We have a motion and a second for those

[25:05] uh minutes. Is there any questions or comments from the council concerning

[25:07] that? Seeing none, clerk, call the role. >> Council member Newman.

[25:11] » Hi. >> Gomez.

[25:12] » Hi. >> McCall.

[25:13] » Hi. >> Hi.

[25:15] » And Mayor Mry. >> Hi.

[25:17] » Now on to the invoices with city clerk Janet Tenny.

[25:20] » In the department of accounts and finances, we have $181,285.28.

[25:25] 28 Department of Streets and Public Improvements, $97,6557.

[25:33] Department of Public Safety, $643,72710.

[25:40] And the Department of Public Property and Utilities, $277,322

[25:46] with a grand total of 1,199,399.95.

[25:53] Mayor, all council members present have confirmed their reviews of all the

[25:56] invoices and are now submitted for disposition.

[25:59] » I move that we approve the invoices as presented.

[26:02] » Second. >> We have a motion and second on these

[26:04] invoices. There any questions, comments, or concerns about these invoices?

[26:08] » Seeing none, third call role. >> Council member Newman.

[26:11] » Hi. >> Gomez.

[26:12] » Hi. >> McCall.

[26:13] » Hi. >> Silky.

[26:14] » Hi. >> And mayor.

[26:15] » Hi. Next on the agenda, we have ordinance 0-26-017

[26:21] authorizing the sale of personal property no longer necessary or useful

[26:25] to the city of Princeton. This is the second and final reading.

[26:29] » I move that we approve ordinance 0-26-017.

[26:34] » Second. >> Motion second. And that is that

[26:36] incinerating device that we're working on trying to find a home for. Very good.

[26:40] Um, no questions or comments from the council. Cler call the role. Council

[26:44] » member Newman. >> Hi.

[26:45] » Gomez. Hi >> Mccoll.

[26:46] » Hi >> Sinsky.

[26:48] » Hi >> Mayor Mry.

[26:49] » Hi. >> Next on the agenda we have resolution

[26:52] R-26-023

[26:56] requesting temporary closure of Illinois Route 26 from Peru Street to Central

[27:00] Avenue on Saturday, October 17th, 2026 for Halloween parade.

[27:06] » I move that we approve resolution 26-023.

[27:10] » Second. >> Motion and second. Any questions

[27:13] concerning that from the council? Seeing none, cler call the role.

[27:16] » Council member Newman. >> Hi.

[27:17] » Gomez. >> Hi.

[27:18] » McCall. >> Hi.

[27:19] » Silinski. >> Hi.

[27:20] » And mayor Mry. >> Hi.

[27:22] » Thank you, Janet. Appreciate that. Now, on to our um report from our Theresa

[27:27] Wood Whitnower, our city manager. >> In your packet, you'll have the June uh

[27:32] 30th, 2026 financial report. Um at first glance if you look at the revenue

[27:38] expenditures we're uh both roughly at about 20% revenue expenditures at this

[27:44] point in time. Uh obviously last month and the month before we incurred some

[27:49] pretty expensive projects. So you'll see that adjust a little bit more on the

[27:54] next report. Um, if you want, if you have it in front of you, um, you can go

[28:01] I was going to point out the sales tax. That tends to be a topic of

[28:07] discussion. Uh, sales tax still is kind of holding steady with where we are.

[28:12] Some months were above the prior year. Some months were a little shy of the

[28:18] prior year, but we're still holding that fairly steady. when I check those each

[28:22] month when the reports come in from the state, we're still trending um slightly

[28:27] above the prior year. So, that's good. Um I knew it would slow down a little

[28:32] bit, but as long as we keep going up, that's that's a good sign. As well for

[28:38] the hotel motel tax revenue, um significantly um some changes there from

[28:43] the prior year. So, things are trending in the right direction on those. Um,

[28:50] call volume is always an interesting thing that we have here. Total incoming

[28:53] calls to BUCOM, 30 a little over 3,600 calls, 240 fire department calls. This

[28:59] is just for June, um, and 388 for police department total response calls. So, uh,

[29:05] that continues to be a concern for us with call volume on uh, for public

[29:10] safety. Um, as Matt showed, it's your biggest expense. So, uh, any questions

[29:16] on the financial report for June? Uh, just a reminder, we do have the

[29:24] candidate election packets available in city hall. So, the 2027 election, three

[29:29] seats are open. The mayor's position for your term, a council me two council

[29:34] member positions, four-year terms each. Uh, petitions may be circulated when we

[29:39] started August 25th. um but will be required to be filed with the city clerk

[29:45] between uh November 16th and November 23rd. Uh

[29:50] if you need any packets, feel free to stop in city hall and grab a packet. Uh

[29:54] last November 23rd is the last day to file a petition. The office hours are at

[29:58] 8:30 8:30 or 5 p.m. >> We have to

[30:06] the 23rd. That's that's your date. So, any questions?

[30:14] » Teresa, thank you very much. Appreciate that. Um, on the mayor's report, I'm

[30:18] going to go ahead and read a proclamation and we have two guests with

[30:21] us this evening u from the Daughters of American Revolution and they're going to

[30:25] speak in just a moment here at the podium

[30:29] summary. Um we're very fortunate the Daughters of America Revolution has been

[30:33] very very active and uh we've got that nice monument that was um dedicated

[30:38] about a month and a half ago out here in front of our building. And so that

[30:42] that's exciting. Very nice piece. It's it's just it's just enough. It it's well

[30:47] done ladies. You did a good job on that. So with that, I'm going to go ahead and

[30:50] read the proclamation of Constitution Week. Whereas September 17th, 2026 marks

[30:56] the 239th anniversary of the drafting of the

[31:00] Constitution of the United States of America by the Constitutional

[31:03] Convention. And whereas it is fitting and proper to accord official

[31:07] recognition to this magnificent document and its memorable anniversary and to the

[31:12] patriotic celebrations which will commemorate the the occasion. Whereas

[31:16] public law 915 guarantees the issuing of a proclamation each year by the

[31:21] president of the United States of America designating September 17th

[31:25] through the 23rd as Constitution Week. Now therefore, I, Raymond Mabry, by

[31:30] virtue of the authority vested in me as mayor of the city of Princeton, do

[31:34] hereby proclaim the week of September 17th through the 23rd as Constitution

[31:39] Week, and ask our citizens to reaffirm the ideals of the framers of the

[31:44] Constitution had in 1787 by vigilantly protecting the freedoms guaranteed to us

[31:50] through this guardian of our liberties, remembering that lost rights may never

[31:54] be regained. In witness thereof, I Raymond Mabry here uh here unto set my

[32:00] hand and cause the seal of the city of Princeton to be affixed this 8th day of

[32:03] September, the year of our Lord, 2026. So ladies, if you would like to

[32:09] elaborate, we sure appreciate that.

[32:18] » Mayor Mry, thank you very much.

[32:23] This month on September 17th through the 23rd, we celebrate the 239th anniversary

[32:28] of the signing of the United States Constitution. This is the binding

[32:33] document that held our country together since the document was conceived and

[32:38] designed in 1787 with ratification by nine states in 1788. Without it, we

[32:45] would not be celebrating the 250 years of these United States this year. The

[32:50] National Society Daughters of the American Revolution was responsible for

[32:54] the annual designation of September 207 to the 23rd as Constitution Week. The D

[33:01] made its own resolution for Constitution Week, which was adopted in 1955.

[33:06] Members of the United States Congress received the D resolution in 1955 and

[33:12] discussed it in the Senate. The first resolution to observe Constitution Week

[33:16] was made on June 14th, 1945 or excuse me 55, which is now Flag Day also. And that

[33:23] following the passage of the resolution by both houses of Congress, President

[33:27] Eisenhower declare issued a proclamation on August 19th, 1955 designating this

[33:33] week as Constitution Week. The Daughters of the American Revolution have three

[33:38] goals. is um historic preservation, education, and patriotism.

[33:45] This week hits all three of those goals. I hope you find time this week on the

[33:50] 17th and the 23rd to head to the Princeton Public Library to see the

[33:55] really nice um display that is put together by the librarians and our

[34:00] Constitution chairman, Gail Little, who is unable to be with us tonight. Gail

[34:04] also makes sure that all the schools in Princeton have one of these beautiful

[34:08] chap um Constitution Week um posters. So, every school gets one of these and

[34:14] then hopefully they're very busy giving education on that. The signing of the

[34:18] Constitution was announced at 400 p.m. on September 17th, 1787

[34:24] with the peeling of bells in Philadelphia. You may also hear bells

[34:28] ringing in Princeton on the 17th as Princeton Daughters head to their front

[34:34] porches with their bells and ring them for all their worth. And we would like

[34:38] to invite you, the people of Princeton, to if you have a bell, get out there on

[34:43] your front porch with us and start ringing it um to um celebrate our

[34:47] enduring freedom that has been ensured by the United States Constitution. Thank

[34:52] you so much for letting us come and thank you for your proclamation.

[34:56] Let's give him a round of applause.

[35:03] Thank you, Nancy. Thank you, too. Thank you.

[35:06] We're going to discuss a couple more things here on under the mayor's report.

[35:10] Um, I went to the closing of and I think we we can close this chapter now. 526

[35:16] North Chestnut. We had the closing of that house on Friday and that sold for

[35:21] $42,000. I had a chance to meet the Lopez family. It's a husband and wife.

[35:25] They've got some little kids that look like about 2 or 3 years old and the

[35:28] Lopez family is excited about renovating that home. They said that they their

[35:32] goal is to have that home renovated by Christmas.

[35:35] » Oh wow. >> And so I didn't want to jinx that sale,

[35:39] but after the closing I called I called the neighbors to the south that was very

[35:42] patient with us and left them a detailed message and encourage them to meet the

[35:45] Lopezes when they come over there and start working on that home. So So we're

[35:49] going to hope that we're done with that chapter with 526 North Chestnut. That's

[35:53] our goal. So, with that said, um it was in the MLS system. We want to thank

[35:56] Landmark Realy for their work on getting that sold. There was two other

[36:00] additional offers, but this was the highest offer, but just as importantly,

[36:04] these were the folks that had the track record that we felt would get the job

[36:08] done and not cause us more issues. So, that that's a critical part of it. The

[36:12] other thing is u just hard to believe it's Homestead weekend. And it's like um

[36:17] first off, it feels like this is Monday, but it's Tuesday. And I know that the

[36:21] city's crews have been working really hard the past actually three, four

[36:26] months working on street department's done a lot of new curb and sidewalk work

[36:30] around town. Uh we're lucky to have some um some state of Illinois cooperation

[36:35] with some of our overlays uh with our our monies that we received uh from the

[36:40] motor fuel tax. Um they're still doing some work on uh West Peru Street, but

[36:45] that's coming right along. U so that's good. uh if you haven't had a chance to

[36:49] drive around town and see like at the Elm City or Elmmont Cemetery, we got an

[36:54] overlay on that that was desperately needed. So, a lot of good things going

[36:58] on. Uh what's the different departments? Um I saw the street uh I'm sorry, the

[37:03] electric department working uh getting corn stocks put up today. They look

[37:06] festive, so good for them. Um so, so anyway, we want you to enjoy the

[37:11] Homestead Festival. You know, it's our chance to to remind people what we

[37:16] really enjoy about Princeton, which is a small town of charm that we have, but

[37:20] also we have a lot of guests coming to town, people who be family members and

[37:23] class reunions, and we want to welcome them and say, you know, thanks for

[37:26] coming home and um if you ever decide to come back to Princeton, we'd love to

[37:29] have you. So, with that all said, enjoy the Homestead Festival. So, looking

[37:33] forward to it. The um we're going to go on now to old

[37:38] business. And under old business, we have the ebikes and the electric

[37:43] scooters and we did receive and Tom would just give us a quick update on

[37:48] that with governor. >> That law takes effect January 1st. So

[37:52] » gives you time then to decide what we can do with that, right? As far as

[37:56] » we can begin citing people. >> There you go. So, one more time, that

[38:00] little scooter that we see that's got the two wheels and the person standing

[38:04] there, a 12-year-old is zooming down the sidewalk, according to the law now, it's

[38:08] got to be 16 or older on that scooter with a helmet.

[38:12] » Um, I'm not sure if helmets are included in there, but the age restrictions are

[38:16] what we're concerned about. >> Okay. So, that's 16 or older. So,

[38:19] anybody man, it just it's just been a wild west out there this summer

[38:24] » and and no one's allowed on sidewalks. >> Correct.

[38:26] » Correct. for your old bicycles plus all this other stuff is not a lot.

[38:32] » Correct. >> Because I saw a guy today with one of

[38:35] these electric bikes had to be doing 40 miles an hour coming over the interstate

[38:39] on the sidewalk. >> Okay, good.

[38:43] » Yeah. Well, we appreciate that, Tom. Thank you. That's uh January 1st on

[38:48] that. There'll be people out there with snow tires on there tearing them down

[38:51] sidearm. Well, they're they're pretty creative. They're And some people are

[38:54] using them to go to work. God bless them for that. and some people don't have and

[38:57] they're on on the street and so some are doing it right. Um

[39:02] » so now we're going to go to on old business. Um we discussed the 15 mph uh

[39:08] speed limit for Parkplace subdivision and council member Newman brought up a

[39:12] good point that just we wanted to just get a better feel of this before we go

[39:15] ahead and propose that that's something that's very acceptable to us and I'm I'm

[39:18] I'm in favor of that. That's not a problem. Uh so this evening we have um a

[39:24] uh representative from the ParkPlace Homeowners Association, Eric Taylor. And

[39:28] Eric, you just go ahead and the podium might see another folks too. Just state

[39:32] your name. Speaking of >> good uh hi, Eric Taylor. I am here uh in

[39:39] regards to uh the Park subdivision speed limit. There's um been some motion and

[39:44] request to decrease it to 15 from 25 miles an hour due to the facts of the

[39:50] curves and lack of straight roadway. I mean, there's only a small straight

[39:55] roadway and then a curve creating blind spots and making it a little bit

[39:59] dangerous for kids, children, and bicyclist to go around the subdivision,

[40:04] which we do have a lot of um outside residents in the community using that

[40:08] for exercise and whatnot. And uh due to recent uh people speeding there, it's

[40:14] been a little bit more of a problem. So, I'm here on behalf of the Parkplace

[40:18] Homeowners Association asking that you'd be interested in decreasing that speed

[40:22] limit to 15 miles per hour. Do

[40:25] » you think a majority of the residents in Parkplace are in support of this?

[40:29] » Uh, we sent out a letter. I think that went out yesterday or today. I don't

[40:33] know if they're in support of it. I'm more concerned about the general

[40:35] residents of the entire town to be honest with you.

[40:38] » Understand? Um, even going through um what's the subdivision right over Green

[40:45] Cross? Yeah. >> You know, going through there 30 m an

[40:48] hour seems fast to me. I I tread at 20 m hour going through there with kids

[40:52] running around. So, um I could ask for the support of the all the residents,

[40:56] but since they're city streets, I think it's more of a city problem to be honest

[41:00] with you. But every resident has a different

[41:04] » because I know we years ago we reduced from 30 to 25

[41:09] and that didn't wasn't very favorable to some people over there for some reason.

[41:14] I I understand the safety side. So going down from 25 to 15 could be could cause

[41:21] some concern. >> Sure. I I understand that and you know I

[41:25] I think the concern should be more of the children and people and who are

[41:29] using this roadways and streets. Um, I mean I I was going in with my

[41:33] daughter and she fell in the middle of the sidewalk crossing, you know, the

[41:36] road there and someone was coming around the corner and had to stop quickly. You

[41:40] know, >> if the association supports it and

[41:42] encourages it, that's good enough for us. At least for me.

[41:46] » Yes, sir. >> Council, we good on that then, council?

[41:51] Okay, very good. That that's simple enough. We'll go ahead and proceed with

[41:54] getting the ordinances put together. >> Thanks, sir. Appreciate it, Mayor.

[41:57] » Thanks for coming here. >> Absolutely.

[42:00] Okay. Is there any new business before the council this evening?

[42:04] Okay. And any additional public comment, please. Again,

[42:15] Mr. Cameron, the other day I was parked at a stop sign and there was a pretty

[42:19] big truck and I couldn't quite see. And as I began to proceed, a an electric an

[42:26] electric bicycle went through on the road, not the sidewalk, and it ran the

[42:30] stop sign. And I wanted to ask, do electric bicyclists currently have to

[42:36] abide by tra laws? >> All bicycles are supposed to.

[42:42] » Okay. So, that'll be the same when we refine the the u the ordinances or the

[42:48] laws when the state does that. Good.

[42:54] At the July 6th meeting in response to my complaint about the poor performance

[42:58] of this council, Mr. Maker verbatim stated, this is a quote. This is

[43:04] actually two or three quotes run together. When we donate time, the

[43:08] things we do, we don't expect to be compensated.

[43:11] I don't think none of us here are here for the money. It's for the betterment

[43:16] of the community. As I later responded, his statement that

[43:21] you don't expect to be compensated was false. And I believe it was designed to

[43:26] fool the public as if you are not compensated.

[43:30] Of course, you do expect to be compensated.

[43:34] You were paid $230.76 cents every two weeks. And as I later

[43:39] responded, if you didn't receive it, you would be inquiring where it was.

[43:46] So, I would like to ask since according to Mayor Mabry, none of you expect to be

[43:51] paid compensation and you are paid so much money per hour

[43:56] and $288,000 to this board total would have been a

[44:02] very large chunk of change. Would any of you like to return your

[44:06] money back to the city?

[44:19] I have a question. Do we not pay Janet? You might know this. Do

[44:24] we not pay board members when they're absent? Do we do we take off money that

[44:30] they're paid? Okay. This board has missed a total of

[44:35] 41 and one half meetings. That's significant.

[44:40] And if I don't have time tonight to finish this, I have a suggestion.

[44:45] My suggestion is that we do pay you. We pay you $1,000 a year. That gives you

[44:50] enough money to get here and for the time that you spend here, which is about

[44:54] $60 an hour. And let's use that extra $5,000 times

[45:00] four commissioners, $20,000 to give scholarships

[45:06] to 50 students. $400 scholarships to 50 students who are perhaps maybe just out

[45:12] of seventh grade going into eighth grade to go to camp to learn about civic

[45:17] government, history, economics, public speaking, all of the things that

[45:23] they >> Okay, and I'll I'll continue with that

[45:27] later. I think that would be a great use of our monies, a better use of our

[45:32] monies. >> Thank you, Ken.

[45:35] Is there anyone else like to speak to the council this evening under public

[45:39] comment? Before we uh adjourn in just a moment here, I'll just explain because

[45:44] some of you that are in the audience, we're going to go into executive session

[45:47] and we're going to not be getting any decisions per se. We're going to be

[45:50] discussing we've got some union negotiations going on, things like that

[45:53] that they're working with. And so that's what we do. We go in executive session.

[45:57] That's what there's no mystery going on. We're just we have those sensitive items

[46:01] we have to discuss. Um, and again, we won't be coming out making any um, uh,

[46:06] formal um, changes or actions. So, with that said, if you would like to visit

[46:10] with your council members for a few minutes before we go back in executive

[46:12] session, feel free to come and talk to them. Okay, Jerry, if you would.

[46:15] » I move that we adjourn our regular meeting this evening and reconvene into

[46:20] executive session under Illinois statutes to discover to discuss

[46:24] collective negotiating matters between the public body and our employees.

[46:29] Second motion second. Third call rule. >> Council member Newman.

[46:32] » Hi. >> Gomemed.

[46:33] » Hi. >> McCall.

[46:34] » Hi. >> Eat.

[46:36] » Hi. >> Mayor Bakery.

[46:37] » Hi. Thank you for attending and enjoy the Homestead Festival.

City of Princeton City Council Meeting - September 8th, 2026

Transcript