Call the meeting to order. Please call the roll. Councilman horn. Present.
councilman kuhl. Present. Councilman cole? Here. Councilman cooper? Here. Councilman
mcdaniel. Present. Councilwoman gregory present. Mayor mark wolf. Present, seven. Present
and absent. Please stand and join in the pledge of allegiance regions,
the united states of america, and god for which stands,
one nation and under god, indivisible, liberty and
justice. For
we do have a proclamation tonight if I could ask mr. Gleason to go to the podium.
thank you, mayor and council. And for the community, uh, this is
one that I actually, uh, requested. So I very much appreciate this.
uh, this one is, uh, near and dear to me. Uh, what I'm about to
read, uh, affects, uh, our family. Uh, it's a,
uh, proclamation for, uh, pitt hopkins, uh, awareness
day, which is actually the 18th, and I'm gonna read the proclamation.
whereas, uh, pit hopkins syndrome is a rare and severe neurological
disorder caused by spontaneous mutation or deletion
on the 18th chromosome. And whereas pit hopkins
syndrome is characterized by developmental delays, moderate to severe
intellectual disability, breathing problems, epilepsy
or recurrent, uh, seizures, gastrointestinal issues,
and distinctive facial features. And whereas approximately
1800 people, uh, worldwide have been diagnosed with pitt hopkins
syndrome. However, given the fact that the discovery of the gene
occurred in 2007, there are likely many other cases that remain
undiagnosed. And whereas given its rarity, online support
groups play a pivotal role for individuals, families, and their loved ones
in order to connect and increase awareness. And whereas pit
hopkins research foundation annually celebrates september 18th
as international pit hopkins syndrome awareness day to raise awareness
and funding for pit hopkins research. And this date was chosen to
bring attention to the fact that it is a disorder caused by spontaneous
mutation or deletion on the 18th chromosome. And whereas
pit hopkins research foundation is a volunteer organization
of families professionals dedicated to finding a cure
for pit hopkins syndrome through the funding of research, education
and, and advocacy. And whereas the foundation's
goal is to bring practical treatment and a current medical practice.
now, therefore, I you wanna read this?
you go ahead and then I'll sign it. All right. And therefore, I, um, mayor
moore wolf, mayor of the city of decatur, illinois, do here hereby
proclaim september 18th, 2024 as pit hopkins syndrome awareness
day and recognition of the needs of individuals with pit
hopkins syndrome, and urge all citizens to support the awareness
and education regarding, uh, pit hopkins syndrome in order to assist
those individuals and their families and grandpa, uh,
who live with this condition every day of their lives. Uh, down at city
hall on the 16th day of, uh, september, 2024,
and if you would bring it up, I'd be happy to sign. I'm gonna do it. And I do, uh, wanna say thank
you. Uh, my daughter, son-in-law, um, my
grandson, caden, uh, has pitt hopkins, and, uh, his, uh,
younger brother, uh, corbin, who's six is, uh, quite support and
love 'em all. So thank you.
thanks.
thank you.
all right. Now moving on to appearance of citizens. The policy
relative to appearance of citizens is as follows, a 30 minute time period is provided for
citizens to appear and express their views before the city council. Each citizen speaking will
be limited to one appearance of up to three minutes. No immediate response will be given by city
council or city staff members. Citizens are to give their documents, if any, to the police officer
for distribution to the council. When the mayor determines all persons wishing to speak in
accordance with this policy have done so. Members of the city council and key staff may
make comments. Uh, would anyone like to appear before the council time? Sure.
and we just need your name. We don't need an address. Okay.
my name is verlin rosenberger. Um,
so honorable mayor, uh, decatur city council.
despite many voices and many years of concern,
warnings and protests from environmental
advocacy groups, we kept hearing in
response, no worry. It's safe, nothing
bad will happen. Well, it did happen, didn't it?
the carbon dioxide injection into the ground
seeped into unauthorized zones at a dm.
the epas violation, um,
found that they cited a dm for injection
activity not allowed under its permit, failing
to follow an emergency response plan in accordance with the
permit and failure to monitor the well.
um, and it was not discovered until
late 2023 and another incident
in march of 2024. What's more, we
are just now finding out about these infractions. So what else
do we not know about all this?
then in 2023, the decatur
city council authorized, and earlier this summer, city
staff approved an easement allowing a
dm to pump liquid carbon dioxide into poor space
more than a mile underneath city owned land.
this will essentially allow the plume of co2
to grow beyond adms property
and onto city property. So what were
you thinking when you allowed that? Both
the muhammad aquifer and the lake decatur must
be protected from irresponsible, dangerous,
experimental co2 sequestration.
the new clean energy equitable act signed by governor
pritzker does not put a ban on drilling through
the muhammad aquifer, nor does it allow for setbacks
from personal property, people's lives
and property are at risk. If our water supplies are
contaminated beyond use, we will be forced to move
and we will be unable to sell our property. I have
for each of you a flyer from a meeting from the,
uh, illinois people's action this summer, 10 things
you should know about carbon sequestration in illinois.
and I'm sorry you're out of time, but the police officer will distribute those to the
council. Thank,
good evening. My name is brett robertson. I did request some additional time later
to speak on the topic regarding the, uh, macon
county, uh, hazard, uh, uh, plan my
comments tonight, um, follow ms. Rosenberger's
comments, and I applaud her for raising this issue. It's a very serious problem.
um, and, uh, I wanna remind you again that
march 20th, 2023, this is now almost exactly 18 months
ago, you met to hear from concerned citizens
who were against rushing into the carbon sequestration project
that was presented by a dm and their allies at that meeting,
their concerns related to safety and environmental contamination.
you did invite three speakers, one from the university of illinois, one from
richland, and one from a dm who testified in support of the project.
but all three of these organizations have substantial financial
interests in the project going forward.
remarkably, not a single expert was invited,
who was an expert on the risks of liquid co2
pipeline technology, nor any expert on the health risks
of, of or implications. If there was a significant co2
leak, you took at face value the words of city manager scott
wrighton, who stated, quote, it was almost impossible
for a leak to occur. And yet, here we are less than
18 months later, and we've already had a serious breach. In fact, I, I believe
what mrs. Rosenberger stated was that even at the time that
a dm was here testifying there had already been a leak.
and they weren't, we weren't told that they knew it, they testified,
and yet they didn't mention it. Now, I'm, I'm
sorry to say this because a dm is important to our local economy,
but here's a company that has a track record, a public track record
that is the worst safety record in the state of illinois as
measured by the number of osha recordables impacting individuals
at their company. Okay? They have a, they have a, unfortunately,
a culture that is not geared to safety first. And so you
need to take that into account. You should have taken it into account when you made that decision.
okay, I got 30 seconds from the shot clock here, but I'll be
back later. Uh,
according to the ep, a carbon dioxide injected in the ground flowed
into unauthorized zones, and the company failed to follow an emergency
response remediation plan or to monitor the well,
uh, so there's serious implications here. I think what you guys ought to do now
is suspend the agreement immediately invite experts on these risks
to come testify. I'm I sorry, mr. Robertson, you're out of time. Thank you. And lastly, no, you
are out of to incorporate. I, so mr. Robertson, this we have to, mr. Robertson,
we have to have into mr. Robertson, we have rules about the
amount of time I'll take and I kindly ask you to thank you. Stay with the rules.
good evening, counsel. So I'm here with some
calendar of events, things. There's a lot going on in this community
and a lot of things that we would like for you to know. Uh,
and I would like to just give some praise to some different people.
so this friday night, I will be spending the evening with
five living legends from the decatur high school, 63 64
basketball team, which had the best record ever
in decatur high school basketball. So we will
be inducting them into the athletic hall of fame, history
of the heartland nominated them. They were part of our living legend
series, and it's really a wonderful thing that
we have some that are still here to be honored.
then on saturday, the 21st ,
and I know I've emailed all of you, we're hosting an
elms neighborhood program that will be at the library.
so it's a two o'clock on saturday. We encourage
anybody that wants to get involved in the neighborhood organization to
come september 29th, two to fourth
governor oglesby mansion will be having an open house
on friday, october 4th. And on
earth, decatur probably didn't realize that we would ever
have. We have a pulitzer prize finalist
at acorn, which is a lincoln, an author. He
will be appearing as history comes alive at the
oaks b mansion on october the fifth,
history of heartland. We will have a tablescape
at the garden clubs tablescape event. And our scene
is history happens in decatur, illinois. So we invite you
to come and see that. Then on october 19,
something that should catch the eye of mr. Cope.
um, we will be authorities for law enforcement,
living legends of and, and so, um,
capacity manager and also chief of police,
jim williams is coming back from florida to moderate.
uh, chief todd walker will be there, which
ed served with, and we're hoping that chief mark
al will be there, sheriff jerry dawson
and jim root will both be there and several other
law enforcement. So we just record this for our youtube
channel, and you can hear a lot of cool stories. So
I would much rather city funds be used to support these projects
than demo. Thank you, ms. Owen.
I need these. My name's linda little, I'm the dementia friendly decatur
coordinator, and I'm here for two reasons. One, to give you an update and
two, an invitation, which I think has been distributed to already. The mission of
dementia friendly decatur is to reduce social isolation for people in our community,
living with dementia and their caregivers. We're committed to raising community
members awareness of the symptoms and progression of dementia, regardless of the cause
to provide education programs, training and skill building to enable our community
to respond appropriately to the needs of people living with dementia and their caregivers.
and to advocate for beneficial community programs and services
to address the unique needs of people living with dementia, for them to not just
live in our community, but to thrive in our community with the best quality of
life for as long as possible. In the fall of 2022, decatur
was recognized by dementia friendly america as a dementia friendly community,
and a kickoff summit was held to explore tangible needs in our community and how
best to address them. Speakers included paula basta, who
was the director of the illinois department on aging, and susan reel, who's the executive
director of the east central illinois area agency on aging.
um, also in the fall of 2022, this council presented a proclamation
and celebration of this designation. There was a celebration of our commitment
to intentionally becoming more dementia friendly as a community. Since
then, we've been working on training businesses. We've trained over 250
individuals, um, businesses that are now considered dementia friendly
businesses, which means that a minimum of 75% of their staff has been trained
and that they have incorporated the dementia friends training into their onboarding process for all
new employees, the land of lincoln credit union, all of their branches,
not just in macon county, empowerment opportunity center, the
executive staff, the senior center, the energy services, all
at the empowerment opportunity center. And we're continuing to work with the staff in the
early childhood services area of that organization as well in the macon
county office building, the auditor's office, the circuit clerk's office, the county
board office, the recorder's office, the supervisor of assessment,
the treasurer's office, and the veteran's office. And we'll soon beginning, beginning
to work with the offices in the courthouse, paul prince's ministry
and the executive staff at the decatur park district. We also sponsor
zoo days, which is the first monday of the month from april to october. Oh, I need to talk faster.
um, it's free admission. We have games in the education building, and they bring
in a couple of animals every, every month and introduce 'em to our guests.
and it's been very popular. Um, we did a dementia
friendly movie at the lincoln theater, which is wide aisles well lit. We encourage
'em to sing along. We had snacks and a photo booth. We're looking forward to do that again this spring.
my second reason I'm here is the invitation that's been passed out to you where we
will be updating, educating, and highlighting. And I'm very thrilled to say that one of our
keynote speakers will be mary eck, who is the director of dementia friendly america.
thank you, ms. Little. You're doing a great job. Would anybody else like to
approach, uh, appear before council tonight? Please approach manam mond down.
hi, I'm kerry peters. I'll just be real quick. I just wanna compliment the police for the
remarkable job they did the other night with the, uh, when the, uh, schools were threatened.
it was, uh, phenomenal. I just wanted to pass that on. Thank you, mr. Peters.
would anybody else like to appear before council?
okay. Seeing none, we will move on to approval. Oh, I'm sorry. I'm, um, I actually wrote
it down to ask to see if anybody on council had comments. Dr. Horn.
thank you, mayor. I'd like to thank ms. Rosenberger
and mr. Robertson for bringing up, um,
the co2 leak that was reported. The
leak that was associated with a dm sequestration operations
illustrates the potential health risks that
sequestration poses and the lack of safeguards
in place for notifying the public. When a problem
is identified. At its march 20th, 2023
meeting, the decatur city council authorized the
city manager to negotiate the terms and conditions for a carbon
sequestration easement. At the meeting, city council
members were repeatedly assured
that carbon sequestration was safe and there would not
be leaks. 18 months
later, the city learns through the media
not a dm, not u-s-e-p-a, that
there was a co2 leak through a corroded well
that had not even been in place 10 years.
it is also concerning that a dm allegedly
did not follow its own emergency response
and remediation plan wouldn't. One of the first
calls regarding a co2 leak b to the
city of over 68,000 residents
home of the north american headquarters of a dm,
given the co2 leak, and that the us department of labor
found that a lack of preventative maintenance played a major
role in an explosion that injured three workers at
adms west plant on decatur. On april 20th, 2023,
city leaders would be right to ask questions about
whether some of the activities that a dm is engaged in
are safe for workers and residents of the city.
it is reassuring that the macon county multi
hazar mitigation plan that we're going to vote on later
tonight mentions carbon sequestration
and explosions as hazardous materials threats
indicator. But it is unclear
what the specific plans are. In the event
of a leak or an event of an explosion.
residents should unequivocally expect a dm to
cease injection of co2 into
unauthorized zones. It should expect a dm
to follow its emergency response and remediation plan,
and it should in expect a dm to monitor
co2 injection wells in accordance with its u-s-e-p-a
permits. Thankfully, this incident did not impact
water quality, but given that the city of decatur recently
approved an easement with a dm to significantly
increase its carbon sequestration activities under
lake decatur, these alleged violations are concerning
and must not happen again.
I will have specific questions to city staff when we get to other
business. Thank you. Anyone on council? Mr. Culp?
I wanna take a moment to thank linda whittle for coming night and, uh, her dedicated
work for dementia friendly decatur. Not only this, but the, uh,
the awareness you're giving our community as well, and we appreciate that. I've been a friend of,
or a fan of linda for many years and what she's done for our community. So wanna pass
on? I, my thank you, mr. Keel.
I don't have a prepared statement, but I'm gonna make a comment about the a dm
incident. Um, mayor, I wanted to just ask you, do they have 4,000
employees out there? Approximately? Okay, so
do I like what I hear about a dm and what happened? No, I'm
not ready to throw 'em under the bus yet. Everybody else is ready to
jump on and throw 'em under the bus. Let's, let's hear what they have to say. They've got
4,000 employees. If you've ever run a business, even with 10,
it's tough to manage 10, let alone 4,000 mistakes are
gonna be made. How about boeing? You know, they had that
7 37 max airplane. You think they built that plane so it would crash?
I don't think so. How about firestone? We had that plant here in
decatur, and our plant was targeted to close because they made
bad tires. Do you think they did that on purpose? No. So let's
wait and see what happens. And I'm sure there's gonna be
investigations. Let's find out. Maybe a dm did something wrong.
I don't know. Let's just wait and see. Instead we're just throwing our biggest
employer under the bus. I get tired of it. And I do wanna
clarify. I was contacted by the epa, uh, with notice that
there would, there had been, uh, an incident and they were
investigating, but not with any details. And I did have conversations with a dm and
the public was not in danger when the leak occurred, so I'm
sure there will be more to come. Um, moving on now to approval of the minutes.
approval of minutes of september 3rd, 2024. City council meeting. I need a motion and a second.
so moved. Second. Councilman horne? Aye. Councilman kuhl?
present? Councilman colt? Aye. Councilman
cooper? Aye. Councilman mcdaniel? Aye. Councilwoman gregory? Aye.
mayor moore wolf. Aye. Six ayes. One. Present. Any unfinished
business? None. Moving into new business item one. The treasurer's financial report.
mr. Gleason. Thank you. Mayor is the, uh,
treasurer, uh, makes her way to the podium. Uh, just a reminder to
the community, our, our fiscal year lines up with a
calendar year, so we're nearing the completion of our third quarter
entering, uh, the fourth quarter down the home stretch. October 1st,
uh, what was adopted, uh, last year? Uh, we find that the
expenditure and revenue trends, uh, we are pretty close, uh,
and trending well on revenues, uh, to, uh, what was projected last
year. Ruby. Thank you, counsel
and mayor. Um, so we are sitting at, uh, for august. We are sitting
at 91 days cash, uh, which is where we expect it to be and where we expect to end
close to the 90 days that is required by the council. And,
uh, as a city manager said, we are very close, um, to
where we were budgeted to be right now. So that is a much better place than we were during
first quarter. So we're feeling better about, uh, where we're headed.
and, uh, therefore, um, the concerns that we had about, uh,
possibly not meeting budget or needing some money, um, are, uh,
lessening. And so we feel much better where we're gonna end, end the year at. And we still have,
um, expected, uh, personnel savings of
anywhere from a million to a million and a half. So we are sitting in a good place. Any
questions from counsel for ms. James?
anything else you wanted to add further? Thank you. Thank you, ms. James.
okay, moving on to item two. Resolution authorizing property and liability insurance
coverage for the city of decatur, illinois for the policy period october 1st, 2024
to october 1st, 2025. Motions to resolution to pass and be adopted.
so moved. Sec, mr. Gleason. Mayor, if you don't mind, I'm
going to have, uh, our city treasurer, uh, stand at the podium.
items two through 10. They're all hers, they're all related to,
uh, insurance. Uh, there's no concerns, but I don't wanna rush through 'em either,
you know, this is, uh, this is our portfolio of, uh, insurance
for the city and, uh, she'll go through each one of these. Thank
you. Thank you very much. Um,
so with that, uh, we also have from representation from aj gallagher,
if anyone has questions of them. Um, and also I
want to, uh, kind of as an overview, one of the things we did this
year is a complete reconciliation. And, uh, when we went through the
property and vehicles, uh, we noted that there were some items, uh,
missing from the inventory between what the insurance had and we had,
and all walk through that and, and note where that has made a difference in
the insurance. And in the letter that is included,
uh, within the first item, which is item number
two, um, the letter is there and there's a summary of each of the, the
property items there. So I don't know if we wanna go ahead and walk through each one is
and then vote on 'em at the end, if that would be all right. We actually need to vote on them one at
a time. Un understood. May I talk about them? Absolutely. Yeah. Okay. Very good.
um, so with, uh, property and liability, uh, part of that,
uh, where it contains essentially, um, auto and,
um, auto was included in that, and that's one of the items where there was a reconciliation
for additional vehicles, uh, that the inventory was different. And so
that had an impact on the valuation, uh, that was there between last year
and this year. So that had an impact on the 14% increase. It was not just a rate
increase. I wanna point that out. Um, however, as we all know,
uh, rates have increased, uh, across for everyone with, with home and vehicles
and so forth, had an impact as well, um, with the municipalities.
and in the first paragraph I talk about that auto went up by 9%, um, and general
liability and property by 5.5%. So rates did increase overall.
um, I did wanna point that out as well. And then, uh, property,
uh, more in line with the 5.5%, uh, as quoted in the first,
um, paragraph in there. And then equipment,
um, essentially we talked about last year, uh, as well that this was a
new item where we pulled out, uh, that mobile equipment is essentially something that
we would pull behind. So it would be, um, things that, that would be pulled
behind in the truck. And that was pulled out by the industry. And that became a new item where
we had equipment as a separate insurance last year. And
crime, um, uh, was basically remained stable.
excess liability, you can see there had a, a fairly, um, a larger
increase. And then auto in inland marine. I wanna explain that that is
where vehicles are in the lot not moving. Essentially no one's driving the vehicle, it's
sitting in a lot. So should there be a storm that impacted it or someone came by
and did damage to the vehicle sitting in the lot and that's where we had,
um, a difference in inventory so that that caused the significant
increase you there see in the table of 60%. So that is
the largest, uh, difference there. Cyber, uh, interesting enough,
did not go up that much this year. Cyber has been a problem in the past and cyber
remained at a pretty good, uh, rate there. Crisis was 17%
workers' compensation, uh, due to aj gallagher actually negotiated
that, uh, at the, at the last, uh, minute and was able to bring that down. That's good.
and then, um, aj gallagher has, has, uh, kept their fee,
uh, flat for us next year. Overall, uh, the
increase was 13.6%. Again, the industry has seen, uh,
increases. And then we did the reconciliation, uh, for property and vehicle.
thank you for that overview. Anyone on council have a question? Chuck
just had a question about deductibles. Have you on any of these? Have you
raised the deductible on any of these over the last few years? Just because
a thousand dollars today isn't what it was five years ago, so
I don't, you know, I don't know the math on all this, but I was just wondering if you look at the
deductibles to see if there's a way to save and increase our deductibles just
for the fact that a dollar today isn't worth as much as it was five years ago.
true on the auto. So some of the, um, auto, uh, insurance
for instance is at $250,000. Am I quoting that right? Ted?
why don't you come on down to the podium? Um, for the auto
insurance for instance, we have a fairly high deductible. And so when our vehicles,
um, would hit something like a tree or our own vehicles and so forth, they aren't
covered and we can repair them ourselves. So that was a deductible we raised a while ago
to save money. So we did that. And then last year, the
property insurance, we lowered actually to $50,000 so that we would include
more claims just in the sense that property is something that does get damaged
more often. So we actually lowered that and the cost was not significantly more
at that time. So that's something that we, that we did, um,
to try and, um, we were able to get the same, uh, insurance coverage with a
lower deductible at that time. It was just a, a math
question basically. Sure. You know, and I just wanted to make sure that our deductibles were
equal to what they used to be five, 10 years ago. And do you feel like they're comparable
ted to what you see at other, um, institutions? Oh yeah,
absolutely. And the city has pursued a strategy of self-insurance
for the last 20 years where it's applicable. And this is a
good example of that. Councilman.
well, there's pat. Each of us, whether it's cars or or
home insurance, it's gonna be an annual in pretty good size
increases, wouldn't you say that years to come?
I don't see it changing dramatically back to a buyer's
market in the short run, let's put it that way. Okay. There's too much going
on in the world from a climate standpoint, whether
you believe in it or not, but I think the science is there to back it up,
that it has severely impacted the insurance industry. Thank
you. Anyone else on council with a question or comment?
okay. Call the question on the, uh, item two, councilman horn.
aye. Councilman kuhl? Aye. Councilman cole? Thank you. Aye. Councilman cooper?
aye. Councilman mcdaniel? Aye. Councilwoman gregory? Aye. Mayor more wolf? Aye.
seven ayes no nays. Item three, resolution authorizing auto inland marine lot
insurance coverage for the city of dec gator, illinois for the policy period october 1st, 2024
to october 1st, 2025. Motion at the resolution to pass and be adopted. So
moved. Second. Any questions counsel? Seeing none. Councilman
horne? Aye. Councilman kuhl? Aye. Councilman cole? Aye. Councilman cooper?
aye. Councilman mcdaniel? Aye. Councilwoman gregory? Aye. Mayor more wolf? Aye.
seven ayes no nays. Item four, resolution authorizing ex excess liability
insurance coverage for the city of decatur, illinois for the policy period october 1st, 2024
to october 1st, 2025. Motion that the resolution do pass and be adopted. So
moved. Second comments or questions? Seen none. Councilman horne?
aye. Councilman kuhl? Aye. Councilman colt? Aye. Councilman cooper? Aye. Councilman
mcdaniel? Aye. Councilwoman gregory? Aye. Mayor more wolf? Aye. Seven ayes
no nays. Item five has a typo. It should read resolution authorizing
property insurance coverage for the city of decatur, illinois for the policy period of october 1st, 2024
to october 1st, 2025. Motion to resolution to pass and be adopted.
so moved. Second. Any questions or comments? Counsel? Seeing none,
councilman horn? Aye. Councilman kuhl? Aye. Councilman
colt? Aye. Councilman cooper? Aye. Councilman mcdaniel? Aye. Councilwoman gregory
aye. Mayor more wolf? Aye. Seven ayes known ayes. Item six resolution authorizing
excess workers' compensation coverage, compensation, insurance coverage for the city of
decatur, illinois for the policy period october 1st, 2024 to october 1st, 2025.
motion is the resolution do pass and be adopted. So moved. Second. Any questions or
comments? See none. Councilman horne? Aye. Councilman kuhl? Aye. Councilman
cole? Aye. Councilman cooper? Aye. Councilman mcdaniel? Aye. Councilwoman gregory
aye. Mayor moore wolf. Aye. Seven ayes no nays. Item seven resolution authorizing
equipment insurance coverage for the city of decatur, illinois for the policy period october 1st, 2024
to october 1st, 2025. Motion to the resolution, do pass and be adopted. So
moved. Second. Any comments or questions? See none. Councilman horne? Aye.
councilman kuhl? Aye. Councilman cole? Aye. Councilman cooper? Aye. Councilman
mcdaniel? Aye. Councilwoman gregory? Aye. Mayor more wolf? Aye. Seven ayes no
nays. Item eight, resolution officer authorizing cyber liability insurance coverage for
the city of decatur, illinois for the policy period october 1st, 2024 to october 1st, 2025.
motion that the resolution do pass and be adopted. So moved. Second. Any
comments, questions? Seen none. Councilman horne? Aye. Councilman kuhl? Aye.
councilman cole? Aye. Councilman cooper? Aye. Councilman mcdaniel? Aye. Councilwoman
gregory aye. Mayor moore wolf. Aye. Seven ayes no nays. Item nine, resolution
authorizing crisis protection insurance coverage for the city of decatur, illinois for the policy period october 1st, 2024
to october 1st, 2025. Motion that the resolution do pass and be adopted. So moved.
second questions, comments? Seeing none. Councilman horne? Aye. Councilman
kuhl? Aye. Councilman colt? Aye. Councilman cooper? Aye. Councilman mcdaniel?
aye. Councilman gregory? Aye. Mayor moore wolf. Aye. Seven ayes no nays. Item 10
resolution authorizing amendment number four to the management and professional services agreement between
the city of decatur, illinois, and ever side health llc motion is
the resolution to pass and be adopted. So moved. Second mr. Gleason
or ms. James? Is are, are
we on other side? We are, uh, items two through
10. Uh, we're gonna be, uh, the treasures. Okay. That's ms. James, I
you didn't cover ever side, did you? No, I did not. Okay. I thought I was getting, I was just making sure
loss in the twilight, so making pre comments there. All right, very good. So, uh,
I wanted to, uh, give an overview of what the ever side health clinic is. Not
everyone may know that for the public as well. Um, that is the city's health clinic where the
employees can go and actually, uh, get free services there.
and the idea behind it is that we can manage that better, uh,
because when they go there, then we're not getting charged for, uh, services
from, uh, a doctor elsewhere. And so we pay flat amount for,
to provide that service to our employees. And the employees also are getting, uh,
generic prescriptions there prescribed by the doctor at the clinic. And so it's
a way that we can control costs and have, uh, been able to control costs. In
the first year of the clinic, we saved $1.5 million. And in the second year of
the clinic, we didn't save as much because, uh, employees had, um,
health concerns that, uh, this is a regular doctor's office and the health concerns
they had, uh, several of 'em that need to be treated by a specialist. And so we cannot do specialist
work there. And this year, uh, we have not had as many
employees with specialists, uh, health, uh, issues. And so we feel that
in 2024, we will again save, uh, a lot of money by being
able to go to the clinic and provide those services. Now, we have been
so successful that in the first year of the clinic in 2020, uh, two,
when it opened, there were, um, 79 visits in the first month.
and when we go to, um, now this year in the highest month, there was 250
visits. That's a very large increase. And on average in 2022,
there were 109 visits. And, um, and this year there's 180
visits. That's a, that's a large increase. So to provide this good quality care,
uh, we are asking to add a medical assistant. The cost of that
annually is, uh, 84, approximately $84,000. And so that
is the request, um, on this resolution. A quick question.
I know that initially, um, when this was first proposed to counsel,
um, the hope was that other governmental bodies would
also sign on, which would take away some of the overhead costs that
we were being charged. Ha have we been successful in bringing on others?
so far, only the pipefitters union, uh, has been included in that. So, and there aren't many,
uh, individuals in that. We are still contacting others, uh, to do that. And with
the new city manager, we are looking into that to see, uh, if we can do that successfully.
yes. So we have, uh, continued to be in conversation, uh, to try and do that
and, and we'll see where we can get on that. Yes. Other comments or
questions from counsel? Mr. Colp? Just a comment, uh, since
we've opened this, we've had great success. I've heard of a lot of positive things about it from
city staff and retirees. So I, I think it's a wonderful program, but I
do hope we get some partners for it though. Other comments? Dr. Horn?
I just wanted to once again, thank city staff for their
vision and launching this clinic. Access
to healthcare is a critical benefit for
our staff, and it helps make the city of decatur
an employer of choice. $1.65 million
saved in healthcare costs over a two year period is
excellent. And hopefully our employees and their families
are healthier because of it. So again, thank you to city staff for
your leadership. Any other comments? Seeing none.
councilman horne? Aye. Councilman khl? Aye. Councilman
colt? Aye. Councilman cooper? Aye. Councilman mcdaniel? Aye. Councilwoman
gregory? Aye. Mayor, more wolf? Aye. Seven ayes. No nays. Thank you, ms. James.
appreciate you staying at the podium. Item 11, resolution authorizing the adoption of
the macon county multi hazar mitigation plan. Motion of the resolution
to pass and be adopted. So moved. Second, mr. Gleason.
thank you, mayor. Uh, I think, uh, most communities are familiar
in the state of illinois counties, uh, run the lead with the relationship
with, uh, the state emergency management and the federal emergency
management agency. This mitigation plan is something that has to be,
uh, adopted by all the local communities, uh, townships
within, uh, macon county. And then, uh, will be adopted
at the, uh, county level. Uh, it's a 300 plus page,
uh, document. A lot of it's standard. I don't want to assume that it's
standard, uh, to the council that might have questions. And, uh, the deputy city
manager and I will do our best to, uh, answer if there are any
questions or comments. Thank you. And I will note that mr. Robertson has requested
to speak, and we'll have counsel discussion, and then I'll call you to the podium. Any comments
from counsel? Dr. Horn? Just
some questions. Um, question number one. The multi
hazar mitigation plan focuses on natural hazards and
hazardous material incidents, as well as nuclear accidents
as it pertains to hazmat incidents. Does the city
have any plans for what to do in the event of co2
leaks and plant explosions? Um,
given the regularity of these events in decatur, it may be inevitable
that an incident will do harm to residents and their property.
the multi hazar mitigation plan appears to have limited information on
the specific steps the city will take. So my question
as it pertains to this is, how is the city going to use the
mitigation plan to make changes to its policies?
and I think, not to avoid the question, uh, because I will get a
response, but I'm going to assume, uh, related to the specific question, the
relationship with a dmi know public safety, our decatur
fire department, uh, they have a strong relationship.
I would imagine that there is a plan, but I want to confirm that, and I will report
back and then also how this connects to the, uh, macon county, uh,
mitigation, hazard mitigation plan. I'll also, uh, check
into that as well and see what the direct connection would be, uh,
god forbid, uh, an incident.
so one of the natural hazards that the mitigation plan focuses on
is extreme heat. As per page 73
of the plan, the national weather service has identified excessive
heat as the leading weather related killer in the united states.
and as per page 74, the plan extreme heat can disproportionately
impact disadvantaged and challenge communities in ways such
as financial constraints and limited mobility. How is
the city of decatur going to use the mitigation plan to make changes in
its policies? For example, the plan states that quote, some
residents of disadvantaged communities may have limited mobility, making
it difficult for them to leave their homes or access transportation
to cooler areas during extreme heat events.
so if residents lack air conditioning or as an example,
or running water as an example, is there concern
that they won't be able to get to cooling centers?
I'm gonna bounce around maybe a little bit on, uh, this response, but I think it
all, uh, ties together. Uh, in, in fact, I, I'll share with
the community. I know council's aware, um, but I serve
on, uh, fema's national advisory council, uh, finishing up a three
year appointment. In fact, I'll be in dc next week. And when we
talk about, uh, heat related, uh, incidents, it's one that the, uh,
administrator, uh, deanne criswell, uh, is actually talking
about naming, uh, heat, uh, related, uh,
um, I, I, I guess weather issues not
dissimilar to how we name, uh, hurricanes and tropical storms because
they have that kind of impact on communities and regions.
specific to, uh, your question, councilman horne, you know, I know that there are
partners, uh, in this community that when we have a forecast for,
uh, heat related, uh, problems in the community, that there are,
uh, different, uh, programs, assistance cooling centers available
in the community. I don't know how closely we worked together.
I think we were fortunate this past summer that, uh, we did not have,
uh, those challenges, I believe like we did in, uh, 2022 and 23,
uh, that I'm going to ask if I have a chance follow up on that one as well.
and then one final question. Uh, page 2 0 6 of the multi hazar
mitigation plan is to remove trees and increase green spaces.
uh, this involves removing trees from setbacks of roadways and
increase in green spaces and reduce elevated vegetation. Um,
could someone from the city explain what is envisioned for increasing
green spaces and reducing elevated vegetation?
I understand, um, what is meant by removing trees from setbacks,
but from roadways, but what about green spaces and reducing elevated
vegetation? And on this one, I'm going to,
and real quick, I I appreciate that you give us a prep on the questions
that you're gonna ask deputy city manager, uh, eth if, uh,
I know that you ran the lead on, uh, that response earlier in the day,
and if you would, uh, share that. And also as he's walking to the podium,
uh, our community development director, uh, cordero patrick,
uh, shared with me, um, a question or, or a
response or part of a response to, uh, your last question. We do have
a standing grant program, and I was actually familiar with that from, uh,
my time here before, uh, to, uh, provide, uh, those
without air conditioning units, uh, that program. And I do
in fact, think it's a partnership, uh, with, uh, amin.
more to come though. Thank you. And
the last part I would add is, is that the city also runs the public transportation. And so when that's
transportation is needed to the cooling centers, that's certainly something that's within the city's,
uh, ability to provide. Uh, but to the question councilman horn
about the, uh, removal of trees and vege, uh, elevated vegetation,
essentially, I think the storm last year, uh, the dre show that came through decatur
and macon county, uh, is a good example of that. Uh, essentially a lot of the,
uh, the damage that was done was caused by trees in the, in the parkways.
uh, and that took a couple of days to essentially reopen some of the streets
and to ultimately get the power restored to the community as a whole. Um,
I think the best indication that the city has already started to move towards that direction
is the tree replacement program that the city adopted. Uh, within the last couple of years,
there was a recognition that the city did not wanna par plant trees between
the sidewalk and the curb. And ultimately the city, uh, council adopted a
policy that said, put the pop put the tree on private property 10 feet
behind the, the right of way line. That way, as the tree grows and matures, it's not
growing into the overhead utility lines, uh, that, uh, can
easily be damaged in, in high winds and storm events, as well as if the,
the tree tips over, uh, it likely doesn't block streets, uh, that impacts,
uh, first responders, uh, response time. And so I think those are indications that this
is the direction the city has already been moving. Uh, but this plan does call
for the city to continue to, to move towards those efforts all the way through 2030.
mr. Mcdaniel, on that note about the trees I brought up to the former
city manager after we had the, uh, uh, last shutdown of,
uh, of power because a lot of trees falling
as I drive around the, uh, uh, the city on
private property, I see so many dead trees and they're right near
major power lines now, uh, mr.
uh, uh, former city manager said, of course, that's a, uh, it's private
property and he was gonna look into it. I had never heard back, but that
is a major, major problem in this community is I'm constantly
seeing major, uh, uh, dead trees
and, you know, they're gonna topple over in major storms in
that. Is there anything, you know, would you staff look into that?
what, what we can, I know it's cost costly for
trees to be cut down, but when you lose power for quite a few days,
that's, that hurts families and, uh, the population. So,
and the, the cost of taking down a large tree, I've got a lot of large trees.
it, it can be three or $4,000 for one tree. So it's out of the rate
of a lot of our citizens. And, you know, unfortunately, unfortunately,
then until something really bad happens. So other comments,
chuck, I just had two trees cut down in my house,
2200 for two trees. So these trees must have been bigger, but they're,
it's not cheap. That is a problem,
you know, then because everybody gripes then about I've lose my power,
you know, and the problem is, is stuff it's on private property and
homeowners aren't doing anything about it. 'cause I know it's cost, but it's
also a cost for the community on the long run. Other comments from
counsel? See none. Councilman
horne. Aye, wait, stop. I forgot to have mr. Robertson and I wrote it
in really big letters. Mr. Robertson, I apologize if you'd come to the podium. Thank you.
you have something to,
so the, uh, the documents that I'm, I'm passing out to you, one is a copy
of the letter from, uh, the environmental protection agency to,
um, archer daniels binland that I thought you all should have a copy of. The
second is something called a material safety data sheet. Um, those of you
that are familiar with hazardous uh, materials know that every hazardous type
material has to have an, uh, msds and there's one for liquified.
um, uh, co2, uh, this, this one is
a copy from helo liquid. Any, um, commercial provider has to have
it. And the reason I include that is 'cause there's some special hazards that go
with, uh, this particular, uh, material. And if
there was ever a large scale accident, it would take a, a
combination of circumstances to create kind of the nightmare scenario.
um, right now, you know, a dm isn't fully ramped up. If they were fully ramped up with that
pipeline pumping the liquid co2 through at the volumes
that they anticipated, we would've had a much more serious accident than we
had. And if we ever have that, if anything, breaches that
pipeline, uh, then, then, um, you're all familiar with
dry ice, right? You know that co2 is strange, right? It's not like water. Like
most li like most materials, they go from solid
and then water melts and becomes a liquid and then becomes a gas, right?
if we, if we boil it. But co2 goes directly from a solid to
a, to a gas. That's why we have, uh, dry ice. But so how is
it that a dm is able to liquefy it? Well, you can only liquefy it
by putting it under tremendous pressure. So this pipeline is highly pressurized.
it's like at least 70 times atmospheric pressure, and
it has to be cooled as well in order to keep it liquified. So
why do I bring this up? Well, if anything happens that would cause the
pressure to drop or the temperature to go up, then
what's that liquified co2 gonna turn into? It's
gonna, it's gonna snow, it's gonna turn into dry ice. And then
we know what happens with dry ice, it quickly evaporates and you get a huge
volume of gas for a relatively small volume of liquid. That's
why it's so efficient to move it that way, right? But it also means you, you gotta have a tightly
controlled process. And if anything goes wrong, then you're gonna have a rupture
in that pipeline and you're gonna have a cloud of co2 grow around that
rupture. And unfortunately, co2 is heavier than air.
and so if you have a day like we often have where we smell the, what we used
to call staley, right? That's, that's the kind of day where there's not much air movement,
then you could have an accumulation of co2 on the ground and that's
what potentially could cause asphyxiation of people. They can't breathe, they
vomit, they pass out. And then the problem for first responders
is they can't just rush in there, they gotta have special equipment. So I'm
out of time. Thank you. And I hope you take action. Thank
you for your comments. Any response from counsel before we move on
to the question? Dr. Horn? Um, I just wanna say
to mr. Robertson, uh, thank you for, for bringing back that back up.
and the one leak that we're aware of. A dm was
apparently aware of the corrosion and leakage in one of
its two deep monitoring wells in march.
uh, the corrosion of the well resulted in 8,000 metric tons
of co2 and formation fluid entering underground areas
for which a dm did not have a permit.
and a dm was already subject to a class action lawsuit that
was filed last year alleging that the company did not obtain pore
space rights from landowners. And so combined
these events could call into question the reliability and predictability
of carbon sequestration operations being performed
in decatur. And I appreciated city manager's res um,
um, city manager gleason's response here and
the importance of dfd being involved in these discussions
by, I think it's important to note, we've had carbon sequestration
in decatur for 10 years and so there should
be a plan already, and one only has to look at what
happened in rural mississippi where dozens of individuals were
exposed to co2 when a pipe ruptured
to understand, uh, what the consequences are of a
leak of a pipe rupture. And so we've,
we've had a decade to have a plan in place. Um, and so
I think it's important that we have one. Any further comments?
seeing none. Councilman horne? Aye. Council
councilman kuhl? Aye. Councilman colt? Aye. Councilman cooper?
aye. Councilman mcdaniel? Aye. Councilwoman gregory? Aye. Mayor more wolf?
aye. Seven ayes no nays. Item 12 is our city manager. Update. Mr. Gleason?
thank you mayor and council. Uh, no slides this evening. Uh, the only thing,
uh, is just a preview for the october 7th council meeting.
uh, there will be agenda item on video gaming. Uh,
so a menu of options, uh, where I think we've got, uh, support,
uh, tho that will come back for, uh, council consideration. Thank you.
moving now to the consent calendar. Does anyone on council wish to remove any of those
items that are listed? See none.
item a ordinances authorizing consumption of alcoholic liquor on public rights of way. 100
block of merchant street northeast community fund farm to fund item b, receiving and
filing of minutes of boards and commissions. Item c resolution approving reappointment city plan
commission item d, resolution approving reappointment zoning, board of appeals item
e resolution approving reappointment, fireman's pension fund, board of trustees, item
f ordinance annexing territory 29 43 south wheatland road, item
g ordinance, annexing territory 29 41 turin road item
h resolution authorizing a local public agency agreement with the state of illinois to improve
27th street city project 20 24 11 item I resolution
accepting the bid and authorizing the execution of a contract with dun company, a division of tyrell
inc. For 2024 local motor fuel tax street improvement project city project 20 24 25
item j resolution authorizing a professional services agreement with clark dietz inc. To provide
design engineering services for the south taylorville road water main
replacement project. City project 20 24 16 item k ordinance
vacating public rights of way 1300 block of north 23rd street alley, south of
east locust street between 22nd street and 23rd street and the south half of the 1300 block
of north 24th street. Item l ordinance rezoning property from r three single
family residence district to b two commercial district 2192 eastwood
street. Item m resolution authorizing the execution of an agreement with
schafer excavate excavating for the demolition of one 30 north edward street.
item n resolution authorizing the execution of an agreement with steve's trucking for the
demolition of 1255 east prairie street. Item o ordinance and
amending city code chapter seven officers and employees generally. Item
p ordinance amending city code chapter 6 56, refuge and recyclables
removal. Item o ordinance amending city code chapter 70.2,
registration of a of at risk properties item r resolution
authorizing purchase of tyler technology, software and reallocating funds budgeted for time
and attendance system purchase. I need a motion to approve the items as presented.
so moved. Second. Councilman horn? Aye. Councilman kuhl? Aye. Councilman
culp? Aye. Councilman cooper? Aye. Councilman mcdaniel? Aye. Councilwoman
gregory? Aye. Mayor more wolf? Aye. Seven ayes, no nays. Anyone on council
have other business? Mr. Culp, I just want to thank decatur
police department for their, uh, swift reaction to the school threats without going too
deep in the case. Uh, I just want to appreciate their, what they've done
for us and putting everybody at ease over this recent threat. And again,
thank you. Agree. Other comments? Mr. Ko?
I'd like to go back to carbon sequestration and now that we're other,
we're in another business, I can ask questions of city staff.
um, there are many unanswered questions
about the co2 leak that, uh, took place. For
example, could the corrosion of a well take
place closer to the surface thereby posing
a health threat to the public? And second, does the amount
of sequestration activity influence the rate of corrosion?
the amount of co2 predicted to be sequestered under
lake decatur is substantially greater than what was done in the past.
and that well corroded after 10 years of operation.
frankly, I don't want the vi violator of the safe water drinking act
to answer those questions. I'd rather have an independent
assessment from city staff to answer those questions.
to my knowledge only the mayor was notified of the leak,
uh, prior to the u-s-e-p-a action in august,
the leak took place months prior to the city
reaching and final agreement with a dm that permitted the
company to sequester carbon under lake decatur. It
is very fair to say that the knowledge of a co2
leak when it happened could have influenced the city council's
decision on whether co2 sequestration was
in the best interest of the city and its residents and
could have influenced the terms of the easement agreement.
and so the question is why weren't the city employees
notified and why wasn't the city council notified? Because
keep in mind, passage of our laws requires
more four members of the elected body.
why didn't adms emergency response
and remediation plan include calling the city of
decatur and its water department? And again,
I don't want the violators of the safe drinking water act
to answer these questions. These questions should be done
by the city. Now, the city should also be asking
why it took the u-s-e-p-a months to issue a notice
of violation of the safe drinking act while the city's
water supply thankfully was not impacted in this incident.
it was not even notified until months
afterwards. Can we expect the same lack of transparency
from a dm and the u-s-e-p-a if the leak took place
10 feet underground again, the incident took
place in march. The u-s-e-p-a issued its violation
on october, on august 14th, and the
public was not even made aware until september 13th.
thanks to an article in the national media politicos
ee news. And I also wanna thank, uh, brendan moore of the
herald and review for the work that he did. Um, in
following up a dm and u-s-e-p-a simply
have failed the city of its decatur, city of decatur and its
residents and their lack of timely incident reporting
may have ensured that decatur residents live with the threat
of carbon storage permanently. And this
is all for a one time payment of $1.2 million,
which represents about 1% of our general
fund revenue we receive each year. But now I do have some
questions for city staff and for the mayor. Mayor, you said you were aware what
month were you aware of the leak? Late august, I received
a very minimal correspondence from the
epa. Okay. And then, uh, this question I guess would be city
manager wrighton. Was any city employee aware of
adms violations of the c mr. Wrighton isn't here. Oh, I'm sorry.
I'm sorry. Tim. Mr. Gleason apologize. Um, was
any city employee aware of adms violations of
the safe drinking water act? And if so, when?
and I say this with all due respect, uh, because a number of your,
uh, questions, comments, concerns are things that I'm
standing up a team. We've had internal discussions, uh, from what I learned
about this, uh, last week. But at this point for an ongoing
investigation that we are just learning about, les is best
at this point from a city standpoint and for the community.
that's not for a lack of transparency. It's we do not
know what, uh, what the investigation is going to,
uh, determine, but rest assured that many of the
questions that councilman horne is raising, those are
the very same questions that we've had internal discussions about and
seeing how we stand up the appropriate team to address that and
or get answers to those questions. So I would, uh,
very much ask, uh, that we, uh, uh, take some time.
uh, but those questions will be answered at some point, I promise you.
thank you for that. So I will just put this question on the record, but
I, I will give the city staff the time that it needs. But
would adms failure to disclose
pertinent information, um, negate the
city's easement agreement? That is to say, is it negotiation
in bad faith? I can personally speak, uh,
to this issue and say, if I knew that a
monitoring well was going to leak co2,
uh, less than 10 years after it was installed
and after being insured that co2 sequestration
was safe, I would have changed my vote. And I
think dr. Horne, if I can interrupt you, a lot of that kind of discussion really needs to happen
with legal in, um, a more contained environment before
we start talking about negotiating and, and changing, uh,
where we are. 'cause I don't want us to get into a path that we don't want to be in. And
I would defer to city legal that it should probably be in an executive
session or, um, they may need time to look into it.
yeah, I, when we are asked or
directed to look into something, um, such as this,
we would do that. Mr. Cooper,
just one follow up question with, uh, dr. Horn's concerns there.
um, and I, and I know that it's being looked into and
I have confidence that it's being looked into. Um, but do we have any type of timeframe?
'cause I wouldn't wanna be sitting here 3, 4, 5, 6 months down the road waiting before we make
a decision if we need to make a change on what we've already done in the past,
a blended response here. And one, the completion
of the investigation is going to drive, you know, the next
steps, you know, based on whatever the findings might be.
but maybe to answer your question, um, is we,
we had this discussion earlier and it's an internal one and,
uh, we are standing up the appropriate team to, uh,
ask or prepare for the obvious questions that have been, uh,
you know, circulated in the community and many of which, uh,
councilman horne has, uh, raised tonight.
further comment, mr. Keel. I'm sorry. No.
um, for me again, I'm just, it's a wait and
see. I have confidence that the people that are investigating this will do the right thing.
um, councilman horn, you're against carbon sequestration, so your
comments are slightly biased in my opinion. And it's an easy thing to attack.
you could be a hundred percent right? I don't know, but I just wanna wait and see before
we throw a dm under the bus, like I said earlier,
let's hear from both sides. Well, and it's fair. And these kinds of investigations do
take a long time, especially on the federal level. They tend to be extremely thorough.
and so it is a very slow process. So it's kinda like when
we have, um, a crime or an incident that's happening, everybody wants to know
right now what's the answer, what is the investigation? And as,
uh, councilman could easily tell us. Investigations take a lot of time to get
all the facts. Do I have a motion to adjourn? So moved.
second. Councilman horn? Aye. Councilman
kuhl? Aye. Councilman colt? Aye. Councilman cooper? Aye. Councilman
mcdaniel? Aye. Councilwoman gregory? Aye. Mayor more wolfe. Aye. Seven ayes,
no nays. We are adjourned.