[0:06] good evening uh Justin could you please
give the invocation this
[0:12] evening well good evening Madame mayor
councel Ecclesiastes 3:1 and14 says that
[0:19] for everything there is a
season and a time for every matter under
[0:24] Heaven I perceived that whatever God
does endures forever nothing can be
[0:29] added to it or anything taken from it
and God has done it so that people fear
[0:35] before him so these words encourage us
to embrace true wisdom humbly seeking
[0:40] our creator so would you please pray
with
[0:43] me Lord you are the source of all wisdom
indeed you are the only wise God you are
[0:50] above time and exercise your control
over all things in fact it is by your
[0:56] government that times and seasons are
stable so that that we may depend upon
[1:01] them pray that you would lead us toward
your wisdom free us from the foolishness
[1:06] that our hearts are naturally bent
toward as we turn away from you Lord we
[1:11] need wise
leaders it is the glory of these men and
[1:14] women here tonight these leaders to seek
your wisdom indeed they have no wisdom
[1:20] except from your hand so Lord we ask
that you'd please grant them true
[1:24] knowledge and insight and discretion by
your mercy May the desires and plans for
[1:31] this city be good and just plans not
plans that bring harm or waste please
[1:38] give them persistence and joy in their
work help them to desire integrity and
[1:43] help them to walk in it and may we seek
all these things from you you who freely
[1:48] give to all those who sincerely ask and
so we ask all of this in the Name of
[1:53] Christ your son your very greatest gift
amen amen amen thank you so now we'll
[2:01] officially call this meeting to order
Madam clerk could you please take the
[2:03] role Mayor Miller here Elder persons CLM
here Monroe here Simmons here Parker is
[2:11] absent Stacy here Shadel here Sanders
here and sellers here and if you could
[2:18] please stand for the Pledge of
Allegiance led by Alderman
[2:23] Clen to the flag of the United States of
America and to the stands one nation God
[2:33] indivisible withy andice for
[2:39] all item number one is approval of the
agenda however we will be taking off
[2:43] item number 20 for a later time frame is
there a motion to approve so
[2:51] moved motion made by Alderman Monroe
seconded
[2:55] by Alman Shadel yeah oh okay Alman Shad
all those in favor signify by saying I I
[3:03] opposed that motion passes item number
two is approval of the minutes from the
[3:06] regular meeting on February 5th and the
special meeting on February 5th 2024 is
[3:12] there a motion to approve so moved
Sor motion made by Alderman Monroe
[3:18] seconded by Alderman Clem all those in
favor signify by saying I I opposed
[3:25] motion passes item number three is
public comment we do have two that are
[3:30] signed in uh Ashley
[3:38] Hilman Ashley H um I'm just here to
reiterate again as neie did um when the
[3:43] ordinance was read for the first time
20249 that there are two protected
[3:49] classes that are not mentioned in there
source of income and immigration status
[3:53] this is again a reminder that you're
putting an ordinance through that
[3:56] potentially does not have two protected
classes so you're putting an ordinance
[4:00] that would potentially be completely out
of date already with those two classes
[4:04] not included thank
you thank you and Linda
[4:12] Johnson City Council leaders and Mayor
Miller I'm here tonight to speak
[4:17] regarding agenda number
nine to raise the which is to raise the
[4:21] number of festivals from 12 to 18 many
in this city are working to decrease
[4:27] violence gun violence in our city
statistics from John Hopkins Bloomberg
[4:32] School of Public Health Center for gun
violence Solutions in 2023 states that
[4:38] alcohol use and gun violence are leading
causes of preventable injury and death
[4:43] in the US alcohol kills 140,000 annually
guns kill more than 48,000 both are
[4:50] Public Health crisis these issues are
most deadly when they intersect with one
[4:55] another heavy drinking was involved in
in nearly one one third of all gun
[5:00] homicides and 1/4 of of all gun suicides
alcohol impaired driving is one of the
[5:08] most common and deadliest crimes
committed in America one person is
[5:12] killed every 39 minutes in drunk driving
incidents we as a city are trying to
[5:18] reduce violence gun violence why would
we promote more drinking in our streets
[5:23] since increased drinking leads to more
violence I do not know how much revenue
[5:27] is generated for City purposes by
increasing the events where alcohol can
[5:32] be consumed on the streets but is the
money worth more than the lives of those
[5:37] who have suffered violence or death due
to
[5:41] alcohol consumption or is it worth more
than families who have suffered abuse
[5:48] due to alcohol is issues in the home and
what kind of example are we giving to
[5:52] our youth it is very sad that alcohol
has to be used to draw people to our
[5:58] city I would urge you you to vote now on
this ordinance thank
[6:07] you okay that concludes our public
comments next is item number four which
[6:12] is the consent agenda the consent agenda
is considered to be routine and nature
[6:15] and acted as one motion unless the
council has something to remove Alderman
[6:19] uh Stacy I just have a few things I
would like to
[6:26] question yes um
[6:32] they're all under
4-b um page 17
[6:38] or 1 through n it had two different page
numbers item number two one two
[6:46] one55 can you say that last part again
item number
[6:55] 12155 you want them all or are we going
to do one just to is
[7:03] this yes for okay so so then um the
consent agenda will be uh a the approval
[7:12] to receive and place on file the board
and commission minutes from the foreign
[7:15] fire insurance board from December 14th
2023 The Liquor Commission from January
[7:20] 18th 20 and the 25th 2024 the fire
department report January 2024 and
[7:26] payroll for pay period ending February
10th 2024 in a total of
[7:43] $579,500 by Alderman sers Madam clerk
could you please take the role CLM I
[7:49] Monroe I
Simmons I Stacy I Shadel I Sanders I and
[7:56] sers I uh the motion passes is 7 to Zer
sorry thank you uh so the second portion
[8:03] of uh the approval is the finance bills
payable in the total of
[8:09] $1,448
19028 uh and discussion with Alderman
[8:15] Stacy concerning those two
items
[8:20] okay
[8:25] um number
12155
[8:30] for
21793
[8:34] 34 it says Hancock what does that
mean Madam may can we get a page number
[8:43] please it's either one through n or page
[8:54] 17 the item says one- nine on the page
[9:04] however it says page
[9:09] 17 and what was the total
[9:17] again yes 16 of
[9:23] 25 director RoR do you know what she's
questioning I'm trying to figure it out
[9:33] can you repeat the total that you're
questioning 21,000
[9:37] 2,793 34 it's on the first page of the
itemized
[9:45] list under 4B you have a vendor it's a
fair it's fair gram and
[9:52] Associates um it's for Shaun E Street
and Hancock for
[9:57] engineering that one
yes I don't I didn't see sha on it but
[10:14] yeah Darren do you know that
answer yeah certainly it's design
[10:19] engineering for the Shaunie Hancock uh
Vio that we're under contract to perform
[10:25] and we have HDR as our subcontractor as
uh the rail expert um I don't remember
[10:33] the total of the contract off the top of
my head but uh we're we'll we're well
[10:37] within our contract amount for that
project okay so the 21,000 was for what
[10:43] design
engineering we've been working on it for
[10:48] uh probably four months maybe
[10:54] five
okay 121 066
[10:59] preliminary
29,000
[11:04] 852 and what page is that on that's page
16 it's four items
[11:17] below you have that
too so that's a phram as
[11:22] well I'm sorry I'm just not able to find
what are preliminaries what is that
[11:30] uh that's our design engineering for the
24 Street program that we're working on
[11:34] now so we can bid the projects uh before
[11:41] summer that was budgeted in the 2024
[11:46] budget okay um number 121
070 Hancock Bridge
[11:55] rehab
3,750
[12:00] that's our fairr contract for the
Hancock Bridge replacement uh and
[12:06] Rehabilitation that was approved to
council that's another contract we're
[12:09] under for to design the bridge
replacement so it was
[12:13] $30,000 just to design it uh I think it
was it's uh if I recall right it's a
[12:19] $250,000 contract it's a2.2 million
project okay but just the designing was
[12:28] 30,000 that was our that's our monthly
invoice for work that we performed for
[12:32] the city for that project we're under
contract to design
[12:42] itations okay um number
18699
[12:48] HVAC contracted building contracted
[12:57] building 5
,550 what is
[13:01] HVAC heating ventilation and air
conditioning okay so what contracted
[13:08] building are we speaking of there's one
at the police station I know that's okay
[13:13] but I I I don't know so I'm just saying
it's Heating and Cooling
[13:20] basically that's
geostar that's um geostar that's
[13:25] probably just bu maintenance contract
maintenance
[13:31] Contracting
okay um there was two I don't have the
[13:38] number if I had to find it I could pelen
benefits
[13:46] contributions
[13:49] um um pep is that what you're looking at
p e l l i o n pelen p benefits contrib
[13:58] part of our employee benefit plan that's
so for payroll we run that every
[14:08] payroll um there was a
12,900 and it said airport
[14:16] management that's uh probably CMT
Crawford Murphy Tilly there are
[14:21] Engineers that work um on our state on
the airport and they also help us with
[14:26] the state grants out at the airport so
how often do we pay that
[14:32] 12,900 it varies um what kind of work
that they do that month um I'll have to
[14:39] look this one up to see if it was a a
state um Grant I'll have to find out
[14:45] which one this is if you want to give me
a minute
[14:57] okay
[15:06] is that the Feb 2024 one uh Alderman
Daisy
[15:13] um for the amount of
12,900 so that's that was actually paid
[15:18] the second gen Aviation
[15:22] LLC um SEC if if that's are you talk
that's second gen so that's the monthly
[15:28] management fees for the airport manager
they're paid monthly that exact
[15:34] amount that's page four of
nine I'm sorry I'm jumping around so
[15:42] every month we pay yes we have a
contract with the management of the
[15:48] airport okay
um number 1721
[15:54] [Music]
905 it was some type of
[15:59] ebsco membership industry
[16:04] membership
[16:12] ABCO is that the vendor or the um
description that you're that's probably
[16:18] the
[16:24] vendor 1721
905
[16:29] it's
[16:32] on
page five of nine is that a library
[16:38] thing I think so it's one of our
databases that we pay for it's a library
[16:44] database set a 213 count
[16:53] code it said it's periodicals that's our
magazines that people
[16:59] check out every day it says membership
titles in the uh description yeah yeah
[17:05] I'm looking at it right now and I'm
looking at the account code that it came
[17:09] out of too so that's our magazine and I
said it set membership but I mean how do
[17:15] I know that it's a magazine
membership well I can see and since like
[17:22] I I know all the library stuff so I just
know that that's our magazines
[17:26] periodicals is magazines okay
[Music]
[17:31] um
7344 Hancock
[17:37] other Technical
[17:41] Services
[17:44] 4754 yes I got that one that was a
situation where we had a homeowner who
[17:51] uh agreed to sell us their property and
then we had aist work done on the
[17:55] property and then that's not that one
sure I'm sure
[18:04] okay what page oh maybe you're right we
have already talked about that I'm okay
[18:10] with that um Adam Street Improvement
number
[18:16] 121057
13,440 what improvements have we done on
[18:22] Adam Street that's to engineering from
fairr that's the it's our construction
[18:29] engineering contract that was approved
by
[18:32] Council okay so it's nothing else that's
been add it no these are these are
[18:38] contracts that have already been
approved by Council and these are our
[18:41] our reoccurring bills to pay those
contracts as Works performed by the city
[18:47] for the city excuse me okay okay so um
underneath that one there was a phase
[18:56] one um for
93475 that's the wastewater treatment
[19:02] plant project that's under contract and
it's saying phase one how many phases
[19:07] are there to this project uh the phase
that we're currently under for the 57
[19:13] million is phase one uh there is a
planned four phases over the course of
[19:19] many
years um potentially there could be a
[19:23] fifth if there's other grant money but
right now we're planning on
[19:27] for
[19:30] um okay um I only have one more number
12159
[19:37] wwtp study what is
that excuse
[19:48] me what I'm what's the amount of that
one there's a couple
[19:54] 12,500 facility is facility that's the
facility plan for the funding from EPA
[20:00] for phase two that's required to be done
in advance of the design and planning
[20:05] for phase two of Hancock of the
wastewater treatment
[20:10] PL right those plans take you know five
plus years to develop and so that is
[20:17] also a contract that is or a project
that's under contract with the
[20:22] city okay that's how you get the funding
for phase
[20:27] two
[20:34] okay if there's nothing further um
before you council is to proove of the
[20:38] finance bills payable in the total of
1,448 19028 is there a motion to approve
[20:45] so moved second the motion made by
Alderman Monroe seconded by Alderman
[20:49] Clem Madam clerk would you please take
the role CLM hi Monroe hi Simmons hi
[20:57] Stacy hi Shadel I Sanders hi and sers I
uh the motion passes 7 to zero thank you
[21:06] item number five is award presentations
manager
[21:22] Boer good evening everyone um we'd like
to present the City employee of the year
[21:30] uh this year it goes to officer Brandy
Hilby she has been awarded the 2023
[21:35] employee of the year award for her
unparalleled dedication to the Freeport
[21:39] Police Department including covering an
except exceptional amount of overtime
[21:45] participating in Step Grant shifts and
demonstrating remarkable productivity
[21:50] her commitment is evident in her
professional handling of calls
[21:53] willingness to work under any condition
and significant contribution to the
[21:58] community Through engagement and safety
initiatives officer hilby's positive
[22:03] impact on both the department and the
community along with her activity
[22:07] involvement in the community events
underscores her deserving recognition as
[22:11] City employee of the year thank you
Brandy we appreciate
[22:16] [Applause]
you
[22:33] okay well we thank you all
[22:38] [Applause]
[22:52] right so tonight uh it's my privilege to
be able to present patrolman Conor green
[22:58] with our life-saving award um I'd like
to say the life saving award it's not
[23:03] something that we take lightly we don't
hand these out to often there's a strict
[23:07] criteria that uh the incident has to um
adhere to and I was able to review um
[23:14] what was submitted to me and I and I
agree uh with uh sergeant schnor and
[23:18] Lieutenant wiel that what patrolman
green did is worthy of the life-saving
[23:23] award so um I Chief Shen was advised by
Sergeant Kurt schnor and Lieutenant Tim
[23:30] weel that patrolman Connor Green
responded to an accident he witnessed on
[23:34] February 2nd 2024 at 6:50 p.m. at the
intersection of West Avenue and
[23:40] Fairgrounds Road patrolman green quick
actions when he arrived on scene saved
[23:45] the life of another person upon review
of the incident I learned the following
[23:49] on the aforementioned date and time
patrolman green while on duty witnessed
[23:53] an accident involving two vehicles at
West Avenue and Fairgrounds Road as
[23:58] patrolman green exited his vehicle one
of the vehicles involved in the accident
[24:03] had a visible Fire Starting under the
hood and there was an occupant seated in
[24:07] the driver's seat of this vehicle the
fire then began to spread rapidly and
[24:11] grow in grow in intensity as uh
patrolman green approached the vehicle
[24:16] patrolman green calmly instructed the
occupant to exit the vehicle because the
[24:20] vehicle was on fire the occupant
obviously days from the Collision was
[24:24] reluctant to exit the vehicle until she
found her phone
[24:28] patrolman green quickly assisted the
occupant out and helped her exit the
[24:32] vehicle as a fire then took over the
female was escorted to safety and
[24:36] patrolman Green's quick actions
prevented the occupant from sustaining
[24:40] severe injuries or possibly even the
loss of her life so after reviewing the
[24:44] facts of this incident I feel patrolman
Green's actions deem him worthy of the
[24:48] receiving the life-saving award as he
was exposed to immediate danger for the
[24:51] purpose of moving the occupant of a
burning vehicle from immediate
[24:56] Danger
[24:59] [Applause]
congratulations very
[25:13] nice thank
[Applause]
[25:26] you
[25:42] hey item number six is the second
reading of ordinance 20 2408 mam clerk
[25:46] could you please read this ordinance
approving the city to enter into lease
[25:50] agreements with Freeport solar North and
Freeport solar South regarding solar
[25:55] facilities at landfills 2 and 3
thank you manager warer uh thank you
[26:00] your honor uh just uh following up from
the last council meeting in 2017 the
[26:05] City of Freeport initiated a lease
option for the installation of a solar
[26:09] array on landfills number two and three
in 2023 amesco express interest in
[26:14] formalizing the lease agreement for both
sites amesco has presented lease
[26:18] agreements for two and three these
agreements have undergone extensive
[26:22] review by the city manager City attorney
and landfill engineer uring alignment
[26:26] with the initial 2017 lease option
Arrangement uh the city is set to
[26:31] receive an annual lease payment totaling
$16,500 with
[26:36] 9,750 for the uh South landfill and
6,750 for the north landfill staff
[26:42] recommends that city council approve the
amesco lease agreement for City Landfill
[26:47] number two and three thank you
[26:52] questions seeing none Madam clerk please
take the
[26:56] rooll CLM hi Monroe hi
Simmons hi
[27:04] Parker oh I'm sorry he's absent
[27:09] Stacy I Shadel hi
Sanders I and sellers I the ordinance is
[27:16] passed 7 to zero thank you item number
seven is the second reading of ordinance
[27:21] 20 2409 could you please read this
ordinance amending the codified
[27:25] ordinances toab EST lishing a standing
human relations commission and fair
[27:30] housing regulations and amending chapter
270 fair housing human relations
[27:35] commissions thank you director tuckman
thank you Madame mayor so uh nothing has
[27:40] changed since the first reading of this
ordinance essentially what happened just
[27:43] to recap we uh we were working on a on a
grant from the US Department of
[27:48] Agriculture for housing preservation
which would allow us to have access up
[27:53] to $140,000 in funding for
rehabilitation of homes for property
[27:58] owners in need and in reviewing our
Grant application it was brought to our
[28:03] attention that we were lacking a fair
housing ordinance our staff worked with
[28:08] the USDA to talk about what they kind of
wanted to see from our organization to
[28:13] meet these requirements and essentially
what uh we're reading today is that we
[28:19] were we're looking to establish a Human
Services Commission which is going to
[28:23] consist of nine members of the community
appointed by the mayor and uh would be
[28:28] subject to approval by the council but
essentially what their job would be to
[28:31] do is to look at uh complaints alleged
against uh property owners in that in in
[28:38] discriminatory actions so essentially
they would come to Community Development
[28:43] Department file a complaint uh we would
review it and it would eventually be
[28:47] heard in front of this uh commission and
then the commission would look for
[28:53] Action to remediate this issue and then
present it to council um one thing to
[28:57] mention is that this commission would
not be reviewing anything in this
[29:02] criminal matter and it would just be
something that wouldn't fit that type of
[29:06] requirement so um in reviewing this
staff is recommending approval of this
[29:12] ordinance director Duckman you said that
this is what the USDA is asking of us um
[29:17] so is it or is it not
outdated well our current ordinance is
[29:22] outdated yes so how do we no I mean
public public
[29:28] comment the public comment piece of
saying that there were already a couple
[29:31] pieces that were
outdated can you address that I think
[29:35] that they're looking to be more specific
on uh protected classes of people and I
[29:42] think that uh on the floor here I know
attorney zto was probably listening
[29:45] maybe documented and we could certainly
add that to the ordinance on the floor I
[29:49] I mean we could mend that so what you've
got is more of just a general blanket
[29:53] covering I want to say off the top of my
head there's probably seven s to nine
[29:58] specific protected
classes and we probably and what um the
[30:03] Realtors association has said is we want
you to add two more protected classes of
[30:08] people and does it ises that in line
with the USDA I yes I would say it is
[30:13] you know we can certainly I I would
agree that it is
[30:18] yes so C certainly if the council wanted
to do they could make a motion right now
[30:22] to amend the ordinance to add those two
additional I believe it was two
[30:26] additional prot ected classes to the
list of protected classes that are
[30:56] already