City Council Meeting

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Agenda

Agenda: https://pekinil.api.civicclerk.com/v1/Meetings/GetMeetingFile(fileId=4967,plainText=false)

Full agenda packet (agenda plus every staff report and attachment): https://pekinil.api.civicclerk.com/v1/Meetings/GetMeetingFile(fileId=4968,plainText=false)

[0:17] Pledge of Allegiance
[10:33] Call to Order
[11:00] Approve Agenda
[11:37] City Council - Regular Meeting Minutes - August 10, 2026
[12:23] Public Input
[1:16:15] Consent Agenda
[1:18:38] Mayor's Report
[1:24:45] Resolution No. 468-26/27 Approving Annual Contract with Flock Safety for License Plate Reading Cameras
[1:59:52] Resolution No. 474-26/27 Approving a Professional Auditing Services Agreement with Lauterbach & Amen, LLP for the Fiscal Years 2026 and 2027
[2:07:08] Resolution No. 475-26/27 Emergency Operations Center Technology Lifecycle Replacement
[2:08:45] Resolution No. 476-26/27 Authority to Award 2026 General Maintenance Mill and Overlay
[2:17:47] Resolution No. 477-26/27 Authorizing Repair of the Traffic Signal Light at Court Street and Stadium Drive
[2:21:30] Ordinance No. 4432-26/27 Amending Chapter 3, Article 2, Division 4 of the Pekin City Code to Clarify Wastewater Charges and General Provisions
[2:22:36] Any Other Business To Come Before The Council

Transcript

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[0:04] One it's being 5:30.
[0:06] I would like to call this regular council
[0:08] meeting for August 24 to order.
[0:10] Please, please all rise for the Pledge of Allegiance.
[0:15] I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America
[0:20] and to the Republic for which it stands.
[0:22] One nation under God, indivisible,
[0:26] with liberty and justice for all.
[0:28] Please, all remain standing, if you would for a moment, please.
[0:33] I want to take just a couple of moments here
[0:37] and we had a rough day here in the city of Pekin,
[0:42] but our police chief, Mr. Seth ranney,
[0:47] did an outstanding job protecting our children,
[0:50] protecting the community when it comes to safety, when it comes
[0:54] to the police officers, the men and women
[0:57] that are under Chief ranney.
[1:01] They are second to none.
[1:04] I am so proud to call him our chief.
[1:06] So if we would just have a moment of silent prayer
[1:11] for our police officers, for our children, for our community,
[1:17] and I want to personally say thank you for keeping us safe.
[1:21] Thank you.
[1:34] Thank you.
[1:35] Please have another prayer when you go to bed at night and pray
[1:38] for our police officers.
[1:46] I would like to call Mr. Kevin Bresnahan to the podium.
[1:52] The city last council meeting, we
[1:55] had a proclamation for antique tractor preservation day,
[2:00] along with the city coin that I had
[2:02] presented to him on Saturday.
[2:06] Our representative, Travis Weaver, our County clerk.
[2:11] I guess he's a self-made historian Mr. John
[2:14] Ackerman and myself, we all spoke on behalf of this
[2:19] being the start of.
[2:22] Hopefully something will come of it every year as a show.
[2:25] But he went to the Capitol and got this day
[2:29] passed as preservation day.
[2:32] So I would like to give Mr. Bresnahan
[2:34] just a few minutes to speak about how it came about.
[2:38] And you have passion and drive for it.
[2:41] So the floor is yours.
[2:43] Thank you Mary.
[2:44] Appreciate that.
[2:48] How much time do I have.
[2:49] Half hour.
[2:50] Pardon me.
[2:51] How much time do I have.
[2:51] Half hour.
[2:52] 45 minutes.
[2:53] 45 minutes.
[2:53] Thank you.
[2:54] Keep it to that.
[2:56] I'll try and keep it to a minimum,
[2:58] but thank you and thank you, city council
[3:00] staff and the public too.
[3:02] Thank you.
[3:03] I'd like to take time right now and publicly thank
[3:06] Mary and Travis Weaver, the state representative
[3:10] who sponsored this House Bill.
[3:12] It's HR 0423 and John Ackerman, the Tazewell County
[3:17] clerk and recorder of deeds.
[3:18] All three of these individuals gave outstanding presentations
[3:22] at the first annual antique tractor preservation
[3:25] day that we held out there at the Pekin park in the livestock
[3:28] review building.
[3:29] So it was well attended.
[3:31] We had 31 big machines.
[3:32] I'm going to call that, with the oldest machine being a 1911.
[3:36] Yes, that's what I said.
[3:37] 1911 rumbly oil pole tractor.
[3:40] And the gentleman that brought that in is a 21-year-old man.
[3:43] His name is Elaine Sauter out of Tremont,
[3:47] and he actually gave a little demonstration with that.
[3:50] But that being said, I think the youngest person besides that,
[3:53] we had some younger kids in there,
[3:55] I think 9 and 10 with their garden tractors.
[3:58] And that was the other thing too.
[3:59] We had 19 of those machines out there.
[4:01] So it's a start.
[4:03] And I had a couple of machines out there as well.
[4:05] But something fun, something important,
[4:08] but little history on this House Bill, this HR 0423,
[4:13] how this all got started was I subscribed
[4:15] to a magazine called Red Power.
[4:16] That's international tractors, just like I'm
[4:18] sporting the shirt and the hat.
[4:19] But there was a gentleman in there
[4:21] out in Kansas that started this movement as
[4:24] far as antique tractor preservation day.
[4:26] And the state of Kansas passed this through,
[4:29] making August 22 the day.
[4:32] So I called the state rep, Travis Weaver,
[4:34] and I said, hey, Travis, is there anything on the books,
[4:36] the state of Illinois for us.
[4:40] And let me get back with you on that.
[4:41] About five days later, he calls me back and he says,
[4:43] there's nothing on the books.
[4:44] What do you want to do.
[4:45] And I said, I'd like to get something going on this, please.
[4:47] He said, I'll sponsor the bill.
[4:49] You can co-sponsor it with me.
[4:51] But he said, hang on, this is going to take some time.
[4:53] Well, ladies and gentlemen, the way government
[4:55] works from the time I called him until we actually got the House
[4:59] Bill passed was 14 months.
[5:01] So it does take some time, but it was well worth it.
[5:05] Going down there to the.
[5:07] When he called and asked me, that
[5:09] was in October of last year, he said that, hey bresnihan
[5:12] the House members want to hear or your presentation
[5:16] and testimony on these antique tractors.
[5:18] And I thought, you've got to be kidding me.
[5:20] How much time do I have.
[5:21] Three minutes.
[5:22] And when I told my wife that, she just laughed.
[5:24] She says, you can't talk about antique tractors
[5:26] under three minutes.
[5:26] There's no way.
[5:27] So anyhow, long story short, we get down
[5:30] there and just his admin, our personal assistant,
[5:36] that experience.
[5:37] I don't know if you've ever been down there or not before,
[5:39] but it was top notch.
[5:40] They made sure Mr. President, go here if you need a drink.
[5:43] It's over there.
[5:44] But I was the second one in the hopper there that day.
[5:47] And it was a subcommittee of ag.
[5:49] And you're standing there before lawmakers, ladies and gentlemen.
[5:52] So there's six Democrats, six Republicans.
[5:54] And I asked them before we even got the show started
[5:57] to make this bipartisan.
[5:58] Well, six months later, there was about 15 seconds of silence.
[6:02] And I'm thinking to myself, Bresnahan,
[6:04] you either screwed that up or you wowed him.
[6:06] Well, it was the latter.
[6:07] And the Hat Lady there that as far as that, oversees it.
[6:13] She said, well, any questions for Mr. president han?
[6:15] Well, three hands go up.
[6:16] And remarkably, I thought that it was going to be more directed
[6:19] towards the history of these tractors,
[6:21] but they were mechanical questions.
[6:22] They were asking.
[6:22] Well, Kevin, my tractor is doing this.
[6:24] What do I do.
[6:24] And I feel those questions after about 10 minutes and we left.
[6:28] But anyhow, on our way back I got a text from Travis
[6:33] and he said Bresnahan, one of the ladies
[6:35] texted him and said that I crushed it.
[6:37] So I mean, I was just excited with that.
[6:39] So that being said, we got the House Bill passed
[6:44] and then the let's see here.
[6:50] But I'd like to ask you folks a show of hands who likes to eat.
[6:53] Get your hands up there.
[6:55] Get em up.
[6:55] Come on, John.
[6:56] I know you do.
[6:57] Yes you do.
[6:59] Nick, I saw your hand go up.
[7:00] Good, good.
[7:01] So what.
[7:02] Think Where are we going with this breznahan?
[7:04] Well, you stop and think about how we used
[7:06] to harvest our food years ago.
[7:08] There wasn't a combine around back in 1837.
[7:12] That's when John Deere invented the moldboard plow.
[7:14] We wouldn't see a tractor from him as far as turn
[7:17] of the century around 1900s is really
[7:19] the pivotal point for all this.
[7:21] John Deere had actually merged with a company
[7:23] called Waterloo boy.
[7:24] That was about 1918, 1920.
[7:27] But John Deere, as far as mass production,
[7:29] didn't have a tractor until I think, 1934 with the John
[7:32] Deere model A, but j.I. case had a steam
[7:36] traction engine about 1905.
[7:39] So that the turn of the century was
[7:41] very pivotal and monumental as far as getting things done,
[7:45] work done.
[7:46] How we shelled corn back then.
[7:47] You wore a glove with, like, a hook on it.
[7:48] And that's how you shelled your corn, shucked it.
[7:51] Imagine doing that today.
[7:53] So basically, in 100 years, you look at where we're at
[7:57] and where we're at now.
[7:58] Self-driving combines air conditioning,
[8:01] cabs, Hi Fi stereos in them.
[8:03] They've got coolers in them.
[8:05] Air controlled ride.
[8:06] I mean, just fantastic.
[8:09] Excuse me.
[8:09] Mary had the privilege on Saturday
[8:11] of seeing there was a 1957 Massey Ferguson combine there.
[8:15] Ladies and gentlemen, that was an open station tractor.
[8:17] There was nothing covering you.
[8:19] I mean, there was no air conditioning, no cab.
[8:21] It's just you and God Almighty, the elements.
[8:23] That's it.
[8:24] And even the rumbling, the 1911 at least
[8:27] had a cab on the thing or at least a cover.
[8:29] So that's where we were at.
[8:30] And that's how far we've come and evolved over the last 100
[8:34] years or so, give or take.
[8:35] But this transition from horses to horsepower.
[8:41] John Deere invented the moldboard plow in 1837.
[8:44] Like I said that we didn't see a tractor in 1920.
[8:47] But another gentleman we need to thank,
[8:49] Cyrus Hall McCormick as far as the threshing machine.
[8:52] And then again, j.I. case with the traction engine.
[8:58] What I'd like to read as far as the proclamation.
[9:00] I thought Mary had a couple good areas in here.
[9:04] It says whereas dedicated collectors restores,
[9:06] historical preservationists invest significant time,
[9:09] craftsmanship and resources into maintaining and restoring
[9:12] these iconic machines, ensuring that our agricultural store
[9:15] remains vibrant and accessible.
[9:18] And then in the house.
[9:19] Bill from Mr. Travis Weaver.
[9:24] Antique tractors represent a vital chapter in our nation's
[9:26] agricultural development and serve
[9:28] as symbols of innovation, resilience,
[9:31] and community heritage.
[9:35] As far as the future is concerned, as far as the show
[9:38] and going forward, Mary and I spoke briefly
[9:40] about possibly incorporating this with the Marigold festival,
[9:44] which I think we might be able to do,
[9:45] but we need to sit down and work out the details of that
[9:48] and maybe have a threshing demonstration with that Rumley
[9:51] and maybe some other demonstrations
[9:53] as far as how we used to make our grain corn, whatever,
[9:59] but anything related to AG.
[10:01] But I do thank you again for this opportunity
[10:04] and to come down and speak to you folks this evening.
[10:06] Thank you very much for that medallion
[10:08] and for the proclamation.
[10:10] Thank you again.
[10:11] I appreciate it very much.
[10:12] You're welcome.
[10:13] Thank you.
[10:28] Madam Clerk, call the roll, please.
[10:35] Good evening.
[10:36] Council good evening.
[10:37] Evening council member.
[10:39] Council Abel I. Council Member.
[10:41] Fletcher here.
[10:42] Council Member.
[10:43] Hilst here.
[10:44] Council Member.
[10:45] Hochheimer here.
[10:46] Council Member.
[10:47] Nutter here.
[10:48] Mayor Pro Tem Phillips here and Mayor Burress here.
[10:52] Having a quorum, we will conduct business.
[11:00] Chair will now entertain a motion for the approval
[11:02] of the agenda, please.
[11:04] Madam Mayor, I move the agenda.
[11:06] Be approved as presented.
[11:09] Second Motion made by Mr. Nutter and second, by Mr. hilst.
[11:15] Any questions, comments, or concerns
[11:17] of the approval of the agenda.
[11:22] Seeing none.
[11:23] Council, take your vote, please.
[11:32] Motion passes 7 0.
[11:36] Chair will now entertain a motion
[11:38] for the approval of the minutes from August 10, 2026.
[11:42] Madam Mayor, I move that 4.1 city
[11:44] council regular meeting minutes of August 10, 2026 be approved.
[11:49] Second Motion made by Mr. Nutter.
[11:52] Now excuse me.
[11:53] And second by Mr. Abel.
[11:56] Any questions, comments, or concerns on the minutes.
[12:01] Seeing none.
[12:02] Council, take your vote, please.
[12:12] Motion passes 6 minus 0, with one abstained.
[12:17] I believe you were absent, so.
[12:19] Yes thank you.
[12:22] We have now come down to public input.
[12:24] I want to remind everyone that you have five minutes.
[12:28] Please state your name for the record.
[12:31] And if there is 20 or more.
[12:34] Speaking on the same.
[12:36] We will have to limit it to one hour.
[12:38] The same subject.
[12:39] We will have to limit it to one hour.
[12:41] And once again, I ask that we have respect in the room.
[12:45] Thank you very much.
[12:46] Anyone wishing to have their voice be heard.
[12:54] Make sure the mic is on if I just check that.
[12:58] Good evening, Mayor Burress and Pekin city council members.
[13:01] My name is Troy tarter, and tonight I
[13:03] represent Pekin pride soccer club and our seventh Annual Tony
[13:07] folk Memorial classic, held on May 22 through the 24,
[13:12] and a tour sponsorship recipient in only our seventh year.
[13:17] Our 2026 tournament was another record for our club
[13:20] and ultimately the city of Pekin.
[13:23] We hosted 125 teams, which was an increase of 25 teams
[13:27] from 2025 at 100 this past May, representing 31 different soccer
[13:34] clubs across Illinois and Iowa.
[13:37] We estimate that over 4,500 guests spent the weekend
[13:40] in Pekin eating in our restaurants,
[13:43] buying gas from our stations, and likely
[13:46] making stops in our grocery stores and retail stores.
[13:50] Inevitably, last minute items that are often forgotten
[13:53] on a weekend trip because of discover Pekin
[13:56] tourism and the city council members,
[14:00] we were able to use our sponsorship
[14:02] grant to pay expenses towards rental of our own Park District
[14:05] fields equal to 76% of the award marketing of our tournament
[14:12] equal to 4% Hiring of athletic training staff at 4%
[14:18] and the purchase of awards for 21 different age divisions
[14:21] equal to 16% For that, I am so grateful
[14:25] and wanted to be here tonight to thank each and every one of you
[14:28] in person.
[14:29] I wanted to share some numbers with the council
[14:31] regarding our 26 tournament 125 teams as I mentioned.
[14:36] Participating a record of 25% growth from the year before.
[14:42] We hosted at two sites here in Pekin and North Pekin.
[14:45] 207 total soccer matches over the weekend.
[14:49] 31 clubs represented.
[14:51] Previous record was set in 2025 with 27 clubs.
[14:56] Over 4,500 families.
[14:58] Players and guests from out of town
[15:00] visited Pekin over the weekend.
[15:02] Many who stayed in Pekin hotels as well as other local hotels
[15:05] outside of Pekin.
[15:07] Most importantly, our club and tournament
[15:09] continue to generate economic impact to the city of Pekin
[15:13] through hotel stays, restaurant visits and gas
[15:16] and retail store traffic.
[15:18] Most importantly, as we continue to grow our tournament each
[15:22] year, we simply cannot do it without discover Pekin
[15:25] tourism and Pekin city council.
[15:28] As we look forward to 2027, we 2027.
[15:30] We are already planning to host more teams
[15:32] and in fact are looking at how we can raise funds to purchase
[15:35] additional soccer goals that will
[15:37] allow us to add additional fields to host even more teams.
[15:41] I want to close tonight by sharing an email that I received
[15:44] from an attending club director and Coach with Orion Football
[15:48] Club out of Orion, Illinois.
[15:51] In case some of you don't that's up near the Quad Cities.
[15:54] Troy, I wanted to thank you first and foremost
[15:56] for a great Rand tournament.
[15:58] I must say, many of my families also
[16:00] commented on the facility layout,
[16:02] the cleanliness of the entire area along with parking.
[16:05] Having never played in this tournament prior
[16:07] and with 10 years of coaching soccer,
[16:09] this is one of the top tournaments we
[16:11] have been to in so many ways.
[16:13] Obviously, not everyone may have the same experience as we did,
[16:17] but I must say overall the referees
[16:19] were hands down some of the best we have experienced.
[16:23] They were all polite and took time
[16:25] to explain things to the players, which
[16:26] not only helps development, but encourages
[16:29] good physical and ethical play.
[16:32] And this is coming from a team who
[16:33] received more yellow cards than our opponents
[16:35] in far too many ways.
[16:37] I will definitely be recommending your tournament
[16:40] to our other 12 travel teams under Orion Football
[16:44] Club in all age groups.
[16:46] Again, thank you for a great weekend.
[16:48] Dan Crippen, Director of communication
[16:50] and safety and also head coach.
[16:52] Again, on behalf of our families, players, coaches,
[16:56] and tournament committee, I want to reiterate
[16:58] my sincere gratitude to Mayor Burris and each of our city
[17:01] council members and the tourism committee
[17:04] for your generous support of Pekin pride soccer club.
[17:07] Thank you.
[17:08] Thank you so much.
[17:10] What positive news.
[17:11] I love hearing it.
[17:21] Hello, my name is Ryan and.
[17:26] Thank you.
[17:27] Try again.
[17:28] Hello my name is Ryan and I spoke at the last August
[17:31] 10 meeting regarding floc.
[17:33] At that meeting on the 10, the city council, the mayor
[17:37] and the police chief all agreed that they wanted to make sure
[17:40] that the council has the best information available to make
[17:43] the floc decision.
[17:44] That's a very reasonable decision because it's
[17:47] a very complicated subject.
[17:48] And as we've seen on social media and on the news,
[17:52] it's a hot topic.
[17:54] So some of our claims that we came
[17:56] on the 10th with were dismissed, I
[17:58] would say a little prematurely.
[18:00] So myself and some other speakers
[18:02] are going to discuss some of those claims that were made
[18:05] that I think were dismissed prematurely
[18:08] in a way that could be harmful towards that decision making.
[18:12] At the end of the day, you are elected officials,
[18:15] the public is an outrage.
[18:16] And there are organized groups against floc
[18:18] in every major city.
[18:20] Peoria has one, Pekin has one, Bloomington has one.
[18:23] They're popping up everywhere.
[18:25] And the Court of public opinions is not
[18:28] the final court and final decision over everything.
[18:30] But this is a topic that is so universally agreed
[18:34] upon that both sides of the political aisle
[18:36] can agree that these cameras do violate rights in some aspect,
[18:40] one way or another.
[18:42] As you listen to our statements, I
[18:44] want you to know that everything does come at a cost,
[18:46] whether that cost is from a pending lawsuit,
[18:49] from their misuse, or from the loss of public trust.
[18:52] I'm not sure that Pekin can afford
[18:54] that loss of public trust.
[18:57] On August 10, when we spoke last on flock.
[19:01] Police Chief Rainey said when he was
[19:05] asked about casual use of the cameras that, quote, any idea.
[19:09] Officers are sitting around doing searches because we
[19:11] want to do something.
[19:12] We're not supposed to do.
[19:14] There's no time for that.
[19:15] They get an alert.
[19:16] They take action.
[19:17] That's it.
[19:19] On average, less than 10% of Pekin PD searches
[19:22] are license plate searches.
[19:23] The top user for flock and the Pekin patrol officer is
[19:26] an officer who in only 92 days of flock use, racked up 12,730
[19:33] searches of the flock system.
[19:35] That's over 130 a day.
[19:38] I would not describe that as particularly appropriate
[19:41] use of the flock system.
[19:43] Shockingly, his nearly 13,000 searches contained only 105
[19:48] license plate searches, so it's not being used as a license
[19:52] plate search system of his searches,
[19:56] almost 10,000 of them were the search
[19:58] term 99 or invest investigative reports into flocks.
[20:03] Databases have revealed that users frequently
[20:05] input short numeric codes and filler texts, such as 99 invest
[20:09] or susp into mandatory search fields,
[20:12] rather than typing a valid case number or detailed context.
[20:16] This allows them to bypass the safeguards
[20:18] built into the system.
[20:19] The system requires a reason for querying tracking data.
[20:23] Entering in a shorthand like 99 allows
[20:25] the user to execute a search without supplying
[20:27] a valid, named reason.
[20:29] This tactic is used in flocks stalking cases
[20:32] throughout the country, and has been
[20:33] proven to be the search term.
[20:35] I have found three examples in Illinois of flock
[20:37] being used to stalk people or commit
[20:39] crimes by police officers that have
[20:42] been convicted for doing so.
[20:44] The claim was made at our last city council meeting
[20:47] that the cameras are not illegal.
[20:48] That is a violation of the law if they
[20:50] are being used in that way.
[20:51] And this particular patrol officer very likely
[20:54] has violated that law.
[20:55] There is evidence that is very significant that he has been
[20:58] reprimanded for violating this.
[21:01] This is a very serious problem.
[21:03] This is the data showing that on this chart,
[21:07] we have the top 10 users who are searching 12,000 times
[21:11] and making 105 license plate searches,
[21:14] searching for 4,400 times and making only
[21:17] 150 license plate searches.
[21:21] Searching 4,200 times and making only 210 license plate searches.
[21:25] This is not a license plate search system
[21:27] and we are not protecting the city of Pekin.
[21:29] On average, our police officers are searching more than
[21:32] 80,000 cameras in the country.
[21:34] They're searching cameras in California.
[21:36] They're searching cameras in Alaska.
[21:38] They're searching cameras everywhere
[21:39] throughout the country, every single time they make a search.
[21:42] And it is very rarely a license plate.
[21:45] Thank you.
[21:48] OK hello.
[21:54] My name is Steve Soderstrom.
[21:56] I'm from Morton, Illinois.
[21:59] Good evening.
[22:00] Thank you.
[22:02] I want to talk about the flock system here.
[22:04] I come here with a heavy heart.
[22:06] I love Pekin, I have a lot of friends here.
[22:08] We started an endowment that donates money for graduating
[22:12] students in 2005.
[22:14] This matter began in a quiet residential neighborhood
[22:19] in Groveland, Illinois.
[22:21] It's where families, children, police officers and Sheriff's
[22:24] deputies live near one another.
[22:27] We should.
[22:28] This should have remained an ordinary neighborhood traffic
[22:31] complaint, but instead appears to have expanded across
[22:34] jurisdictions back into Pekin using police personnel,
[22:38] repeated travel, historic license plate data and a before
[22:43] school traffic stop to pursue my own
[22:45] 16-year-old son, who's a minor.
[22:49] I want to be clear about one thing.
[22:51] I am not categorically opposed to flock.
[22:54] What I'm opposed to is their misuse.
[22:58] So I stand alone here tonight.
[23:01] I'm also opposed to renewing the flock system here.
[23:05] Pekin with your vote without enforceable,
[23:07] enforceable safeguards and independent oversight,
[23:10] which I think Mr. hilst would agree with.
[23:15] So today I had to submit a formal complaint
[23:19] to your police department, I signed it, it's downstairs.
[23:22] I brought a couple copies.
[23:24] One for you, Mayor, one for the chief.
[23:26] And here's why.
[23:27] This involves flock data and a Tazewell County case
[23:30] with my son.
[23:33] A Pekin police officer was not a neutral police investigator
[23:38] assigned to this matter.
[23:39] He was an off duty neighbor, complainant witness,
[23:42] a listed victim, and an evidence provider in a Tazewell
[23:46] County case outside of Pekin.
[23:48] Third party flock audit information
[23:51] displays a Pekin police search conducted on September 2, 2025.
[23:57] It covered a full 30 day period with an Illinois filter,
[24:03] a stated reason reckless driving which my son did not do.
[24:07] The public inquiry reports a potential
[24:10] scope of 90,439 cameras around the country
[24:17] on a 16-year-old minor.
[24:19] OK, that is worrisome.
[24:22] Across 6475 networks, they're not even filtering.
[24:28] OK I'm going to continue to say the entry displays
[24:32] no numeric peak and case code.
[24:35] The abbreviated user, which is the initial C and the letters m,
[24:39] T was automatically matched with a 95% confidence.
[24:45] I did a four year request to your police department
[24:49] about 10 months ago.
[24:50] It was never produced.
[24:51] And I'm going to get into that in a minute.
[24:55] The official reporting law enforcement was Tazewell County.
[25:01] Brody, Oberly.
[25:02] He states in his report.
[25:04] And this is just amazing.
[25:07] I had previously conducted a flock inquiry on a car
[25:12] and discovered a traffic pattern which shows this miner
[25:16] typically drives on North Main Street
[25:18] every morning around 7:50 AM.
[25:21] Brody Oberly search and I did a FOIA.
[25:24] He searched a one day search on a Saturday.
[25:27] This is worrisome because he has no way to know my son's traffic
[25:32] pattern without being shared.
[25:34] The search from the Pekin police department.
[25:38] That was the only other one.
[25:40] OK, so deputies then positioned themselves along the route
[25:44] to school.
[25:46] The shorter Tazewell searches presented disclosed.
[25:51] The repeated morning pattern.
[25:55] There is not yet proof that the Pekin search
[25:58] may have supplied or contributed to the route information
[26:00] used to locate my son.
[26:02] They staked him out in front of his school.
[26:06] The Pekin officer in Groveland, added a fake charge of a 60
[26:10] to 70 mile an hour speed.
[26:12] Thank God we had Life360 on my son.
[26:15] They provided us an affidavit.
[26:17] We took it to the court.
[26:19] So the Pekin police officer estimated a speed double.
[26:23] Double the speed.
[26:24] He's either that bad at estimating speed
[26:27] or he has a really interesting relationship with the truth.
[26:31] What was the.
[26:32] I'm sorry.
[26:33] You have 30 seconds.
[26:34] Yeah OK.
[26:36] My son had a loud exhaust.
[26:38] This is why he was chased down.
[26:40] So, Pekin, I would ask Chief.
[26:45] Chief Randy, my FOIA 2025 385.
[26:50] I never got production.
[26:52] I don't know where that is.
[26:54] Also, my new one 2026 641 I'm trying
[26:58] to determine who the officer is and why they ran this.
[27:02] I brought you two copies.
[27:04] Would you like one Yeah, actually can give
[27:06] it to our clerk right here.
[27:08] Nicole make sure that she has it for the record.
[27:10] And one for your chief right here.
[27:13] You can hand them both to her.
[27:14] She'll make sure he gets it.
[27:16] Thank you so much.
[27:17] Thank you.
[27:20] Before I have someone come up to the podium,
[27:26] we all received a copy.
[27:28] I just got it at fourish 4:30, something like that.
[27:31] I wasn't sure exactly at the time.
[27:33] I don't know that it's printed out here.
[27:35] But anyway, a realtor, a local realtor,
[27:38] Mr. Gary Allen, most of you in the room, if you're from Pekin,
[27:42] know him.
[27:43] And he had previously sent us all an email
[27:46] that he was against flock with studying
[27:52] and doing his due diligence.
[27:55] I know some of you hate that people say due diligence,
[27:59] but he did his own study and he is for your flock cameras
[28:06] in the city of Pekin.
[28:07] It's a long letter, so I'm not going to read it,
[28:09] but I am going to hand it over to our County clerk.
[28:12] So she has or excuse me, city clerk.
[28:14] So she has it for our record as well.
[28:18] You have a copy.
[28:18] All right.
[28:19] She has a copy.
[28:20] So all right.
[28:21] I wanted you to know that Mr. Gary Allen had written a letter.
[28:25] Anyone else wishing to have their voice
[28:27] be heard from the audience.
[28:42] Hi hello.
[28:43] Zoe Carter.
[28:44] First off, I kind of want to say something positive real quick.
[28:49] This last weekend, on Saturday, Saturday,
[28:51] August 22, we had the second annual Pekin Pride Festival
[28:56] right here in Pekin, Illinois.
[28:57] It was at the mineral Springs Park right on the lagoon,
[28:59] and this was by far one of the best attended events
[29:03] that we have had so far.
[29:04] We had nearly 1,000 attendees at the park coming
[29:08] out and being proud and out.
[29:11] We had people coming from Texas, from Oklahoma.
[29:14] We had over 30 vendors.
[29:16] We had so much joy and happiness in that park.
[29:19] And I am just so excited that this is something
[29:22] we've been able to do, that so many people in the community
[29:25] have been able to get into, and that hopefully from here
[29:29] on out, it just gets nothing but bigger and bigger and bigger.
[29:32] It was just an amazing time and I just
[29:35] want to come out and say that.
[29:37] Just some good news.
[29:38] It was great.
[29:40] Now into the nitty gritty here.
[29:46] Last time we were here, we had some conversations.
[29:50] You ever heard from a couple other people.
[29:51] So I'm going to be very brief with this
[29:56] when it comes to the law, when it comes to the claims that the.
[30:01] Department is communicating or not
[30:03] communicating with federal agents
[30:08] last meeting Mr. Nutter said, or asked the chief,
[30:13] do alerts come from the feds, the state
[30:15] or other municipalities.
[30:17] How are alerts put into that system.
[30:18] For knowledge purposes and public for the public myself,
[30:22] the chief said.
[30:23] They do come from several different places.
[30:25] The alerts do, but not feds.
[30:31] I have a question on why immigration and Customs
[30:37] Enforcement from Kyle, Texas Police Department
[30:41] was asking for information for theft offenses here in Pekin.
[30:47] That's not their job.
[30:48] Their job is immigration and Customs Enforcement, not theft.
[30:52] So why is the Department from Texas
[30:55] asking for information on individuals
[30:57] here year on stuff that's not even their job to do.
[31:04] I'm really confused on why they would
[31:07] do that, why that's acceptable.
[31:11] We also have from the Dea, from Washington State,
[31:17] from Texas, from here in Illinois, we
[31:21] have agency and different other organizations,
[31:26] the FBI reaching out and asking for information for people
[31:30] here in the city, outside of Illinois, from outside of Pekin.
[31:34] Why is that.
[31:34] Why is that happening.
[31:39] The last thing I want to read here
[31:42] is state Illinois State law ILCs 805, Section 15, subsection h,
[31:51] unless presented with a federal criminal warrant
[31:53] or otherwise required by federal law, a law enforcement law
[31:56] enforcement agency or official may not
[31:58] participate, support or assist in any capacity
[32:00] with an immigration agents.
[32:02] Immigration agents, not immigration agency.
[32:06] Enforcement operations, including any collateral
[32:08] assistance, such as coordinating the arrest
[32:10] in the courthouse or other public facility,
[32:12] providing the use of any equipment.
[32:14] Transporting individuals, or establishing a security officer
[32:17] or traffic perimeter surrounding such operations
[32:19] or any other on site support.
[32:21] That's one.
[32:22] Two give any immigration agent access, including by telephone,
[32:25] to any individual who is in that agency's custody.
[32:28] Custody three.
[32:29] Transfer any person into immigration agents.
[32:32] Custody for permit.
[32:35] Immigration agents.
[32:35] Use of agency facilities or equipment, including any agency.
[32:40] Electronic databases not available to the public
[32:43] for investigative interviews or other investigative or
[32:45] immigration enforcement purposes 5
[32:49] enter into, enter into, or maintain any agreement regarding
[32:53] direct access to any electronic database
[32:55] or other data sharing platform maintained by any law
[32:58] enforcement agency, otherwise provided such direct access
[33:01] to US Immigration and Customs enforcement's United States
[33:04] customs and Border Protection, or any other federal entity
[33:07] enforcing immigration violations.
[33:09] Providing information in response
[33:11] to any seconds agents inquiry or request
[33:14] for information regarding any individual
[33:16] or in the agency's custody.
[33:20] That's a lot of words.
[33:22] But what I'm saying here is that if the truth was the truth, what
[33:29] I am seeing here is a direct it's
[33:33] against the law in the state, and it
[33:35] is a situation that I'm not going
[33:37] to be doing anything about it.
[33:39] But the attorney general could come back on the city.
[33:43] So we just need to be careful.
[33:45] Thank you.
[33:53] Anyone else wishing to have their voice be heard.
[33:56] Oh, please.
[33:57] Go ahead.
[33:58] Do your thing, Chris.
[34:01] No fighting.
[34:05] My name is Chris, and I am not an attorney.
[34:07] And I'm not giving legal advice.
[34:09] The game for Alpers changed on June 29 of this year,
[34:14] with the Supreme Court ruling in chatrai versus the United States
[34:17] ruling, which was a Fourth Amendment phone
[34:20] location data access case.
[34:24] Paraphrasing the ruling, individuals
[34:26] maintain a reasonable expectation of privacy
[34:29] in their digital location history,
[34:31] even when held by a third party tech company.
[34:35] Rejecting the government's argument that sharing data
[34:38] with a third party company removes constitutional privacy
[34:42] protections.
[34:43] I'd like to read a quote from the ruling.
[34:48] Whether an expectation of privacy counts as legitimate
[34:51] is less the result of any fixed set of rules than of.
[34:54] Guideposts stretching back to the Fourth Amendment's
[34:58] beginnings.
[34:59] From the founding onward, we have explained
[35:02] the Fourth Amendment has sought to secure the privacies of life
[35:06] against the exercise of arbitrary power.
[35:10] So too we have recognized and repeatedly that the Amendment
[35:13] was designed to place obstacles in the way of a two
[35:18] permeating police surveillance.
[35:21] Whatever the form of an attempted incursion,
[35:24] the Fourth Amendment protects Americans long held conviction
[35:28] that no government official should have
[35:30] free access to the most closely kept
[35:33] aspects of their lives unquote.
[35:36] I did a Google search for how can city council members
[35:41] lose qualified immunity.
[35:44] The result was that city council members lose qualified immunity
[35:48] community or face personal civil liability when their conduct
[35:52] violates a clearly established statutory
[35:54] or constitutional right that a reasonable person would
[35:58] have known.
[36:01] A quote from the Institute for Justice website
[36:03] reads, quote, under qualified immunity,
[36:06] government workers can only be held accountable for violating
[36:09] someone's rights.
[36:09] If a court has ruled previously ruled that it was clearly
[36:14] established those precise actions
[36:16] were unconstitutional unquote.
[36:19] A no vote on Alpers this evening ensures the qualified immunity
[36:24] and Fourth Amendment questions won't need to be
[36:27] litigated by the city of Pekin.
[36:29] Thank you.
[36:33] Thank you.
[36:38] Greg Hansen.
[36:40] Sorry, I read I'm OCD.
[36:42] I don't want to lose track of anything,
[36:44] but I will start out by saying great news on that soccer
[36:46] tournament yesterday I donated to the hockey team
[36:49] because I'm a big hockey guy.
[36:50] I love seeing that kind of thing here.
[36:52] So anyway, Mayor and members of the Council,
[36:55] you've heard several different concerns tonight and last week,
[36:58] and I'm not going to repeat the arguments the people
[37:00] before me have already made.
[37:02] Instead, I want to close by explaining something
[37:04] about the technology itself.
[37:06] There is one thing about my background
[37:08] I haven't mentioned during these discussions
[37:10] I install flock cameras.
[37:13] I physically put these systems in the field.
[37:15] I've done site surveys, I've done repairs and replacements,
[37:18] and I've installed the Falcons that Pekin uses
[37:21] and the piccards, which are the next hierarchy.
[37:23] Both models use extensive AI.
[37:26] Now that doesn't make me a flock engineer,
[37:28] and I won't pretend to know exactly which software options
[37:32] Pekin is enabled, but having installed
[37:34] them gives me a different perspective on what
[37:36] we're actually talking about.
[37:38] And the first thing I want you to understand
[37:40] is this the camera isn't really the issue.
[37:43] The camera is the collection point.
[37:45] It photographs vehicles and sends that information
[37:47] into a flock system.
[37:49] The real power is what happens to that information afterward.
[37:53] That's where AI comes in.
[37:55] At the last meeting, when council asked Chief
[37:57] Raney specifically about AI, he was
[37:59] very careful with his answer.
[38:00] He said, I don't want to mistake,
[38:03] excuse me, misspeak on the AI side of things.
[38:06] I respect somebody saying they don't want to claim
[38:08] knowledge they may not have.
[38:10] But I think that statement should matter to the council
[38:13] because you're being asked to renew an AI
[38:14] powered surveillance system.
[38:16] And I'm not convinced you've ever
[38:17] been given a complete explanation of what that system
[38:20] is capable of doing.
[38:22] The chief also told you how Pekin searches it.
[38:24] He said we put in a vehicle description or a license plate.
[38:29] That distinction matters.
[38:30] This isn't simply a camera reading ABC one 2, 3 and telling
[38:34] police where ABC one 2, three was seen.
[38:37] Flash uses machine learning to analyze vehicles.
[38:40] Its system can categorize vehicles by things make, model,
[38:43] color and body type, and flock advertises the ability
[38:47] to search characteristics even when
[38:49] there isn't a readable, readable license plate.
[38:52] Its current platform goes further.
[38:54] Flock now advertises AI powered search and alerts
[38:57] using ordinary language.
[38:59] An investigator can describe something
[39:00] like a dark SUV with rear bumper damage,
[39:03] and the software can search available vehicle
[39:05] evidence looking for matches.
[39:07] Again, I want to be precise.
[39:08] I am not claiming Pekin has every AI feature flock offers,
[39:12] I don't know.
[39:13] But after all these meetings, does
[39:15] the council know which AI capabilities
[39:18] does Pekin have enabled today.
[39:19] Which ones are disabled.
[39:21] Which ones can be enabled administratively?
[39:23] When flock updates its software or introduces a new capability,
[39:27] does that come back before this council,
[39:29] or can the capabilities of the system
[39:31] change while the contract remains the same.
[39:34] You've already heard what Pekin zone records
[39:36] obtained through FOIA reveal about searches
[39:38] conducted in the system.
[39:40] I'm not going to repeat that evidence.
[39:42] You've all heard it, but it illustrates
[39:44] exactly why the difference between policy and capability
[39:48] matters.
[39:49] At the last meeting, you were told there was really no way
[39:51] to fish through the system.
[39:53] Tonight, you've seen the city's own records concerning how
[39:55] it has actually been searched.
[39:57] So I would ask you to stop looking at this decision
[39:59] as a question of whether you trust
[40:00] the people currently using it.
[40:02] This isn't about whether we trust chief rayney.
[40:04] We do.
[40:05] Chief rayney will not always be chief.
[40:08] You will not always be sitting on this council
[40:11] and I certainly won't always be the annoying
[40:13] guy standing at this podium.
[40:14] But safeguards have to survive, all of us.
[40:17] Flock isn't 54 cameras.
[40:19] It's an evolving, searchable, AI powered
[40:23] network that happens to have 54 collection points in Pekin.
[40:26] And that's the decision before you tonight.
[40:29] Maybe there are legitimate law enforcement benefits.
[40:32] Nobody's standing here.
[40:33] Has to deny that.
[40:34] But usefulness does not eliminate
[40:36] the need for oversight.
[40:38] And after everything you've heard,
[40:39] I think one thing should be clear.
[40:41] There are still questions about this system that
[40:43] this council cannot answer.
[40:45] You don't have to decide tonight that flock is bad technology.
[40:49] You only have to decide whether you
[40:50] know enough to commit the citizens of Pekin
[40:52] to it for another year.
[40:54] If you don't know exactly what it can do, exactly how it's been
[40:57] used, exactly who can access it, and exactly
[41:00] what safeguards govern it, then renewing it tonight
[41:02] isn't caution.
[41:04] It's signing first and asking questions later.
[41:06] You've heard the evidence.
[41:07] You've seen the records.
[41:08] Now you have the opportunity to require
[41:10] those answers before giving the system another contract.
[41:13] I respectfully ask you to vote no.
[41:15] With my last 30 seconds, I just want to say,
[41:17] when I put this group together, it was because I had questions
[41:20] about how flock was being used.
[41:22] I never expected this many people to jump on board
[41:25] and come with all this information.
[41:27] I don't know how you're going to vote.
[41:28] I know funds deposited are hard to say no to
[41:31] and I hope that the questions that we inspired you guys to ask
[41:36] last week are still ringing in your heads,
[41:38] and you'll make the right decision tonight.
[41:40] Thank you very much.
[41:52] Thank you.
[41:53] Good evening.
[41:54] My name is Charles.
[41:55] I'm from Peoria.
[41:57] I'm a professional software engineer of more than 15 years,
[42:01] and I would like to speak on the topic
[42:03] of flock cameras inaccuracies.
[42:06] At the last city council meeting, the chief said.
[42:10] So I know that there was some information
[42:12] earlier about misreads.
[42:13] That is a real thing.
[42:14] Misreads happen, but it is the officer's responsibility
[42:17] to verify that information.
[42:20] I'm thankful that chief Rainey admitted this shortcoming.
[42:22] However, he has downplayed the severity of the issue.
[42:26] Studies have shown somewhere between 40% and 70%
[42:29] of license plate identifications done by flock are misreads.
[42:32] That is worse than a coin toss chance
[42:34] that it is correctly scanning the plate.
[42:36] These misreads have resulted in people being falsely arrested
[42:39] throughout the country, and this puts both the Pekin
[42:42] police department and Pekin itself
[42:43] at risk of legal repercussions.
[42:45] This is not a hypothetical problem.
[42:47] It's happening all over the country every day.
[42:50] We have a number of examples here.
[42:52] I'll read a few just to highlight things.
[42:55] In Auburn, Washington, July 2026, Auburn police
[42:59] used flock cameras to track down a shooting suspect,
[43:01] but they arrested the wrong man.
[43:04] In Volusia County, Florida, April 2026.
[43:08] Based on a flock capture, officers
[43:09] mistook an innocent driver's car for one that was at the scene
[43:12] of a deadly accident.
[43:13] The driver was jailed for 13 days as a result.
[43:17] San Diego, California, November 2025 based on a flock capture,
[43:22] officers mistook an innocent driver's
[43:24] car for one that was at the scene
[43:25] of an attempted carjacking.
[43:26] The driver was jailed for nearly one month.
[43:30] Lafayette, Indiana, July 2024.
[43:33] Officers detained an innocent man
[43:35] at gunpoint after a flock camera misread his license plate.
[43:40] I will also speak on the topic of racial profiling
[43:43] with flock at the last meeting.
[43:47] Manager Dorsey said a comment was made about Evanston
[43:50] and 82% of flock are incidents of.
[43:57] I'm not quite clear on the wording
[43:59] here in Oak Park was related to racist traffic stops.
[44:06] Police are required to do stop cards on every traffic
[44:09] stop they make.
[44:10] They're required to.
[44:11] I'll paraphrase a little.
[44:11] They're required to fill out these stop cards long
[44:13] before flock was even considered a tool,
[44:16] because that's been the ongoing allegation out there.
[44:18] So I'm not saying they're wrong.
[44:19] I never say never.
[44:20] I'm suspect on the 82% of that.
[44:22] And I would like to compare that to what they have to submit
[44:24] to the state of Illinois and those traffic
[44:26] stop cards end quote.
[44:29] According to the journalists at freedom to thrive in Oak park,
[44:32] Illinois.
[44:36] During the Illinois traffic stop, study for 2022
[44:41] reported that 53% of drivers stopped by Oak Park police
[44:44] and traffic stops were Black.
[44:46] During a 10 month study following
[44:48] the install of flock cameras, that number
[44:50] had risen drastically.
[44:52] 84% of drivers stopped by Oak Park police
[44:55] in a flock based traffic stop were Black.
[44:57] Black residents comprise only 19% of oak park's population.
[45:01] We have a chart to visualize that.
[45:08] On the chart, purple markers indicate.
[45:13] Stops that were of Black drivers.
[45:16] Is that correct.
[45:19] And keep in mind, only 19% of the city is black,
[45:22] so the purple ones make up.
[45:24] I think it's the 82 or 84% number
[45:26] we were talking about here.
[45:31] The discrimination does not end there.
[45:32] Police departments throughout the country
[45:34] have been found using racial slurs to search
[45:36] for people in the flock system.
[45:38] In Illinois, we have found at least 130 examples
[45:41] of anti-romani slurs alone.
[45:43] This is a clear sign that flock can and is being used
[45:45] in a discriminatory manner.
[45:48] With my last minute, I also want to speak informally
[45:53] in my experience as a software engineer,
[45:54] what Greg said is accurate.
[45:57] My big issue with the flock, to put it in an elevator pitch
[46:00] is and we'll have the same problem
[46:03] with axon and similar systems.
[46:05] They are marketed to the city and the police department
[46:08] as if this is a thing you buy and you own it,
[46:13] and then the citizens trust you.
[46:15] Therefore they must trust the cameras.
[46:18] But that's not actually how they work.
[46:20] It is a nationwide network I believe, more
[46:22] than 100,000 cameras, 130,000.
[46:26] And the police don't control them.
[46:30] Any appearance of the police controlling them.
[46:33] Thank you.
[46:34] Is the police ask the flock company to do something.
[46:37] Flock says they did it.
[46:39] And then it appears as if the police control them.
[46:41] But actually flock controls them.
[46:43] They're not controlled locally and personally.
[46:46] For me and a couple people I've spoken to one compromise
[46:50] I would feel a lot better about.
[46:51] And I'm going to propose this in Peoria too,
[46:53] is that they should just be offline.
[46:56] Like if you have a dash Cam with an SD
[46:58] card and no cell connection, it should
[47:00] just be completely offline.
[47:01] Thank you.
[47:09] Hello, my name is Sunny, I am from manito
[47:12] and I am speaking on the behalf of my loved ones in Pekin.
[47:15] Here there were a lot of claims made
[47:18] at the last council meeting.
[47:20] One about one hour and 37 minutes into the whole meeting,
[47:24] manager Darcy said.
[47:26] According to phlox published information,
[47:28] the system does not use facial recognition.
[47:30] A few seconds earlier, a police chief,
[47:32] Rainey, said flock is an automated license
[47:34] plate reader system.
[47:36] It captures information associated with vehicles,
[47:39] including the license plate, certain vehicle
[47:41] characteristics, and the date, time, and location
[47:44] of the observation.
[47:46] According to the page 19 of the flock system patent in use,
[47:51] the cameras do, in fact, have face recognition.
[47:54] They also state that flock cameras
[47:56] are designed specifically to identify people.
[47:58] Some of the things the flock system is designed to do
[48:01] include identifying the face of a driver,
[48:03] identifying clothing, determining weight,
[48:05] height, gender, and race.
[48:08] Even if the Department itself is not using this data,
[48:10] flock itself is.
[48:12] This data is saved and sent overseas,
[48:14] where data laws are less strict in the Philippines
[48:16] to train their AI models.
[48:18] I'm going to read a bit from the patents
[48:20] themselves here, but humor me because their patents are wordy.
[48:24] Now, with the face recognition data points,
[48:26] the investigators may be able to query
[48:28] the dsoc system for any footage captured by one or two.
[48:33] Having a person with matching face recognition data points.
[48:36] Emphasis on that last part.
[48:38] These cameras match face recognition in their data
[48:42] and further in their patent they list with an object
[48:45] identified in the image frame.
[48:47] The object detection module leverages
[48:49] a cascade of neural networks to identify aspects of the object.
[48:54] They even give an example, if the object class
[48:57] of the identified object is that of a human being,
[49:00] then the object detection module may further analyze the image
[49:04] using a neural network module configured to identify
[49:07] different classes of people male, female, race, et cetera
[49:11] subsequently, with aspects of the person identified,
[49:13] the object detection module may leverage other more detailed
[49:16] neural networks to further identify aspects of the person,
[49:21] such as but not limited to a neural network
[49:23] for identifying clothing types like jackets, pants, shorts,
[49:27] hats, et cetera, and a neural network
[49:29] for gauging height and weight.
[49:31] Now, if I'm going to be honest, that
[49:33] doesn't sound like what was said last meeting,
[49:35] but that was in the patents themselves.
[49:37] These cameras do identify people,
[49:39] and I think it's very important to keep that in mind.
[49:41] Furthermore, for there were other claims
[49:44] made as well concerning public roadways.
[49:47] At two hours into the meeting, it
[49:48] was said, as far as the privacy concerns,
[49:51] they've upheld the legality of the technology.
[49:53] And I quote, They deem that there is no expectation
[49:56] of privacy in relation to the exterior of a motor vehicle
[49:59] or its government issued license plate when it's
[50:01] displayed on a public roadway.
[50:03] The cameras do not only photograph
[50:05] the exterior of the vehicle, though, do they.
[50:07] What happens when someone who owns a convertible
[50:10] drives past one.
[50:11] Seriously what happens.
[50:13] There is a reasonable expectation
[50:14] of privacy for people inside of their vehicles.
[50:17] There's an expectation of privacy for vehicles parked
[50:19] at homes on private property.
[50:21] There certainly is an expectation of privacy
[50:23] for people on private property.
[50:25] A full 23% of flock cameras in Pekin face a citizen's home.
[50:30] The cameras do not exclusively take a photo
[50:32] of the exterior of a vehicle.
[50:34] As previously stated, when facing a home or sidewalk,
[50:37] they can certainly capture people.
[50:38] At the end of the day, let's pretend it's just a Kodak
[50:41] camera owned by a person.
[50:42] Would it be legal for a citizen to place
[50:44] a camera on a pole facing someone's home
[50:46] and record all day, every day.
[50:49] No it wouldn't.
[50:50] So why are we allowing this much more pervasive and connected
[50:53] system to do the same thing.
[50:56] I hope you will consider what me and my friends
[50:57] have said tonight.
[50:58] It is very troubling, especially because my family
[51:02] is a big part of why I'm here and it means a lot to me.
[51:04] I hope you consider what I said.
[51:05] Thank you.
[51:08] Thank name is Roger Greer.
[51:20] 601 Prince Street, Pekin, Illinois.
[51:23] Last Friday afternoon, August 21, the election board
[51:27] met concerning a referendum petition question being turned
[51:33] in to the city clerk's office, consisting of over 1750
[51:37] signatures and 71 pages.
[51:41] At the hearing, Mayor Burris presided
[51:46] as the election board member.
[51:49] The city clerk presided, and councilman Abele
[51:56] was part of the board, and the mayor has went on record voting
[52:05] against putting a referendum on the ballot about two years ago.
[52:09] It was put on the council agenda and the council was tied 3 to 3
[52:15] over putting a referendum question on the ballot,
[52:18] simply asking the voters their opinion on the matter,
[52:21] whether the city should remain a home
[52:23] rule local government or not.
[52:24] It was again, it was tied 3 to 3,
[52:26] and our current mayor broke the tie
[52:29] and decided that it shouldn't be on the ballot
[52:33] for the pekan voters.
[52:35] Now Mr. Abell did the same thing.
[52:40] He also voted against it.
[52:42] So it's hard for me to believe that they could be completely
[52:46] impartial on this matter, because they'd already went
[52:48] on record stating they didn't want the citizens to have
[52:51] a right to vote on the issue.
[52:54] And my understanding, the city clerk is appointed by the mayor.
[52:58] So I have a hard time believing that person is going
[53:01] to be 100% impartial because she was appointed by the mayor, who
[53:06] went on record against putting a home
[53:08] rule referendum on the ballot.
[53:11] So at the hearing.
[53:15] Their side had an attorney from Cook County
[53:19] drive all the way down here to present
[53:21] all kinds of legal technicalities
[53:25] against the petition, for example.
[53:28] It wasn't bound sufficiently.
[53:33] Now, personally, I think that should
[53:35] be more of a concern for me, the petitioner,
[53:37] and not the other side.
[53:40] Because every sheet is notarized and the petitioner,
[53:45] the circulators required to sign that in front of a notary.
[53:49] And so the likelihood of someone inserting, petitions
[53:54] after the fact to try to get more signatures
[53:57] seems to be, to me, not a possibility.
[54:03] And so for me, each page being numbered and notarized
[54:07] should be sufficient to keep myself
[54:10] from being concerned about somebody changing out the pages
[54:13] or something like that.
[54:15] But in any event, that was one of the reasons
[54:19] the Cook County attorney gave the board
[54:21] for dismissing the referendum.
[54:24] Another concern was that the question was too
[54:28] difficult to understand, and the exact question on the petition
[54:32] was, shall the city of Pekin elect not to be a home rule
[54:37] municipality as allowed pursuant to Article
[54:41] 7, Section 6 B of the Illinois Constitution.
[54:45] Now, honestly.
[54:48] If the voters are that stupid that they
[54:51] can't understand that question, then
[54:53] we've got a really big problem.
[54:56] But that was an argument their attorney presented.
[54:59] The voters aren't smart enough to answer
[55:01] that yes or no question.
[55:02] The Pekin shouldn't be allowed to answer it.
[55:06] And so there was another concern that one of the circulators
[55:12] turned in an inappropriate address on her petitions,
[55:17] and she was here at the hearing with her driver's license, which
[55:21] stated the address that she turned
[55:23] in on the petition, as well as her voter registration card.
[55:27] So no one ever asked or present that she was here to present it,
[55:32] but no one asked her to.
[55:34] But that was another issue that was
[55:37] brought up that 11 pages shouldn't
[55:40] be considered because of that.
[55:43] And so, in any event, I thank the voters in Pekin
[55:49] who fund the local government should
[55:51] have every right to decide what form of local government
[55:54] they want.
[55:54] And I don't care what side of your honor seconds,
[55:57] should be something that the voters should be able to do.
[56:00] And so I ask all the council members here,
[56:02] if you haven't seen the hearing recording,
[56:06] it's on the city website, I ask you to look at it
[56:10] and make your own decision on what you think should have been
[56:14] done, as well as any people here today,
[56:17] or maybe watching this to watch the hearing.
[56:20] It's on the city's website.
[56:23] Thank you very much.
[56:29] I would like the audience to know that home rule
[56:32] is not a form of government.
[56:39] All right.
[56:40] Hello my name is Diego, and I just
[56:42] want to get this straightforward and just put my word out there.
[56:46] This will be my first time speaking at a council meeting,
[56:48] so if I trip up, I apologize.
[56:51] It's my first time, so I'm a little nervous.
[56:54] We all are.
[56:57] I would just like to say I came here today because
[57:00] of my family and friends.
[57:01] We have a flock camera on our property
[57:03] that we had no idea of until later on.
[57:06] Until later on.
[57:07] The way we just.
[57:08] Yeah but I'll get into my argument.
[57:13] Flock cameras have many reasons on why the town of Pekin
[57:16] does not need them.
[57:18] We should not be a security state,
[57:20] nor should we be watched without our consent.
[57:23] We do not know what these people do
[57:26] with our information and our facial recognition
[57:29] behind these cameras.
[57:32] So why should we trust them.
[57:34] As flock cameras are known to stalk individuals and even track
[57:38] their faces and use our data with our faces
[57:40] as well, without any warrants.
[57:44] Officers and any other law enforcement
[57:46] can provide seizures and arrests to us
[57:49] without any warrants or documentation,
[57:51] where they can arrest us.
[57:54] As a minority myself, I do not feel safe
[57:57] with these flock cameras, especially with the high cases
[58:00] of police brutality.
[58:04] Speaking on topics of private privacy invasion.
[58:08] As flock cameras have been proven to trace Bluetooth
[58:11] signals from your devices.
[58:13] An article called The hidden surveillance network
[58:17] what flock cameras and signal trace
[58:19] mean for everyday Americans, published
[58:21] by Emily Stanley Allard.
[58:24] She explains how the AI powered technology tracks our devices.
[58:30] Recent reporting and product demonstrations
[58:32] indicate that Bluetooth and wired signal
[58:34] collection technologies, such as Leonardo signal trace platform,
[58:38] is being integrated with some quote unquote license plate
[58:42] reader reader ecosystems, which, yes,
[58:44] they do read license plates, but that's
[58:45] not the only thing they do.
[58:50] Which allows investigators to associate wireless
[58:52] devices traveling with a vehicle over time.
[58:56] However, I feel like this is a violation of our human rights.
[58:59] We do not know when we are being recorded.
[59:01] We do not know who's recording us.
[59:03] We do not know about flock cameras on our properties.
[59:07] That is all.
[59:08] Thank you.
[59:13] Madam Clerk, before we continue.
[59:15] Do you know the time that we started this.
[59:17] I realize it's an hour into the whole meeting.
[59:21] Did you mark down.
[59:22] It's I mean, it's getting close.
[59:24] We had a couple things.
[59:26] Go right ahead.
[59:27] OK ma'am, respectfully, I will make this as quick as possible.
[59:29] Council members.
[59:33] Dave Nutter I don't know if you're related to Doug Nutter,
[59:35] but I really love going to Pekin high school
[59:37] and having him as my gym teacher.
[59:40] He's a great gym teacher, pushed a lot of us.
[59:43] But anyway, let's get that out of the way.
[59:46] I just want you to know I agree with everything these people
[59:49] back here have met.
[59:51] I enjoy seeing people of all different political backgrounds,
[59:54] race, gender, sexuality, all that fun jazz
[1:00:00] uniting here on this one issue.
[1:00:01] I think it's something special that we get to see very often,
[1:00:05] whether you may be for or against walking camera
[1:00:07] for or against flock cameras.
[1:00:11] My biggest issue with the flock cameras.
[1:00:16] Or one of them, besides what these guys have said,
[1:00:19] is that and what's not been talked about tonight
[1:00:21] is these cameras have several vulnerabilities
[1:00:25] and issues with them from the technical side.
[1:00:27] I know some people have talked about the patents,
[1:00:29] but one of the things that's not talked about is the security
[1:00:31] vulnerabilities and how you are able to
[1:00:34] through some way, able to watch the camera feeds yourself.
[1:00:39] And it is a closed system.
[1:00:41] None of this is open source.
[1:00:43] So we don't really know.
[1:00:46] We don't really know what's the word I'm looking for.
[1:00:53] We don't really know how to protect against it.
[1:00:56] No one has been.
[1:00:58] There's a guy I watch on YouTube, Ben Jordan.
[1:01:00] I don't know if any of you have watched him.
[1:01:02] I highly recommend checking out his video on flock,
[1:01:04] but he demonstrates that he was able to get remote access.
[1:01:09] And for anyone who's not familiar,
[1:01:10] remote access means I could be sitting at my house over
[1:01:14] behind the herget mansion and I would
[1:01:17] be able to get into a flock camera
[1:01:18] without having to physically get into it, as long as I have
[1:01:22] a cellular or Wi-Fi connection.
[1:01:26] With this, I bring up.
[1:01:28] Another concern is that we don't know they
[1:01:31] said, who is accessing them.
[1:01:34] We don't know which state counties are accessing them.
[1:01:39] We don't know if the federal government is secretly
[1:01:42] supporting using the secret courts
[1:01:45] to subpoena people around the US to get this information.
[1:01:50] And ultimately, one of my biggest concern
[1:01:54] is that we have another neither Edward Snowden incident, where
[1:01:58] someone uncovers a mass surveillance program where
[1:02:01] our name, dates and everything about us
[1:02:05] is being stored and stocked by the federal government more
[1:02:08] than they need and more than they
[1:02:09] already have to do their jobs.
[1:02:14] I think I've said enough.
[1:02:17] I've made my concerns clear.
[1:02:18] One more thing about Beacon high school.
[1:02:20] I really love going there.
[1:02:22] I was able to get my first internship about three
[1:02:25] months out of high school.
[1:02:27] Because of all of the tech classes, I was able to go.
[1:02:31] Thank you guys for your time.
[1:02:32] I would greatly appreciate if you could vote no to this,
[1:02:35] as this is one of my biggest concerns
[1:02:37] of my children growing up and everyone
[1:02:39] knowing everything about them from the time they're born.
[1:02:42] Thank you very much.
[1:02:43] You're right.
[1:02:44] Beacon high school is wonderful.
[1:02:47] Thank you.
[1:02:51] Good afternoon.
[1:02:52] My name is Wrigley, and the last time I was here,
[1:02:55] I stated that this was an Orwellian idea that the city is
[1:02:58] choosing to put its funds, resources, and energy
[1:03:00] into these cameras over a variety of other things
[1:03:02] that I proposed and later listed off,
[1:03:04] would be more beneficial to this community.
[1:03:07] I understand that we want Pekin to be a safer place.
[1:03:10] I want Pekin to be a better and safer place.
[1:03:14] However, the argument that we need to focus on Pekin alone
[1:03:17] and ignore the rest of the concurrent reports of police
[1:03:20] misusing the cameras outside because it hasn't happened here
[1:03:23] is nothing short of willful ignorance and naivety.
[1:03:26] No country, no state, and no country
[1:03:29] is immune to authoritarian abuse.
[1:03:32] I cannot speak, nor will I question the intentions
[1:03:35] of the chief, as I can only assume that he has
[1:03:37] pekin's best interests in mind.
[1:03:39] However, I have to ask on why we're forgetting to mention
[1:03:42] that flock doesn't work alone off the license plate,
[1:03:45] as even Greg stated that they work off of body my make model,
[1:03:50] and color along a variety of damages, bumper stickers,
[1:03:54] and a variety of other things, including the absence of license
[1:03:57] plates themselves, all of which is fed through an AI
[1:04:01] machine learning algorithm.
[1:04:02] As we already know that the city doesn't even own.
[1:04:05] It is privately owned by flock and stored in their system.
[1:04:10] And I also think it should be pulled up into question on why
[1:04:14] the representatives of flock felt so felt the need
[1:04:18] to be evasive about it.
[1:04:22] And this is all acknowledged in their flock evidence policy
[1:04:26] as you can go and find it.
[1:04:28] So again, why they're so evasive about it in the first place
[1:04:31] should be called into question.
[1:04:33] They can argue that the Delete said documentation all they
[1:04:36] want, but if it is being used for AI training
[1:04:38] and being fed into a learning program,
[1:04:41] is it really being deleted in the first place.
[1:04:43] Not to mention that they say that the documentation is
[1:04:46] deleted every 30 days, which over the current time
[1:04:49] since we were last meeting about this was reduced to seven days.
[1:04:52] And sure can argue and say that this may be a good change,
[1:04:56] but then I want you to think back on the idea of an AI base
[1:05:00] itself, something that can learn anything
[1:05:03] within microseconds at a time.
[1:05:06] And with them placing cameras around every corner
[1:05:09] and every block, it makes it effectively
[1:05:12] futile to even have this policy here in the first place.
[1:05:17] They might as well not even delete it,
[1:05:19] since your plate would be captured,
[1:05:21] or your car would be captured at every given moment.
[1:05:24] And not to mention they log your exact GPS
[1:05:28] coordinate at the very moment capture.
[1:05:31] I would also like to expand more on MS Phillips comments
[1:05:34] about our devices and even other people's cameras tracking
[1:05:37] us our cellular devices.
[1:05:40] Tracking quotation tracking us is our personal choice.
[1:05:44] We sign an agreement with Apple to allow and permit
[1:05:47] this in our very pockets.
[1:05:50] The very same thing goes with ring
[1:05:52] as the Ring doorbell is another great example she proposed.
[1:05:56] This is a privatized choice on private property
[1:05:59] for the private owner.
[1:06:02] It is no different than a business
[1:06:03] choosing to have cameras in their store and premises.
[1:06:07] The issue is that it's not the government's responsibility
[1:06:10] for how we choose to protect ourselves,
[1:06:12] as I believe that's what the Second Amendment is for as well.
[1:06:17] But instead of the individual of the privacy of their.
[1:06:21] Let me rephrase that.
[1:06:23] But instead the individual themselves to prioritize
[1:06:25] their security, thus nullifying any debate
[1:06:28] about the differences between flock
[1:06:29] cameras and personal devices.
[1:06:34] One of the biggest things that you're taught as an officer
[1:06:37] is that you need warrants for almost anything
[1:06:39] and everything to ensure that you do not
[1:06:42] violate the Fourth Amendment.
[1:06:43] They need warrants to access our devices
[1:06:45] in and outside of our homes.
[1:06:47] They need them to enter our homes.
[1:06:49] But suddenly this changes with these cameras,
[1:06:51] as they can navigate beyond and bypass the whole process
[1:06:55] of warrant by contacting flock directly,
[1:06:58] as that's even being discussed in federal courts at the moment.
[1:07:02] Since it's captured and documented through a privatized
[1:07:05] company, they can have access to it at any given
[1:07:07] point within their grace period, making
[1:07:09] it so pointless to how they even have
[1:07:12] this many setup to begin with.
[1:07:14] The first real major step to mass surveillance
[1:07:16] was during the Bush administration in 2001.
[1:07:19] Under the Patriot Act.
[1:07:21] People took issue with it then, and
[1:07:23] people take issue with it now.
[1:07:24] The only difference is people have become aware
[1:07:27] of how the authorities and the government
[1:07:29] have used it maliciously.
[1:07:30] Seconds more thorough understanding of the technology
[1:07:33] now more than ever.
[1:07:34] And the few people that Mr. Fletcher claimed to have heard
[1:07:37] from supporting these cameras are severely
[1:07:39] outweighed by the mass public of Pekin,
[1:07:41] as evidenced by their so-called fear of being outnumbered
[1:07:45] by us in this very room.
[1:07:47] We've asked for statistics.
[1:07:48] We have received none.
[1:07:50] Tens we've asked for reasons to how these cameras
[1:07:52] benefit the people.
[1:07:53] And we've received none.
[1:07:54] We hear your explanations and we are not interested.
[1:07:58] Thank you.
[1:08:05] Did you say we have at that time.
[1:08:06] We had.
[1:08:07] We have five more minutes left.
[1:08:09] Thank you.
[1:08:10] OK our next speaker.
[1:08:14] My name is Devin with an O. I'm not a good public speaker,
[1:08:17] so I'm going to be looking down a lot.
[1:08:18] I'm sorry.
[1:08:20] So I've lived in Pekin with my husband for over a decade.
[1:08:23] When it came time to transition from renting to owning,
[1:08:26] I did a lot of research and determined Pekin to be
[1:08:29] an excellent match for us.
[1:08:30] Like everything showed that the place was on the up and up.
[1:08:34] It felt like a really nice place, one
[1:08:36] that you could raise a family in.
[1:08:37] Kids left their toys in the yard and folks had chairs out
[1:08:40] on their porches, and there's so many beautiful parks and perks.
[1:08:42] It's obvious we're a dog town and we have two dogs,
[1:08:46] and it felt really safe to walk around.
[1:08:48] And I've been talking the place up so
[1:08:51] much that my mother-in-law has even
[1:08:52] decided to come and move here.
[1:08:56] So back then, the only cameras were like traffic cameras,
[1:08:59] and nobody likes those because we know what they're about.
[1:09:01] They don't make driving safer, but cities
[1:09:03] can use them to automatically find people without having
[1:09:05] to staff a police officer.
[1:09:06] It's really impersonal.
[1:09:07] They don't account for when we're tired from a 16 hour
[1:09:10] shift, or when we're distracted from three hungry children
[1:09:12] in the back seat.
[1:09:13] They just tag and flag, and the ticket would come in the mail,
[1:09:15] and the cameras don't care or feel,
[1:09:17] and people end up feeling as though those benefiting
[1:09:19] from the cameras don't care or feel about the people
[1:09:21] of their cities, either.
[1:09:23] When I saw one of those Black cameras
[1:09:25] with the solar panel in piqua and it made
[1:09:26] me feel unsafe and scared.
[1:09:28] These automatic license plate readers
[1:09:30] are a new type of surveillance, and they're not to gather
[1:09:32] ticket fees, but are data.
[1:09:34] What has happened to Pekin to warrant this.
[1:09:37] Since I've moved here, because I haven't seen it.
[1:09:40] They're also very impersonal.
[1:09:42] They record, regardless of need, and they
[1:09:43] feed a database of a private company in Georgia.
[1:09:48] We give you your office's badges, privileges, and even
[1:09:50] weapons because we want to trust you to help us
[1:09:53] and to bring structure in order to our lives
[1:09:56] and to give us a beautiful and safe community
[1:09:58] like you've been doing.
[1:10:00] But trust has to be mutual.
[1:10:01] Flock safety has not shown itself
[1:10:03] to be a trustworthy Steward of our information.
[1:10:06] Last year in August, the Illinois Secretary of State
[1:10:08] gave a public report regarding their audit
[1:10:10] of the automatic license plate systems
[1:10:12] under government contract in Illinois.
[1:10:14] And like 90 something percent of those are flock safety.
[1:10:19] And like 99 point whatever percent
[1:10:21] of the ones in this area in Tazewell County
[1:10:24] are flock safety.
[1:10:26] And they stated that flock safety was in frequent violation
[1:10:29] of Illinois State law, and that local governments needed
[1:10:32] to audit their contracts, and that 74 outside agencies had
[1:10:35] to have their backdoor access revoked from Illinois system
[1:10:38] access, and there have since been myriad reports
[1:10:40] from across the nation and in Illinois,
[1:10:42] and everything we've heard in the room
[1:10:44] today that the misuse and abuse of these systems has continued.
[1:10:48] And I'm just wondering what is the compelling public safety
[1:10:51] need that Pekin police department has identified
[1:10:53] to allow this into our town.
[1:10:56] I'm being watched without cause, evaluated by someone who
[1:10:58] only knows me by my data, and who isn't
[1:11:00] a member of this community.
[1:11:02] Someone who's shown themselves to be irresponsible
[1:11:04] at best and repeatedly demonstrated
[1:11:06] a disregard for our own law.
[1:11:10] They don't have to care or feel.
[1:11:11] But the person they trust with a gun and a badge
[1:11:13] wants to rely on such an impersonal system,
[1:11:15] implying they don't trust me and want
[1:11:17] to keep their distance from me.
[1:11:19] Though I have nothing to hide, I don't feel safe in Pekin
[1:11:23] anymore.
[1:11:29] Public input is now closed.
[1:11:31] I'm on that subject.
[1:11:35] A minute.
[1:11:36] No OK.
[1:11:36] Not perfect.
[1:11:40] My name is Biden.
[1:11:41] For if you remember, not this meet last meeting,
[1:11:45] but the one before.
[1:11:46] When I came up and I told you guys that my truck was parked
[1:11:49] and they didn't empty my daughter's garbage cans.
[1:11:52] Oh, yes.
[1:11:53] OK well.
[1:11:56] Wednesday, when it was pouring down rain.
[1:12:03] My daughter's boyfriend was parked.
[1:12:06] I have never, ever heard that you have to be
[1:12:09] parked 6 feet from a driveway.
[1:12:14] How are we supposed to know this.
[1:12:15] To be able to get a ticket, even though the ticket was squished.
[1:12:21] If he went out and moved the truck in the
[1:12:23] pour down rain, which he did.
[1:12:25] This is me.
[1:12:26] I am like that neighbor next door.
[1:12:31] He came over and knocked on the door when I was there and said,
[1:12:34] hey, can you move the truck.
[1:12:35] And I said, yeah, when they empty the garbage cans.
[1:12:39] What are you supposed to do.
[1:12:40] You're on North 11th Street.
[1:12:43] There's a white car that's been sitting there for a month.
[1:12:45] Then there's the Brown house, blue truck.
[1:12:48] Then there's this vehicle.
[1:12:49] There's only one parking spot.
[1:12:52] Which I've already called the city.
[1:12:54] And I ask about tearing that out and them putting rock in there.
[1:13:01] But you've got to cut the curb and the sidewalk.
[1:13:05] And I understand all of it.
[1:13:07] Except you're not allowed to use rock.
[1:13:09] It can only be concrete.
[1:13:12] So these kids can't afford a concrete driveway
[1:13:16] to add on to it.
[1:13:18] And that was to give them two parking spots.
[1:13:21] And I just don't understand.
[1:13:27] How is anybody supposed to know that you're supposed
[1:13:29] to be 6 feet from a driveway.
[1:13:33] Without getting a ticket for $25.
[1:13:38] They do have a camera.
[1:13:40] And it was proven that the person that wrote the ticket
[1:13:45] did not measure, and the gentleman
[1:13:49] asked him to come back with a police officer
[1:13:52] and get out and measure it.
[1:13:55] And he said, as long as you move it all,
[1:13:57] turn it down to a Warning.
[1:13:59] They've asked me not to say anything because I
[1:14:01] didn't want no trouble.
[1:14:03] I said, oh no, I'm taking this to the council
[1:14:06] because the city, the people in this town
[1:14:10] apparently need to know.
[1:14:11] But because of the neighbor next door,
[1:14:15] he got mad because he can't back out.
[1:14:19] Well, you can back out.
[1:14:22] I back out of my driveway all the time,
[1:14:24] and I've got Mr. Luff parked right here.
[1:14:29] And then I have the neighbor right behind my driveway.
[1:14:32] And then I sometimes get Mr. Luft's neighbor, that or friend
[1:14:36] that wants to park right there.
[1:14:38] And I got to back a truck out of that.
[1:14:41] It is capable to be done even with traffic coming at you.
[1:14:45] So that is my complaint, and it's something that I
[1:14:48] wanted to put in front of this.
[1:14:50] And I hope anybody watching this understands.
[1:14:52] Don't park 6 feet from your neighbor's driveway
[1:14:56] or you'll get a ticket.
[1:14:57] Thank you.
[1:14:58] Thank you.
[1:15:04] We have one more speaker on flock
[1:15:05] because there was a speaker.
[1:15:08] There was two minutes.
[1:15:09] There was two minutes left and there was a speaker
[1:15:11] talking about the Home Rule.
[1:15:12] So there's five more minutes.
[1:15:13] According to code.
[1:15:14] So I'm going to have him speak and then we're done.
[1:15:17] And there were two minutes left.
[1:15:18] I'll speak in less than two minutes.
[1:15:21] My name is Jeff Johnson.
[1:15:22] I live on Sixth Street here in Pekin.
[1:15:25] I'm a property owner and I am opposed to the flock cameras.
[1:15:30] But my question is rhetorical to the mayor and the council.
[1:15:35] Do you feel as you're going to vote on this.
[1:15:39] Please ask yourself, do you feel that you are getting the value
[1:15:45] out of what you're paying.
[1:15:47] Flock to have the cameras in place.
[1:15:49] Are you getting the annual value that my tax
[1:15:55] dollars are helping to support.
[1:15:57] Thank you very much.
[1:16:05] We're done now.
[1:16:08] Public input is now closed.
[1:16:11] Chair will entertain a motion for the consent agenda, please.
[1:16:15] Approval of Madam Mayor, I move that the following consent
[1:16:19] agenda be approved 6.1 financial reports through July 31, 2026
[1:16:26] 6.2 accounts payable paid proof list through August 14, 2026.
[1:16:32] 6.3 ordinance number 4428 dash 2627 approving a Second
[1:16:39] Amendment to purchase and sale agreement
[1:16:41] with Epic pharma solutions.
[1:16:44] 6.4 ordinance number 4429 dash 2627 approving a special use
[1:16:51] request for the operations of an automobile repair shop
[1:16:55] at 912 South second case Sioux.
[1:16:59] 2026036.5 ordinance number 4430.
[1:17:05] 2627 approving a variance to allow
[1:17:09] for the construction of a second driveway
[1:17:11] and approach at 18 Ashwood lane.
[1:17:15] Case V20620260366.
[1:17:22] Ordinance number 4431 26 27, approving a map Amendment
[1:17:28] to rezone the vacant property located adjacent to lots
[1:17:32] 13, 14, and 15 of the dawn on the lake subdivision along Foot
[1:17:37] drive from AG agriculture to re one family
[1:17:41] residential estate district.
[1:17:43] Case 2026026.7.
[1:17:50] Resolution number 473 26 27 approving a council permission
[1:17:57] for Roger Brotherton to utilize old police vehicle logos on a 63
[1:18:04] Plymouth Belvedere vehicle as a historic replica
[1:18:07] to be on display.
[1:18:08] Second Motion made by Mr. Abel and second by MS hohimer.
[1:18:16] Any questions or comments and concerns on the consent agenda.
[1:18:23] Seeing none.
[1:18:24] Council, take your vote, please.
[1:18:31] Motion passes 7 0.
[1:18:35] We have now come down to presentations, communications,
[1:18:39] petitions and reports.
[1:18:40] I'm going to give you once again the mayor's report.
[1:18:42] It's not going to be near as long as last time,
[1:18:45] because I had so many things that I wanted to bring
[1:18:48] to your attention on how hard our city, our staff,
[1:18:52] we are working very hard to bring in new businesses
[1:18:55] here in town and making our city grow.
[1:18:59] But I do want to tell you a few things.
[1:19:02] That last time I said that Excalibur
[1:19:05] seasoning that they were on.
[1:19:07] They're still on pace, on track to finish
[1:19:10] by the end of September they're almost doubling in their size.
[1:19:15] Let's see.
[1:19:16] Electronic hydrogen is working.
[1:19:18] They are doing renewable energy contract for wind and solar
[1:19:24] on their facility.
[1:19:25] I'd stated that last time and they're
[1:19:26] moving forward with that.
[1:19:29] The city currently has an RFP to purchase
[1:19:32] the sale of eight acres out in the river
[1:19:35] Riverway business park.
[1:19:37] We don't have a lot of land out there left,
[1:19:40] but we do have these eight acres that is by the frontage road
[1:19:44] for a local contractor to.
[1:19:46] He's expressed interest in building
[1:19:48] a new facility out that way.
[1:19:51] City staff has begun discussing a 30 to a 40 acre
[1:19:56] sale of looting and property for a state for excuse
[1:20:00] me for residential development.
[1:20:03] So this will be the second thing that we're moving
[1:20:06] forward with lutken property.
[1:20:08] And this is off of 98 highway 98, our audits.
[1:20:14] I had said how proud I am.
[1:20:17] It's almost unheard of how we are
[1:20:19] getting these audits caught up.
[1:20:21] When I first became mayor, we were
[1:20:23] four years behind in audits.
[1:20:25] Just those four years and the three
[1:20:27] years that I've been mayor by.
[1:20:30] Let's see, by November 2025, audit will be completed
[1:20:36] and then 2026 audit will start shortly afterwards.
[1:20:40] And as I stated, that will be seven years of audits.
[1:20:44] That is unheard of.
[1:20:47] Hats off once again to the finance department
[1:20:49] for the city of Beacon.
[1:20:50] Thank you so much.
[1:20:53] A couple other things that I want to mention
[1:20:55] and that is with our finances.
[1:20:58] I did speak with our Mr. Dabrowski, the head of finance,
[1:21:04] and we are trying to be so transparent with where we are.
[1:21:08] And right now we are a quarter way into the year,
[1:21:11] and we are pretty much on track collecting a fourth
[1:21:16] and dispersing a fourth just going in there.
[1:21:21] So as we get closer to the year as a half,
[1:21:27] I will be getting with Mr. Dabrowski again.
[1:21:29] But I do want you we want to be so transparent,
[1:21:33] but first and foremost for him is not
[1:21:35] to just keep the finances going, but to get these audits done
[1:21:39] and caught up.
[1:21:40] So that will be his priority is to get those audits
[1:21:43] completely caught up.
[1:21:46] Second thing, I am actually going to pick on our fire
[1:21:50] chief, Mr. Trent Reese, today.
[1:21:54] We set a record.
[1:21:57] I don't know that we've ever sworn
[1:21:59] in four officers at one time.
[1:22:01] So I want to give you the floor for just a minute
[1:22:05] to say how exciting it is, what it means for the city
[1:22:09] and your firefighters.
[1:22:14] Thank you.
[1:22:15] Put you on the spot, didn't I. Much appreciated.
[1:22:17] I thought the speeches were over.
[1:22:20] Yeah so this morning we did.
[1:22:21] We swore in four new firefighters.
[1:22:24] The group of them.
[1:22:25] There's actually five that will be going to the Academy starting
[1:22:28] at 3:00 o'clock this afternoon.
[1:22:30] There was a little bit of an issue
[1:22:32] with the timing of the Academy.
[1:22:35] So they all got sworn in, got all
[1:22:38] their paperwork handled, and then
[1:22:42] made their way to the Academy.
[1:22:43] So normally we like to have them for a week prior to.
[1:22:47] But that's not how it worked out this time.
[1:22:50] Pretty excited to have four or five of them
[1:22:52] go together because they start that bond early.
[1:22:56] They have each other to lean on, to learn from,
[1:22:59] because they come from all kinds of different backgrounds
[1:23:01] and walks of life.
[1:23:03] So yeah, Nicole had to do four of them today, swearing them in,
[1:23:09] and they seem very excited.
[1:23:11] We were very, very fortunate to have a lot of family and friends
[1:23:14] in the room to support them on their first day,
[1:23:18] and that support will be very, very important
[1:23:20] throughout their career, especially in the next three
[1:23:22] years where they're doing nothing but learning and maybe
[1:23:26] getting yelled at a little bit.
[1:23:27] Not too much, but a little bit.
[1:23:30] But yeah, as we are a very young fire department,
[1:23:34] so every opportunity we have to get them to some training
[1:23:40] and work them through is it's a good opportunity.
[1:23:43] So pretty happy to have them.
[1:23:45] Thank you.
[1:23:46] Those who came and we wish them the best
[1:23:48] and we'll do everything to make them successful.
[1:23:51] We had a full house and it was really wonderful.
[1:23:53] You did an outstanding job swearing them in this.
[1:23:57] This actually means that we are finally full staffed.
[1:24:00] And with that, I think that will help with cutting back
[1:24:04] on overtime, forcing people in.
[1:24:07] So thank you very much for your hard work.
[1:24:09] We appreciate everything.
[1:24:14] So that's all I really wanted to say.
[1:24:17] And once again, I thank you all for coming,
[1:24:21] letting us hear your voice.
[1:24:24] We have tough decisions up here, but we all
[1:24:28] elected to be here and make these tough decisions
[1:24:30] and do what we feel is right for the city of Pekin.
[1:24:33] So thank you very much.
[1:24:39] I have now come down to item 8, which
[1:24:41] is unfinished business chair would entertain
[1:24:43] a motion for 8.1, please.
[1:24:47] Madam Mayor, I make a motion that resolution number 468 dash
[1:24:51] 2627, approving the annual contract
[1:24:55] with flock safety for license plate reading cameras
[1:24:58] be approved.
[1:25:00] Second Motion made by Mr. hilston.
[1:25:03] Second by Mr. Abel Mr. Dorsey.
[1:25:06] Once again, thank you mayor.
[1:25:09] This was tabled at the last meeting.
[1:25:11] I believe councils had some individual or conversations
[1:25:16] with the chief on this.
[1:25:17] I think he's available to answer any questions.
[1:25:20] I believe he's got somebody available if he
[1:25:22] can't answer the question.
[1:25:24] So I'll turn it over to him and the council.
[1:25:26] Perfect Thank you very much.
[1:25:28] Does any council have any questions for our police
[1:25:31] chief, Mr. Seth rennie?
[1:25:36] Thank you for being here, Seth.
[1:25:38] Sorry, sorry, MS Phillips.
[1:25:40] There were some specific concerns raised about how
[1:25:45] the flock cameras have been used in Pekin, including the number
[1:25:51] of searches, the type of codes used,
[1:25:56] a particular case with a potential misuse
[1:25:58] by a local officer, and questions about which
[1:26:04] AI systems are is beacon using.
[1:26:07] Can you clarify or expand or answer any of those concerns.
[1:26:13] Yeah so the question on the I think
[1:26:18] it was brought up by Greg, as far as I
[1:26:23] didn't want to misspeak on it.
[1:26:24] So after the meeting last time, I reached out and spoke
[1:26:28] to our rep and it was already said
[1:26:31] but Phil Arnold is on the line from flock
[1:26:34] as a flock representative.
[1:26:35] So everybody's aware.
[1:26:38] So what we currently use is what was basically described
[1:26:42] by a lot of the members of the audience that spoke,
[1:26:45] Ryan and Zoe, that they're all accurate in the sense
[1:26:49] of what we use is AI.
[1:26:52] That helps determine the make, model, color.
[1:26:55] Does it have a license plate.
[1:26:57] Does it not have a license plate.
[1:26:58] But then flock also has a lot of other options that we don't use.
[1:27:04] Deconfliction connecting incidents without a known
[1:27:07] suspect, uncover accomplice vehicles
[1:27:11] and detecting organized crime.
[1:27:12] Those are all AI driven options that they
[1:27:16] use that we do not use.
[1:27:20] So the AI that we're currently using
[1:27:23] is AI that helps capture the data of the vehicle.
[1:27:27] And so that is what we're currently using.
[1:27:32] So that specific question.
[1:27:38] Do the cameras are they able to pick up the drivers.
[1:27:47] It's in the patent.
[1:27:50] But I don't really I'm not sure how the cameras are pointed.
[1:27:55] And is it taking a picture.
[1:27:57] Is it a stream.
[1:27:59] Yeah so it's taking a picture of the rear of the vehicle.
[1:28:03] Fox says it doesn't capture any facial recognition.
[1:28:07] I can only speak from looking at a lot of these photos
[1:28:12] and it's the rear of the vehicle.
[1:28:15] So that is what's picked up.
[1:28:17] I have looked at a lot of these over the three years
[1:28:20] that we've had it, and I've never
[1:28:22] seen any type capture that you get
[1:28:25] any type of driver information.
[1:28:29] So I'm literally a lot of it's off of my own experience.
[1:28:33] That's just looking at a lot of these.
[1:28:35] That's what I've had the experience of.
[1:28:38] So I think it was Ryan who asked about.
[1:28:46] The 12,738 uses with only 105 license plate.
[1:28:54] And the general category 99 invest.
[1:28:59] Can you tell me what are those statistics mean.
[1:29:03] What are we doing.
[1:29:04] Yeah so I don't want to.
[1:29:06] Clearly he got some statistics from somewhere.
[1:29:08] So you can tell he does his homework.
[1:29:10] I don't want to misspeak on whether those numbers
[1:29:13] are accurate or not.
[1:29:14] I can't say that the 99 is a police code
[1:29:18] for a person with a warrant.
[1:29:20] So that is a code that we use on a regular basis.
[1:29:23] And it is a search code.
[1:29:26] And then invest is it would be a warrant investigation.
[1:29:30] So that is correct.
[1:29:32] That would most likely be police for lack of better
[1:29:35] terms, police shorthand.
[1:29:37] I will say that those are all things,
[1:29:40] as this situation with flock has unfolded over the last 10 weeks
[1:29:46] or whatever it's been a hot topic.
[1:29:49] That is something that we're making sure that we're doing
[1:29:52] a much more thorough job of.
[1:29:54] When an officer does a search, we have more information
[1:29:57] in there, but overall that type of search is a 99 investigation
[1:30:05] is they're going trying to locate someone with a warrant.
[1:30:08] So if it says 105 license plate searches versus they will call
[1:30:15] them 13,000 searches in general is and I know you didn't gather
[1:30:23] the data, so it's not really fair
[1:30:24] to put you on the spot for it.
[1:30:26] But can you imagine an explanation that makes sense.
[1:30:32] I mean, there are explanations.
[1:30:34] It depends on who's doing those searches
[1:30:37] and how long an investigation took place.
[1:30:40] If it's AI don't want to misspeak because I don't know
[1:30:44] who he was referencing, but it's one of those like our detectives
[1:30:47] that do a six month or a year investigation of the cartel.
[1:30:52] You could run if there's a half a dozen vehicles that
[1:30:55] are involved in the trafficking, large kilo quantities of Meth
[1:30:59] into the city.
[1:31:01] Then they may run that every day for a year.
[1:31:06] And so they're gathering that data
[1:31:08] of when trips are happening.
[1:31:10] The frequency where the meet locations
[1:31:14] are what cities, that type of thing.
[1:31:16] So as money drops are going on, those
[1:31:18] are all things of investigative tools
[1:31:21] that are being used to try to get that information.
[1:31:24] So it's one of those where there is plausible explanations.
[1:31:27] I don't want to misspeak and speak on something that I don't
[1:31:30] know what Ryan's referencing, but just in general, there
[1:31:33] are applications where that could be the case,
[1:31:36] and we have multiple drug investigators
[1:31:39] that that's all they do.
[1:31:41] Very good.
[1:31:42] I may have some follow up questions,
[1:31:44] but I'd like to give some of the other counsel.
[1:31:46] I know that Sharon has a question,
[1:31:48] but I think Mr. hills did.
[1:31:49] Also, who would like to go first.
[1:31:50] Shut up to you.
[1:31:51] Go for it.
[1:31:53] I just wanted to let everybody know that I
[1:31:57] don't think your mic is on.
[1:32:00] Try it again.
[1:32:00] Hello nope.
[1:32:02] Hello here.
[1:32:05] Hello there you go.
[1:32:07] Sorry I'm sorry I was not able to be here at the last meeting.
[1:32:12] I was in Missouri.
[1:32:14] My grandson had to have a medical procedure.
[1:32:16] And I am a loving grandmother and wanted to be there for him
[1:32:20] and his brothers and baby sister.
[1:32:23] That being said, I did watch the entire meeting,
[1:32:26] and I did hear all of you speak.
[1:32:29] I want you to know that I listened
[1:32:32] to it all, every minute of it.
[1:32:38] The irony behind this is we've already had the flock
[1:32:42] cameras for three years.
[1:32:44] We are literally going into the last year of our four
[1:32:49] year contract for three years.
[1:32:52] Not one soul has come in here and said anything.
[1:32:58] And now all of a sudden, it's a big deal.
[1:33:00] I'm really unsure of that.
[1:33:03] I will tell you.
[1:33:04] I spoke to four people just today.
[1:33:07] Two called me about other issues and I said, by the way,
[1:33:11] can I ask you.
[1:33:14] I have to be honest with you.
[1:33:16] Not one person cared.
[1:33:19] They said if it saves a life, if it keeps drugs out
[1:33:23] of our community, I'm for it and I will tell you
[1:33:29] it has saved lives.
[1:33:31] It has absolutely saved.
[1:33:33] I can tell you right now.
[1:33:35] Hand to God it has saved lives Mr. ranney,
[1:33:41] Chief ranney could tell you that.
[1:33:45] I got from Mr. Allen's letter.
[1:33:49] I read it thoroughly, and he one thing he wrote in here
[1:33:53] that I really respected.
[1:33:55] It says I understand and respect the legitimate concerns
[1:33:58] surrounding privacy, surveillance
[1:34:00] and the potential misuse of this type of technology.
[1:34:04] Those concerns should not simply be dismissed.
[1:34:07] At the same time, I now believe we also
[1:34:11] need to carefully consider the potential benefits in real world
[1:34:16] situations in which this technology could
[1:34:19] help law enforcement locate a missing child,
[1:34:23] identify a subject, suspect, or assist
[1:34:27] in solving a serious crime.
[1:34:30] If it saves one life, I think we've done our job.
[1:34:36] This is the fourth year of a four year contract.
[1:34:41] It's something that we would absolutely
[1:34:43] want to look at in the future.
[1:34:47] I'm not going to say that this is perfect,
[1:34:50] but I have to tell you in my heart,
[1:34:54] if one child is saved from sex trafficking
[1:35:01] or save from attempting to unalive themselves.
[1:35:09] Then I absolutely 100% will vote for this.
[1:35:13] Thank you Mr. hilst.
[1:35:20] I just got one quick question in regards to the resolution.
[1:35:23] It says that we're approving the annual contract with flock
[1:35:26] safety, but then the only information that we really
[1:35:31] have in our packet is just a couple invoices
[1:35:35] for the price of the cameras.
[1:35:37] Is there an actual contract with language in it
[1:35:41] that talks about the locations and the use
[1:35:44] and how the data is stored.
[1:35:46] I mean, is there an actual school contract
[1:35:49] that we just haven't been provided.
[1:35:52] Or is the contract just the cost of the cameras.
[1:35:56] The contract is the cost of the cameras.
[1:35:58] I mean, we did an original contract, if that's
[1:36:00] your question, when you initially passed it
[1:36:03] unanimously the first time, then all of that was in the contract.
[1:36:07] This is part of the four year grant that we were awarded.
[1:36:12] It wasn't a four year contract.
[1:36:13] It's a year by year and this year is just the invoices.
[1:36:18] The contract is the same contract
[1:36:19] that was already approved.
[1:36:21] This is just an invoice for this year.
[1:36:27] But where is that contract.
[1:36:29] I mean, why wasn't that provided in our packet.
[1:36:32] Because it's the same contract that was passed
[1:36:34] for the past three years.
[1:36:35] And I understand that.
[1:36:37] But there's been a lot of information brought up
[1:36:40] in the last two or three months that could pertain to language
[1:36:45] in that contract that maybe wasn't picked
[1:36:47] up on three years ago when that contract was
[1:36:50] originally approved.
[1:36:53] Yeah I mean, it's the same contract that we are.
[1:36:56] Just what is brought forth this year is to just do like you have
[1:37:00] the last two years, and it's the same contract with just
[1:37:04] the fourth year payment.
[1:37:06] That's all I have.
[1:37:08] Thank you.
[1:37:09] I do want to say that we have had these last two
[1:37:12] weeks to ask the chief to see that contract if we
[1:37:16] needed to again.
[1:37:19] So I think he's being very transparent with us all.
[1:37:24] Did you have more MS Phillips.
[1:37:28] Oh Dave did.
[1:37:30] Oh, yeah.
[1:37:31] I got questions.
[1:37:34] So thank you to everybody that brought the information.
[1:37:39] Every time you guys bring something,
[1:37:41] there's something else.
[1:37:42] And I got three pages of notes, so he only gets five minutes.
[1:37:48] I can do this in five.
[1:37:50] So one of the biggest concerns is the access of the data.
[1:37:56] So I'm going to pose this to the chief.
[1:38:01] A town in Washington, the state of
[1:38:05] wants to access something in Pekin.
[1:38:08] Step me through the process.
[1:38:12] We don't share outside of the state of Illinois.
[1:38:14] Are you sure.
[1:38:15] 100% I mean, just if you're asking me what I have control
[1:38:21] over and the information that I'm provided by flock,
[1:38:24] there were times where we have shared outside.
[1:38:31] But last year when I think someone already brought it up.
[1:38:34] But when the Secretary of State did the audit
[1:38:37] and we found that was not being used properly,
[1:38:40] flock was sharing information, then
[1:38:42] we utilize the ability to make it so we
[1:38:46] only share within the state.
[1:38:49] It's been a progression.
[1:38:52] It's not like it's one of those things where as this has gone on
[1:38:57] and things have been brought up, we try to listen
[1:39:01] and we make changes to try to ensure
[1:39:03] that a lot of these things that are brought up don't happen.
[1:39:06] And so it's one of those where when we were told that hey,
[1:39:11] this is what it was being used for.
[1:39:13] And then as it has progressed, now we just share
[1:39:16] within the state of Illinois.
[1:39:17] So here comes the caveat is that in the contract, does it state
[1:39:23] anywhere in this contract because I
[1:39:25] haven't read it again, honestly, that's
[1:39:28] completely at our control.
[1:39:30] So that is local control.
[1:39:33] Yes OK.
[1:39:36] Very good.
[1:39:37] I go get somebody else.
[1:39:39] I got to write something down here.
[1:39:42] Did anyone over here have a question
[1:39:44] Because MS Phillips does.
[1:39:45] But I'm checking just Mr. Abel.
[1:39:49] I guess I've been asked 20 times at least.
[1:39:52] Where have you people been for three years.
[1:39:54] People that said.
[1:39:56] Well, they knew we had it.
[1:39:57] I had to couple had to go out and show em
[1:39:58] where the cameras were.
[1:39:59] They didn't know where they were, what they were
[1:40:01] actually being heard about.
[1:40:04] But they kept saying, where have all these people
[1:40:06] been for three years.
[1:40:07] What changed.
[1:40:09] I said, nothing changed.
[1:40:10] I know we're renewing a last of a contract.
[1:40:13] So that is.
[1:40:16] And I think you've heard the chief talk about instances where
[1:40:20] it has actually saved somebody's life,
[1:40:22] found somebody that was lost with dementia
[1:40:25] in the city of Pekin.
[1:40:27] Everything's going to have its downside where
[1:40:29] it's made by human beings.
[1:40:30] So it's going to have mistakes.
[1:40:31] Yeah, but the good far outweighs the bad,
[1:40:37] and I'm not going to vote against it.
[1:40:41] There's too many way too many positives
[1:40:43] outweigh the negatives Mr. Fletcher, you're good for now.
[1:40:49] OK MS Phillips, a follow up question for chief Raney
[1:40:57] or a question I forgot to ask the first time.
[1:41:01] One of the handouts of information
[1:41:04] that we've been provided from the public
[1:41:08] mentioned that the ice had access to our system in January.
[1:41:13] Can you give us any more details about that.
[1:41:16] Yeah so we saw that also in the information that we have
[1:41:21] is that it was actually the ATF and that it was part
[1:41:25] of a criminal investigation not related to immigration
[1:41:30] or any of the things that are off limits.
[1:41:32] Other than that, I don't want to speak to why that was accessed.
[1:41:43] Any other Mr. Fletcher.
[1:41:46] So I think the biggest problem the public has
[1:41:53] is not the cameras themselves.
[1:41:55] It's the expectation or the worry of the information
[1:42:00] being used for the wrong purposes
[1:42:03] and not being able to be tracked.
[1:42:05] I totally understand it.
[1:42:07] I don't like my privacy being invaded either.
[1:42:14] I understand that it's a great tool for the police officers
[1:42:19] for peaking and beyond.
[1:42:22] But what I would like to see, and I know
[1:42:28] that Chief rayney does this.
[1:42:30] I would like to see him continue to be
[1:42:33] diligent in checking on his officers and more education
[1:42:39] on his officers.
[1:42:41] And ultimately, it does come down to Chief Raney.
[1:42:49] Being in charge of this.
[1:42:50] We give him the tools as a council
[1:42:55] to do what's best for the citizens of Pekin,
[1:42:57] and then he has to run with that.
[1:43:00] And I think so far he's done a good job.
[1:43:01] Now, if there's stuff I haven't heard,
[1:43:04] I'm not saying that's not possible,
[1:43:08] but my feeling is that the good outweighs the bad.
[1:43:13] But I will ask and I will continue
[1:43:16] to ask questions because this is just it's
[1:43:19] not over with the governor.
[1:43:22] There's court cases ongoing that could change
[1:43:25] everything that we're talking about,
[1:43:28] and this contract will be up again.
[1:43:30] There may be competitors in the markets in the space,
[1:43:34] so we don't know what's going to happen a year from now,
[1:43:37] but it will be debated a year from now again.
[1:43:40] And I just will hope, and I expect that the chief
[1:43:45] will do what he needs to do to keep
[1:43:48] the system from being abused.
[1:43:51] Thank you.
[1:43:52] Thanks, Mr. Fletcher.
[1:43:54] I couldn't have said that better.
[1:43:56] Thank you Mr. Nader, did you have something else, or did
[1:44:01] MS Phillips.
[1:44:02] Your turn.
[1:44:04] All right.
[1:44:05] So I just want to clarify something,
[1:44:07] and I think Chief will back this up.
[1:44:09] None of those cameras are on private property.
[1:44:13] That's correct.
[1:44:14] So that leads into.
[1:44:17] Does that camera have the width, the broadband
[1:44:21] to look at private property.
[1:44:24] Well hold on.
[1:44:25] Let him answer, please.
[1:44:27] Quiet in the audience.
[1:44:28] The focus is on the lane of travel.
[1:44:32] Is it specific on the lane of travel.
[1:44:34] There are things on the outside sidewalks,
[1:44:37] things like that it can pick up.
[1:44:39] But as far as what it's actually focused on,
[1:44:42] it's not on persons residences or things like that.
[1:44:46] So it's one of those where I'm not saying that there's not
[1:44:48] something on the peripheral that you
[1:44:49] might pick up but most of them are
[1:44:52] in really high traffic areas.
[1:44:54] So the original intent when we passed this contract
[1:44:58] was to look at the license plate, whatever
[1:45:03] flock does with that information peripheral
[1:45:06] to that we can't control.
[1:45:08] We can't control if they're doing
[1:45:11] something with the data for the development of AI,
[1:45:16] which they are.
[1:45:17] And everybody's got to be naive if they don't think they are.
[1:45:21] The products are being overseas.
[1:45:23] They're doing all kinds of information.
[1:45:26] They're developing logarithms, logarithms
[1:45:29] for a multitude of things.
[1:45:31] However, we got to look at the original intent
[1:45:34] why we bought them.
[1:45:36] It was to help capture perpetrators in the city
[1:45:41] or to help another city catch a perpetrator.
[1:45:45] Unfortunately, floc has expanded what they're doing.
[1:45:51] In my personal opinion, it's all about the money.
[1:45:54] Who's getting the money.
[1:45:57] I don't know.
[1:45:58] I don't know who owns floc.
[1:46:01] We hear floc.
[1:46:03] So is it a Black Ops.
[1:46:07] Is it China.
[1:46:08] Is it some other foreign state.
[1:46:10] I don't know.
[1:46:11] But as Mr. Fletcher said, that's out of our control.
[1:46:17] We're looking at cameras for license plate readers
[1:46:21] to find perpetrators.
[1:46:23] And I'll use an example.
[1:46:26] You're at sefcu and two people come in masked up
[1:46:31] and you're an innocent bystander.
[1:46:34] And they robbed the bank, and they shoot and kill somebody.
[1:46:38] Yep guess what.
[1:46:39] Sefcu got cameras.
[1:46:41] They definitely do.
[1:46:43] But what if I'm the citizen sitting out in the parking lot
[1:46:46] and happens to give a description of that vehicle.
[1:46:51] The flock cameras more than likely
[1:46:54] are going to catch that vehicle going in or out of this city.
[1:46:57] That is the intent.
[1:46:59] It's not to reduce crime.
[1:47:02] It's to catch the perpetrators that committed the crime.
[1:47:07] So unfortunately, it's like big systems.
[1:47:11] AI is big.
[1:47:12] I just watched a robot run and beat Bolt's record
[1:47:17] or whatever it was.
[1:47:19] It was a robot.
[1:47:21] OK, well, that had to be developed.
[1:47:23] So we buy the cameras for a specific reason.
[1:47:27] The AI goes out there and does something
[1:47:29] else unless we write something specific in a contract.
[1:47:33] And I don't think that may even not even be a possibility,
[1:47:37] I don't know.
[1:47:38] But I agree with Mr. Fletcher, as we move forward, we
[1:47:41] need to do better on the audits and the looking
[1:47:45] and what's available.
[1:47:47] The state attorney general has come out with multiple things
[1:47:52] saying this is illegal, and I'm glad he did.
[1:47:55] I mean, it's a step in the right direction.
[1:48:00] This is one of those tough ones that I got to say,
[1:48:03] if you look at what the camera was intended to do
[1:48:08] and what it's being provided, and I've
[1:48:10] talked to multiple police officers and multiple citizens
[1:48:15] and they're in favor of them.
[1:48:18] I appreciate everybody's input here.
[1:48:21] But man, there's so much data coming out of this.
[1:48:24] I don't know how we keep our head around it,
[1:48:26] but I appreciate the input.
[1:48:29] We'll see where it shakes out in the vote.
[1:48:33] I'm just going to say one quick thing.
[1:48:37] I think that our police department
[1:48:41] has done great on audits.
[1:48:43] I said that we need to do better Mr. Nutter.
[1:48:46] Yes we can always do better.
[1:48:50] You can always improve and do better.
[1:48:51] Yes, we always can.
[1:48:53] Yes, we always can.
[1:48:54] We have not made huge, huge mistakes.
[1:48:57] So, MS Phillips, did you have more.
[1:49:01] Oh, boy, do I have a lot of thoughts about this.
[1:49:06] I have spent hours every day since we met.
[1:49:15] Last I was already aware of the headlines that
[1:49:22] are hitting my news, I know.
[1:49:28] Not everybody gets the same news feeds we do.
[1:49:32] And I've read the articles and I've researched them.
[1:49:39] I have talked to.
[1:49:42] Domestic backup for a second.
[1:49:46] I've talked to friends, family, everybody I can talk to about
[1:49:49] this from all different walks of life
[1:49:53] and all of the tech concerns, the privacy concerns,
[1:50:00] those are valid.
[1:50:01] And I don't necessarily want to take up my time going
[1:50:04] into a lot of that, because I know you guys want us to go
[1:50:09] on with our lives here, but.
[1:50:14] Amongst my friends, one of the first things that was brought up
[1:50:20] was, well, we can't have those cameras
[1:50:24] because there are abusive cops out there who
[1:50:26] will track their girlfriends.
[1:50:29] And we know that some types of abusive people
[1:50:37] are attracted to professions that give
[1:50:41] them access to people to abuse.
[1:50:46] So what I did was I reached out to domestic violence advocates
[1:50:53] and I said, what.
[1:50:54] What's happening on the ground.
[1:50:57] You're there is this happening.
[1:51:00] And they said no, that they haven't seen that.
[1:51:05] What they've seen instead is that the cameras are helping
[1:51:09] us catch the abusers when they're violating
[1:51:14] the protection orders.
[1:51:17] It makes it easier to protect people.
[1:51:25] As far as you've all done amazing jobs
[1:51:29] on bringing information to us and I appreciate that a lot.
[1:51:36] I personally.
[1:51:40] Can think of several reasons that someone
[1:51:44] might choose to misuse a flock or any surveillance system
[1:51:52] against me.
[1:51:54] And I know that there are members of the audience who
[1:51:58] are in communities that are often
[1:52:01] targeted by people with access to these kinds of things.
[1:52:07] And as a member of one of those communities,
[1:52:11] I've always since the first time I signed
[1:52:13] my name on something I said.
[1:52:17] I'm on a list and I have been to protest where I have carried
[1:52:25] a sign that maybe somebody might disagree with,
[1:52:28] maybe a thin skinned politician.
[1:52:34] And I'm on the city council.
[1:52:38] If we had a corrupt police department,
[1:52:43] it would be in the corrupt police's
[1:52:46] benefit to use these cameras in a way
[1:52:50] to track politicians like us.
[1:52:52] We're not politicians, really, but to track people
[1:52:56] in public office and use that information to get us unelected.
[1:53:03] And I mention these things because when I've sat down
[1:53:10] and I've soul searched on this question.
[1:53:16] I said, OK, what's the worst case in both scenarios.
[1:53:19] What's the worst case if we get rid of flac?
[1:53:23] What's the worst case if we keep it.
[1:53:26] For me personally, this is not the big picture.
[1:53:31] This is bringing it all the way down to the person.
[1:53:36] And I personally decided that the worst thing
[1:53:43] is if I had to stand in front of a parent in Pekin,
[1:53:48] which these are not hypotheticals.
[1:53:50] These are real situations that we've already
[1:53:53] had in this community and say, not even say it, but know
[1:53:59] in the pit of my stomach that we could be finding that person
[1:54:05] we're missing, but we don't have this tool anymore,
[1:54:11] and that person right now is out there.
[1:54:15] We don't know where they are.
[1:54:18] I could not I would hate to be standing in front of that person
[1:54:25] and say I chose.
[1:54:29] To do away with the tool that could be helping you right now.
[1:54:31] When we know in real life that this has helped people in Pekin.
[1:54:37] And I think it's even more troubling,
[1:54:43] as a council member to say, I'm going to take away this tool
[1:54:49] and I'm not going to stand in front
[1:54:51] of that person, because more often than not,
[1:54:55] when this situation occurs that we're trying to find someone
[1:55:00] urgently, the police isn't calling in the council, the fire
[1:55:05] department, when they're trying to respond
[1:55:08] to a situation in cooperation with this police department.
[1:55:13] They're not bringing us in it.
[1:55:16] They're the ones standing there with a fist in their stomach
[1:55:22] saying, if only I had this tool, I might
[1:55:25] be able to save that person.
[1:55:29] I am assuming the risk that we won't have it,
[1:55:34] and delegating the responsibility
[1:55:37] for facing the bad situation that we're in.
[1:55:42] And we have.
[1:55:48] I have a lot of friends who are first responders.
[1:55:52] Define a lot.
[1:55:53] I have a couple of friends who are first responders.
[1:55:57] And the things that they see, the things
[1:56:02] that they protect us from.
[1:56:07] It's tragic when we put them through as a community.
[1:56:14] We ask them to keep us safe.
[1:56:16] We're asking them to take care of us
[1:56:19] and to put them in a position where they have to watch one
[1:56:25] of us potentially die, because we didn't
[1:56:29] trust them with this tool.
[1:56:33] I can't do that.
[1:56:35] And I do.
[1:56:38] I understand why we're afraid of these cameras.
[1:56:40] I understand why we're afraid of the surveillance system.
[1:56:44] I do understand the difference between the government
[1:56:47] surveillance system and the private surveillance system.
[1:56:50] And like I said, I have spent hours
[1:56:53] every night looking into this.
[1:56:55] And I would sit up here for an hour
[1:56:58] and give you arguments on every topic that came up.
[1:57:01] But I don't think that's going to be necessary.
[1:57:04] I just I want you to know those of you who came here,
[1:57:09] you're doing your job as a community.
[1:57:11] You're not wrong to be concerned.
[1:57:19] The other thing about the why we're concerned,
[1:57:24] the more I study on this, the more important
[1:57:26] it becomes that the true answers to a lot of these problems
[1:57:32] is taking care of each other.
[1:57:35] It's seeing not us and them, but all of us.
[1:57:40] It may be us against the Texas cops.
[1:57:47] It may be us against the techno oligarchs.
[1:57:54] But it's us.
[1:57:55] We're not us in them.
[1:57:57] We're us.
[1:57:59] Every member on this council, we live with these flock cameras
[1:58:04] too, and I found on the map.
[1:58:05] I do live within a block and a half of one.
[1:58:09] And I'll tell if you want to follow me.
[1:58:12] I'm a very boring person, but that.
[1:58:16] Me too.
[1:58:17] But nonetheless, I do recognize that it could be misused.
[1:58:23] It is extreme.
[1:58:25] Somebody mentioned the we trust Seth.
[1:58:27] Now, what about the next police.
[1:58:29] And I will say that it's a culture that we grow.
[1:58:34] We develop the internal controls.
[1:58:36] We develop the checks, we develop the alerts,
[1:58:40] we follow through on those.
[1:58:42] And once they become procedure, then it takes multiple bad cops
[1:58:48] to break the procedure.
[1:58:50] So like I said, I'll stop going on every topic.
[1:58:54] It's tempting, but I just want you to know that I did hear you,
[1:59:00] and it isn't that I don't believe you
[1:59:02] or that I don't care.
[1:59:04] It's personally what can I live with.
[1:59:08] And my vote up here tonight is for the community,
[1:59:13] because I'm absolutely convinced that we are going to help
[1:59:17] far more people than might be hurt
[1:59:21] if someone abuses the system.
[1:59:24] Thank you.
[1:59:24] Well said.
[1:59:25] Peg well said.
[1:59:27] Thank you.
[1:59:28] Anyone else from the council.
[1:59:33] Seeing none.
[1:59:33] Council take your vote, please.
[1:59:43] Motion passes 6' 1.
[1:59:48] Chair would now entertain a motion for.
[1:59:51] We are at New business 9.1, please.
[1:59:56] Oh, I get to talk more.
[1:59:59] Madam Mayor, I move that we adopt resolution number 474 dash
[2:00:03] 2627, approving a professional auditing service agreement
[2:00:09] with Lutterbach and almond LLP for the fiscal years
[2:00:12] 2026 and 2027.
[2:00:15] Second Motion made by MS Phillips
[2:00:17] and second by MS hochheimer.
[2:00:22] Yeah before I turn it over, let's let.
[2:00:24] If the audience is wanting to speak,
[2:00:27] you need to step out into the hallway there or.
[2:00:33] Be seated.
[2:00:35] There trying to get up.
[2:00:36] Yeah OK.
[2:00:39] Thank you.
[2:00:50] Thank you.
[2:01:10] Congratulations Mr. Darcy.
[2:01:25] Thank you.
[2:01:26] Mayor this is, in essence, approving the agreement
[2:01:29] with Lutterbach and Ammann regarding
[2:01:31] the fiscal year 2627 audits.
[2:01:34] Eric, will going a little bit more detail if you have
[2:01:37] questions for him on it Mr. Dabrowski,
[2:01:41] does council have any questions or would
[2:01:43] you like to just say a few things.
[2:01:47] Yeah, I would like to say a few things,
[2:01:49] kind of dovetailing on comments from earlier tonight.
[2:01:52] We have made really good progress thus far in 2026.
[2:01:56] Catching up with the audits.
[2:01:58] As you may recall, we've completed the FY23 audit
[2:02:01] in February, FY24.
[2:02:03] In June, FY25 is nearing completion.
[2:02:06] Our target is actually late September, early October.
[2:02:10] We'd love to get it in at that time.
[2:02:12] Our intent is to go straight into 26.
[2:02:15] Ask the state for an extension on that.
[2:02:18] So won't be considered delinquent
[2:02:20] as we have in the past.
[2:02:22] It would just expand the timeline on that.
[2:02:27] So that would roughly mean and then heading
[2:02:31] into 26 with a target completion date of roughly January 31
[2:02:35] of 27.
[2:02:36] So with that would be for audits in the 12 month period.
[2:02:40] And that would eliminate our backlog.
[2:02:44] So tonight essentially what I'm bringing
[2:02:46] is the engagement with Lutterbach for the 26 audit,
[2:02:52] with an option for FY 27.
[2:02:54] They're very familiar with the city.
[2:02:56] We've had a good working relationship.
[2:02:58] We want to capitalize on the momentum.
[2:03:01] So for FY26, the base cost for the city audit is 54,600.
[2:03:07] When you add in the additional reports for the library audit
[2:03:10] single audit by tiff reports, the total
[2:03:12] cost is 74,775 for FY 27.
[2:03:17] The base audit is 56,300.
[2:03:20] When you add in all those other reports, it's 77,000.
[2:03:23] And then once we get to that point, what I'd like to do
[2:03:26] is to go out for an RFP.
[2:03:28] Again, lauterbach's great firm, what have you.
[2:03:30] I think it would be a good opportunity.
[2:03:32] I'd be looking probably for a six year engagement with a three
[2:03:35] year partner rotation to get a fresh set of eyes
[2:03:37] so you can get an economy of scale with the firm.
[2:03:40] But then it's good to have a different vantage point.
[2:03:44] So again, in a nutshell, finish getting caught up
[2:03:48] with the audits, get back on to normal audit schedule
[2:03:51] and then competitively bid the work.
[2:03:53] Wonderful wonderful news.
[2:03:57] And you are scheduling budgeting for us.
[2:04:00] Perfect thank you so much.
[2:04:02] Any questions.
[2:04:03] Yes thank you.
[2:04:04] Any questions for Mr. dabrowski?
[2:04:09] Oh, yes.
[2:04:11] Eric, if we would say go out for RFP and go with somebody new,
[2:04:18] what's the lag time in a new firm getting used to us
[2:04:22] and learning about our system and vice versa.
[2:04:25] Being a first year audit takes a little bit more time.
[2:04:30] By that time, and a lot of credit goes to my team.
[2:04:34] They're really stepping up.
[2:04:35] They're learning what have you I think they're getting so used
[2:04:38] to our audits that it'll help.
[2:04:41] But there is probably takes a couple months
[2:04:45] longer in that process.
[2:04:46] But in a normal audit process, we would still be on time.
[2:04:52] I think it would be closer to an October finish
[2:04:57] than we would on a September finish,
[2:05:00] where I usually like to be on an audit.
[2:05:02] I was just wondering, because if we would get to that position,
[2:05:04] we have to balance somebody that's had us for seven years
[2:05:08] and knows all about US, compared to somebody that's brand new
[2:05:11] and has to learn us, which is that's part of their process
[2:05:14] too.
[2:05:15] I understand, I just wondered if it would slow things down.
[2:05:18] It does, but not now.
[2:05:21] And it'd be nice to keep the positivity going.
[2:05:25] At one potential option with the RFP process,
[2:05:28] again, doesn't preclude is if Lutterbach did
[2:05:30] want to go and bid with different partners
[2:05:33] and different things like that.
[2:05:34] I mean, I think that they're welcome to do
[2:05:36] that as well, as long as there's a fresh set of eyes.
[2:05:39] So there is something to be said.
[2:05:41] That's an economy of scale with that.
[2:05:43] But again, it's good to have all those different bids.
[2:05:46] And I think part of this is the strength of the team
[2:05:50] and getting familiar with the audit process that we have here,
[2:05:54] that speaks volumes.
[2:05:57] There will be a learning curve for any firm that
[2:06:00] comes into the situation, but it's also
[2:06:03] an industry standard industry norm if you have the staff that
[2:06:07] are ready for it and if you are and I
[2:06:10] guess this is the key to why we've been moving quickly.
[2:06:14] It has to do with organization.
[2:06:16] The better organized you have your files,
[2:06:19] and you have your paperwork.
[2:06:21] And you have your schedules and they tie out,
[2:06:23] the easier it becomes.
[2:06:24] So our staff has been doing a really good
[2:06:26] job of keeping things in line.
[2:06:29] And kudos to our city clerk.
[2:06:32] A lot of the different resolutions and ordinances
[2:06:37] and other type of things.
[2:06:38] The easier it is, the easier it is for us,
[2:06:40] the easier it is for them.
[2:06:41] And that will help expedite audits.
[2:06:44] Thank you.
[2:06:46] Any other questions.
[2:06:49] Any other questions.
[2:06:54] Seeing none.
[2:06:55] Council take your vote, please.
[2:07:03] Motion passes 7 0.
[2:07:07] Chair would now entertain a motion for 9.2, please.
[2:07:13] You get to talk again.
[2:07:14] You get to talk again.
[2:07:16] I'm sorry.
[2:07:19] Oh, Madam Mayor, I move that we adopt resolution number 4752627.
[2:07:26] Emergency operations center technology
[2:07:28] lifecycle replacement.
[2:07:32] Second Motion made by MS Phillips
[2:07:34] and second by MS hohimer.
[2:07:37] I don't think your speaker is working too well tonight.
[2:07:39] Yeah Mr. Darcy.
[2:07:41] Once again, thank you.
[2:07:43] Mayor this is highly involved.
[2:07:47] Dave Hess can speak on this.
[2:07:49] If there's any council questions on this,
[2:07:51] or I don't know how much chief Rainey might have,
[2:07:53] but this is the planned replacement
[2:07:58] of technology within the EOC emergency operations center.
[2:08:04] Life cycle replacement.
[2:08:08] Dave went through and explained very detailed what
[2:08:12] that all will involve.
[2:08:14] If there's questions, I'll pass those to Dave
[2:08:17] as the IT expert or chief Rainey,
[2:08:19] as far as how the operation center works.
[2:08:25] Council have any questions.
[2:08:30] Seeing none.
[2:08:31] Council take your vote, please.
[2:08:40] Motion passes 7 0.
[2:08:45] Chair will now entertain a motion for 9.3, please.
[2:08:48] Madam Mayor, I move that resolution number 476 2627
[2:08:54] authority to award 2026 general maintenance mill and overlay
[2:08:59] be approved.
[2:09:00] Second Motion made by MS hohimer and second by Mr. Abele.
[2:09:07] Once again, Mr. Darcy.
[2:09:08] Thank you.
[2:09:09] Mayor this resolution authorizes myself as the city manager,
[2:09:13] to sign acceptance and award the 2026 MFT
[2:09:16] general maintenance mill and overlay
[2:09:18] contract to the lowest bidder.
[2:09:21] Justin Reese, our city engineer, is available for questions
[2:09:25] on this.
[2:09:26] I believe councilman Nutter may have had a question on that,
[2:09:29] from what I understood from earlier today,
[2:09:31] and I think we're prepared to answer that for you.
[2:09:33] Any questions from council.
[2:09:40] Yes, please Mr. Reese, good to seeing you this evening.
[2:09:45] As usual.
[2:09:46] So what is the project.
[2:09:50] Because on the original there were two different mill
[2:09:52] and overlay projects.
[2:09:54] Is it both of them.
[2:09:55] One of them.
[2:09:56] Or did it change.
[2:09:57] Explain that first.
[2:09:59] Yeah it's two 2 million overlays.
[2:10:01] Two small sections of road.
[2:10:02] It's West Shaw between the terminus of our court
[2:10:06] Street project and 18th Street.
[2:10:09] So that block there and then at Somerset and Second Street,
[2:10:13] it's kind of an unusual shape there where
[2:10:16] those two roads come together.
[2:10:18] OK thank you for that clarification.
[2:10:22] So in a previous meeting, we allocated
[2:10:26] or approved the chip seal project and that project
[2:10:30] was 1.4 million.
[2:10:33] And that's the total amount that's in the budget
[2:10:35] under the motor fuel tax.
[2:10:37] So can you explain where this additional money is coming from.
[2:10:41] Yes this is governed by I dot.
[2:10:45] So you have to award general maintenance
[2:10:49] a GM program every year.
[2:10:51] And so what was approved by council was about $2.11 million
[2:10:57] of potential spend that you could
[2:10:59] which included the chip seal project, which as you mentioned,
[2:11:02] was awarded for about 1.35.
[2:11:05] And then the other piece of that,
[2:11:08] the other construction piece of that was the mill
[2:11:10] and overlay that we were asked, we estimated
[2:11:12] at just under 220,000.
[2:11:15] But IDOT actually lets you go up to 10% over.
[2:11:18] So the original estimate was for let me get this number.
[2:11:22] Yeah 2.115 and change million.
[2:11:26] And then the resolution you passed was for about 10%
[2:11:30] over that, which gave you every piece of that going 10% over,
[2:11:34] which is what IDOT allows without further without having
[2:11:37] to modify the estimate.
[2:11:39] So the 10% overage was on the original 2.1
[2:11:43] or whatever it was that we approved.
[2:11:46] Correct the resolution you passed at that point
[2:11:49] authorized approximately to 10% over the 2.1 million.
[2:11:54] All right.
[2:11:55] And so the general maintenance included.
[2:11:57] So those two construction projects,
[2:11:59] we also got it approved.
[2:12:01] If you did, the city so decides to buy your salt out of there,
[2:12:05] because we knew that there would be potential challenges with
[2:12:08] getting bids this year on the salt. So about 240,000 I
[2:12:14] think we put in there for that.
[2:12:15] And then also there was the potential
[2:12:18] to buy some stockpile materials and also
[2:12:22] to pay the electricity, which are all MFT eligible expenses.
[2:12:25] If we don't put them on the estimate,
[2:12:27] we're not allowed to use them.
[2:12:29] So this is something I think will work better, as we've
[2:12:31] discussed as we move to a fiscal year
[2:12:34] from to a calendar year, MFT from the fiscal year.
[2:12:40] So we could be setting this up at the same time that we're
[2:12:43] doing budgets versus the City budget
[2:12:46] happening and the MFT happening in a different timeline.
[2:12:49] So hopefully this is the last year that there's
[2:12:52] misalignment between those.
[2:12:54] And it's just because of historically how
[2:12:55] the city has done MFT program.
[2:12:58] I'm glad you're taking that into consideration, because it's
[2:13:01] going to help all of us in the long run, budget wise,
[2:13:05] going to IDOT, and we won't have this hopefully dragged later
[2:13:10] in the year, so to speak, so to get the work
[2:13:13] done earlier if possible.
[2:13:16] And part of the request tonight if council so
[2:13:19] wishes to give the authority to sign this contract if we get
[2:13:24] an acceptable bid is to get us that couple of weeks
[2:13:27] between the next meeting.
[2:13:28] So this can go to IDOT, it will probably
[2:13:30] be there for three, four or five weeks for their final approval.
[2:13:34] So we're just trying to get rid of those a couple of weeks
[2:13:37] that we would lose so we can get it to get approval because we
[2:13:41] have to have this work done.
[2:13:42] So we can close this year's MFT before we can make that change
[2:13:47] over and how we do the MFT.
[2:13:49] Very good, MS homer.
[2:13:52] Justin, again, what are the streets that we're going to do.
[2:13:57] So it's Somerset and second where
[2:13:58] they come together at a point kind of on the Northwest
[2:14:00] side of town.
[2:14:01] There's some pretty severe edge cracking.
[2:14:05] It's an irregular shape that we're doing,
[2:14:07] but we're just trying to that pavement is beyond the point
[2:14:10] that it could just be maintained.
[2:14:11] We need to mill it out and put some fill in there.
[2:14:14] It's just a pavement preservation project.
[2:14:17] And then the other one is West Shaw
[2:14:19] from where we go around the radius returns for the court
[2:14:22] Street Project.
[2:14:23] So where that project ends and to 18th Street,
[2:14:26] which is kind of an odd shaped little road, OK.
[2:14:30] It's kind of a sweeping up to 18th Street.
[2:14:33] Yeah, exactly.
[2:14:34] So you're going to do 18th Street or.
[2:14:35] No, just West shore and then stop at the radiuses.
[2:14:40] And you're not West Shaw Drive.
[2:14:43] That goes back.
[2:14:45] No, just the piece between 18th and court street.
[2:14:49] OK yes.
[2:14:50] Oh, yeah.
[2:14:51] And that was all part of the decision optimization technology
[2:14:54] software that we used.
[2:14:55] We gave it a budget and tried to find where
[2:14:59] to best put that money in.
[2:15:00] Now, obviously we knew that costs were
[2:15:02] going to be higher this year.
[2:15:04] So while we targeted 1.4 million when we actually
[2:15:06] did the estimates, we had started
[2:15:08] seeing some bid prices come in.
[2:15:10] So that's why we did inflate them.
[2:15:12] And we were very close on the chip seal.
[2:15:15] Based on some other projects I've bid this year,
[2:15:17] I imagine we'll be close on the million overlay as well.
[2:15:20] OK thank you.
[2:15:22] Yep Any other questions.
[2:15:25] I do, Mr. hills.
[2:15:27] So I know Simon's not in attendance tonight,
[2:15:31] but I've had some discussions with him
[2:15:33] about this particular mill and overlay.
[2:15:36] I was told maybe just guessing off the top of my head,
[2:15:40] maybe about a month and a half ago,
[2:15:43] that Somerset project down there on this mill and overlay
[2:15:47] had been removed.
[2:15:49] And we weren't going to do that.
[2:15:51] You know anything about that or was that removed
[2:15:54] and put back on or.
[2:15:55] I'm not sure what you're referencing.
[2:15:57] What was approved by IDOT does include both the projects.
[2:16:00] And the other one you're talking about on West
[2:16:04] Shaw there from court to 18th.
[2:16:09] And this isn't I'm not throwing any darts at anybody on this.
[2:16:12] This is my own opinion, because I drove around
[2:16:14] on a lot of these streets that was on that original map we got
[2:16:17] several months ago for the chip seals and for these mill
[2:16:20] and overlays.
[2:16:22] I don't feel in my own opinion that road is in bad shape
[2:16:25] to be milled and overlaid.
[2:16:27] I think that's a waste of money.
[2:16:29] 200 and almost a quarter million dollars.
[2:16:31] And we're going to overlay a road that probably would have
[2:16:35] been a better qualified road for a chip
[2:16:37] seal on some of the other ones I drove around with.
[2:16:39] So just me personally, I don't agree with this because I and I
[2:16:43] know you guys got your software stuff you go by
[2:16:46] and how they rate them streets and whatnot,
[2:16:48] but you take a drive down that road.
[2:16:51] I just do not see where that needs milling overlaid.
[2:16:54] We've got a lot worse streets around town than that one,
[2:16:57] and I just don't support it.
[2:17:00] But that's just my opinion.
[2:17:03] Any other council, Mr. Abel.
[2:17:07] Does this also include the 1,400 block Park Avenue to court.
[2:17:14] No that was awarded as a change order
[2:17:16] on the court Street Project.
[2:17:17] So that is being completed, but it's not
[2:17:19] being completed with MFT funds.
[2:17:21] Correct give Abel his mic spike back to late.
[2:17:30] Without any other questions.
[2:17:31] Council, take your vote, please.
[2:17:41] Motion passes 6' 1.
[2:17:45] Chair will now entertain a motion for 9.4, please.
[2:17:49] Madam Mayor, I move that resolution number 477 2627.
[2:17:55] Authorizing repair of the traffic
[2:17:58] signal light at court street and stadium drive be approved.
[2:18:03] Second Motion passes by MS hohimer and second
[2:18:06] by MS Phillips Mr. Darcy.
[2:18:11] Thank you.
[2:18:11] Mayor this is the traffic light right there at the high school.
[2:18:17] As most of you will recall, there was a lightning strike
[2:18:20] that impacted a lot of I think how the signals process
[2:18:26] and they work and they finally identified
[2:18:28] all the equipment issues and what needs to be done.
[2:18:31] We're also working through some of the processes with insurance
[2:18:35] on this as we move forward.
[2:18:38] Total cost is 26,500 to repair this signal.
[2:18:42] Our biggest concern is now that school's back in session.
[2:18:46] The walk signal is not operating correctly.
[2:18:49] This is going to address that issue.
[2:18:51] First and foremost.
[2:18:54] But approval tonight we can give them to go
[2:18:57] ahead to get going on that.
[2:18:59] And we're going to continue working with the insurance
[2:19:01] process on that.
[2:19:03] So there's going to be some probably
[2:19:05] budget amendments or changes that will
[2:19:08] be coming down the road here.
[2:19:09] Justin could speak a little bit more
[2:19:11] as far as how the technology works and talks to each other up
[2:19:14] and down court street, but that's been a lot of the issues
[2:19:16] there.
[2:19:17] I think as much as we've discussed it publicly,
[2:19:19] I think a lot of people just are missing that lightning strike
[2:19:24] committed or caused a lot of havoc
[2:19:25] with how the signals are operating
[2:19:27] up and down court street.
[2:19:29] It did.
[2:19:29] And, I appreciate that the work can go on.
[2:19:34] Instead of waiting for all the insurance to finalize.
[2:19:37] So thank you.
[2:19:38] Anybody have questions for Mr. Reese.
[2:19:43] I got one that I was asked to bring up since this
[2:19:45] is on the agenda tonight.
[2:19:47] Is there a problem with the stoplight or the signal cycling
[2:19:52] at eighth and Broadway and Margaret and Broadway
[2:19:58] that you're aware of.
[2:19:59] And if not, would you check into it, please.
[2:20:02] Because it's got traffic backed up
[2:20:04] and it seems like those lights are just not synced
[2:20:10] or they're longer.
[2:20:11] You get a school bus in there, you
[2:20:13] got cars backed up into the intersection
[2:20:16] at eighth and Broadway.
[2:20:18] So if you're not aware of it, could you take
[2:20:20] a look when you get a chance.
[2:20:22] Yeah, for sure.
[2:20:22] There's not an issue that I'm aware of.
[2:20:24] But we'll look into it.
[2:20:25] A big issue I mean, I was backed up all the way
[2:20:28] into the intersection, so I know it
[2:20:30] didn't pertain to this particular thing,
[2:20:33] but the timing is good.
[2:20:35] So if you could look into that.
[2:20:37] Thank you.
[2:20:38] What was the other one you said.
[2:20:39] Margaret Margaret and Broadway and then eighth and Broadway.
[2:20:47] So it's that strip between the two churches, two lights,
[2:20:51] and it's back in traffic up there.
[2:20:54] So it might have been a lightning strike again.
[2:20:56] Maybe so we've had some.
[2:20:58] It's been pretty rough.
[2:21:00] Yeah it has.
[2:21:00] Day and a half.
[2:21:01] Yeah thank you.
[2:21:02] Could also have something to do with court
[2:21:04] street being complicated.
[2:21:09] Hey, that's still on track, too, by the way, Merry Christmas.
[2:21:16] Council, will take your vote, please.
[2:21:25] Motion passes 7 0.
[2:21:28] Chair will now entertain a motion for 9.5, please.
[2:21:32] Madam Mayor, I move ordinance number 4432 dash 2627,
[2:21:38] amending chapter 3, Article Ii, division four of the Pekin city
[2:21:43] code to clarify wastewater charges and general provisions
[2:21:48] be approved.
[2:21:49] Second Motion made by Mr. Fletcher
[2:21:52] and second by Mr. Abel Mr. Dorsey.
[2:21:55] Once again, thank you, Mayor.
[2:21:57] This was brought up by council regarding some of the wastewater
[2:22:01] and just some clarification on the language in the ordinance.
[2:22:05] I think staff was able to address
[2:22:08] the issues exactly how we're doing it to try to clarify that.
[2:22:13] And we tried to break it down in the simplest of terms.
[2:22:16] So I think we've accomplished that.
[2:22:17] At least I hope we have.
[2:22:19] Any questions from council.
[2:22:23] Council take your vote, please.
[2:22:31] Motion passes 7 0.
[2:22:34] We have now come down to any other business
[2:22:36] to New or any other business.
[2:22:39] Come before the council Mr. Darcy.
[2:22:41] Staff thank you.
[2:22:43] Mayor we kind of picked on your Chiefs tonight, so.
[2:22:45] Yeah, he.
[2:22:46] He's done.
[2:22:50] Just a couple things.
[2:22:51] We're going to have a street closure this Friday.
[2:22:55] Court street between eighth and 10th
[2:22:56] will be completely shut down.
[2:22:59] I had a lot of conversation with Justin.
[2:23:01] We feel it's probably safer for the construction workers.
[2:23:06] And it's going to be safer for the people for that one day,
[2:23:11] for them to be able to get in there and try to get it all done
[2:23:14] all at once, but between eighth and 10th
[2:23:16] it'll be closed this Friday.
[2:23:19] Pretty much through the business hours while they get in there
[2:23:22] and do their work.
[2:23:23] Thank you for the heads up.
[2:23:25] Downtown concert on the 29th.
[2:23:28] Reverend red will be this Saturday.
[2:23:30] Just a reminder to everybody.
[2:23:32] September 4, the riverfront circus that I
[2:23:36] hope I'm pronouncing it right.
[2:23:37] Flotsam 6:30 PM.
[2:23:40] And they're looking for 6 to eight volunteers.
[2:23:42] If anybody in the community wants to help them out with some
[2:23:45] of the things they need done September 9 taste of Pekin,
[2:23:51] which will be held downtown September 12,
[2:23:54] will be the Marigold parade September 10 through the 12th.
[2:23:59] The fire department is going to be doing the fill the boot
[2:24:02] for muscular dystrophy.
[2:24:03] Nice and Josh and I talked.
[2:24:07] We both have heard a couple rumors
[2:24:09] circulating around town about the bowling alley, I believe.
[2:24:14] Sunset lanes not opening because the city has an ordinance.
[2:24:18] If you're not making a profit, that the city
[2:24:20] can close you down.
[2:24:21] That is not true.
[2:24:23] Just want to get ahead of that.
[2:24:25] The city did not close them down because they don't make profit.
[2:24:29] Business survival of the fittest.
[2:24:32] I mean, business runs their own business.
[2:24:35] We do not get involved in any of that.
[2:24:37] So I just want to make sure we clarify that rumor
[2:24:40] that is not accurate.
[2:24:41] All right.
[2:24:42] Thank you.
[2:24:42] That's all we have from staff, Mr. hilst.
[2:24:47] Nothing thank you, Mr. Nutter.
[2:24:50] John Stole all my thunder.
[2:24:52] But I do have a question for the street closure.
[2:24:54] Are you going to publish it out on social media and everything.
[2:24:58] Also on the government website or the government post.
[2:25:02] We'll put it out on social media.
[2:25:03] Thank you.
[2:25:04] That's it MS Phillips.
[2:25:08] Oh, you want to.
[2:25:09] You want to wait Mr. Fletcher.
[2:25:11] Nothing thank you Mr. Abel, I've been asked by a lot of people.
[2:25:15] Well, a lot of the cones disappear from Marigold.
[2:25:19] Will they have enough to get traffic somewhat back to normal.
[2:25:24] Just normal.
[2:25:27] Well that's true.
[2:25:28] Yeah you're right.
[2:25:31] I imagine they're going to have to have some out there
[2:25:33] still for safety, but I'll let Justin answer that if he knows.
[2:25:37] So there.
[2:25:38] The goal is for 14th to have the overhead mast
[2:25:41] lights back up and flashing.
[2:25:43] Just that's we're on track for that.
[2:25:46] The sidewalk should all be completed, which will allow us
[2:25:49] to pull back some give a little bit of additional lane width,
[2:25:55] but the mill and overlay won't be completed yet, so.
[2:25:59] Yeah, I noticed there's been a few Saturday working too.
[2:26:02] So So we have biweekly meetings on this
[2:26:07] and it's been discussed since like June.
[2:26:10] How that would fall with the schedule.
[2:26:12] And so I think Audubon should complete most of their work
[2:26:18] the week ahead of the Marigold.
[2:26:20] And then we're going to try to accommodate as much foot traffic
[2:26:24] as we can through that intersection
[2:26:26] should be a little better than last year, actually.
[2:26:29] Thank you.
[2:26:30] Yep miss hofheimer.
[2:26:32] I have nothing tonight.
[2:26:33] Well, I'm going to tell you this.
[2:26:35] I'm not going to say anything because it's waiting
[2:26:38] between me and a late dinner.
[2:26:39] So Chair would entertain a motion to adjourn.
[2:26:43] Oh, peg.
[2:26:44] I'm sorry.
[2:26:45] I guess I'm my dinner is going to wait.
[2:26:49] Oh, Mary, I'm so sorry.
[2:26:53] I want to briefly address some of the things
[2:26:58] that Mr. Greer brought up.
[2:27:00] Oh, sure.
[2:27:01] I was not on the council previously,
[2:27:06] I happened to notice.
[2:27:08] On my YouTube alerts that the city of Pekin had posted
[2:27:12] a video of a meeting.
[2:27:14] And so I thought, hey, I should watch that hearing.
[2:27:17] And that's what I actually did with part of my weekend
[2:27:21] was watch the roughly two hour hearing.
[2:27:25] And I will say that for anyone else who casually watched it,
[2:27:33] it was confusing for someone who doesn't
[2:27:36] understand procedure and law.
[2:27:39] And it took me a little bit to catch on to what was going on.
[2:27:44] And I don't think it was ever clear to people
[2:27:48] who don't know how these things work, what happened.
[2:27:52] So I'm going to try to give you a really brief, two
[2:27:56] minute summary of what this happened
[2:28:01] with the electoral board meeting.
[2:28:05] The case that was brought, Mr. Geer went in
[2:28:11] and he turned in his petition to have the question
[2:28:18] on the next ballot.
[2:28:20] And after he turned in his petition,
[2:28:25] I believe Mr. Newman and somebody else
[2:28:31] reviewed the petition and said there's legal problems
[2:28:35] with this petition.
[2:28:37] Now, was Mr. Newman, wasn't it.
[2:28:40] Yes and Baker and Newman, thank you.
[2:28:45] I tried to look it up, but I lost the pause
[2:28:47] button on the YouTube video.
[2:28:50] Those citizens filed a complaint, basically
[2:28:57] an objection that the laws weren't followed
[2:29:02] with the application to put it on the ballot
[2:29:06] that their side was not our side.
[2:29:10] It wasn't the electoral board side,
[2:29:12] it was Baker Newman's side.
[2:29:15] So Baker Newman and their counsel,
[2:29:19] they went through the petition and they
[2:29:22] found four areas of concern.
[2:29:25] Three of the areas were very on the face technical areas.
[2:29:30] And the fourth had to do with maybe some questions
[2:29:33] about signatures.
[2:29:36] I won't go into all the tech, but the big tech was apparently
[2:29:41] under Illinois law, a question to accomplish what they wanted
[2:29:46] to accomplish had to be worded exactly like was
[2:29:51] laid out in the law, and that petition
[2:29:55] did not have that wording.
[2:29:58] And Mr. Greer offered to change the wording for it
[2:30:04] to be on the ballot.
[2:30:06] And even if the electoral board wanted
[2:30:09] to accommodate that can't change the wording after people
[2:30:13] sign the petition.
[2:30:14] As I stated that, I just wanted to reiterate that it's
[2:30:20] because you go out and you give the people the paper
[2:30:22] and you say, do you want this on the ballot.
[2:30:25] And they go, yes, that's the question I want on the ballot.
[2:30:28] There's no take backs.
[2:30:29] Once they've signed that one because and the two other tech
[2:30:35] issues, the binding whatever, but because that one
[2:30:40] is on its face, clearly not true.
[2:30:45] It doesn't meet the statutory requirement.
[2:30:48] It really didn't matter what the parties had brought up
[2:30:53] about the signatures and the pages
[2:30:56] in the binding and all of that.
[2:30:59] So the hearing never even talked about the signatures,
[2:31:03] because they'd already determined
[2:31:05] that based on the law, the question could not be
[2:31:08] placed on this upcoming ballot.
[2:31:11] Any other details whatnot on that.
[2:31:17] The Mr. Greer does have an opportunity.
[2:31:22] If he believes that the board made
[2:31:24] an incorrect legal decision, he can appeal the law to.
[2:31:31] I'm not exactly sure.
[2:31:33] I'm sure a lawyer knows they can file an appeal
[2:31:37] and say we shouldn't be held to that law
[2:31:40] or that law was misinterpreted.
[2:31:43] That's certainly up to the courts.
[2:31:46] But I just felt like, sorry, I took three minutes.
[2:31:50] I felt like some people out there might not
[2:31:53] want to go through all that.
[2:31:54] And even if they went all through the hearing,
[2:31:57] a lot of that was a lot of legal stuff that kind of went, hi.
[2:32:00] And I hope that my bullet points summed it up for people.
[2:32:03] Thank you.
[2:32:04] Thank you.
[2:32:05] Chair will now entertain a motion for adjournment.
[2:32:09] Madam Mayor, I move that we adjourn.
[2:32:11] Second Motion made by.
[2:32:13] Motion made by Mr. Fletcher and seconded by Mr. Abel.
[2:32:21] Council, take your vote.
[2:32:27] I signed out.
[2:32:28] Did you.
[2:32:33] And maybe.
[2:32:33] Motion motion passes 6 minus 0.
[2:32:36] But Karen signed out.
[2:32:39] Good night, everyone.