[0:02] Okay, we're going to call our regular
council meeting to order. Monday,
[0:07] January 5th, 2026, 5:00 pm.
>> Uh request to turn your cell phones off
[0:13] or silence them. Roll call, please.
>> Here,
[0:17] » here. Morris
>> here.
[0:19] » Here
>> stand and say the pledge of allegiance,
[0:23] please. I pledge allegiance to the flag
of the United States of America and to
[0:29] the republic for which it stands. One
nation under God, indivisible, with
[0:36] liberty and justice for all.
>> Remain standing.
[0:39] » Dan,
[0:44] if I haven't met you, I'm Pastor Dan
Herman. I'm a chaplain here, I guess,
[0:48] since eight years perhaps too. So, uh,
we want to bow your heads and hearts.
[0:53] So good and gracious God, you've given
to us another day of life and we've used
[0:56] it the way we've wanted. But we ask that
in uh throughout the hours of this day,
[1:01] we have been able to look and see your
face and understand your presence and
[1:05] we've been able to share that same
presence and same grace with the Lord
[1:09] around us. We have special business
tonight with the swearing name of a new
[1:13] chief. We ask you to bless him in all of
his endeavors that you may bless the
[1:17] hard work and good work of the fire
department, police department, and all
[1:21] of our services here in South Floyd.
Watch over us and guide us in our
[1:25] conversations and in our lives. Amen.
Amen.
[1:30] » Okay, we got a full agenda. Get a
motion.
[1:39] » All in favor?
>> Okay, public comment. You got public
[1:43] comment. Just please stand, give your
name, raise your hand.
[1:50] No comments. Okay. Okay. Moving on. Uh,
um, I'm going to got a couple things to
[1:58] say here. Uh, it's moreformational than
anything. 2025 was a very good year for
[2:06] South, city of South. Uh, couple bumps
in the road, but no roadblocks.
[2:13] Well, completion of the garden hotel and
including the ownership, we took over
[2:18] ownership of it. The Besley building is
going down and we've we've uh partnered
[2:24] with BL 200 to generate a feasibility
study for the Garden Hotel in that area.
[2:30] The city approved the first strategic
plan, a capital improvement project,
[2:36] lift station number one, that'll be over
on South Bluff. We're working on that.
[2:41] We got the plan for it. We partnered
with the Illinois Fire Chief Association
[2:45] to get a sta fire staffing study which
come back and uh which ended up with the
[2:52] fire chief association search which we
ended up finding our chief. We'll
[2:58] discuss that later. Um police pension
right now is at 81.81%.
[3:06] fire pension actually is at over 100%.
So we're doing great on that transition
[3:13] for the new financial system. Uh we use
Tyler Technologies, the new new has
[3:20] helped us out with u almost every facet
of our record keeping and everything
[3:25] else. Our many facility improvements,
Donner Drive, the parking lot, we
[3:31] expanded that parking lot down there.
police department had many uh grants,
[3:36] the $43,000 worth of grants. Uh Adam
secured for us and the fire department
[3:43] had another thousand. Partnered with
Craftsman of Character, which is a
[3:48] summer staff where young people come
here and work during the summer and we
[3:53] get their get the idea of how to run
city staffing. in that RBI funds
[3:59] expanded Manchester Road project that's
out there by the new Quick Drip uh
[4:04] Quickstar employment cleanup uh cleanup
uh efforts continue and take strides. We
[4:10] took three fuel tanks out of uh property
on Sherland and two leaking fuel tanks
[4:16] out of uh property down here on
Blackhawk. Massive undertaking of
[4:21] documents destruction retention. That's
we had hundreds of boxes of documents
[4:25] that were all paper went in and our
staff took them and put them put them
[4:30] all on file now with uh um what is it
digital and filing
[4:37] and um we got an IGA with Rockton Fire
District for use of repeat frequency of
[4:44] improved dispatching services. We had
new three new uh businesses open up.
[4:50] Ross Robertson, we declared him a day
and u right now in Northern Michigan, I
[4:55] guess they're on a 12game winning streak
right now. So, they're doing really
[4:59] well. New construction, Manchester
Trails, 19 single families, the duplex
[5:04] and multifamily.
Uh Yellowstone, 13 single families and
[5:09] four commercial buildings. We annexed
Jack Tire and Buff City which is next to
[5:14] it and and uh code enforcement
consistency quality and mun municipal
[5:20] code enforcement. We uh we hired a firm
out of that takes care of that now where
[5:26] we went through seven or eight different
uh code enforcement officers in a matter
[5:30] of six years. Um we addition we had some
two murals put up. One over here
[5:38] building next to us and then down at the
confluence center and uh street sweeper
[5:43] was one of our larger uh purchases which
uh 400,000 we paid for that and it's
[5:50] brand new and we with our additional 1%
sales tax will put us over a million
[5:57] dollars we'll have add that with our uh
MFT funds and we'll have 1.4 4 million
[6:03] to put into the roads this year. And
none of this would be possible without
[6:08] our staff and uh department heads
and and people on the boards and that
[6:16] and like Don Don's been our financial
man for long as I've been here and a
[6:22] farmer who knows how to take care of the
dollar really well. And u Shauna, she's
[6:28] worked two or three different jobs here.
I don't know what job you're working
[6:31] today, but um she uh not only that being
in code, but she's also takes care of uh
[6:38] our development and and been the star in
court for many times uh representing
[6:44] South Polo. Um, and Jeff, which Jeff is
not here right now, but he's another
[6:50] farmer that takes care of the dollar,
and he's uh taking care of our $36
[6:54] million sewage plant. And
>> state wastewater operator of the year,
[7:00] » was he? I did not know that. Oh, yeah.
Wish brought that up. Okay, thank you.
[7:07] Um,
Jeff, uh, and Steve is not here. He's
[7:11] sick tonight, too. Steve uh
he's done many things since he's got
[7:16] here. He started many projects. He's
been able to fix and repair almost
[7:21] everything that's been busted or or
wears out. Plus, he put in new CDL. He
[7:26] took over that. He he runs his own he
gives his own CDL license out which is
[7:32] saves thousands of dollars when they
come to all the boards there. and
[7:37] Brandon, which is with Fair Graham. They
come here and they uh we got him here a
[7:43] couple days a week. Well, we not now,
but we we got your what? Derek.
[7:48] » Derek.
>> Yep.
[7:49] » Yeah, he's here now. But, uh been with
us doing that. Chief, you'll get your
[7:55] chance, too. with uh Adam. Adam is uh
he's worked with uh short staff for for
[8:03] almost a full year with people being in
uh on deployment and plus uh we have new
[8:10] officers and u doing an excellent job.
Tracy as usual, she's been the rock has
[8:17] always been here forever.
Jennifer's always been helping us up
[8:21] there and doing doing real well. sat
right come right into that job and sat
[8:26] right down and doing a great job. Sonia,
which uh is irreplaceable. I think South
[8:35] has been very lucky to ever hire her
because uh brought all this together and
[8:41] we have been nothing but growing since
that time and I appreciate all that and
[8:46] and our attorneys and their staff. You
guys have helped us out. But none of
[8:51] this, like I say, would be possible
without everybody working together as a
[8:56] team. And we had a very good 2025.
And um we look forward to 2026 and the
[9:03] council to uh Courtney and Kenny, Brian,
and Brian. We uh made some tough
[9:11] decisions this year, and we probably
have another year of it before we're
[9:16] done. But uh I'd like to thank everybody
for that. And uh moving on.
[9:24] All right. Uh we get approve of the
minutes of uh we get a motion for
[9:29] approval of the minutes for uh December
15, 2025 and approval of the minutes for
[9:34] the public hearing held on December 15,
2025. Get a motion, please.
[9:39] » Motion second.
>> All in favor? I
[9:43] » uh port of officers finance for play of
the claims from December 13, 2025 to
[9:49] January 2nd, 2026 for the Mono
>> $563,251
[9:55] 97. Motion
>> second.
[9:59] » Tracy, please.
>> Yes.
[10:02] » Mr. H.
>> Yes.
[10:03] » Commissioner Morris.
>> Yes.
[10:04] » Mr.
>> Yes.
[10:06] » Mayor Fitzgerald.
>> Yes. Attorney's report.
[10:08] » None tonight.
I forgot to mention I just sorry sorry
[10:13] about this about the people on our
boards that work you know like uh police
[10:17] and fire board and our u and our uh
zoning board and our park board. the
[10:23] people that they don't get paid for
anything to be there and they put in
[10:26] many hours and they and they they are
the backbone on a lot of stuff that goes
[10:32] on around here and I failed to mention
them and I'm sorry about that but um
[10:38] okay no no return report.
>> No.
[10:41] » Okay, Sonia, what do you got?
>> Yeah, mayor. Um it's hard to hard to top
[10:46] all of the accomplishments and the
thanks for the staff, but I'll just
[10:49] second that. Uh it has been a really
good year. Uh we're really grateful both
[10:53] ways. Um you know, the five of you
continue to allow our staff to grow and
[10:57] and do any training that we feel is
beneficial for our city. So um
[11:02] appreciate both ends of the spectrum
here. It's been been an honor and a
[11:05] privilege. I think everyone would agree.
Um and then we'll just get right into uh
[11:11] you'll present Rob, but I I do want to
say that these boards, these volunteer
[11:14] boards are often thankless. A lot of
times people don't even know they exist.
[11:18] Um Rob has has helped the city in a lot
of different ways. Wherever there was a
[11:22] gap, he has always kind of filled that
in. Uh so we certainly appreciate that
[11:25] and and we want to do a better job of
thanking people who volunteer to serve
[11:29] on these boards. So it is our pleasure
tonight to thank Rob. And I'll let you
[11:33] take it from there, mayor, but got a
couple things up there.
[11:35] » Okay, Rob, I know you've been on this
board for police and fire board since I
[11:40] believe what is it July of 2021.
Um please come up. I want to
[11:51] It's been a
>> pleasure
[12:08] in recognition of your dedicated service
to the city of South Board of Fire and
[12:12] Police Commission. Thank you.
>> Thank you, sir.
[12:15] » THANK YOU VERY MUCH.
[12:37] WE DO WE really and we do appreciate it,
Rob.
[12:48] Okay, now new business. Uh, or not
court, uh, new business. Yeah, it is new
[12:55] business, I guess. Swearing in of our
new chief of fire department, Scott
[13:00] Fiser.
Uh, would you present Scott? Would you
[13:06] come up, please, Scott?
[13:11] Casey will handle all this.
[13:19] » In the middle
[13:23] right now, repeat after me.
I, Scott Fisher,
[13:27] » I, Scott Fischer,
>> do solemnly swear
[13:29] » do solemnly swear
>> that I will support
[13:32] » that I will support
>> the Constitution of the United States
[13:34] » the Constitution of the United States
>> the Constitution of the State of
[13:38] Illinois
>> the Constitution of the State of
[13:40] Illinois
>> the Code of Ordinances
[13:42] » the Code of ordinances
>> of the city of South
[13:45] » of the city of South
>> the rules and regulations
[13:48] » the rules and regulations
>> practices and procedures
[13:51] » practices and procedures
>> of the South Boy Fire Department
[13:55] » of the South Hawaii Fire Department.
>> And that I will faithfully discharge
[13:59] » And then I will faithfully dis discharge
>> the duties of a fire chief
[14:03] » the duties of a fire chief
>> of the uh city of South
[14:08] » of the city of South Po
>> to the best of my ability.
[14:11] » to the best of my ability.
>> So help me God.
[14:13] » So help me God.
[14:24] » Welcome aboard.
[14:32] We welcome our new chief.
[14:54] All right. Thank you, Chief. Welcome
aboard
[14:59] » for many years.
Um, okay. B, discuss approve ordinance
[15:05] 2894. approving variance of the required
set rear yard setback from 30 ft down to
[15:11] 20 ft for the property commonly known as
325 Oakland Avenue, South Deote,
[15:15] Illinois, Wnebago County, pin number
0407 1227.
[15:22] Um, we got a positive recommendation
from the zoning board. Can we get a
[15:25] motion, please?
>> Second.
[15:28] » Um, all in favor, right?
[15:34] » Yes.
Yes,
[15:36] » Mr. Morris.
>> Yes,
[15:39] » yes, this was about a house that didn't
have a backyard to
[15:44] move in a garage from one side to the
other and all that, but it's uh to help
[15:48] them out. Discuss. Approve ordinance
28.95
[15:52] amended section 10 base district intent
regulation and use and chapter of 118
[16:00] 1118 zoning regarding allowance of auto
related uses of a special use in the
[16:05] commercial retail CR zoning district.
Motion please.
[16:10] » Second. This was about I asked Sean
about this because I was kind of
[16:15] confused why we're doing this, but this
was omitted in our rewrite of our code
[16:20] rewrite. They they left out commercial
residential district. So, we're putting
[16:26] that in there. So, that covers all the
all the uh filling stations and what
[16:32] have you. Okay.
Okay. Tracy, please.
[16:37] » Mr.
>> Yes.
[16:39] » Mr. Morris.
>> Yes. apprentice.
[16:41] » Yes.
>> Commissioner Alman,
[16:42] » yes. Mayor,
>> yes. Discuss approve uh resolution 66633
[16:48] awarding proposal and approving an
agreement with uh Geocon Professional
[16:53] Service LLC for soil boring among
various streets within the city of South
[16:58] Floy. Motion, please.
>> Motion second.
[17:02] » Okay. This is for our new work going to
be done, right?
[17:04] » Yeah, we can touch on you,
>> Brandon.
[17:07] » Yeah, absolutely. So, um, obviously it's
on your agenda a little bit later, but,
[17:12] uh, city staff and the council have
identified the road areas that we want
[17:16] to improve as part of the 2026
construction, uh, projects, both MFTt
[17:20] and, uh, local funding. Uh, the first
step of that is getting pavement cores
[17:25] completed so we know how much, you know,
soil, um, aggregate base and pavement
[17:30] depth that we're working with. Um, it
will also tell us the condition of
[17:33] those. Um, which will then help fair
refine our design and come back to you
[17:38] guys with very accurate cost estimates
um, based on the proposed scope, let you
[17:42] know if there's anything of concern that
we need to be thinking of. Um, but you
[17:46] know, unless we get back some poor
results, which fingers crossed we do
[17:49] not. Um, this is basically just going to
substantiate our uh, preliminary um,
[17:55] scoping that we have done for the
roadway projects. So, uh, Geocon
[17:58] Professional Services, there's a company
that Fair Graham uses, um, fairly often.
[18:03] We had the city, um, actually coordinate
getting contract contracted with them
[18:07] directly to help save some of those
costs and, uh, I believe that Geocon is
[18:11] proposing to get us the report back on
those within four weeks of
[18:14] authorization. So, should be full speed
ahead.
[18:17] » I just have one question. The the
missing metals is on there, right? We've
[18:22] already done some work. We just need to
finish that work.
[18:24] » Correct. Um why why do core samples
there? We know we already have we're
[18:30] already going to do the work.
>> Yep. So uh the reason being is uh when
[18:34] subdivisions are built there's numerous
plats and they are not constructed or
[18:39] the same way every single time. In
theory, yes, they should be. The city
[18:43] standards have always been the same. I
can tell you firsthand experience in um
[18:47] you know actually in South Bully and
Rosco. You will drive a road, there will
[18:50] be a seam in the pavement and then
that's where the next plat picked up and
[18:53] you will get two different asphalt
thicknesses in those two sections. So,
[18:58] um we did after talking with Sonia Fair
actually was proposing numerous more
[19:02] locations. After some talking, we
reviewed the old paper course from the
[19:05] other section. We said, "Okay, we can
cut this down, help save some costs a
[19:08] little bit, but this is at least the
bare minimum for us to um feel
[19:12] comfortable about the the preliminary
skill." And I'm assuming, correct me,
[19:15] but I'm assuming it helps give the
estimate a little bit more accuracy.
[19:20] » Correct.
>> 100%. Yep. And that way, we're not just
[19:22] waiting for bidding time. That way, we
will be able to refine that even before
[19:26] we start the design and tell the city,
you know, Yep. based on our our
[19:30] preliminary understanding, we're okay
here. Or if we, you know, we get paper
[19:33] cores back, we shouldn't in the Misty
Meadow subdivision, but say the downtown
[19:36] area, the Wheeler House. Um, if we come
back and we see a road that has, you
[19:40] know, 2 in of stone base, well, we might
need to actually pivot and not be able
[19:43] to just resurface that road. We might
need to start planning for
[19:46] reconstruction. And then at that point,
we can start refining the scopes of the
[19:49] intended projects and um move forward
with what you guys would like to would
[19:54] like to see.
>> If we have reconstru if there's let's
[19:56] say you have that happen, will you skip
that road this year and then come back
[20:01] and do it?
>> Probably. That is what we recommend.
[20:03] Yeah, because there would be some
actually quite a bit of additional
[20:06] design that would be required. Um, you
know, then at that point you're looking
[20:10] at all the underground, you know, storm
sewer, sanitary sewer, things like that.
[20:14] Um, so yeah, that's probably what we we
would recommend just to keep the project
[20:18] moving, be able to still fit it in the
spring.
[20:23] » You know, when the state comes through
to to update our stretch of Highway 2,
[20:28] this has been something that they've
been working on for 15 years. So, in a
[20:31] perfect world, um, have a lot of time to
to engineer, to acquire property, if
[20:36] there's a a turn lane that needs to be
adjusted, there's all these things that
[20:39] go into years and years of preparing.
And we have gotten into a bad habit of
[20:43] expecting our engineering team to turn a
project around in a year. It puts us
[20:47] under the gun, and we know that these
roads are in pretty bad shape. Um, so
[20:50] that's why we're also doing so many, can
you talk to how much it usually costs us
[20:55] to do a summer's worth of projects and
why are we doing all these projects
[20:58] right now? Um, so yeah, I I don't have
the numbers off the top of my head. I
[21:03] want to say that we're saving somewhere
in in the range of 40% by not advancing
[21:07] these pavement cores, you know, one
neighborhood by one neighborhood
[21:11] individually. Um, the city is getting a
substantial discount by doing a more
[21:15] exploratory. I think we're doing them
over in the the eighth center and rub
[21:19] area to plan for future projects as
well. Those paper cores will be good
[21:23] forever. you know, unless the city
decides to improve those roads um on
[21:27] their own, you know, that pavement
section should should stay the same. So,
[21:30] this this pavement core data that we're
getting now, we'll be able to use, you
[21:34] know, we'll be able to use that for the
design um you know, pretty much any
[21:37] time. So, if the city can decide yes,
we're going to move forward with these
[21:40] roads, we got it. If they want to say
nope, we're going to shelf that project,
[21:44] we can come back in 10 years and get
that same data and um we don't have to
[21:47] do it do it again and reinvent it.
>> So, having the 1% money for five years
[21:53] guarantees us that we're going to get to
these programs. Normally, we would only
[21:56] be able to bite off one.
>> Well, we'd only have around 400,000 to
[22:00] work with, but now we got a million
point three or four by the time we get
[22:04] all done with this. So, we should uh in
five years there should be a lot of
[22:09] roads looking pretty good. And I want to
remind people too is uh every time we
[22:15] start about talking about roads,
everybody said brings up Black Lock and
[22:18] Gardener and 251. They're not our roads.
Those are state roads. They own them. We
[22:26] patch them. That's all we do. And we
can't do nothing unless we work with
[22:32] them to even patch them. We got to get
the case for everything. So, uh I know
[22:38] uh the 1.4 million that we got to go on
our roads will not go in out here. We'll
[22:44] be driving on them just like everybody
else is until the state decides so that
[22:49] uh to step up and repave it and fix it
the way they should do. But uh it's the
[22:55] way it is.
>> I also just want to point out this I
[22:58] think at least points to me the the you
know fostering responsibility f
[23:05] responsibility fostering the money that
we've gotten from the state on this um
[23:09] on the 1% sales tax. This is showing
that we're being responsible with it and
[23:13] and have a plan in place on what we're
going to do with these roads. Um, and
[23:17] not just, you know, spend it willy-nilly
on our best friend's cousin's street or
[23:22] whatever. We have an actual plan and
putting that in place. So, I think that
[23:26] is something to be recognized as well.
>> We else
[23:32] Tracy, please.
>> Yes.
[23:39] » Yes. Discuss approve resolution 6664
approving the master service agreement
[23:44] with infosen inc. Is that right? Close
enough motion.
[23:53] » Sorry.
>> Um, who wants this?
[23:56] » I can do this one. Mayor.
>> Okay.
[23:58] » We have a 60month lease for our postage
machine and envelope stuffing machine.
[24:05] Um, this is this is only going to impact
the machine that does our folding and
[24:10] stuffing of the envelopes. We will still
have a renewal for 60 monthly for the
[24:15] postage machine, but the other machine
we are looking at removing it. Infoend
[24:19] would outsource the printing and the
stuffing and the mailing of our utility
[24:24] bills. Um, if we were using this machine
for more than one purpose outside of
[24:29] sewer utility billing, it probably would
be a good use of space. Um, but really
[24:34] it saves us about $15,000 a year by
outsourcing the printing and the
[24:38] stuffing. We had a cheat sheet in the
packet which basically kind of goes
[24:43] through each category and it shows the
difference between how much we spend and
[24:47] how much we would spend by outsourcing
it. Uh, but the postage alone is a
[24:52] significant savings. Also, the machine
jams a lot and has issues a lot. Uh,
[24:57] it's very loud. It's not a fun thing to
have going in city hall during the
[25:01] dayto-day business hours. Um, and it
would save Jennifer at least eight hours
[25:05] a month in standing at that machine,
calling a tech and having them come out.
[25:09] So, we we did about two months ago ask
Laura if she would dive into our
[25:13] agreement, make sure that we weren't
doing anything early with picky bows for
[25:16] the machine, but once that lease is up
in February, would you want to swap it
[25:20] out and start outsourcing our building
now that we have Tyler Technologies?
[25:24] This is one of those things that uh we
are capable of doing. You know, some
[25:27] people have asked, why didn't we do this
60 months ago, but the truth is that
[25:30] maybe it would have not been possible
unless we had the PDF version of the
[25:33] bills to be able to send to an outside
company. They are based in Carol Stream,
[25:39] I think, where there is a postal there's
a post office there. All of our mail, we
[25:44] bring our mail to the post office goes
to Carol Stream and that goes back out
[25:47] to our residents in South Deote, which
is kind of crazy. But in Carol Stream,
[25:50] they actually have a postal worker, a
United States postal worker at their uh
[25:55] printing and publishing warehouse. So
someone stands there, they get the tote,
[25:58] they bring it. We currently have Jeff
come from the treatment plant, pick up
[26:02] six totes of mail, carry them to the
post office. We have to get them there
[26:06] by 3:30 or that machine's done and it
messes up the postage. It's all a a
[26:11] mess. And honestly, we've been waiting
for this 60-month renewal to come up so
[26:14] we could explore other options. But I'm
just thrilled that we found one that's
[26:17] going to end up saving the city about
$50,000 a year.
[26:20] » You know, they explained to me if you
want to put a a flyer in there and that
[26:24] you can add it to it and yes,
>> it's no problem. So,
[26:28] » I did have a question.
>> Yes, I we all know that the USPS is
[26:32] somewhat unreliable at times. Um I'm
wondering, have we set up the ability
[26:37] for uh PDF or email uh sewer bills? So,
we do have lots of different ways that
[26:44] people can receive their bills and pay
their bills. They're all on the back
[26:47] side, right? Is that the best way,
Jennifer? Um, but also now we have a lot
[26:52] of companies that people own rental
properties or um in the in the mobile
[26:56] home park, one person gets the bills and
the next month somebody else gets the
[26:58] bills. If people log in, they can send
the email version of the bill to anyone
[27:02] that they want. Um, we can add a hundred
emails in there so that everyone can can
[27:07] have access to that. The other thing
that Tyler has given us permission to do
[27:10] isum or the ability to is we can set up
all these different flags in Tyler. So
[27:14] now if we ever want to send a flyer home
only to people um live inside city
[27:20] limits about open burn fine we can flag
that whatever flags exist in Tyler we
[27:25] can use those with info send to send
them out to just those people. So if we
[27:29] want to pick if we had 14 zip codes we
can pick two zip codes and send
[27:32] something only to those people. Whatever
flags exist in Tyler now for the future
[27:36] um this will give the city the option to
to make use of that technology.
[27:43] Well, Tracy, please.
>> Yes.
[27:46] » Commissioner Adman. Yes. Commissioner.
Yes.
[27:48] » Mr. Morris.
>> Yes.
[27:50] » Yes. Uh, discuss approve resolution
6665. Approving a service proposed
[27:56] agreement with Fair Graham to provide
engineering services for 2026 street
[28:01] program local funds portion. Motion,
please.
[28:06] Second,
>> Brandon.
[28:09] » Absolutely. Okay. So, um I apologize.
This the local funds for the fairground.
[28:14] Okay. So, um I'll just do an overview of
both of them and then if more questions
[28:18] come up during the MFT side of things,
um I can answer those. Uh but
[28:21] essentially in your package, you should
see a breakdown um of a spreadsheet and
[28:26] Excel document titled Southwood 2026
streets program preliminary estimates of
[28:31] cost. Um what that is is a breakdown
between our MFT project and our local
[28:37] funded um with a 1-centent sales tax
project. Um due to the split funding
[28:41] sources for this upcoming year's
project, um I do DOT specifically with
[28:46] MFT funds, we cannot incorporate local
funding into an ID dot contract. So we
[28:50] had to split split these up between two.
The fair contract that is on your agenda
[28:55] for today is for the local portion of
the project, which is basically all of
[28:58] the roads around the Wheeler House. Um
and
[29:01] » let's name them because this is fun,
right?
[29:03] » Okay, perfect. So I will go through the
list really quick. Um, we have Le
[29:06] Terrace, Himway Place, Montgomery
Street, Caswell Street, Salmon Avenue,
[29:13] Salman, I'm not sure how that's
pronounced. Salman, um, Allen Avenue,
[29:17] South Park Avenue, Wheeler Avenue,
Washington Street, and Thompson Street.
[29:23] Uh, there are also maps that you guys
will see in your packets. It is
[29:26] basically everything south of Washington
Street um right next right just north of
[29:32] the Wheeler House um excluding Eastern
Avenue. Obviously we talked about that
[29:36] project. That's one that needs to be a
full reconstruction. We're doing some
[29:39] sewer televising things like that. So
that is not included in this scope, but
[29:42] basically all of the other roads around
that area we are including um to be
[29:46] improved. It is a split. Uh again in
your maps you will see there's both red
[29:51] and blue highlights. The red highlight
is what we call a full depth
[29:54] reclamation, which is a a process where
the contractor will grind up the
[29:59] existing road, overlay it with new
asphalt, and the grindings and the
[30:02] existing materials turn into new base
material. Um the uh we're doing all of
[30:07] that in the areas we do not have curbon
gutter. Um because we are elevating or
[30:12] increasing the road profile by 2 in. If
you have curbon gutter, obviously you're
[30:16] not just going to well, you shouldn't um
lay the asphalt into the uh into the
[30:20] gutter. So, um, we are proposing that
scope on those roads that will really
[30:23] beef them up. And then on the the blue
highlighted areas, that is where we have
[30:27] curbing gutter, what we call an urban
cross-section. We are proposing a mill
[30:31] and overlay, which is more of a standard
process that we've done um on some of
[30:35] the other roads like over in the Hayes
Avenue subdivision or the Hayes Haze
[30:39] Avenue area um and some of our other
Kirkland roads over the years. So the
[30:45] proposal for fair grand for a doing the
design of those roads uh is in front of
[30:51] you at a cost of $51,300.
Um again that is all of the design at
[30:56] this point. Uh Sheriff Grant did not
think it was conducive to include
[31:00] construction engineering services and
materials testing services until we get
[31:05] bids back after the design one because
we're waiting on pavement cores and we
[31:09] want to know exactly what you know what
we're designing and what we're moving
[31:12] forward on. Um, but two, once we get
bids opened as part of this project, we
[31:17] can then come back to the city based on
the the overall
[31:21] uh proposed bid cost and give you guys a
more accurate number of what our
[31:25] engineering services would be.
Otherwise, what we would do is we would
[31:28] take this preliminary estimate to
generally around 6% of the overall cost
[31:32] for the construction observation um
needs. And if we end up getting bids 20%
[31:37] less, instead of having to go through
and revise the agreement, we just
[31:40] thought, hey, let's just wait, go
through the bidding process, and then
[31:43] we'll we'll follow up with that. So,
what you have in front of you is simply
[31:46] the design engineering for the local um
the local streets essentially. And the
[31:52] next item under the MFT, you will see
we've included everything all in. I'll I
[31:56] can explain that when that item comes
up. But that is the quick five minute
[32:02] summary. So, if you guys have any
questions, I'd be more than happy to
[32:04] answer them. Um but fair obviously uh
thanks you guys for the opportunity to
[32:08] submit a proposal to this.
[32:12] » Okay Tracy please.
>> Yes.
[32:15] » Commissioner Hington.
>> Yes.
[32:18] » Commissioner.
>> Yes.
[32:20] » And that'll be yes. And here we go.
Discuss approved resolution 666. the
[32:26] proven uh services proposed agreement
with fair Graham to provide engineering
[32:31] service for 2026 street program MFTt
funds portion
[32:36] » motion
move second
[32:39] » and go ahead
>> all right perfect so I I'll try to
[32:43] shorten this one um essentially the
roads that we are looking at doing uh as
[32:46] we mentioned earlier there is the rest
of the Misty Meadow subdivision um about
[32:50] half of those roadways were improved as
part of the 2023 project we would like
[32:54] to come in do the same exact scope um
full depth reclamation get those roads
[32:59] um completed that way hopefully the city
doesn't have to go back and touch those
[33:02] for another 15 20 years. So um those are
the roads that we are doing. Uh the as
[33:07] far as what you have in your packet
before you you will see quite a few I do
[33:11] forms um three specifically. Um one is
the resolution for maintenance under the
[33:16] Illinois Highway Code that is the
BLR14220.
[33:21] Essentially, just like a local or local
resolution, this is a resolution that
[33:25] the state requires when using NFTt funds
to basically say here's the money that
[33:29] we expect to spend on this project in
the upcoming year. Um, so that is a
[33:34] total all-in cost of $698,350.
[33:42] The there's another I do form titled the
local public agency general maintenance
[33:47] estimate of maintenance cost that is
BLR14222.
[33:51] In that you will see how we get that
overall number of $698,350.
[33:57] Construction costs at this stage are
estimated to be 610,000.
[34:01] The engineering preliminary engineering
design services uh we are just so you
[34:06] know we are capped at 5% of the overall
uh cost estimate of the project. uh that
[34:11] is $31,750.
The engineering inspection or the
[34:15] construction observation, we are capped
at 6% of the preliminary estimated cost.
[34:20] That is $36,600.
And then materials testing, there's no
[34:24] cap for that, but what we've done is
we've looked at past um projects, came
[34:28] up with a budget amount that we feel is
um a safe number. We will then likely go
[34:33] through Geocon Professional Services
who's doing the uh the payment course
[34:36] for the project. And once we have a
final set scope and we go out for bid,
[34:41] we will ask Geocon for a proposal for
that. Um just to let you know, this is
[34:45] this 20,000 for this that is not
something that we will build unless it's
[34:49] obviously used. So that will only be um
build based on what is actually
[34:52] submitted from Geocon. So the
preliminary engineering is a is a lump
[34:57] sum approval to get the design
completed. The engineering inspection or
[35:01] the construction observation is a time
of materials. We will only use that if
[35:05] we need to. We always handle it in a
part-time inspection basis. And then
[35:09] same with the materials testing. That is
a a time and materials um service for
[35:13] that as well. So um all in all of those
those costs included $698,350.
[35:20] Um so then finally the last form that
you will not sure what order they're in.
[35:25] I apologize but you will also see the
maintenance engineering to be performed
[35:28] by a consulting engineer BLR05520
but that is just an I do version of the
[35:34] engineering agreement we have to use
their forms in order for us to um
[35:38] utilize MF funds. So overall it's a
resolution of uh allocating the money
[35:43] and allowing the city to spend the money
for MF dollars. It is a breakdown of all
[35:47] the individual costs as the maintenance
costs and then is the engineering design
[35:51] agreement.
That's before we put the road in.
[35:55] » I'm sorry.
>> That that doesn't include the road.
[35:58] » No, no, that's 698,000 will include all
of those.
[36:02] » Yeah. 610,000 of that is the the actual
construction.
[36:06] » Okay. All right. That's I want that.
>> Yeah. No, that is definitely not
[36:10] » I was going to say
>> the reason that there was two different
[36:13] processes,
>> right? I just want to make sure that
[36:15] everybody knows what we're talking
about.
[36:16] » Yeah. I do requires that resolution to
be their own when you're spending I do
[36:21] money. So we have NFT chunk and then
this the section we're going to do%
[36:27] » and I'm sorry one more thing that I
should add. Um so obviously these are
[36:30] preliminary estimates. If we get bids
back and the costs come in lower than
[36:35] what is anticipated um there's nothing
that we need to do. We can still move
[36:39] forward at the end of the project. We
will do what's called a final uh
[36:42] authorization change order that
basically um balances all of the money.
[36:46] We send that into I do and then they
retroactively update the city's MFT
[36:50] records to say no, we didn't spend
698,000, we spent 690,000. If we get
[36:55] bids back that are higher than that, the
city will have to either consider
[36:58] reducing the scope or passing what's
called a supplemental resolution
[37:02] essentially just like you're seeing
here, but it's a supplement to say, hey,
[37:05] we don't want to reduce scope, but we do
want to spend more NFT dollars to get
[37:09] this done. Or the option that you could
fund it locally as well if you wanted
[37:12] to. So, couple different options there.
um pretty
[37:16] » sorry one thing but one other thing um
the although we have two separate
[37:21] agreements for these projects we will be
bidding them together as one to get some
[37:24] better economies of scale so that'll be
something that fair just does in house
[37:28] um we'll track our time accordingly for
each project but then when we go out for
[37:31] bid we will have one unified plan set to
get better pricing from the city
[37:35] » pretty slim chance of coming in under
isn't it
[37:38] » we're usually pretty conservative with
our estimates we don't want to have to
[37:41] make the city you know put everything to
a halt have to come back and approve
[37:44] additional monies
Um, so yeah, I I you know, we don't have
[37:47] a crystal ball. We're not really sure,
but we do use uh usually the past at
[37:51] least three previous three years worth
of pricing and that's how we develop our
[37:54] estimate. So we've got a pretty good
pretty good tab on where contract
[37:58] pricing will fall.
>> Well, with this extra money that we're
[38:01] from the 1%, it's going to cost us more
for engineering because we're doing more
[38:05] business. We're doing more roads. We're
doing uh and u so it's uh sounds like a
[38:12] lot which is but it's something we have
to do to get these roads done.
[38:16] » The roads have been neglected for as
long as they
[38:18] » Yeah. And we've getting miles done now.
We've for the last couple of years we've
[38:23] really been going good and this this
will really help out this this 1%.
[38:28] Anybody else?
>> Tracy, please.
[38:33] » Yes.
>> Commissioner Morris.
[38:34] » Yes. Apprentice.
>> Yes.
[38:37] » Yes.
>> Yes. Discuss approval awarding request
[38:40] for proposal for a strategic plan. Get a
motion, please.
[38:49] » Yes, ma'am.
>> We are absolutely thrilled to be putting
[38:52] this on the agenda. We're going to try
really hard to stay on track. Um I feel
[38:55] strongly that the the council who
supports
[38:59] funding a strategic plan should be here
when the strategic plan kind of goes
[39:03] into action. So, I'm going to work
really to have this be our 2026 primary
[39:07] goal to try to get this plan in place
while the five of you are here um and
[39:11] let that get under your belt. But uh we
had six proposals. They were all pretty
[39:16] similar in scope. Um we created a
committee of three people for the review
[39:20] team uh that consisted of Roxani from
our legal team and also Manny Nelson who
[39:26] helped with our uh retention and
destruction process. She's been a first
[39:29] time employee for us for the last year.
So, the three of us uh reviewed these.
[39:34] You have in your packet a summary of the
six proposals that we received and how
[39:40] much their total proposal was. And then
you also have in your packet a green
[39:44] score sheet that has uh all of our for
each category, basically a blank
[39:50] template of how we scored plans that
came in. But we are thrilled to
[39:55] recommend the NIU Center for
Governmental Studies. We feel like this
[39:59] is really their jam. And also they were
uh the lowest responsive bid with the
[40:03] exception of one who failed to include
out ofate travel costs. So we know that
[40:09] um they would have ended up being the
lowest responsive.
[40:13] So I'm happy to to answer any questions
about it. Uh but basically uh this is a
[40:18] plan that for the first time uh the city
is going to invest some energy into
[40:23] really putting benchmarks in place to
help us achieve some of those uh
[40:26] overarching goals. Um it's really easy
for me to do uh reviews every year of
[40:30] our department heads and tell them how
great they're doing, but if it doesn't
[40:33] line up with where our city is trying to
get to, it's almost kind of like, hey,
[40:37] good job guys. We're doing great because
we said so. You know, we want to plan.
[40:40] We want to get a pulse of all of our
residents and and get their priorities.
[40:44] We want to put those on paper. Um, so
this is a very thorough plan. It does
[40:48] include a lot of public involvement. So
we'll do various types of outreach. But,
[40:52] um, I don't know. I'm excited. Anybody
who sits in this seat in the future is
[40:56] going to want some kind of plan. And I
think the department heads that show up
[40:59] year after year after year and continue
to pour their heart and soul into this
[41:02] place. Uh, they deserve to have some
benchmarks before them and and be able
[41:06] to hit those and know that they're doing
a great job. So, I am very appreciative
[41:10] of this. I know it's been a long time
coming. Uh, we've been talking about it
[41:13] and kind of preparing for it. And so I
think that for $28,000 the proposal from
[41:18] NIU uh is just under budget. I think we
budgeted 30. Is that right down? Did
[41:22] that sound right? We we did have this
pencil in as a capital project for this
[41:26] year. Uh you remember that boy 200 came
to us a couple months ago. Wanted to do
[41:29] some feasibility studies. We could have
either contributed more or gotten
[41:33] ourselves a plan to put on the shelves
so that whoever replaces us in the
[41:37] future kind of has a road map on where
we're trying to go.
[41:40] And that most businesses when they come
to a city they they come down there and
[41:45] they ask you what's your strategic plan?
What what do you guys do want to do in
[41:49] the future? And this is what this is
once you get it in black and white where
[41:53] you say hey this is a guideline that
this is what we want. It helps these
[41:58] businesses when they look at us and say
well yeah they they they got what we
[42:03] want. They're they're moving in that
direction. And uh this is like you say,
[42:07] this is for down the road. This is to
give us a road map on how to travel this
[42:13] year. And uh I think it's a good thing.
I do.
[42:19] » I was I was really surprised when I came
on the council that we didn't have one.
[42:24] » Yeah.
>> Several other boards and governing
[42:26] bodies I've been involved with, I was
shocked that we didn't have one as a
[42:29] city.
>> Yeah. But we've been fortunate to have
[42:33] elected leaders that kind of, you know,
grab the reigns and and take over. And
[42:37] usually people don't run for an elected
seat unless they have some ideas that
[42:41] they want to try to implement for change
and improvement. So I think this just
[42:44] kind of stabilizes the the working force
a little bit as elected leaders kind of
[42:49] come and go. This kind of gives you a
road map. So it'll be it'll be nice to
[42:53] have something on paper for department
heads at least.
[42:57] » We had one a few years back. We did.
>> We had a we had a comprehensive plan.
[43:02] » Comprehensive plan which was a kind of a
strategic plan.
[43:06] » Yeah. In my opinion, your comprehensive
plan kind of stays on the shelf. It
[43:09] doesn't change a lot. You know, your
land uses and your your overarching, you
[43:13] know, demographics of the city don't
change, but this is an action plan and
[43:17] it really connects goals to baby steps
and how you're going to get there.
[43:21] » Like you said, it's an action plan. It's
not it's not a it's it's a it's a plan.
[43:26] This is how we're going to move forward
in this. It's a very good deal.
[43:31] Um, anybody else?
>> Tracey, please.
[43:34] » Commissioner Morris.
>> Yes.
[43:35] » Commissioner Apprentice.
>> Yes.
[43:36] » Commissioner.
>> Yes.
[43:40] » Yes. Uh, we get a motion to adjourn.
>> Motion.
[43:43] » Second.
>> All in favor?
[43:45] » All right. Thanks everybody. This was
this good meeting. We did a good job.
[43:51] » Welcome to
>> Yeah. Welcome to 2026.