I >> Mhm. >> Good evening. We will call to order the city of Rockford City Council meeting for Monday, March 16th, 2026. Clerk, could Well, we'll begin this evening with a invocation from Chaplin Roy Whitmore. >> [snorts] >> Father God, we thank you, Lord, on this day. We thank you. We welcome you in this council, and we thank you for our mayor and the city council. God, let your blessing be upon us, Lord. We thank you for being here. We thank you for our city. We thank you, Lord, that you give uh us the wisdom and the understanding that we may prosper and even that we may be a healthy city and that we that they may help in protecting us. And God, we thank you. We thank you for all that you are doing, and we ask you to bless the United States of America. These blessings we ask in Jesus' name. Thank God. Amen. >> [clears throat] >> Clerk, can you please call the roll? Alderman Timber? Tirnauer? Frost? Wilkins? Hoffman? Granath? Beach? Salazar? Bell? Bonnie? 11 present. Excellent. We have a quorum this evening. Is there a motion to approve the journal of proceedings for the City Council meeting held on December 15th, 2025? We have a motion. We have a second. Is there any discussion? All those in favor say aye. Those opposed? Let's try that one more time. All those in favor say aye. Those opposed? Excellent. Is there a motion to approve the journal of proceedings for the City Council meeting held on January 5th, 2026? We have a motion. We have a second. Is there any discussion? Seeing no discussion, all those in favor say aye. Those opposed? Excellent. Next, is there a motion to approve the journal of proceedings for the special City Council meeting held on January 12th, 2026? We have a motion. We have a second. Is there any discussion? All those in favor say aye. Those opposed? Excellent. Next, we'll move Is there a motion to approve the journal of proceedings for the special City Council meeting held on February 9th, 2026? We have a motion and we had a second. I believe Alderman Beach, did you make the motion? Okay. And then we have a second. Is there any discussion? Seeing no discussion, all those in favor say aye. All those in favor say aye. Those opposed? Okay. Excellent. We have no proclamation this evening. Uh so we will bypass that. We'll be doing that proclamation, I believe, next week if schedules align. Next, we're going to move to petitions and communications. We'll begin with Planning and Development Committee and Alderwoman Wilkins. Thank you, Your Honor. Item one is a memorandum from Colleen Bell, Comprehensive Planning and Design Coordinator, regarding the approval of the 2040 future land land use map, referred to Planning and Development Committee. Thank you. Next, we're going to move to Code and Regulation Committee and Alderman Bonnie. Thank you, Mayor. We have two items. Both are referred to the Code and Regulation Committee. Item one, Zoning Board of Appeals agenda for the meeting to be held on March 17th, 2026, and minutes from that meeting for consideration at the Code and Regulation Committee meeting on March 23rd, 2026. And item two, Liquor and Tobacco Advisory Board's agenda for the meeting to be held on March 17th, 2026, and minutes from that meeting for consideration at the Code and Regulation Committee meeting on March 23rd, 2026. Thank you. Next, we're going to go to Finance and Personnel Committee and Alderman Frost. Thank you, Mayor. Both items go to Finance and Personnel Committee. Number one is a memorandum from Timothy Hankins regarding Green Street City and Port of Sanitation Authority for 11th Street improvements. And number two is a memorandum from Owen Carter regarding acceptance of a case for community investment built for zero intervention for unsheltered homeless grant award from Community Solutions. Thank you. Thank you. Next, we're going to move to our public speakers. Want to remind our public speakers that there's a microphone on the back right as well as the back left of Council Chambers. You'll have 3 minutes to address the City Council. At the end of that 3 minutes, if all is well, my alarm will go off. If not, I'll just ask that you close your comments. Our first public speaker, and you'll notice that the public speakers in our agenda, we had a few cancellations, so we were able to move some folks in. So, our first public speaker this evening is Robert Pace. >> [snorts] >> This evening, I want to speak about the forthcoming data center that's projected to come to Rockford. I I know it's a big concern with a lot of people about the increased electric bills and the potential of um excessive uses of water. And I think those are very valid concerns. And I hope that as you all, if you have the opportunity to vote on this, that you uh do your homework on those issues. >> Robert, I'm so sorry. My apologies. I'm having a hard time making sure that I know if you're actually getting the volume that you deserve to be getting. Um can you tap that microphone for me? Okay. I'm going to start you over. Is that fair? I don't want to short your time. Sorry, it just was not working and we couldn't catch on the mic. So. Did you start the clock? I'm going to start it right now. Thank you, sir. I want to speak tonight about the proposed data center coming to Rockford, or at least that's been been a suggested it is. Uh I know a big concern for many of the rumor many are the rumored increases in our electricity bills and the amount of water needed to run these data centers. Uh these are valid concerns, and I hope these issues are addressed and agree and agreeable remedy is part of the deal. Uh as I've stated in past emails to all of you, uh I believe this data center will ultimately be approved by the city's governing bodies. At least that's the way it's been presented and almost sound like a done deal. Um but I hope that all of you respect the concerns of your constituents and cast informed votes. Uh assuming that we get to that point. Uh I'm sure you will see industry insiders put on a happy face about these uh data centers and what they will bring to our community in terms of jobs and tax revenues. I heard 60 million. I don't understand where that's going to come from. That's a huge amount of money. But uh But anyway, uh I just want you to realize that these data centers are our artificial intelligence replacements. They're ultimately going to replace human beings. As as And and especially those in the workforce. Um so, as they merge with our digital IDs and the new total digital monetary system, they will have complete power over our lives. Uh, these data centers are all about controlling us and monitoring of the masses. This is why I've referred you to a recent interview with Catherine Austin Fitts in an email that I sent to you guys. Uh, and uh, I'll also want to refer you to a man named Tristan Harris. He is a uh, artificial intelligence expert. He is located in San Francisco. And uh, he can also be seen in a recent uh, podcast um, by in a podcast named Diary of a CEO. His name again is Tristan Harris. Um, for to just wrap this up, I ple I I just uh, hope that you when you do cast a a vote, it's an informed vote and that you do your homework on this issue. Thank you. Thank you. And my apologies about uh, that's speaker volume. Want to make sure that you were heard. Uh, especially for those at home. Our next public speaker this evening is Amy O'Riley. >> [snorts and clears throat] >> Hi, I'm Amy. I'm a Rockford resident. I'm also here to speak about the uh, data centers that have been proposed. So first I want to talk about the supposed benefits of the data centers. Now, everybody says it's the tax and the jobs. First of all, we know that the jobs are temporary. They usually are just construction jobs and then it's only a handful of jobs, usually very skilled positions, often from out of town that remained once the building is built. And any tax revenue that we get from it is going to be offset by all of the detriments. Um, some of those are first of all, we know that increased utility costs. In many towns, they have uh, had their utilities go up by two or three times. There's going to be an increase in health care costs because we know that these facilities do a lot of pollution. So we're going to have an increase in asthma and respiratory diseases, which will be especially bad for seniors, um, children, babies, our most vulnerable uh, residents. Um, another thing is that you're going to see a rise in mental health care costs and that's because they also emit a hum and this has been um, there's lots of studies going on. Well, there's some that have been completed and more studies going on that talk about the hum that actually causes um, anxiety and a feeling of of being unwell. Um, and we also know that mental health care problems can lead to higher crime and all of the uh, all of the costs that that entails. So I don't see how the costs how any benefit we're going to get any benefit from this with all the extra costs. There's also costs that will be needed to clean up environmental damage because all of these AI centers do environmental damage and they're not the ones paying the cost to clean it up. Um, another thing is they talked about uh, the former person talked about water usage. There have been towns and cities who have had entire aquifers drained by these things and then had to go and find um, addit additional or different sources, more expensive sources for their water. There's also the planned obsolescence of these things. So this is an AI center, not one of the, you know, like the cloud data centers. And we know um, that this is a big gamble because a lot of these AI data centers, there's there's a lot of backlash against them. They may become outlawed. They may uh, They And we are seeing signs that there might be a bubble burst because they are not delivering on all the things that they promised. Um, so even if AI does end up delivering on its promises, according to the Brookings Institute, um, advances in chips and power will probably render most data centers obsolete in about 10 to 15 years. That means we will be paying the price for this with our money, health, mental well-being, and environmental damage damage. Sorry. Thank you. For many years. Thank you so much. Our next public speaker this evening is Denzel Winter. Good afternoon, city council people. >> [snorts] >> I'd like to say this is uh, women's month. And I have a group of women from the 6888. They were a central post office division. Um, the only black uh, all black women's army corps uh, unit to be deployed overseas during the war, serving in Birmingham, England, Rouen, and Paris, France. And here here are some key remarkable services. Their mission facing a massive backlog of millions of letters and post offices intended for the American soldiers in Europe, some of which have been sitting for years. The 6888 task was sorting and delivering the mail. The motto and success was no mail, low morale. And the leadership was under Major Lieutenant Colonel Chast uh, Charity Adams and they were given 6 months to clear all that backlog in Birmingham and they did it in three, working 24 hours uh, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week in three shifts, processing an average of 65 thousand pieces of mail per shift. They also had to overcome a lot of racism and uh, and sexism, not only from the segregated US military structure, but from fellow Americans overseas. They dealt with cold, rat-infested, dimly lit warehouses and often handled mail for soldiers who had already been died who had already died. Despite this, they showed uh, resilience and efficiency. And then when they turned from returned from back over there, they received no kind of recognition. However, decades later, just like everything else with the that deals with the uh, people, including the installation of a monument at uh, Fort Leavenworth, they were they were awarded the Congressional Gold Medal in 2000 2000 uh, 22. I just wanted to I just want to say that, you know, we have a lot uh, to thank the women of America for. And they did a great job and they they uh, went over there. They didn't have to do that, but they did that. You know, so we we owe them and we need to say thank you uh, to them for their service. Thank you. Thank you. Our next public speaker this evening is Celeste Rub. Hi. Uh, my name is Cece Rub. I have lived in Rockford uh, pretty much all 26 years I've been alive and I love my home. I love my vibrant community. I know many of the people in this room personally through my family and through having lived here forever. So I'm also here to talk about the data center. Rockford is a part of my soul. Uh, I am a member of the art community here. I'm a worker for the library. I've worked for the Y. This place is so deeply special to me. And uh, a data center will create minimal temporary jobs and in exchange that means saying goodbye to our clean air. Uh, it releases greenhouse gases that affect the air we breathe. With these gases come rising temperatures. You think these super hot and humid weeks in the summer are bad? Get used to it. In one day, one data center used 120% more electricity than the entirety of Rockford's homes. I need you guys to ask yourself who's paying for that because I don't want to be paying for that. Thank you. Uh, one data center consumes up to 5 million gallons of water per day. That's a small one, by the way. Uh, that's more water than all of Machesney and Love Parks consumes in one day uh, per the Environmental and Energy Institute. Um, again, ask yourself who's going to be paying for that. Uh, Mayor McNamara, I know that the art community is special to you. I'm sure you would love to know that more than 36% of artists lost employment in their fields per 2024 study by the societyofauthors.org. Illustrators, 3D artists, photographers, writers, musicians, all out of jobs due to growing AI usage. We would be enabling that. I don't want to do that. I don't want to pay for that. Uh, an insurmountable amount of child pornography using likeness of real children has been made with AI per reports from the F FBI, CBS, NBC, and the Internet Watch Foundation from the UK. Reports of thousands of images per individual, per user. That's disgusting. As someone who works in child care, again, I'm deeply horrified by that. Um, I hope you enjoy the sounds of council and loud humming, which has been addressed by one of our friends over here. Uh data centers are reported to create sound heard from over a 2-mi radius away. Uh so, if you thought that airport was loud, get used to it, buddy. Data centers are temporary in nature. Uh they are projected to employ employ employ, I'm so sorry, on average below 200 employees that don't last. And on top of that, these buildings are built uh for specific purposes that uh can't really be repurposed. So, after 15 years of being used, this entire plot of land is just going to be useless. This entire building is going to be useless. Um there are a lot more issues raised by data centers I can bring up, but in interest of time, I'm going to leave you with this. Nobody wants this, not our local job market, not our up-and-coming economy, not our ever-growing arts community, and not our wallets. If this goes through, I will make it my personal mission to campaign against everyone that's advocated for it. Thank you. WOO! THANK YOU. Our next uh public speaker this evening is John Tech Brantley. Good evening, Mayor. This is the first in the past few years I've been able to speak before election day. Uh I'm going to uh first of all, because of all uh I'm going to talk about Willie Lynch. Willie Lynch have a foolproof method for controlling your your black slaves. Don't forget you must pitch the old black males versus the young black males, the young black males against the old black males. You must use the dark-skinned slaves versus the light-skinned slaves. The light-skinned slaves versus the dark-skinned slaves. You must use the female versus the male, the male versus the female. You must also have white servants overseeing the destruction of blacks. But, it's necessary that your slave trust and depend on us. They must love, respect, and trust only us. Gentlemen, these kits are your key to controlling. Use them, have your wife and children use them. Never miss an opportunity. Use it intensely for 1 year, the slaves themselves will remain petrified, distrustful, and thank you, gentlemen. This is last for over 300 years. It's been over 400 years now. I um took a I got a master's degree in cross-cultural and race relations. We had a classroom of 120 people in that classroom, over 60 different countries at the uh Lewis uh Uni- uh Lewis University. I want to mention that one thing that we talk about, you don't have to like what I say. I don't have to like what you say, but we should always respect the freedom to speak our minds and not get upset about working out our difference. Our politicians are here to represent the people. Those here that's watching this, uh I'm begging you. A lot of our blacks do not vote because they feel like our votes don't our votes don't our votes don't count. And what it is, I brought up the fact that we want to work with our youth who's getting suspended out of school, getting kicked out of school. We have a solution. We have a answer to that uh to that solution. And we're here to um to address that that problem. We're going to the teacher uh to the school board. We also go to the Winnebago County board. I am the CEO of Renewed Turning Point Program. I'm one of the few programs who out here on the front line that's still out here on the front line. We were the only African American in the um St. Patrick's Day parade. A little bit history about St. Pat. St. Pat came from Moroccan. St. Pat was a uh deed indentured servant to for the English in England. He was captured by the Irish, taken to Ireland with a couple of the brothers and sisters of the the land owner. He escaped from Ireland, came back to England. He became a Catholic. Lo and behold, to show you how much work the Lord trusted in him, how will you go back to a country you were once you ran from as a slave and turn most of that country into Catholic. He was able to do that. Other thing I want to bring up the fact Thank you, Mr. Brantley. We're planning on going to the Illinois Mount Mount Morris. Mount where the uh Thank you. Thank you uh to all of our public speakers this evening. Next, we're going to move to new committee reports. We have nothing under planning planning and development, and we have nothing under code and regulation. So, we'll go to finance and personnel committee, and Alderman Frost. Thank you, Mayor. Number one, the finance uh personnel committee recommends approval of vouchers in the amount of $8,477,000 $407.67 as approved by finance personnel committee meeting held on March 9th, 2026. Number two, the committee recommends approval of an eighth amendment to the agreement with Associated Bank to extend the line of credit term for an additional year. Number three, the committee recommends approval of the lien reduction request for 2213 Wentworth Avenue in the amount of $7,933.40. And number four, the committee recommends approval of the hiring request from the water division for two project managers and one water utility technician in the estimated annual amount of $394,100. The estimated total cost including vehicles is $513,100. The funding source is the water fund operating budget. Thank you. >> Council, we have uh four items before us. Is there any discussion on those four items? Alderman Tunberg. Thank you, Mayor. Uh this would be directed to Director Haggerty. Uh I apologize. I was meaning to ask this question last week. Uh an item number two for the line of credit, I know we brought that line of credit uh balance down or available to us down over the last number of years. It is there is no charge to the city. Uh if there is if there is no charge to have the line uh the way it is now or a line that would be larger um I guess looking at what the reasoning is to bring it down. And the reason I ask that is for you know, in case we were to run into an issue within our city where we did legitimately need to tap into that line of credit. Um you know, and if we were looking at getting to that maximum line uh that this new agreement would be how easy would it be to have that line um furthered uh if if needed. Thank you. Director Haggerty. Thank you, sir. Um so, certainly um understand that no um no cost to have the line. It's a it's a comfort, you know, certainly a nice security blanket for us to have. Um we lowered because of the amount of time that had passed since we had last utilized it, and in addition, the city's cash position um obviously much improved from 2008 uh when we originally um had to to go out and secure the line of credit um just to to cash flow operations. So, um we haven't, and it's been probably close to over 15 years since we've used it for any of our own internal cash flow purposes. Um we felt it was appropriate between the cash position we're in and the the history um that to to reduce it from the 12 million that we were at to the 7 million that we're at today. Um in the event that we need to access a line of credit or or um access more than what we have currently available, um you know, certainly we were able to secure a $21 million line of credit in 2008. Um I I don't anticipate that we would have difficulty doing that. We have a number of banking partners that were interested in the city's banking relationship and providing line of credit. I don't anticipate that that being a challenge if we were in that position. >> [clears throat] >> Thank you. Any other uh discussion? Clerk, could you please call the roll? Alderman Aye. Tunberg Aye. Frost Aye. Tirado Aye. Wilkins Aye. Hoffman Aye. Granath Aye. Beach Aye. Salgado Aye. Bell Aye. Bonnie Aye. Eleventh nice. Excellent. Next, we'll go to officers' reports. Do any council members have reports? Alderwoman Granath. Um good evening. I have uh two things. First is a reminder that I have a board meeting this Thursday at 1:00 p.m. at the United Lutheran Church at the corner of Rockton and Riverside. And I would also like to take this opportunity to give a shout-out to Ben Dahlmeier. He um this morning I was on my cuz it was a snow day. Rub that in. >> Teachers teachers love snow days. And um so, I was on my way to lunch, and I drove through the intersection of Spring Creek and High Crest. Yesterday, I noticed the light was it was flashing red. And I thought there was other lights going on. They were on, and I thought it was weird. So, I texted um Scott, and I said, "I'm just assuming that you know that the lights are flashing red." Well, come to find out there had been some water project work there earlier a couple weeks ago. Um and no, nobody in the city knew and was aware of the fact that there were flashing lights at the intersection. And so, um Ben was able to work with the people also dealing with snow and all the other things that are going on in our city right now. Um, they were able to sit down and work together and come up with a alternate plan so that there's no red lights flashing at a very busy intersection at 5:00 at night. I'm sure people appreciate that. And so there's going to be a permanent fix to it over the next couple of days. So, I just want to remind people that if you do see something, say something cuz I saw it. Goodbye. Text it, but you can call the non- emergency phone number and the report a sign the job glitch outage like that. So, if you do see something, say something um because otherwise it would have sat there for a couple more hours maybe and we may might not have been able to get the quick fix cuz water had gotten into the fix that had been there before. So, just wanted to say thank you, shout out to public works, and shout out to Ben and his team for getting it done today. Thank you. Thank you. Alderwoman Trina. Thank you, Mayor. Couple of acknowledgements I'd like to make, please. First, um I had a a ward meeting last week. I typically do my ward meetings at my ward office. However, um based off of feedback from residents, they wanted to see me sort of take the show on the road and do ward meetings at different landmarks in our ward. So, we kicked off the year with doing it at Clem. And I just definitely want to thank Clem for the hospitality that they showed. They set up the space beautifully. Um for our meeting. We had a wonderful turnout. Um I want to thank uh officer community service officer Brandon Burke for coming to give the safety stats. I would like to thank Judge Aaron Hanigan for attending. I also want to thank Joshua Jeffers of J. Jeffers & Co., who's the developer for the Barbara Coleman project, who came to face the residents and answer their questions. As well as Lisa Wogan from from J. Jeffers. I also want to thank the mayor and city staff for just being in attendance. That that that's really I really appreciate that because I know how busy all of us are. But to when we when we show up for the residents and we're just there for any questions that they could possibly have, that that that's very meaningful to me. So, I just want to thank everyone for your participation in that. And while I'm talking about ward meetings, I may as well announce my next one. It is May 14th at the Rockford Park District headquarters, which is 401 South Main Street, and that will begin at 5:30. And that's on a Thursday this time. Um another point of feedback was that a lot of people have Bible study on Wednesday nights. So, we're going to try Thursday and see how that works. Another thing was I saw this random event on uh LinkedIn for Rockford Promise. It was like a mixer they were having for Rockford Promise. I was like, "Oh, I can go to this one. Why not?" It's it's free. So, they obviously looked at the guest list and saw who was coming. Very last minute, about an hour before, um Whitney Martin, who is the uh the spokesperson for the for the Made for Rockford program, they were scheduled to be there as well. Well, she got sick. And she said, "Gabrielle, will you fill in for me and talk about Made for Rockford?" I'm like, uh "Sure. No problem." So, I go and uh unbeknownst to me, I really didn't know what kind of room I was getting into. I knew it was a Rockford Promise event, but what what it was was there were uh Rockford Promise graduates and current Rockford Promise students. So, it was a mixture, but it was mostly graduates. And it was like a keynote. There was a it was a it was a social, you know, there was food and and drinks, but there was also um a keynote speaker, um Camera Muhammad. She was there to just talk about how you introduce yourself and giving them communication skills so they can start kind of getting ready for the workforce. But it was I left very very inspired because this is that was that that was our future. The future was in the room. And I have not been in a space yet with young people that have graduated. And they were brilliant. They were they were poised. They were ready. And they were friendly and they were kind. And I saw it and I'm like, "Wow, this is the people that we want to return to Rockford and ultimately give back to our community." So, I wanted to share that with you all because if there are ever any other opportunities for us as decision makers to get into the room with these students, it's really really impactful. I thought about it for days because again, I was just I was just very inspired um to know that these are the people that I want to be that well, they they've chosen to come back. They were here. They've chosen to come back to Rockford. And the conversations that I was having with them, many of them were like going through board training classes and they were wanting opportunities to engage more in the community, to get involved. And all of that is just brings brings me a lot of happiness because these people again, they're they're on fire. They're they're motivated to make a difference in our city. So, fabulous. So, I definitely have to uh certainly give a shout out to Kayleen Grove and her leadership of Rockford Promise because um not only was she, of course, um exceptional, but the staff of Rockford Promise um certainly share her vision and there's a synergy among that team and their the intentionality that they put into that event and the intentionality that they're putting into our kids meant a lot to me. And I it was felt. So, I certainly want to make sure that they're acknowledged. Thank you very much. That's awesome. Thank you. Uh a side note, uh I love going to those events. You always leave better off. Um They've been doing a survey the last couple of years uh for graduating students and any I should say any student in the program. And I something that I took away uh just from a presentation I saw last week. All but 4% said that they see a future back in Rockford. And it's the lowest that number's been. Uh it was higher and as they continue to educate about the opportunities and the internships uh and other opportunities, it's just really neat to see. So, thank you for that. Other uh Alderman Salgado. Yeah, just real quick. Um I also have a a ward meeting slash um art auction um with um the folks for the food pantry fundraiser uh this Friday um and also the mayor will be there. Um uh where um we're going to put him on the hot seat and just ask him a couple questions. Um But uh hopefully uh Friday, just letting the 11th Ward residents uh we will have a ward uh ward meeting at 5:30 at the Harmony Banquets on the corner of 7th Street and 15th Avenue. And uh looking forward to that. Thank you. Thank you. Other reports? Alderman Bell. Uh thank you, Mayor. Two things. First, want to uh say thank you to our public works department for uh removing all the snow we got over the last few hours. Um They did an awesome job, uh at least in my ward. So, I just want to say thank you to Director Sanders, Michelle Leatherby, and and your entire team. Uh also want to say uh since Prophet Yusuf hasn't had uh an opportunity to speak over the last 2 weeks, uh a happy birthday to uh our colleague in the 9th Ward, Alderwoman Dawn Granath. Uh her birthday was yesterday. So, happy birthday to her. And are you going to sing or what are we doing? >> [laughter] >> Uh you have my time back to you, Mayor. Uh Alderman Tunberg. Thanks, Mayor. Uh a constituent reached out to actually, I believe possibly Alderman Beach's uh ward, but we reached out to both of us about issues that people have had in our community with the Four Rivers uh billing and such. So, uh to those, I I I I assume every one of us aldermen have have experienced some calls on that. So, uh you know, hopefully they get that worked out, but uh I I understand they are slowly but surely. So, again, uh if if there are problems, we sympathize. That is uh Four Rivers that will be taking care of that. Um but contact Four Rivers and keep on them and and uh hopefully that gets rectified. Uh also would like to say thank you to the public works crews for all they they've done, but also for those that especially have worked the overnight the overnight uh hours. Uh Larry Pierce uh has taken a few calls for me in the overnight hours for issues with the wind uh that has taken place uh recently and then now with the snow, but uh he is a a great employee for our city and is always willing to help. And and thanks for all those that support him in getting things taken care of. Uh I had the opportunity and honor to go to the new dental clinic that uh that we supported as a council uh out at Jefferson High School. It is state of the art. Uh Dr. Rhodes, Dr. Tunberg, uh Dr. Starns, uh a few other dentists uh and their board and uh director Parham was there as well and was able to see it is absolute state of the art. And there are There's equipment there that probably most of our dentists here in Rockford and anywhere else would love to have in their office. Um if my numbers serve me correctly, I I can't recall exactly, but I believe they served 12,000, 8,000. I know there's a big difference there, but I students at that in the past when they've so when these dentists have offered to take in students and they have to be on Medicare or Medicaid, I'm sorry. Uh families that are on Medicaid and out of those, I believe around 2,400 or so needed absolute on the spot work to put it as an understatement. So, now there is a central place to go out at Jefferson High School and these uh dentists out there that will be serving or serving at this time on uh just you know, volunteerism. Um so, it is just a great thing for our um for our community that needs it and it is very important to have very good dental care. It's hard to sit through a class when your when your tooth is aching. So. All right, thank you. Thank you. Other uh reports. Thank you. Next uh we're going to go to motions and resolutions. We have nothing under planning and development, so we'll go to Alderman Bonnie and Code and Regulation Committee. Thank you, Mayor. Uh item one, committee recommends approval of the Memorial Day Parade. This event is scheduled for May 25th from 8:00 a.m. to noon. Organizers request city support for police, fire, and traffic control assistance. Organizers anticipate costs similar to the 2025 event of approximately $17,000. The parade will step off at 9:00 a.m. and the route will begin at 7th Street and 5th Avenue, ending at Memorial Hall on Wyman Street. Item two, committee recommends approval of Cars and Coffee. This event is scheduled for the following dates: April 4th, May 2nd, June 6th, July 4th, August 1st, September 5th, and October 3rd from 9:00 a.m. to noon. The event will take place on 7th Street between 3rd Avenue and 6th Avenue and on 3rd Avenue and 4th Avenue between 6th Street and 7th Street. Item three, committee recommends approval of the No of No Kings 3.0. This event is scheduled for March 28th from 11:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. Roads will close at 9:00 a.m. The event will take place at 116 North Water Street, which is the City Market Pavilion. Item four, city recommends approval of the Churchill Grove Garage Sale. This event is scheduled from May 2nd at scheduled for May 2nd from 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. The sale will take place in the Churchill Grove neighborhood. And item five uh is a resolution for the settlement of of claim for outstanding pension payments in the amount of $53,000. $428. We need to suspend rule nine uh for this motion and I will make I will make that motion to suspend rule nine. Thank you. We have a motion to suspend rule nine and we have a second uh for that suspension of rule nine. Is there any discussion uh on suspending rule nine for item five? All those in favor of suspending rule nine for item five, please say aye. Aye. Those opposed? All right, rule nine's been suspended and now we have five items before you. Is there any discussion on those five items? Clerk, could you please call the roll? Logemann. Aye. Tumber. Aye. Frost. Aye. Torina. Aye. Wilkins. Aye. Hoffman. Aye. Granath. Aye. Beach. Aye. Salgado. Aye. Bell. Aye. Bonnie. Aye. Elenice. Thank you. Next, we're going to go to Finance and Personnel Committee and Alderman Frost almost for the duration of the meeting. I'm sorry. Number one, the committee recommends approval of award of bid for sidewalk and ADA repair package number one to TCI Concrete in the amount of $112,894.75. It's due May 15th, 2026 and the funding source is the 1% infrastructure sales tax. Number two, the committee recommends approval of award of bid for citywide pavement preservation micro-servicing to AC Pavement in the amount of $490,809.90. And the contract is through October 2nd, 2026. The funding source are MFT funds. Number three, the committee recommends approval of award of bid for citywide pavement rejuvenation uh to Corrective Asphalt Materials in the amount of $342,026.96. The contract is through July 31st, 2026. The funding source is MFT funds. Number four, the committee recommends approval of award of bid for citywide bridge preservation to M&M Concrete in the amount of $59,940.85. The contract is through July 31st, 2026 and the funding source are MFT funds. Number five, the committee recommends approval of award of sole source contract for a generator and switchgear services to Altorfer Cat in the amount uh estimated amount of $100,000. It's a one-year contract with four annual extension options. The funding source is the water fund operating budget. Number six, the committee recommends approval of award of sole source contract for fire apparatus and ambulance supplies to McQueen Equipment in the estimated amount of $120,000. The contract duration is through December 31st, 2026 with four annual extension options. The funding source is the fire department operating budget. Number seven, the committee recommends approval of award of sole source contract for fire apparatus supplies and service repair to JX Truck Center in estimated annual amount of $100,000. The contract duration is through December 31st, 2026 with four annual extension options. The funding source is the fire department operating budget. Number eight, the committee recommends an approval of award of RFP for water main capacity fire hydrant flow testing and assessment to ME Simpson in an estimated amount of $73,000. The contract is through December 31st, 2026 with four annual extension options. The funding sources are the fire and water department operating budgets. Number nine, the committee recommends approval of award of professional services to 2026 water system improvements design and inspection services to Fehrgrahm for an estimated budget of 2.5 million for 2026, 6.25 million for 2027, 6.25 million for 2028. The contract duration is through February 28th, 2027 with two possible one-year extension options upon the mutual consent of the city and the consultant. The funding sources are the water replacement improvement account and the state revolving fund. Number 10, the committee recommends approval of award joint purchase contract for 2026 light duty citywide vehicles to Enterprise Fleet Management in an amount of $117,720. The contract duration is 48 months for one vehicle and 60 months for the two vehicles. The funding source is the water division capital lease budget. Number 11, the committee recommends approval of award of design engineering agreement for Charley Park Floodplain reconnection to HR Green in the amount not to exceed $105,936. The contract duration is through July 2027. The funding source is the CIP general fund. Number 12, the committee recommends approval of an award non-competitive contract for police vehicles to Rock River Ford in the amount of $1,582,000 or $589. This is a one-time purchase for 37 vehicles. The funding sources are the capital lease funds and police department operating budget. Number 13, the committee recommends approval of a resolution authorizing the Central Services Manager to execute an extension of the electrical municipal aggregation supply contract. And number 14, the committee recommends approval and acceptance of the Illinois Law Enforcement Standards Board fiscal year 26 camera grant award in the amount of $262,464. This grant does not require a cost match. The grant term is from July 1st, 2025 to June 30th, 2030. Uh the grant award, if accepted, will be used to cover fiscal year 26 costs related to licensing fees and device storage costs uh of the current Axon body worn cameras. I place these 14 matters before you. Thank you. Council, 14 items before us. Any discussion on those 14 items? Clerk, will you please call the roll? Logemann. Aye. Tumber. Aye. Frost. Aye. Torina. Aye. Wilkins. Aye. Hoffman. Aye. Granath. Aye. Beach. Aye. Salgado. Aye. Bell. Aye. Bonnie. Aye. Elenice. Excellent. Next, we're going to go to new business. We're going to switch it up because we have nothing under planning and development or codes and regulations, so we'll go right back to Alderman Frost. Thank you. Item number one is an approving an eighth amendment to the agreement with Associated Bank to extend the line of credit term for an additional year. Uh this matter requires the suspension of rule nine. Um number two is an ordinance approving the lien reduction request for 2213 Wentworth Avenue in the amount of $7,933.40. And number three is an ordinance approving the hiring request for the water division for two project managers and one water utility technician in S estimated amount of $394,100. Uh the estimated total width of vehicles is $513,100. And the funding source is the water fund operating budget. So I I You're on With respect to number one, I'd make the motion to suspend rule nine. Second. We have a motion. We have a second uh to suspend rule nine on item one. Is there any discussion on just the suspension of rule nine on item one? Seeing no discussion, all those in favor of suspending rule nine on item one, please say aye. Aye. Those opposed? Okay. So council, we have uh three items before you. Is there any discussion on those three? Clerk, please call the roll. Alderman. Aye. Tunney. Aye. Frost. >> Aye. Arena. Aye. Hopkins. Aye. Hoffman. Aye. Granato. Aye. Bech. >> Aye. Soglin. Bell. Aye. Baroni. Aye. Ellenbogen. Excellent. I would say we need a motion to adjourn, but Alderman Frost has other plans. So Alderman Frost, did you have something you want to share with us? Yeah, could I make a motion uh to to convene in a closed session in order to discuss both pending and threatened litigation matters and labor negotiation matters. We have a motion. We have a second. Is there any discussion? All those in favor of going into closed session, please say aye. Aye. Those opposed? Thank you. We'll break for closed session. >> We are back into open session. Clerk, could you please call the roll? Logeman Here. Trina Here. Ross Here. Wilkins Here. Hoffman Granis Here. Beach Here. Sogado Here. Bell Uh Present. Present. Bonnie Here. Tumberg Here. 10 present. Okay, we have a quorum. Uh we're back in the open session. Is there a motion to adjourn? We have a motion, we have a second. Is there any discussion? All those in favor say I. I. Those opposed, have a wonderful night. Thank you.