Kankakee Times

City of Kankakee City Council met April 17.

Here is the minutes provided by the Council:

Mayor Epstein: Good evening. I’d like to call the meeting to order. At this time I would like to ask Pastor Tommy Wright from the New Jackson Tabernacle Church to come forward and lead us in prayer.

Pastor Wright: God bless the Mayor and the City. If I cut it a little short, I haven’t eaten.

Mayor Epstein: Neither have we.

Pastor Wright: I pray for all of us. Let us bow our heads. Lord, here we are once again under your grace and mercy. We thank You Lord for another month has gone by and Your grace and mercy have prevailed. We thank You for the safety that You have given to us. Our freedom, Lord, which You wrap around us each and every day. We ask You, oh God in the name of Jesus. We want to say thank You for who You are. You are hope in the midst of hopelessness. You are joy in the time of sorrow. You are calm in the midst of the storm. We thank You for all the servants that work to assist in keeping us all safe.

We pray that you will continue to guide all City and County officials as they go about leading this people day by day. Lord, give us Your special blessing upon our leaders as they govern each day is our prayer. In the mighty name of Jesus we pray. And, all the people say, Amen.

Mayor Epstein: Thank you. At this time the Council will lead the Pledge.

City Council And All: Pledge of Allegiance

Mayor Epstein: Thank you. Roll call.

Clerk Dumas:

Present: Tetter; Brown; Curtis; Baron; Wells-Armstrong; Tall; Faford; Swanson; Crawford; Osenga; O’Brien; Gall; Kennedy; Davidson (14)

Mayor Epstein: Department Heads.

Clerk Dumas:

Present: Passwater; Perkins; Kubal; Bohlen; Power; Simms; Tyson; Cross; Bertrand; Yohnka; Schmitz (11)

Mayor Epstein: Moving on to approval of the minutes. I will entertain a motion to approve the minutes of the April 3, 2017, meeting.

Alderman Osenga: So moved, Mayor.

Alderman Crawford: I’ll second it.

Mayor Epstein: Motion by Alderman Osenga, seconded by Alderman Crawford. Are there any additions or corrections to the minutes? Hearing none, all those in favor, aye. Opposed, same sign.

Motion To Approve City Council Meeting Minutes Of April 3, 2017

Mayor Epstein: The minutes are approved. There are no Petitions. Under Communications, we have a request from the Kankakee County Museum requesting a street closure because of the Rhubarb Festival that will be held on Sunday, May 21. Do I have a motion to approve the request?

Alderman Faford: So moved, your honor.

Alderwoman Swanson: I’ll second.

Mayor Epstein: Motion by Alderman Faford, seconded by Alderman Swanson. Any questions? All those in favor, aye. Opposed.

Kankakee County Museum Is Requesting Street Closure Of Eighth Avenue Between Water Street And Charles Street For The Annual Rhubarb Festival To Be Held At 801 S. Eighth Avenue On Sunday, May 21, 2017, From 8:00 A.M. Until 5:00 P.M.

Mayor Epstein: The request is approved. Moving onto Committee reports. Budget, Alderman Baron.

Alderman Baron: Mayor, I don’t have anything to add to the printed minutes.the printed meeting minutes from April 10, and we have no action items so I have no motions to make. Thank you.

Mayor Epstein: Okay. Thank you. Moving onto the Report of Officers. Do I have a motion to pay the bills?

Alderman Faford: Your honor, I move we approve the Report of Officers, place the money in the proper accounts and pay the bills in the amount of $176,020.19.

Alderman Tall: Second.

Mayor Epstein: Motion by Alderman Faford, seconded by Alderman Tall. Are there any questions on any of the bills? Roll call.

Clerk Dumas:

Aye: Tetter; Brown; Curtis; Baron; Wells-Armstrong; Tall; Faford; Swanson; Crawford; Osenga; O’Brien; Gall; Kennedy; Davidson (14)

Report Of Officers Approval Of Bills - $176,020.19

Mayor Epstein: Motion carries. There’s no Unfinished Business. Moving onto New Business, we have an Ordinance for your consideration tonight under First Reading that it would be a requirement that before a City-owned asset could be sold, that it would require a 2/3 majority of the Council. Ah, prior to, ah, having this Ordinance, typically municipalities have assets to sell. When the attorneys go to IML conferences, they find Best Practices of what other communities are doing and we think that this would be an important safeguard. An example would be, down the road apiece, probably ten years from now, the City will own the Public Library Building, the Executive Center, and that is an asset that could be sold. And, I think it’s important that if something of that nature should occur, that the Aldermen certainly would want to know about it and they would want to be able to vote on whether that asset should be sold and what price it’s being sold at. So, it’s just, again, something that municipalities have on their books and I would like a motion to put it on First Reading.

Alderman Baron: I move it be put on First Reading.

Mayor Epstein: Motion by Alderman Baron. Do I have a second?

Alderman Osenga: Second.

Mayor Epstein: Seconded by Alderman Osenga. Any questions? Roll call.

Clerk Dumas:

Aye: Tetter; Brown; Curtis; Baron; Wells-Armstrong; Tall; Faford; Swanson; Crawford; Osenga; O’Brien; Gall; Kennedy; Davidson (14)

First Reading Ordinance Amending The Municipal Code Of The City Of Kankakee By Adding Section 2-153 Establishing Requirements For The Sale Of City-Owned Assets

Mayor Epstein: Motion carries. Thank you. Moving onto Motions and Resolutions. As what is typical at this time of year, we have a Resolution that we need to pass in order to continue to spend money ‘cause there is no budget in place. So, this Continuing Spending Resolution would be in effect until June 1. If it was necessary to extend it, ah, you would have to come back to the Council and ask for an extension. But, we’ve had to do this periodically. So, do I have a motion to approve the Continuing Spending Resolution?

Alderman Brown: So moved.

Alderman Tall: Second.

Mayor Epstein: Motion by Alderman Brown, seconded by Alderman Tall. Any questions about that? Roll call.

Clerk Dumas:

Aye: Tetter; Brown; Curtis; Baron; Wells-Armstrong; Tall; Faford; Swanson; Crawford; Osenga; O’Brien; Gall; Kennedy; Davidson (14)

Resolution Authorizing Expenditure Of City Funds Consistent With Fiscal Year 2016/2017

Mayor Epstein: Motion carries. The next item that Elizabeth just brought in, we do have a settlement agreement with Armstrong World Industries on their property tax appeals. Pat is passing out that agreement and, ah, Mr. Bohlen will go over the terms of the agreement. There are financial considerations that the City will have to be making several payments to Armstrong as a rebate on taxes paid, so that certainly will be a consideration for, ah, next year’s budget. Do you want to start?

Attorney Bohlen: Sure. There were two factors in this agreement. As you recall, we had sued Armstrong because they had protested–they had appealed their tax assessment and we sued them because there was a negative effect on the City tax payers as a result of a TIF bond that was still outstanding when the City had borrowed money to assist them to build their improvements on that property. So, we had claimed that that was a breach of the good faith of that agreement, the redevelopment agreement. At the same time, Armstrong had appealed their real estate taxes. Ah, it started in 2006 and had appealed each of the years for ‘06, ‘07, ‘08, ‘09, 2010 and that–the effect of that, the decision from the Property Tax Appeal Board (PTAB) was to incredibly reduce their tax assessment to the point that it went down from about $6 million to about $1.1 million. We mediated–they proposed, we proposed actually a mediation of both the tax assessment appeal and our lawsuit for the purposes of trying to fix the amount of obligation that the City had because when they reduced their taxes, unfortunately, the first year they did was 2006, but that has the effect of causing the City to have to refund money in 2017. That’s because the Property Tax Appeal Board right now is about 11 years behind in making decisions. So, there is a long-term effect. The longer this goes on, the bigger, more jeopardy the City is placed in as the Property Tax Appeal Board looks at, and accepts in this case, Armstrong’s assessment request. So, what we’ve done is enter into an agreement which fixes their assessed valuation, bless you, which fixes their assessed valuation. As you see in page two, we’ve agreed upon an EAV of the property from 2011 through 2020. It also provides that there is a refund for the 2011 through 2015 tax years in the amount $809.031.00. Ah, we have settled on a method by which that’s going to be paid. It’s paid at interest rates that are described on page three and page four over the period from now through 2023. What happens is, when the property tax revenue will come into the City, the City will have to pay out these amounts that are described in this agreement. Ah, this is not a particularly pleasant agreement, but given the tenor of the Property Tax Appeal Board’s results, this at least avoids any future decreases in the property tax EAV of Armstrong. Number one, it avoids any more substantial refunds that we may have to pay immediately without the availability of spreading it out over time, which is what we thought was necessary for the budget purposes and but for.they said.but for our lawsuit, they would not have even come to the mediation table because they knew they were going to win with the PTAB. So, I’m asking–this was a result of a day and a half mediation, a lot of give and take went back and forth. We drew some lines that we said we would not let them cross. They drew some similar lines that they would not let us cross and this is the result of a pretty good mediator doing a pretty good job of trying to come up with a mutually unsatisfactory settlement from both parties. So, based upon that, I am presenting this tonight asking for your approval of this so we can dismiss our lawsuit and they can dismiss their property tax appeals.

Mayor Epstein: Any questions before we ask for an approval? Alderman Baron you looked perturbed.

Alderman Baron: Was this literally their 2006 decision?

Attorney Bohlen: We have the 2006 and the 2007. We had right before the mediation.

Alderman Baron: Indistinguishable

Attorney Bohlen: The mediation was earlier. I think we did it in February of this year.

Alderman Baron: And, any future years would still indistinguishable in terms.

Mayor Epstein: But, it’s fixed though.

Attorney Bohlen: It’s fixed until 2020.

Alderman Baron: But I mean if we did that indistinguishable

Mayor Epstein: That’s right.

Attorney Bohlen: That’s correct.

Alderman Baron: We would still have to deal with starting in 2008 and 2009.

Mayor Epstein: You at least fixed the EAV for a period of time, otherwise you were at risk.

All they would do is continue to do these appeals and if they say that $1.6 million is appropriate, they could have lowered it to $1 million. So at least we have stability for a period of time.

Attorney Bohlen: The irony of this, of Armstrong’s position is that factory is incredibly valuable to them. But, Property Tax Appeal Boards accept appraisals based upon vacant warehouses. So, it has no value except for the space that’s located inside the walls of the building and the comparables literally were vacant warehouses. So, when you think of that in terms of how your own property get appraised for purposes of taxes or loans, that’s how the Property Tax Appeal Board was treating this piece of property. And, we appealed it. We lost, ah, meaning we went to the Appellate Court and we lost and, therefore, from our standpoint, we had to make the best out of a very bad situation.

Mayor Epstein: And, again, it’s important because all this does is shift the burden to the residential property taxpayers because you have a plant of this size paying minimal taxes compared to what the residents pay. So, every time a decision like this is handed down by the PTAB, it only shifts the burden to those who don’t have the opportunity to have this type of representation. So, it’s very painful as well as a budget issue because we will literally have to pay out money to them, ah, over a period of time so that has to be figured into the budget calculations. Alderman Curtis.

Alderman Crawford: indistinguishable 2020

Mayor Epstein: Right.

Attorney Bohlen: Right. And, all of the current appeals are dismissed. And, that’s why we were able to fix the EAV so the Property Tax Appeal Board could not reduce the EAV–cannot under the auspices of this agreement. Mayor Epstein: Alderman Osenga.

Alderman Osenga: On page six of this agreement, it says Bradley School District 61. Does that mean Bradley School District’s going to indistinguishable

Attorney Bohlen: No, Bradley School District has to help pay. They are the school district in which Armstrong is located.

Alderman Osenga: Okay.

Attorney Bohlen: This money is being refunded from the taxing bodies, in particular the ones that have the highest amount of income from this was to have been the City– from the tax assessment–is the City and the Bradley School District.

Mayor Epstein: Alderman O’Brien.

Alderman O’Brien: indistinguishable basis of their appeal is just that their property going down in value?

Attorney Bohlen: The basis of their appeal was that the comparable value of their property was less than $1 million.

Unknown: indistinguishable

Attorney Bohlen: The Property Tax Appeal Board settled, I believe, on $1.1 million. We got ‘em up to $1.725 million and $1.650 million.

Alderman O’Brien: You mentioned comparable it’s based on. That’s not just in Kankakee County. That’s statewide.

Attorney Bohlen: PTAB is doing that on all industrial properties. It’s not a pretty picture anymore.

Mayor Epstein: Any other questions? Alderman Curtis.

Alderman Curtis: Is this their assessed value. Okay. So the market value is three times that indistinguishable

Attorney Bohlen: Right. This is the EAV.

Alderman Curtis: So, it ended up at indistinguishable

Mayor Epstein: Any other questions? Do I have a motion to approve the agreement? Alderman O’Brien: So moved.

Alderwoman Swanson: Second.

Mayor Epstein: Alderman O’Brien, seconded by Alderman Swanson. Any other questions? Roll call.

Clerk Dumas:

Aye: Tetter; Brown; Curtis; Baron; Wells-Armstrong; Tall; Faford; Swanson; Crawford; Osenga; O’Brien; Gall; Kennedy; Davidson (14)

Armstrong Settlement Agreement

Mayor Epstein: Motion carries. Ah, Alderman Brown.

Alderman Brown: I have a question. How many more of these tax appeals are pending?

Attorney Bohlen: There are, I believe, four other companies.four other property owners in which we currently intervened the property tax appeals. One, the biggest one is BASF. Henkle. Which we all used to know as General Mills I guess. That’s another original one. Ah, there is smaller ones, like the Country Club. Ah, can’t think of the other two.

Unknown: Valspar.

Attorney Bohlen: Valspar is settled. Valspar is done.

Mayor Epstein: But, don’t you have pending litigation? Don’t you have indistinguishable

Attorney Bohlen: I do, but I forgot which ones are pending.

Mayor Epstein: Okay. We can get you that, Alderman.

Attorney Bohlen: We’ll get you the other two properties.

Alderman Brown: Well, it’s very important because, wow, that’s a lot of money to pass onto the taxpayers. I mean, that’s.that is huge.

Mayor Epstein: Yes, it is.

Attorney Bohlen: Basically, we passing about $130,000.00 a year to the taxpayers.

Unknown: indistinguishable 2017.

Mayor Epstein: Yes, it does. That’s correct.

Alderman Brown: So, that means besides the budget, we have to find an additional hundred and some thirty thousand dollars.

Mayor Epstein: That’s correct.

Alderman Brown:.in the budget for this.

Attorney Bohlen: And, you will for the next six years. But, it’s better than finding $900,000 this year.

Alderman Brown: Yes, it is.

Mayor Epstein: All right. We had a motion and a second and any other questions? Roll call. Or did we do that? Sorry. All right, we’re done. Before.we have a very extensive Executive Session this evening because Chris is going to review, not just minutes, but all types of pending litigation. So, at this time, I would like to do a presentation to Alderman Davidson. Did you think you were going to get away without something?

Alderman Davidson: I thought it was going to be on the first.

Mayor Epstein: The first will be a lot, so. Alderman. It’s been a pleasure having you on our City Council and working with you. In 2009 we came in together. So, you have been a exemplary Aldermen, well prepared, and you’ve been Chairs of different committees and I appreciate your support and your vision for our community and all of the work that you have done on behalf of your residents, but more importantly, the residents of the City of Kankakee. So, a token of our gratitude.

Alderman Davidson: I don’t have a speech prepared, however, it has been a pleasure for me as well. Ah, coming into this I had no idea what was involved with being an Alderman, but I soon found out. Your residents will let you know immediately what their expectations are which was fine. Ah, I’ve worked with a lot of great people and I’ve acquired more knowledge about City government, you know, than I ever thought I would, so I thank all the people that I’ve work with, the other Aldermen, the Mayor, Corporate Counsel, all the Department Heads. You guys have been fantastic. You know, it’s this open-door policy that’s been there to be able to afford us the opportunity to just, whenever we chose within reason to come to speak with whomever. And, everybody was so forthcoming with whatever information that we needed. So, thank you very much and it’s been a pleasure. But, now I’m retired and I’m looking forward to that part of my life as well, but I’ll still be around. So, if anyone needs anything, ah, call me first.

Mayor Epstein: Before we go into Executive Session, let’s do Public Comments so they don’t have to wait. The first person on the comment sheet is Debra Dodt.

Deborah Dodt: Hi. I’m the Director of Asbury Community Outreach Ministries and I want to tell you about an event that’s coming up in our community that you may want to be part of. And, I’ve got flyers and I don’t know where those go so we’ll just. I’ll just hand them to the guy on my left. Ah, this is Project Homeless Connect and this is an event that we are having in Kankakee on April 27, from 10:00 (a.m.) to 4:00 (p.m.). It’s at Asbury United Methodist Church. There are several agencies working together as a steering committee at the Kankakee County Continuum of Care has put this together. We are replicating a model of a program that is done and has been done since about 2004 in other cities. It started in San Francisco and, ah, has now been replicated in about 300 cities around the country. And, the idea is to bring multiple agencies and businesses together under one roof one day and serve people who are currently or eminently at risk of experiencing homelessness. And, we have a very large number of those in our wider community here. Ah, it’s very difficult when you cannot get around to all the places to get the job, the ID, the social security card, the medical care if you’re on foot and you have to go from place to place to place. It takes such a long time. And, so, the idea is to bring all of those services together one day. A lot of volunteers. Right now, we have 34 agencies or businesses, nine churches, two hospitals and two universities working together to pull this thing together. Ah, we will be serving people on that day, matching people up one on one. If you notice in your flyer, you have a chance–the opportunity to sign up to be a volunteer that day. And, I would encourage some of you to do that if you have the time to do that because you would have the opportunity to be matched one on one with an individual or a family who is experiencing homelessness in our community. Ah, I don’t know if you know this, but the average age of homeless persons in the U.S. is nine. Children. We have a lot of children in our community who are homeless. And, we need to create better systems to.to serve them in our community and work better together as agencies, as communities so that will result out of this as well as getting services to the people and many times–and, I’m just going to plant this idea in your head, many times after this event has happened in a community, a city or county plan is developed to start being.coming up with some creative solutions for the problem of homelessness. So, I urge you to.my contact information is in there. I urge you to come and participate, be part of this. This is your chance to actually learn something about the homeless problem in our community.

Mayor Epstein: Thank you.

Debrorah Dodt: Any questions?

Mayor Epstein: Thank you very much.

Debra Dodt: Thank you.

Mayor Epstein: Bill Yohnka.

Bill Yohnka: First just wanted to say, thank you for everybody who took part in the

ArtSpace visit in Kankakee last week and a reminder that, ah, that was made possible by Kankakee Development Corporation helping out with that as well as the Community Foundation of Kankakee County now serving Iroquois County. I think they want me to mention that. HomeStar as well as the City all partnered in making that program possible. There will be an update for all of you and the other funding organizations as well as the community soon, a preliminary update, just this is what happened. Here is what we did. And, then, ArtSpace themselves will be delivering the final product as the results from that analysis. Ah, secondary, you all have a flyer that was passed out earlier tonight about the Spring Into Action Kankakee Citizen Cleanup. There’s always confusion that it’s the citizens we’re cleaning up. Actually it’s the community that we’re cleaning up, but if you’d like to nominate an individual citizen that’s fine. This was something that was started several years ago because the City, because of budgetary reasons, scaled back on some of the big day where they could just leave anything outside and they’d just come by and pick it up. And, you know, there were a number of citizens who decided, well we can’t.we’ve got to do something to show that we really do care about, ah, the way our community appears and it’s amazing what can be done in one morning. And, there is definitely a lot of trash that gets picked up that fills an entire dump truck on Saturday. That starts at 9:00 (a.m.). And then, of course, the Farmers Market opens the following weekend. Thanks.

Mayor Epstein: Thank you. The last two items, Major Heaver and Michael Swanson.

Major Heaver: Good evening. I’m Major Michele Heaver, Officer in charge of the Salvation

Army here in Kankakee and this is Michael Swanson. He is our Divisional Social Service Director out of our Peoria office. We ‘re here this evening to officially, ah, inform all of you that due to a significant reduction in our HUD funding for our men’s shelter we have had to make a difficult decision that our shelter will close the end of July. We are right now working with other social service agencies and stakeholders to develop a plan of how we can continue to meet the needs of those who will be affected by this closure. I do have a few copies of a news bulletin that was put out last week I can leave with you if you need any more, I can certainly provide you with more. Any questions for us?

Alderman Brown: What agencies are working with you? Can you name ‘em?

Major Heaver Well, we’re.we’re just currently getting all the word out. We’re working with a continuum of care, we’re working with United Way. We are.I sent to them a whole list of stakeholders that we are going to try to pull together a group of people that we can develop a formal plan of moving forward.

Alderman Brown: They having the same funding problem that you havin’ though aren’t they?

Major Heaver: Yes.

Alderman Brown: So, really, they.they can’t go very far with the funding they have either so technically speaking these people from the shelter, it’s gonna’ hurt a lot of people ‘cause a lot of people gonna’ be outside. So, jail’s gonna become full.

Major Heaver: Well one thing we’re looking at is, ah, working with other agencies and churches in the community. And, possibly putting together a PADS program that in the coldest month of the year, we can at least provide some very basic overnight housing to get individuals off the street and into a warm place.

Alderman Tetter: Ma’am, how many people do you serve?

Major Heaver: Right now we’re housing about 13 men each night.

Alderman Tetter: Thirteen a night.

Major Heaver: Yes, and, we are currently working with those who are in our shelter between now and the end of July to get them into permanent housing. So we want to avoid.tonight’s your last night, you’re out on the street. We’re working with them right now in a transitional plan.

Alderwoman Kennedy: Just wondering. How much money are we talking when you talk about losing the funding for the men’s shelter?

Major Heaver: Our HUD grant was reduced $74,000.00. HUD is changing their emphasis in funding from–and Mike can certainly comment on this–from emergency sheltering to permits for housing. Housing first, placing individuals in more permanent housing.

Michael Swanson: If I may.

Major Heaver: Um huh (affirmative).

Michael Swanson: To that, Kankakee much like a lot of other communities throughout central Illinois–that’s our footprint is central Illinois and eastern Iowa is the heartland division. And, to that a lot of communities are facing this. From a federal funding perspective, ah, research is showing that, ah, housing people temporary, housing people in their emergency does not produce long-lasting results. Ah, getting at the root of problems, developing the network of community infrastructure that we heard two guests ago, is truly the type of forward thinking approach that each and every community needs to invest in to have a long-term sustainable plan for very real violence that comes along with poverty and homelessness. And, mental illness. And undereducation and under- employment. This is not purely a housing issue, but as we stand in front of you, the housing component is certainly a very hot piece of this issue for our clients. Ah, for these community members, these citizens, ah, and for each member of this community. So, as an agency, we want to be upfront, and as forward in front of this issue as we can be with everyone who can do anything about it.

Mayor Epstein: Alderman Baron.

Alderman Baron: What’s the average.do you know what the average length of stay is in the facility?

Michael Swanson: Thirteen.

Major Heaver: It can be, ah, nine months.not nine months. Ninety days, ah, however in their goal setting, that can be extended if they’re working on their goals, we haven’t quite accomplished all the goals, that can be extended to help them to continue.

Alderman Baron: So you’re saying up to ninety days, but it can.

Major Heaver: It can be extended.

Alderman Baron: But, does that turn out to be the average?

Major Heaver: Fairly.

Alderman Baron: Thank you.

Alderwoman Wells-Armstrong: Are any of them veterans?

Major Heaver: That I can’t answer, but we do have resources to refer them to veteran services.

Alderwoman Wells-Armstrong: Okay.

Michael Swanson: We.we.and we don’t have the contract here, but the Salvation

Army links with who has the contract for this area. It’s called Supportive Services for Veterans and Families which is very, housing first and really targeted at bringing the functional level of veteran homelessness to zero. Anyone who’s willing to engage in being housed, is immediately and rapidly housed in sustainable housing. It’s a good question.

Mayor Epstein: Any other questions?

Alderman O’Brien: Women and children still have indistinguishable

Michael Swanson: Yes.

Mayor Epstein: Alderman Brown.

Alderman Brown: I don’t know if people is aware, but we send 300 and some people to the Illinois Department of Corrections a year. Maybe less, but we return 700-800 people back into this community and a lot of time in their transition they stay at the Salvation Army for a period to time ‘til they can find housing. So, what you got now for those males that’s comin’ back from the Illinois Department of Corrections, they gonna’ be out in the street and I guarantee they not gonna’ be stayin’ under the bridge. All of them can’t fit up under that bridge. So, what you gonna’ have in your community, whether you believe it or not, if you have a activity for bringin’ ‘em into boarded houses and all that, that’s what’s gonna’ be the effect of this.

Michael Swanson: I would say to that, one of the things that we want to really frame in this is that we, any community, does and will pay for homelessness. And, the question is, how will you pay for it? Ah, and will you pay for it in jails and emergency rooms or will you pay for it in a cheaper way that dignifies people a little more in their choice to be sustainable in their skill sets. So, that’s a great point.

Mayor Epstein: Any other questions? Okay. Thank you very much.

Michael Swanson: Thank you very much.

Mayor Epstein: Before we go into Executive Session I have a couple of comments I’d like to make. This is my last full City Council meeting. Ah, the next Council meeting belongs to the incoming administration as it should and so I would like to make just a couple of remarks. Eight years ago I began my tenure as Mayor of Kankakee. The time has gone very quickly. It has been an experience that I will never forget. Each day brought new challenges, new issues that needed to be faced and most importantly, residents who needed our help in a variety of ways. We have made improvements to the quality of life in our community. We have added new development. We’ve brought new residents into the City and we have kept the City financially sound. I want to thank my Department Heads for their years of service to our residents. They are an exemplary group of individuals, accomplished and skilled at what they do. It was important to me that we hire the best and the brightest for these positions because they are truly the backbone of the City. I want to thank Anjanita. Our two offices worked incredibly cooperatively together and we are fortunate to have a very dedicated and competent City Clerk. I want to thank the Aldermen for sharing the vision we had for a better Kankakee. There were difficult decisions that needed to be made, but working together we have kept the City strong. My hope is that you will continue to be vigilant with regards to the finances and continue the high standards we have implemented for many of our departments, especially for our Police Department through the CALEA accreditation process. Although we have made great progress in the City, there is much that needs to be done. I offer my sincere congratulations to Mayor-Elect Wells-Armstrong. I wish her the best of luck as she begins the daunting task of running this City we all call home. I was left a strong foundation by Mayor Green and I am leaving the City better than I found it. I wish the same for the incoming administration. It has been an honor to serve all of you these past eight years. I will miss the people that I worked with each and every day, but I do look forward to spending more time with my family and I certainly look forward to less stress.

So, thank you, it’s been a pleasure and, ah, let’s just continue. Applause Thank you. That was very kind. We do need an Executive Session, so I do need a motion to go into Executive Session. There will be action resulting from the Executive Session so we will reconvene. Do I have a motion?

Alderman O’Brien: So moved.

Mayor Epstein: Alderman O’Brien.

Alderwoman Gall: I’ll second.

Mayor Epstein: Seconded Alderman Gall. All those. Attorney Bohlen: For clarification, we are going in to discuss the purchase of real estate.

Mayor Epstein: Okay.

Alderman Brown: Say it again, Chris. We didn’t hear you.

Attorney Bohlen: Possible purchase of real estate and to discuss pending litigation through the report of the Corporation Counsel.

Mayor Epstein: Okay. We have a motion and a second. All those in favor, aye.

Motion To Go Into Executive Session

Mayor Epstein: Okay. We are adjourned to Executive Session.

Mayor Epstein: Okay, we are back in Open Session. Do I have a motion to approve the purchase of the property that I refer to as the Kan Weld property, but that’s not the accurate name.

Attorney Bohlen: It’s Kan Weld.

Mayor Epstein: Kan Weld property.

Attorney Bohlen: It’s owned by indistinguishable (Brorse?) investment group.

Mayor Epstein: In the amount of $140,000.00.

Alderman Tall: So moved.

Attorney Bohlen: About $200,000.00. There was $60.00 donation.

Mayor Epstein: $200,000.00 with a $60,000.00 donation back to the City of Kankakee. Motion by Alderman Tall.

Alderwoman Wells-Armstrong: Second.

Mayor Epstein: Seconded by Alderwoman Wells-Armstrong. Is there any discussion? Roll call.

Clerk Dumas:

Aye: Tetter; Brown; Curtis; Baron; Wells-Armstrong; Tall; Faford; Swanson; Crawford; Osenga; O’Brien; Gall; Kennedy; Davidson (14)

Agreement To Purchase Kan Weld Property Located Between Station And Merchant Streets Adjacent To The Kankakee River

Mayor Epstein: Motion carries. A motion to adjourn.

Alderwoman Swanson: Wait, Mayor.

Mayor Epstein: I’m sorry.

Alderwoman Swanson: I’ve got an Aldermen comment.

Mayor Epstein: Oh, I’m sorry. Okay.

Alderwoman Swanson: I’d just like to say that we were going to have an Ordinance

Committee meeting next Tuesday to discuss the Sign Ordinance but it’s not ready obviously, so there will be no need to have an Ordinance Committee next Tuesday, so it’s canceled.

Mayor Epstein: Okay. Alderman Curtis.

Alderman Curtis: I also.I apologize, I need to cancel Economic Development forgot

I’m at a conference next week. So.

Mayor Epstein: Alderman Tall.

Alderman Tall: And, I didn’t cancel the Code meeting.

Alderwoman Wells-Armstrong: Mike do we have anything for Housing?

Alderman O’Brien: No, there’s nothing for this month with Housing.

Alderwoman Wells-Armstrong: Okay, thank you.

Mayor Epstein: Okay. Any other comments? Okay, now motion to adjourn.

Alderwoman Swanson: So moved.

Mayor Epstein: Motion by Alderman Swanson.

Alderwoman Wells-Armstrong: Second.

Mayor Epstein: Seconded by Alderwoman Wells-Armstrong. All those in favor, aye. Opposed.

Motion To Adjourn City Council Meeting

Mayor Epstein: We are adjourned.

8:12 p.m.

http://www.citykankakee-il.com/City%20Council%20Minutes/ccm2017/04-17-17.MIN.pdf