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Kankakee Times

Friday, March 29, 2024

City of Kankakee City Council met August 21.

Meeting240

City of Kankakee City Council met August 21.

Here is the minutes provided by the Council:

Mayor Wells-Armstrong:

Good evening I'd like to call the meeting to order.

We have prayer from Pastor Mike Quimby From Limestone Community Church Of The Nazarene

Pastor Mike Quimby:

Good evening, Scripture tells us that I have placed an open door before you that no one can shut. It is true in the scriptures but it is also true what God has put before you all. This is an exciting meeting. my first one, I’m very impressed. Heavenly Father I just pray that you will be with this crowd of people. You will be with each one and you will direct our discretions, our considerations, practice to serve the people in the best way that we can that will bring unity and peace and leadership to our community. Thank you for this evening and just anoint us with your presence. In Jesus name, we pray. Amen.

Mayor Wells-Armstrong:

Thank you, Pastor Quimby. Next, we have, Pledge Of Allegiance – Kankakee Fire Chief Damon Schuldt And Nicole Schuldt Of Kankakee Community College Next, On The Agenda, Moving On To Public Comments.

Public Comments – Please give your name and direct your comments to the Mayor. Comments are limited to five minutes.

Mayor Wells-Armstrong: Our first person is Joanne Ford Box

Joanne Ford Box:

Good evening Council, I was down here with some of the Alderman 16 years. My constituents still call to complain. I’m here tonight represent a lot of my constituents. They would like for us to let the Mayor have her pick. She is the one that has to work with him. I still live here. So I hope this council will not tie her hands. I still live here, I still have a contact with a lot of people and I still want what’s right. I thank you.

Mayor Wells-Armstrong:

Thank you, next speaker is Priscilla Stampley.

Priscilla Stampley:

Good evening, I am a resident of the sixth ward. My Alderman is Dennis Baron, and Chris Curtis. And I do know a lot of the other Alderman and Alderwoman on the Council. I support what Mary Ford Box just said. I come in and support of the new acting police and fire chief. I don’t personally know the Fire Chief. But I have had contact with acting Chief Price Dumas. On numerous occasions, I have seen him out at Pioneer Park talking to young people. There was a time when people would not even be in Pioneer Park, that is how afraid they had gotten. But I see a change coming in Kankakee. I saw him at the Back to School Bash talking to parents and students. I saw him at the Merchant Street Fest interacting with people. And just a couple of weeks ago I have a friend that lives in Marycrest. She called the Police Department to make a complaint about some drug activity going on in her neighborhood. And she said to her surprise Acting Chief Price Dumas came to her front door. He told her that he was just as concerned as she was. She said that there have been more Police Officers riding through her area. She says that she feels safer and can sleep at night. And then last, I was also at a candlelight vigil for a 13-year-old that died a couple of years ago. I was just really impressed with the Mayor showing up, with Chief Dumas showing up and Deputy Chief Hunt showing up. And it just shows us that the City is trying to go in a new direction. I just ask that all of you do support Mayor Armstrong. Now when I voted for her I put my trust in her. Will she make mistakes maybe? But haven’t past administrations made mistakes? So let’s just get behind her and try to support her. And I do support the nominees tonight.

Mayor Wells-Armstrong:

Thank you, next we have Harry Mitchell.

Harry Mitchell:

(Inaudible; Talking To Quite Not In The MIC)

Good evening Mayor. My name is Harry Mitchell and I live at 1939 (Inaudible). We have a problem is that we have a land developer and he is not cutting grass per protocol. His name is (Inaudible) What is happening is he has not cut the grass in the last month per the last administrator. We have raccoons, Coyotes, and all kinds of creatures coming out of the grass. The grass is only supposed to be 6 inches high. The grass is 24 to 48 inches high. And he has about 50 acres of grass to cut. I do not know who contracted the man. He only has one tractor. One tractor can’t cut 50 acres the way it is supposed to. I have my neighbors here Mr. Grimes and Mr. Dee. They can validate what I say.

Mayor Wells-Armstrong:

Thank you, Mr. Mitchell. Brian Scott.

Brian Scott:

(No MIC Inaudible)

Good evening Mayor, City Council, Mayor, as you are all aware I am here to speak to Chief Dumas appointment tonight. (Inaudible) Mayor stated that she would expand her search. And she has also said that she would look into going through a process of the entity Illinois Chief Association. An ordinance was also subsequently proposed and ultimately tabled to limit that type of power to give the Mayor a chance to follow through with her statements that she was going to expand the search. Now two months later despite the Mayor’s statements here we stand with Chief Dumas before you again for this nomination and no search has been done. As Alderman, I believe you owe it to the citizens of this community to hold the Mayor to those statements. You all have taken previous stances on this issue. Based on a set of facts that have not changed up to this point. The City deserves the best Chief based on experience and creativity to solve all of the issues facing this community. Voting yes on Chief Dumas tonight warrants the Mayor for not following through and does a disservice to this community by ensuring a process to identify the best possible candidate is not done. Thank you

Mayor Wells-Armstrong:

Thank you, Mr. Scott. Robert S, Ellington Snipes.

Robert Ellington Snipes:

Madam Mayor, distinguished. members of the Council, Reading glasses. I am going to be like JLO said to her last husband I will not keep you long. Tonight, I do not come as a politician, tonight I do not come as a preacher, tonight I do not come as an advocate of the people, tonight I come as a citizen, taxpayer, and registered voter of this city. I am disturbed by the fact that since May 1, 2017, at 7:00 P.M. in this Council Chambers, the leadership of the City of Kankakee is divided. Not along party lines, not along racial lines, not along gender lines. Not even along the lines of homo or heterosexuality. But rather along the lines of ego-tripping. To continue along this line is true vanity. How can we expect harmony amongst our community, if there is no harmony amongst our government? Ladies and Gentleman of our City Council which is inclusive even of our Mayor. It’s time to bury your hatchets and move this City forward. The safety of our City is more important than your individual egos, and the ungrateful government is an act of nepotism to the very people that placed you into the (inaudible) to represent them. I invented an acronym that will later become a word. That is G-O-I-M-O Get over it and move on. Abraham Lincoln said The legitimate object of government is the community of people whatever they need to have done but cannot do at all or cannot so well do for themselves separate and individual capacity. Thomas (Inaudible) said like this “that is the best government which decides to make the people happy and knows how to make them happy. The bickering and fighting must stop as the citizens of this City file a nuisance complaint against you and fine you $500.00 a day to get your act together. In closing, Mahndi Gandi said “I can retain neither respect or fission for a government which has been moving Rome to Rome in order to defend its immorality. It’ time to move the City forward, for the safety of our children, for the safety of our senior citizens, and even more important or just as important for the safety and sacred of our City. G-O-I-M-O, G-O-I-M-O, G-O-I-M-O, Get Over It And Move On

Mayor Wells-Armstrong:

Thank you, Mr. Ellington Snipes, Sarah Jones

Sarah Jones:

Good evening Madam Mayor and City Council, I come tonight as a citizen of Kankakee County. I am a citizen of the first ward. I support you, Mayor, I voted for you. I have sat back quietly and watched as Robert said the different games that are being played. We are not going to sit back and let you do her like they did Obama. I am not going to sit here silent. It is time for a change. It’s time to come together as a city so that we can grow. I’m tired of playing all my money in taxes and do not have anywhere to spend it but in Bradley and Bourbonnais. I hope you will stand behind the Mayor for the sake of everyone. Allow her to do her job, support her, cause y’all took an oath to the people. There will be another election day. We are not silently going to take this. So, thank you for the opportunity. I hope I don’t have to come back.

Mayor Wells-Armstrong:

Thank you Ms.Jones. James Hill.

James Hill:

Good evening, I am James Hill and I love everyone first of all. No matter race, religion or creed. I am a resident of the 1st ward. The residents of Kankakee elected the Mayor and we should get behind her 100%. No matter if we disagree or dislike the person appointed to the positions or whatever. I do not know how that works or the council works but in our deepest part of our heart of hearts, we should be 100% integrated and united as one. We have over 320 million people in the U.S. and we are in the small City of 30,000 in Kankakee Illinois. So at the least, we can be united as one and get behind her no matter if we dislike who she appointed or not we can get behind her and say you know what we are going to give it a try. We can be ground zero for a movement throughout. It’s easy to come in here and smile and be united but we have to do it together as a team. We are going to have to get behind her and give it a chance. I’m from the community. Because no matter what happened yesterday, last year, we are right here now. I do not know the Fire Chief. (Hi, how are you doing) I am from the community, when I was younger I got into a little trouble but I am proud to say that I am a productive citizen of the community. I’ve seen Price Dumas out in the public interacting with people on a day to day basis. I’ve seen him approach people when he might have thought something was wrong about a situation or whatever the case may be. Everything is not going to be perfect. Our households, our families do not always be perfect but we got to make some type of effort to make it work. If we do not work together we are going to be back peddling to the days that we use to be. You on this side of the street and you on this side of the street. The only thing we can do is be a movement for our country. No matter what the bubble has going on the outside of us. Each one of us helps to help one and I do not know where it has been lost at but somewhere down the lines, it has. But somewhere down the line, we have to find a way to bring it together it’s like crumbling a cookie in your hand, pieces everywhere. Everybody behind closed doors being divided. The only way we are going to be happy is if you are independent, democrat, republican we are all the same people. We were all born one day and die in one day. It is up to the Mayor to work with whoever the independents, republicans, the democrats. Everybody has to agree. She has elected who she elected, we do not know if they are the perfect people for the job, we at least got to give it some type of a chance, because the residents elected her. Thank you all.

Mayor Wells-Armstrong:

Thank you, Mr. Hill. Billie Burrell

Billie Burrell:

(Inaudible) I come and thank you. I’m not a voter in the city of Kankakee, However, I have a business in the city of Kankakee. It was just a couple of years ago that I was here speaking on the behalf of Officer Hunt. Speaking to the council as to why they would not make him a Lieutenant. I come on behalf of not as Lieutenant Hunt but for acting Chief Dumas. I did not know him and did not think of him in terms of being the Police Chief. I must tell you I thought of Lieutenant Hunt as that option. However, as a person in business and what has to take the responsibility of what happens in my business, I then look at our Mayor at what happens and what goes wrong and what goes right in this city. The buck stops there. Not there, Not there, Not anywhere else but Mayor Chasity Wells-Armstrong. I talked to several Alderman, women, and men and thought they had great answers for me as to why they voted one way or another I understood their positions. However, I will take this position. She was elected to head this city, she was elected to direct this city, with your council. Give her the opportunity to do her job as she sees fit. I do not know why she chose Chief Dumas but I respect her enough to believe that she has the ability to make decisions to bring the best thing to Kankakee, to do the best job for Kankakee for us. So let’s give her that opportunity. I thank you so much and have a good evening.

Mayor Wells-Armstrong:

Thank you, Ms. Burrell. Jake Lee

Jake Lee:

Good evening Mayor, Council citizens of Kankakee, I come as a resident in the sixth ward. My two honorable Alderman are here. Just talking first of all on the behalf of the appointees tonight. Damon, I know quite well and I am very pleased to see that appointment. I’d like to congratulate him. Also on our Police Chief Price Dumas, I did not know Price until a few weeks ago we met several times at several events that we have been at together. My thoughts are very simple as I have heard the comments and kind of curtail what I was going to say, so I decided to go in a little different direction. Our community needs stability, it needs confidence, from the electorate in our government. That we are going to provide the leadership necessary in order to move our community forward. I am a father of two little girls that live with me. Sometimes we hear gunshots in our community in the sixth ward. The type of future for our children is what often bothers me. Lee Iacocca once said as I look at the twilight, as I enter into the twilight years of my life, I look back and try to figure out what is was really all about. I still do not know what is meant by good fortune, I know that fame and power are for the birds. But then life suddenly comes into focus and there stand my children and I love them. Maybe that is what life is really about. As you deliberate on whether or not to confirm our interim Chief I would I’d like to submit to council tonight that you would consider that fate rarely falls on us. In an hour of our choosing and a way of our liking, or in a time that is convenient for us. Now we have the opportunity. Many of you know my political leanings. The person who was a part of my party did not win this election and the new Mayor that we have has made a decision. That I as a citizen of Kankakee am going to support and urge this council to support it as well. Thank you.

Mayor Wells-Armstrong:

Thank you, Mr. Lee. Travis Miller

Travis Miller:

Given the highly unusual delay in providing City Council consent in the appointment of a permanent Kankakee Police Chief, Mr. Price Dumas, I am here to make an inquiry of this City’s Leadership.

I am a proud law abiding citizen of the City of Kankakee. My life here is guided by both the state statutes as well as the various Kankakee Municipal Ordinances, but principally by the notion of knowing right from wrong.

I am therefore confused as to why the City Council refuses to follow the same laws and ordinances that each of you, in front of witnesses, swore to uphold.

As I am sure you are aware, according to both Kankakee City Ordinance and supported by State the Statute, the Mayor, and the Mayor alone appoints the Kankakee Police Chief.

As I tried to understand the basis for the Chief’s confirmation hold up, I began to search for any reasons in the law that would keep the appointment from proceeding. I discovered that the law had not been changed or amended and that this Mayor is compelled to govern in the same manner as the law requires, which was the case in the past for other Mayors who proceeded her

I further discovered, that contrary to statements made by members of this body, I could find no rule, no statute, nor any legally required duty, to follow an alternative “Chief selection process” other than the one outlined in both existing state laws and Kankakee City ordinances which this body has followed for more than 5 decades.

The City’s Municipal Code simply reads:

In Chapter 27, Article I, Sec. 27 57., Which covers Chief of Police Appointments, that the Chief of Police Shall be appointed by the Mayor, by and with the advice and consent of the City Council.

That’s it.

This Ordinance has been the guideline Ordinance used in our City’s Municipal Code since at least 1965. In the Municipal Code, there is No mention of Any different or special process beyond this language I just read. If it was the intent to do so then perhaps it should be reflected in the law. It is not.

This is further supported by the Illinois Compiled Statutes

(65 ILCS 5/10-2.1-4) (from Ch. 24, par. 10-2.1-4)

Sec. 10-2.1-4.

Which covers Fire and police department Appointments

This Section Reads in part:

If the chief of the fire department or the chief of the police department or both of them are appointed in the manner provided by ordinance, they may be removed or discharged by the appointing authority.

If I read the statute correctly that means the Mayor appoints and the Mayor (the appointing authority) can discharge.

Again no mention of any alternative Chief selection process which would compel any member of the City Council to fail to support the Mayor’s Appointment as is the law and the custom.

Our city is at a critical juncture. We as citizens have demonstrated, by our presence here tonight and every night you have convened, our concern and overwhelming support of our Mayor, Our City Council, and the laws of Our City, State, and Nation.

Now is not the time to establish a double standard, one for former Mayors and a new standard for this Mayor. Follow the ordinance and the Statutes. You swore to uphold them both, now is not the time to make up rules as we go because you are disappointed about election results. Please Govern. The election is over.

Follow the Ordinances of our City and the Laws of our State and give your consent to the Mayor’s Appointment of Our Chief of Police, Price Dumas

Mayor Wells-Armstrong: Thank you, roll call

Clerk Dumas:

Tetter; Brown; Curtis; Baron; Lewis; Tall; Faford; Swanson; Crawford; Osenga; O’Brien; Gall; Malone-Marshall, Kennedy (14)

Mayor Wells-Armstrong: Department heads

Clerk Dumas:

Dumas; Schuldt; Kubal; Power; Simms; Piggush; Cross; Bertrand; Nelson; Schmitz; Costanza Thank you

Mayor Wells-Armstrong:

May I have a motion to approve the City Council meeting minutes of August 7, 2017.

Alderman Tetter: So moved

Alderwoman Malone-Marshall: Second

Mayor Wells-Armstrong:

Motion made by Alderman Tetter Seconded by Alderwoman Malone-Marshall

Does anyone have any corrections, comments or concerns?

Hearing none all in favor Aye. Opposed same sign. Motion carries.

Mayor Wells-Armstrong:

Minutes are approved. There are no petitions we have none. Moving onto communications

Communications

A) Presentation By Kankakee Police Chief Dumas Regarding The Amber Alert System (Information Only)

Price Dumas:

I’d like to say good evening to the Council, Mayor, the citizens of Kankakee In case anyone was wondering I am Price Dumas interim Chief of Police. I sit quietly so probably a lot of people do not know who I am. Like the Mayor said a couple of weeks ago we had a missing juvenile. I guess it went out that the Police Department did not do their job or they wanted to know why there was not an Amber Alert put out. The situation was that we had a missing juvenile and we did what we were supposed to do which was take a report. Then we had some information come on later that evening that she was possibly abducted by somebody in a white vehicle. Which we did follow up on that also. We went through the state on that which has an intelligence center. So we followed up located the car and the child was not there. So a lot of people feel like there should have been an Amber Alert. Amber Alert is when you have an abduction, intimate danger or people do not like to hear this but the possibility of death. We did not have that type of situation. All we had which is not less, we had a missing juvenile that we did everything we were supposed to do. There was no reason for an Amber Alert. And if anybody would like to know what the Amber Alerts says you can go to www.amber alert and look at the criteria. The criteria like we said intimate danger or death. The child must be under 17 years old, we have to believe they were kidnapped, could die. There was not a reason for an Amber Alert. It says in the policy if you read it in full If we misuse it weakens what it is for. The Police department did everything we were supposed to do and followed up on all the leads. Later that day the Aunt that reported her missing, the juvenile and her mother, and another relative all game to my office and we took her out of the system. Everything was fine. Thank you.

Mayor Wells-Armstrong:

Thank you, Chief, and I would like to commend the Police department they did a great job. I was in a constant contact with them as soon as I became aware of the situation. So we had open communication and they were following up on every lead that they received. Thank you to all the City Police. Next items on the agenda, if there are no objections I would like to make a motion to combine items B, C, D, E, F, and G.

B) Kankakee School District 111 Is Requesting Permission To Host Their Annual “Kankakee High School Homecoming Parade And Pep Rally” On Friday, October 6, 2017, From 12:00 p.m. until 1:30 p.m. (Please See Attachment For Parade Route)

C) Kankakee Eastside Junior Football League Is Requesting Permission To Host Their Annual “Homecoming Parade” On Saturday, September 9, 2017, Beginning At 10:00 a.m. (Please See Attachment For Parade Route)

D) The Knights Of Columbus Is Requesting Permission To Host Their Annual “Tootsie Roll Day” Tag Day On Saturday, September 30, 2017 With A Rain Date Of Saturday, October 7, 2017

E) Power Of Christ Church Is Requesting Street Closure Of North Myrtle Street To The Alley Next To The Church On Sunday, August 26, 2017, From 11:00 a.m. until 5:00 p.m.

Do I Have A Motion To Approve?

Alderwoman Kennedy: So Moved

Alderman O'brien: Second

Mayor Wells-Armstrong:

Motion by Alderwoman Kennedy, Seconded by Alderman O’Brien. Any discussion? All in favor; opposed; same sign Motion carries.

Mayor Wells-Armstrong:

Moving onto Standing Committee Reports.

A) Economic Development – July 27, 2017

Alderman Tetter:

Good evening your honor. The committee met on July 27, 2017, The topic of discussion was a business that relocated to the city. (Inaudible) The committee along with the director community development agency looked at all the incentives that we can offer. We are going to dispose of that at the next meeting. The other topic of concern was a resident came forward and expressed concern about being able to rent the area where our with MusicFest is held. I wanted our committee to hear from the gentleman as well. That gentleman will be returning to our committee. So we will be having our committee meeting Thursday. To dispose of the pending verdict. That is all I have at this time. Thank you.

Mayor Wells-Armstrong:

Thank you, Alderman Tetter. Next, we have our public safety report and that will be Alderman Brown.

B) Public Safety – August 8, 2017

Alderman Brown:

(Inaudible No MIC)

Next month there will be no meeting. If you look on page 2 overtime is down. We broke that down in comparison from 2016 which at that time overtime was $28,157.63. So the overtime from the two years has gone down $14,344.28. The break down from some of that is that they relocated some of the officers-reassigned. They have 11 officers that are juvenile trained plus the 2 Chiefs are juvenile trained. So what they did was reassign the juvenile officers because they will go on pay call and to eliminate that will not have to pay overtime. They also reassigned people to the traffic division. They had a few officers with the shortage that would fill in as a supervisor, as a result, they cost effectively relocated the overtime. As a result, 31 tickets in June with the allocation of the manpower, citations went up to 80 in July. In June also there was one seizure for $500.00 and in July because of the allocation of manpower it went up to 3. Shootings are up but some of the officers did ask for maps of those areas. So Chief Dumas already has that information and that will be simulated to some of the Alderman

On the fire side, they have two sets of bills. One bill was $22,719.58 that was ambulance and cell phone. The bill went down, (Inaudible) rental fees for Schuyler Avenue that was missed that month. The five-inch fire hose that is supposed to be replaced every year. Engine A & B service. They are down 2 firefighters and will be down 3 by the end of this month. They transfer one shift to another to make (Inaudible) over time. The second bill was the highest because they had $38,558.51 the highlight of that bill was because of the insurance they took out on the new Ambulance. It’s an eight-year coverage on the ambulance for 125,000 miles and that has never been done before. (Inaudible) And that was on the fire side. And I can tell you this, the third part of this, we did a presentation to the 911 board. With the Kan-Com system and Kevin McGovern and Tammy Peterson, you know this center opened October 2002 when the dispatch centers combined. Bourbonnais closed their center in 2016 so now they do a joint dispatch for all the counties, and they do have a designated staff for Kankakee Police and Fire. They have a designated staff for County Police and Fire as well. Bourbonnais Police and Fire, as well as Sheriff Police Department. (Inaudible) July 1, 2017. They do a 24/7 operation; they use software that will (Inaudible). They take 159 911 calls daily. 80% of those calls are wireless callers. They have numerous questions answered in the reports. So I am hoping that everybody gets a chance to read this because it was (Inaudible) Then I want to thank Chief Schuldt for bringing the ambulance and showing us how the ambulance works. All of that was very informative. And that is my report.

Mayor Wells-Armstrong:

Thank you, Alderman Brown. Next, we have License and Franchise and that will be given by Alderwoman Stacey Gall.

C) License And Franchise – August 10, 2017

Stacey Gall:

(Inaudible No MIC)

Mayor Wells-Armstrong:

Thank you, Alderwoman Gall. Finally, we have Budget Report given by Alderman Dennis Baron.

D) Budget – August 14, 2017

Alderman Baron:

Thank you, Mayor. We met at our regular scheduled time August 14, 2017, at 5:30. We reviewed the first quarter May, June, and July the numbers that we have had. The revenue we were at 25.79% of the budget. Basically, we are right on target. Expenditures we are 29.04% of the budget. Our comptroller told us that actually for the end of the first quarter that is right on the line. That the budget structurally is higher the first quarter. That is including the fact that the Police and Fire pensions are funded during that quarter and of course that is a big ticket item. And additionally, for this quarter, there had been a number of retirements in May of 2017 which is expensive in terms of the budget. One of the things that did not contribute to the increase of the budget was police and fire overtime. As Alderman Brown explained to us there in line and that was echoed by Comptroller Kubal at the meeting. Those are the numbers we are on target for the first quarter. The rest of the meeting was spent considering KCCVB to ask the city to enter into an agreement with the village of Bradley, the village of Bourbonnais, village of Aroma Park and Kankakee County along with the city of Momence the features of which the adoption of the IMRF which would be sort of a new thing for an agency of that sort. We had a lengthy discussion and there were certain requests made. The attorney for the organization was there. The requests made, there was a response to that. Segway to the next part of the presentation. That will be discussed at our next meeting. Which is an expanded version of the budget committee? That is going to take place on 9/11. That may not be too good. September 11, 2017, at 5:30, it will be in the council chambers. We will be covering a number of things. That’s one and the other items are we will be having a presentation concerning the pension funding. The fire and police funding which of course are the two major topics affecting our city and the budget. As well as covering suggestions on increasing revenue. Always an interesting topic. Those are three-time consuming topics at our next meeting. So I would encourage everybody to be there. There will be food. Thank you.

Mayor Wells-Armstrong.

Thank you, Alderwoman Baron. At this time, I would like a motion to approve payment of the bills.

Alderman Faford:

I would move that we approve the report of officers; place the money in the proper accounts and pay the bills in the amount of $561,931.44

Alderman Faford: So moved

Alderman Tall: Second

Mayor Wells-Armstrong:

Roll Call

Clerk Dumas:

Tetter; Brown; Curtis; Baron (Abstain On Check #72322); Lewis; Tall; Faford; Swanson; Crawford; Osenga; O'brien; Gall (Abstain On Check #1057); Malone-Marshall, Kennedy (14)

Mayor Wells-Armstrong:

Motion carries. We have no unfinished business. Moving onto new business. Alderwoman Swanson, did you have an update for us?

Mayor Wells-Armstrong:

Under new business,

A) Ordinance Amending Chapter 32, Section 231 Entitled “Handicapped Parking” Of The Municipal Code Of The City Of Kankakee Handicapped Parking Space Established At 947 South Fourth Avenue.

Alderwoman Swanson:

Can we remove item 12-A at this time? They have the wrong address listed on there and I want to get it corrected for our next meeting if I could.

Mayor Wells-Armstrong:

Thank you, we are going to remove 12-A due to a wrong address. Moving on to item 12-B

B) Ordinance Amending Chapter 32, Section 231 Entitled “Handicapped Parking” Of The Municipal Code Of The City Of Kankakee Handicapped Parking Space Established At 1710 West Hickory Street

Mayor Wells-Armstrong:

May I have a motion to suspend the rules that would interfere with the passage of the ordinance?

Alderman Crawford: So moved

Alderwoman Malone-Marshall: Second

Mayor Wells-Armstrong:

Motion made by Alderman Crawford, Seconded by Alderwoman Malone-Marshall. Roll Call

Clerk Dumas:

Tetter; Brown; Curtis; Baron; Lewis; Tall; Faford; Swanson; Crawford; Osenga; O'Brien; Gall; Malone-Marshall, Kennedy (14)

Mayor Wells-Armstrong:

Motion Carries.

May I have motion for final passage

Alderman Crawford: So moved

Alderman Osenga: Second

Mayor Wells-Armstrong:

Motion made by Alderman Crawford, Seconded by Alderman Osenga. Is there any discussion, questions, or concerns?

Roll Call

Clerk Dumas: Tetter; Brown; Curtis; Baron; Lewis; Tall; Faford; Swanson; Crawford; Osenga; O'Brien; Gall; Malone-Marshall, Kennedy (14)

Mayor Wells-Armstrong:

Motion Carries

C) Recommendation To Award The Contract In The Amount Of $594,721.50 To Kankakee Valley Construction Company Inc. For The City Of Kankakee 2017 Motor Fuel Tax Street Maintenance Program-Group Iv Pei Job No. 17083.0301 And I Will Turn It Over To Our City Engineer Neil Piggush.

Neil Piggush:

Thank you, Mayor, we had a bid opening at City Hall on Tuesday on August 15, 2017, at 2:00 p.m. for the 2017 MFT street maintenance program we received three bids. The lower bid being KCCVB in the amount the Mayor stated and we are recommending award to them.

Mayor Wells-Armstrong:

May I have a motion to award contract?

Alderwoman Swanson: So moved

Alderman Crawford: Second

Mayor Wells-Armstrong:

Motion made by Alderwoman Swanson, Seconded by Alderman Crawford. Roll Call

Clerk Dumas: Tetter; Brown; Curtis; Baron; Lewis; Tall; Faford; Swanson; Crawford; Osenga; O'brien; Gall; Malone-Marshall, Kennedy (14)

Mayor Wells-Armstrong:

Motion Carries

D) Recommendation To Award The Contract In The Amount Of $66,757.00 To Scanlon Excavating Inc. For The Fifth Avenue Road Improvements Project Over Soldier Creek Bridge Fifth Avenue And West Oak Street Pei Job No. 17095.0301 And Again I Will Turn It Over To Neil Piggush.

Neil Piggush:

Mayor, on Wednesday, August 16, 2017, we had another bid opening for the 5th avenue road improvements. Is everyone aware that the street has been shut down for several weeks now due to safety issues due to the erosion of the backside of the road? We received four contracts for this proposal. And we are recommending an award to SCANLON EXCAVATING, INC in the amount stated by the Mayor.

Mayor Wells-Armstrong:

May I have to approve the contract

Alderman Tall: So moved

Alderwoman Lewis: Second

Mayor Wells-Armstrong:

Motion made by Alderwoman Swanson, Seconded by Alderwoman Lewis. Any discussion?

Alderwoman Kennedy:

How Many Local?

Neil Piggush:

None Within City Limits

Alderman Tetter:

(No Mic Inaudible)

Neil Piggush:

The repair is full duct repair, removal, and replacement. We have to replace some curb and gutter and sidewalk. We also have to build a retaining wall on that quadrant of the bridge to prevent this from happening again. We are also installing another catch base to collect the water there at the low point of the street where there currently is not one. As well as putting some erosion measures on the back slope so this doesn’t happen again.

Mayor Wells-Armstrong:

Any other questions or discussion? Roll Call

Clerk Dumas:

Tetter; Brown; Curtis; Baron; Lewis; Tall; Faford; Swanson; Crawford; Osenga; O'Brien; Gall; Malone-Marshall, Kennedy (14)

Mayor Wells-Armstrong:

Motion Carries.

E Intergovernmental Agreement Between The City Of Kankakee, Illinois And The County Of Kankakee, Illinois 2017 Byrne Justine Assistance Grant(Jag) Program Award Chief Dumas, would you like to speak to that grant? What you use it for?

Chief Dumas:

The JAG grant is something that has been shared with Kankakee County and Kankakee City. It is money that we use for electronics equipment radios, anything that has to do with radio repairs for that. The split is 51% goes to the City and 49% goes to the County. We are going to leave it as is.

Mayor Wells-Armstrong:

Thank you

May I have a motion to approve the agreement?

Alderman Brown: So moved

Alderman Tall: Second

Mayor Wells-Armstrong:

Motion made by Alderman Brown, Seconded by Alderman Tall. Roll Call

Clerk Dumas:

Tetter; Brown; Curtis; Baron; Lewis; Tall; Faford; Swanson; Crawford; Osenga; O'Brien; Gall; Malone-Marshall, Kennedy (14)

Mayor Wells-Armstrong:

Motion Carries

Moving on to appointments. The first one we have is:

Appointments

1) Airport Authority -Tyree Mcafee

Mayor Wells-Armstrong:

I was really concerned because I was “like how many people really have experience with this?” Just as Bruce Payne resigned I was contacted by Tyree McAfee. Very grateful for your willingness to step and serve in this capacity. He actually worked in federal aviation administration since he was 17 and served for over 34 years. He is a resident of the city of Kankakee I did provide information in your packets for you to review. And if there are no questions or discussion. May I have a motion to approve

Alderman Crawford:

(No MIC Inaudible)

Attorney Powers:

The City of Kankakee only has one appointment.

Alderman O'Brien: So moved

Alderman Faford: Second

Mayor Wells-Armstrong:

Motion made by Alderman O’Brien, Seconded by Alderman Faford. Is there any discussion, questions, or concerns? Roll Call

Clerk Dumas:

Tetter; Brown; Curtis; Baron; Lewis; Tall; Faford; Swanson; Crawford; Osenga; O'brien; Gall; Malone-Marshall, Kennedy (14)

Mayor Wells-Armstrong:

Motion carries

Mr. McAffee can you just stand up briefly? So people can see who you are. Thank you very much for stepping up to serve. Next up we have our appointment for:

2) Kankakee Fire Chief - Damon Schuldt

Mayor Wells-Armstrong:

Prior to the election, the council allocated several thousand almost $20,000.00 for the search through the Illinois Association of Fire Chiefs. Our Fire Department has been without a Chief for well over six months. So they have been very patient, and I want to thank all of them. They are here tonight in support. We had a rigorous process, we had a committee that met last week also to go over the results in the candidates. I chose Damon Schuldt to serve as our permanent Fire Chief.

And would like motion to approve the appointment.

Alderman Tetter: So moved

Alderman Brown: Second

Mayor Wells-Armstrong:

Motion made by Alderman Tetter, Seconded by Alderman Brown. Is there any discussion, questions, or concerns? Roll Call

Clerk Dumas:

Tetter; Brown; Curtis; Baron; Lewis; Tall(Naye); Faford; Swanson; Crawford; Osenga; O'brien; Gall; Malone-Marshall, Kennedy (13 Aye - 1 Naye)

Mayor Wells-Armstrong:

Motion carries. Congratulations!

Next Up We Have:

3) Kankakee Police Chief – Price Dumas

Mayor Wells-Armstrong:

I’ll speak to the gentleman that continues to come to the council meetings. I update the council members every 2-3 weeks regularly all of them through email, and I speak to several of them frequently. We are looking at some significant financial in the city. Given the conduct of the previous Chief who resigned with no notice. I was put in the position to have to make a decision to regarding the direction of the city, so I appointed Price Dumas on June 2, 2017. He has served this community well. I think you have heard several people of the community speak to his leadership, his engagement, his community policing strategies, savings in the budget. At this time, I have recently spoken with Alderman Baron who thought it would be good to put him up for a vote tonight.

May I have a motion to approve the appointment?

Alderwoman Baron: So moved

Alderman Brown: Second

Mayor Wells-Armstrong:

Motion made by Alderman Baron, Seconded by Alderman Brown. Is there any discussion, questions, or concerns?

Alderman Osenga:

Mayor, I had the opportunity with you and with Mr. Dumas in your office and I had the opportunity to interview this young man. He was a patrolman when he worked for the City of Kankakee. Then he left us and he was a Trooper with the Illinois State Police. At no time did he advance his career in any way, shape, or form. When I talked to him about his qualifications he said to me he never had any management or upper training experience. He never advanced his career. He has no supervisory experience; he has never supervised any personnel. There are 70 Police Officers in the City of Kankakee and only 20 civilian personnel. That is 90 people under his command. He has never supervised any personnel. I asked him if he had budget experience. He said he had not. He has no budget experience and no training. The Kankakee Police Department has approximately an 8-million-dollar budget. That he is responsible for that the command staff is for. We talked some more, he said he had no experience with personnel, no experience with union contracts, never been involved in hiring, disciplining, promotions. He has never done any of that stuff which is all under the realm of being the Chief of Police and it is very important. Now we talked about doing a search and because of budget issues, the Mayor decided we probably should not do that. But that candidate search was going to be about $12,000.00. We are currently paying interim Chief Dumas $126,000.00, $126,000.00 and he has no experience as a Chief of Police. It’s not fair to the taxpayers of the City of Kankakee, and it is not fair to command staff of the City of Kankakee. There is command staff with in the Kankakee Police Department that submitted resumes for the Chief job. They have been here; they have spent their whole career here since day one. They were never contacted, they never even got contacted. This gentleman was slotted for the Chief job since day one. I do not know why, but I was there for 30 years. I know the background of the Police Department and I was upper management of the Police Department and you better be qualified if you are going to run an organization like this. This gentleman is the nicest guy in the world, and he goes out and meets people and that is great that is all part of being a Chief, but he is not qualified to be the Chief. And it is not fair to the taxpayers of this City to pay a gentleman $126,000.00 a year and he is not qualified. Thank you.

Mayor Wells-Armstrong:

Thank you. Any other comments?

Alderwoman Kennedy:

(No Mic Inaudible)

Many people have come up to me and asked me about my vote. I want to say for the record I think highly of Price Dumas, he and I have always been friends. But I have a concern when it comes to being elected to govern, and my position is if we as a council are not making decisions based on what is best for our City Police Department, some are based on relationships and that is not right. That is not good government. If anyone tells you that they invited Chief Regnier to any event, and you can stand before God and honestly say that you invited that man and he did not come, I think most of us cannot say that. The point that I am making is that when we make these decisions some people won’t know that we spend countless hours deciding this. When we make this decision it is what most of us to believe is right. I can only speak for myself, and that is loyalty is huge. The Kankakee Police and Public Safety have been a priority of mine since I have been on this board. There were issues brought to me before I was elected and after I became an official. I take it seriously. I think that the men and woman that wear those uniforms go out every day. They sacrifice their lives for the City of Kankakee. I do not care what anyone says loyalty means a lot and I think we owe them that. I think we owe them that to the fact that if we are going to look at them to promote people taxpayers are paying for people to get educated. Dumas worked for the State Police, many of our current officers work for the federal government as well because they are also Veterans as well. But the point that I am making is to make decisions based on relationships. Like most people spoke tonight is based on relationships. It is not based on what is best for our community. Many of us have stood in line and supported our Police Officers in the past for issues that we thought was an unfair practice for the way they were promoted or not promoted. I don’t want us to forget that tonight. Don’t forget what you stood for so long, because of relationships. We are going to do what we think is right. At least Gloria Kennedy is. Thank you.

Mayor Wells-Armstrong:

Anyone other discussion?

Alderwoman Malone-Marshall:

I worked for the Department of Corrections for 27 years. Most of my years were on the job training. You learn as you go and I have a high respect for the time that Price Dumas has put into Police and Security work. When he worked for the Governor and the Governor came to Kankakee to speak on his behalf if that was not an example of a promotion as far as a person stepping up to the plate for you to protect a Governor is so high that was a promotion up under a promotion in my opinion. I feel like he is ready for the job, he has done the job and I vote for him to do the job.

Mayor Wells-Armstrong:

Thank you Alderwoman Malone-Marshall. Any other comments?

Alderman Tetter:

Your Honor I have tried to sit here and just be as quiet as possible and let this process go. But the one statement that I will make and it has to do with State law. It has to do with an ordinance, it has to do with we are talking about qualifications. My interpretation as I read it does not stipulate or require in fact you do not even have to be a Police Officer to be appointed as Chief of Police. Now if I am wrong, then I will whole heartedly unveil myself to the correction. But if I am not let’s get beyond this foolishness. Because that is what it is. That is exactly what it is.

Mayor Wells-Armstrong:

Any other comments? Alderman Crawford?

Alderman Crawford:

There is a reason that our past Mayor’s have used a process and used the Illinois State Association of Police Chief to hire a Police Chief. The reason they do that is so that they can find the best candidate for our department. There is no rhythm or reason, you do not have to do it. But our Police Chief and our Police Department is what makes this City run. We have to get it right now. We have to find the best-qualified person for this job.

Mayor Wells-Armstrong;

Any other discussion?

Alderman Baron:

Mayor, members of Council, I to have spent countless hours thinking about this, turning it over in my mind. I had been an advocate in the advice portion of the advice and consent requirement of the Council. We as the Council have the opportunity and the requirement to advise and consent to any appointment. I think that I gave my advice. I discussed this with the Mayor on several occasions if I were in that position I think I would do think that I would do things differently. But I am not and the Mayor is. I know that there is nobody in this room that will have to interact, interface with the Chief of Police more than the Mayor. We have gone several months now without have choosing the department head’s that the Mayor has selected. I think it’s time to do that. I think it’s time to allow Mayor to move on with her agenda. During this time the Mayor has also had time to interact Chief Dumas. There has been 2.5 almost 3 months of will this work? Is this going to be a good relationship? I think the answer to that question is yes because the Mayor is still nominating him. I want to move on. I am just speaking as one person on City Council. I believe it’s our main job to do what is best for the City of Kankakee and not to try to win an argument. That is why I decided to make the motion to appoint the Chief.

Mayor Wells-Armstrong:

Alderman Brown

Alderman Brown:

I decided to wait until the last minute for two reasons. I am retired from probation for over 30 some years. I think I know about the process because I am a product of the process. The process is that you take applications, you put them in a pool, and the person goes through and pulls those applications. Then you pick people and you come in for the interview and that is the process you go through. I’m for that don’t get me wrong, I am really for that because that is what happened to me. In a time of crisis that we are going to face in the next several months. We spent $19,500.00 for the Fire Chief, that is what we spent. It is true it is healthy to eliminate a lot of this discussion tonight. But in the coming months with everything we have to face (Inaudible), It is crazy to go through a process now. After Price Dumas has been in office that long. (Inaudible) I agree with Alderman Baron. Got to move on from this, we cannot stop here and let this stay over our head like a cloud. We got to move forward. That is why I am glad this is up because we really need to move forward.

Mayor Wells-Armstrong:

Any other discussion? So, to set the record straight before I came on board I was already soliciting guidance from other Mayors. I had worked for two members of Congress and I had talked with them about Police Chiefs and I had met with some of the other Mayors. I had known Price when he was here years ago, worked with him in the school district. He was one of the people that I did want to talk with about this position. I gave the Alderman all of them the opportunity to interview him. Prior to me even being sworn in I won the election on April 4, 2017, on April 5, 2017, the Chief announced his retirement. There was no transition plan in place. So I could have viewed this really as let’s set her up to fail. But I went forward. I appointed another person who has rank in the department and that person resigned with a two-day notice. We had a shooting the previous weekend and we were going into another weekend. At this time, we were having frequent shootings. So I did not want to go into a weekend without a Chief, without any type of leadership. You know you talk about not having experience Chief Dumas has served 24 years of his life in Law Enforcement. He protected the highest ranking official in the State of Illinois. He has integrity, he has professionalism, we need that in this department. We have a good Police Department but we can be better and there are things that we need to improve and systems that we need to change. I spoke with Police Commission they have been working very closely with him and the Fire Chief they are very impressed with the both of them and their focus on policy. Looking at how we discipline, looking at how we recruit, how we promote, all of those things. Budget he has done outstanding on budget. Prior to me being elected, I had never done a 24-million-dollar budget. But we passed a budget in 32-33 days. We have a structure in place that we utilize regularly. Ask Elizabeth, we are always calling on Elizabeth our Comptroller asking questions. We have checks and balances in place for that. He has already made significant cuts in the budget. He has supervised before, he was a Special Agent, he supervised recruits for the Illinois State Police Academy. His salary is $126,000.00 it is less than the previous Chief. I could not pay him less because other people on the force make a significant, our Police Officers are paid very well. So we had to pay him an appropriate rate. He was willing to work for much less. Both the Fire Chief and the Police Chief. So the last thing I want to be said is when you talk about people having rank do you remember John Burge in Chicago the Police Chief who tortured black men and put them in prison on death row. He was the Chief, he had rank in the department. That does not mean that you should lead a department. I have met several of these officers, men, and women on this Police Force and they are happy for the changes that have come, they want stability in the department and things are going well. We have not had any crisis under his leadership. We have not had a bloody summer, we have arrested 18 drug dealers and we have strengthened relationships in this community. I understand that some people prefer that we hire from within but again this is my appointment. This is the person that I have to trust, that I have to trust to lead the community, to implement the vision that I have for the community and they report to me. If something happens this is going to come back to me. And I think I have shown you all that I do not have a problem when I have made a decision and I feel that decision is right by standing by my decision. So with that being said, we have a motion on the floor by Alderman Baron, Seconded by Alderman Brown. Roll Call

Clerk Dumas:

Tetter; Brown; Curtis(Naye); Baron; Lewis; Tall(Naye); Faford(Naye); Swanson(Naye); Crawford (Naye); Osenga(Naye); O'brien(Naye); Gall; Malone-Marshall; Kennedy(Naye) (6 Aye-8 Naye)

Mayor Wells-Armstrong:

Motion fails.

Pursuant to the City of Kankakee Municipal Code Article 9 Section 2-133 D I am notifying the Council that I am again appointing Price Dumas acting Police Chief for the City of Kankakee, effective immediately.

Oath Of Office Administered By Illinois State Senator Toi Hutchinson:

1) Kankakee Fire Chief Damon Schuldt

State Senator Toi Hutchinson:

Repeat after me I Damon Schuldt have been having been elected into the office as Fire Chief in the City of Kankakee, in the county of Kankakee, in the state of Illinois, do solemnly swear or affirm that I will support the Constitution of United States of America, and the Constitution of the State of Illinois and the ordinances of the City of Kankakee. I will faithfully and fairly discharge the duties of Fire Chief in and for the City of Kankakee in said County to the best of my ability. So help me God.

Chief Schuldt:

Well, thank you so much. I am truly honored and privileged to be in this position. I think it is truly a good day for myself and I think it is a pinnacle of my career. I hope it is a really good day for the Kankakee Fire Department. Somebody told me just recently we are not just starting a new chapter we are writing a whole new book for the Kankakee Fire Department. And I mean that with a whole new direction for the Fire Department it is certainly a new day and we are defiantly looking forward to what we have to do. There are a tremendous amount of people that I have to thank for being here. First and foremost the Mayor. Thank you for your courage in appointing me. Thank you for your friendship and thank you for your guidance in supporting me. I really appreciate me. Thank you to all you Council members for all your support I really appreciate that. I am looking forward to working with each and every one of you. And also Senator Hutchinson for your dedication to the State of Illinois and your constituents. I do not know of a better Senator, my wife and I have known her for a long time, she truly supports all of her constituents and she really works hard for us down in Springfield. So thank you for what you do. Thank you to all of my friends and family that showed up to support me. I have a great network around me. Thank you to my family, my beautiful wife Gail is here tonight. She has been very supportive to me and all the things that I have done. I am not always the best person to live with but she has been with me almost the whole time I have been on the Fire Department almost 27 years. We have been married for 22 years and I really appreciate all that she has done for me. I have the most supportive wife ever. It is not always easy being married to a Firefighter you work 24 hours shifts you are gone a lot, you miss a lot of family things and a lot of events. They have really been behind me and I appreciate that. A couple of the guys on the Fire Department told me just recently that they really hope I get to be Fire Chief. I was like well why do you want me is it leadership ability, seniority, what is it? No, we hope you get to be Fire Chief so your wife will bring in some more cheesecakes and pies she always makes. So, thanks for that dear you helped me get promoted. Thanks again to all my friends for support. Former Alderman Hunter has been a long term friend of myself and my wife. He was supposed to be here tonight but he couldn’t at the last minute. But I wanted to acknowledge him, he has been very much supportive and a life long friend. I also wanted to thank Father Dan Ballenger. He is also here tonight. Me and my wife have been discussing this process for the last three or four months and there has been twice that he has blessed me. So I guess when a Catholic Priest has to bless a Luthern twice something good has to come out of that right? Thank you for that as well. I also want to say when you are hired by a rookie Firefighter you have a lot of bosses. And a lot of people telling you what to do, and when you work your way up through the ranks and you become a Lieutenant or a Company Officer and you got a little bit of responsibility and a few people under your wing but you still have a few bosses, and our department took the next step up and promoted me to the Captain so then you have a whole group of people under you and a few less bosses and now that you are like me at the pinnacle of my career and you get to become the Fire Chief and you get to tell everybody what to do. But I still got to look at it as I have two bosses and that is the Mayor and my wife. I'm just afraid that one day I will get it mixed up and call my wife and report a big fire or that I need a little more money in my budget and call the Mayor ask what time I have to be home for dinner and if she got my white shirts ironed. I’m not sure which one I would get in trouble for more. But anyway thanks to everyone for being here. We are having cake downstairs after the council in the training room. My wife made a homemade cake. So please come fill yourself, I do not want to take cake home so eat it all up. One last thing I wanted to talk about is I wanted to read a quote from somebody who is considered to be the Father of the American fire service and this gentleman’s name is Benjamin Franklin and he wrote an essay over 2.5 centuries ago. I’d like to read you just a little quote from that. The title of the essay is Brave Men at Fires. “Neither cold nor darkness will detour good people from hasting to the dreadful place to quench the flame, They do it not for sake of reward of money or fame: but they do it for the reward within themselves and they love one another.” I just really think even to this day after all these years that really epitomizes what we do as firefighters and what we do here in the City of Kankakee. Lastly, also to all the men and women of the Kankakee Fire Department I can tell you that you guys have one of the best Fire Department’s in the State of Illinois and probably the Nation. I would stack them up against anybody for their courage, their dedication, the hours of training they put in, and the customer service that they provide. We are only going to get better from here. So thank you all again. All the men and women of the Fire Department have been very supportive. I especially want to thank Gina and Deb the administrative assistants. You are the glue that really held this Fire Department together. I really do think I could take a week off and nobody would really know it because they can really keep this Fire Department up and running and that is really a profound statement. Again folks thank you very much, thank you for the opportunity. I will not let you down, I appreciate it, thank you.

Mayor Wells-Armstrong:

Thank you, our next item 13-A Motions and Resolutions

A) Resolution Authorizing The Mayor Of The City Of Kankakee To Execute The Intergovernmental Agreement Attached Here To Allocating The Funds For The 2017 Department Of Justice Grant No. 2017-H2352-Il-Dj May I Have A Motion To Approve The Resolution

Alderman Brown: So moved

Alderman Baron: Second

Mayor Wells-Armstrong:

Motion made by Alderman Brown, Seconded by Alderman Baron. Is there any discussion, questions, or concerns?

Roll Call

Clerk Dumas:

Tetter; Brown; Curtis; Baron; Lewis; Tall; Faford; Swanson; Crawford; Osenga; O'Brien; Gall; Malone-Marshall, Kennedy (14)

B) Resolution Recognizing The Tragic Events Which Took Place On August 12th, 2017, In Charlottesville, Virginia Whereas, the tragic events that took place on August 12, 2017, in Charlottesville, Virginia prove that white nationalism and neo-Nazism remain very real threats to social and racial progress; and

Whereas, Throughout the course of our nation's history, white nationalism has promoted intimidation and violent repression of individuals solely on the basis of their race, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, and immigration status; and

Whereas, Today, white nationalism has attempted to reinvent itself, self- identifying as the "Alt-Right", yet their present-day rhetoric and terrorism conjure painful memories of our nation's past; and

Whereas, While free speech is a bedrock value for Americans, white nationalist and neo-Nazi groups promote agendas that are in irreconcilable conflict with our nation's foundational principles of liberty and justice for all; and

Whereas, White nationalism and neo-Nazism are continuing to grow as menaces to societal order that seek to reignite social animosities, reverse improvements in race relations, divide the nation, and foment hatred, classism, and ethnic eradication; and

Whereas, The white nationalist and neo-Nazi message of racial and social intolerance has led to senseless acts of violence that continue to terrorize members of ethnic and religious minority communities; and

Therefore, Be It Resolved, By The City Council Of The City Of Kankakee, that we strongly denounce and oppose the totalitarian impulses, violent terrorism, xenophobic biases, and bigoted ideologies that are promoted by white nationalists and neo-Nazis; and be it further

Resolved, that we urge All law enforcement to recognize these white nationalist and neo-Nazi groups as terrorist organizations, and to pursue the criminal elements of these domestic terrorist organizations in the same manner and with the same fervor used to protect the United States from other manifestations of terrorism; and be it further

Resolved, that suitable copies of this resolution be delivered to the President of the United States, all members of the United States Senate, all members of the United States House of Representatives, the Governor of the State of Illinois, all members of the Illinois General Assembly, all members of the Kankakee County Board, The Mayor of the City of Kankakee and all the members of the Kankakee City Council.

Therefore, Be It Resolved, by Mayor Chasity Wells-Armstrong and the City Council of the City of Kankakee, Illinois, do hereby authorize and approve this resolution recognizing the tragic events that took place on August 12th, 2017, in Charlottesville, Virginia.

May I have a motion to approve the resolution

Alderman O'Brien: So moved

Entire City Council: Second

Mayor Wells-Armstrong:

Motion made by Alderman O’Brien, Seconded by Unanimous vote. Is there any discussion, questions, or concerns?

All in favor; opposed; same sign Motion carries.

Mayor Wells-Armstrong:

We do not have an executive session this evening.

We had Alderman comments earlier, but I will ask if there are any further comments?

Alderman O'Brien:

Mayor, we do have an ordinance meeting tomorrow night. We will discuss and have a presentation about the golf cart ordinance. That is tomorrow here on the 2nd-floor committee meeting room at 5:30.

Mayor Wells-Armstrong:

Thank you, Alderman O’Brien

Any other comments?

May I have a motion to adjourn

Alderwoman Swanson: So moved

Alderman Kennedy: Second

Mayor Wells-Armstrong:

Motion by Alderwoman Swanson, Seconded by Alderwoman Kennedy. All in favor Aye; opposed; same sign

We are adjourned.

8:33 p.m.

http://www.citykankakee-il.com/City%20Council%20Minutes/ccm2017/08-21-17MIN.pdf

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