Kankakee Times

City of Kankakee City Council met June 4.

Here is the minutes provided by the Council:

Mayor Wells-Armstrong: I would like to call the meeting to order. Would anybody like to lead us in a prayer? You will do it? Okay, Alderman Tetter.

Ald Tetter: Please bow our heads. Dear Heavenly Father, we ask that You to come into the Chamber today. We ask that You bring the Spirit of Cooperation today done I Your Glory and fashion. We ask these things I Your Holy Name. Amen.

Mayor Wells-Armstrong: Thank you Alderman Tetter. Can we have the Kankakee Fire Department Explorers come up and lead us in the Pledge?

In Unison: “I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic, for which it stands, one Nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all”.

Public Comments:

Mayor Wells-Armstrong: Moving on to Public Comments we will start with Kathleen Kennedy

Kathleen Kennedy: I just thought the focus of the river should be property that was not developed or that was in disrepair as oppose to properties that are in use.instead of the beautiful facilities that are already in use.

Mayor Wells-Armstrong: Thank you. Chris Bohlen.

Chris Bohlen: Good Evening Mayor, It is a delight to be in this side of the microphone. Two weeks ago, there was delivered to the City Council, a petition signed by almost two hundred people asking that the City; the Administration, take action to clean up the pile of rubble that sits across from St. Patrick’s Church right down the street from the Administration building and take down the severely damaged house next to it. In that two weeks, nothing has been done at least from a stand point of driving by that facility. There are things happening there; there are kids riding their bikes on the property; there are kids looking into the rubble, drive by and you will see them. This is an extremely dangerous condition. I know if somebody gets hurt, the next day it will all be cleaned up but that’s too late. More importantly, we have spent $340,000.00 for a wonderful drawing of a Riverfront Development. What difference does a Riverfront Development make if we can’t clean up a burnt up pile of rubble that has been there for over two months. Imagine the first impression of somebody walking out of St. Pat’s, a visitor coming out of a wedding and seeing that across the street and thinking.that’s Kankakee. Doesn’t have to be folks. Unfortunately, I know that we had to clean up fire rubble before and we have done it in three or four or five days. Not two and a half months. I don’t know what the holdup is. I don’t know what the delay is. I know that Pat Power knew how to do it. He was told to do it. I know that the documents are probably on Kris Schmitz computer. But to leave this mess unguarded, unprotected, and then expect people to want to come to this community because we invest in our community and leave it like that? It doesn’t work folks. I doesn’t work. That’s a first impression and that’s a really bad first impression. A number of years ago, when Chief.came, he introduced us into a much more in depth procedure about how Community Policing works. His process was, no broken windows, those of you that were here remember that. He came out of the City of New York and his concept was if you allow windows to be broken in vacant buildings, it lowers the standards and everybody assumes your standards are lower and criminals now feel that it is okay to do whatever they want to do. Well this ain’t no broken window. This is a pile of burnt out rubbish. And the house next door to it that you already had the demolition order for and yet for two months and almost two weeks, nothing has happened. I beg you, for the image of this City that I care about, I know and everybody in this room does.but show it. Clean up that mess and clean it up before somebody gets hurt their; then you will be real quick to clean it up because you don’t want another kid to get hurt there. It is awful! It is disgusting to drive by. It’s disgusting to look at. It’s terrible first impression. If you are going to invest in this community, walk down from City Hall when you think you are going to invest in a community that cares. That’s all I want to say.

Thank you.

Mayor Wells-Armstrong: Thank you. Liz Reddington.

Liz Reddington: Hello, my name is Liz Reddington. I am here about Micro Grid Energy that’s on the agenda under unfinished business and we are requesting permission for a permit for a Solar Array Farm.

Mayor Wells-Armstrong: Thank you. Stacy Wilkin.

Stacy Wilkin: Good Evening Thank you Mayor. Thank you to the Alderman for the opportunity to speak here tonight. I stand before you.in having an interview with the Daily Journal two years ago. One of their questions to me is, what is the most underutilized asset in Kankakee County? Confidently I responded the Kankakee River. It makes marketing very easy, we have a state park and a river. As I travel the state I realize that we are kind of a hidden gem, a lot of people don’t have.You have two natural resources in one community. I support the enhancement of the natural resource.and it’s a beautiful piece. Anything we can do to move forward with a plan whether it’s one peace or.any version I support the tourism enhancement to bring people to the City of Kankakee and increase the economic impact in Kankakee County as I said in any form. I know this is a very huge plan to take on but any commitment to improving the natural resource in its current condition. It is a great way to bring people to the riverfront and to the City of Kankakee. So thank you for your consideration in forward progress in general, either way direction. Thank you.

Mayor Wells-Armstrong: Scott Snavey

Scott Snavey Thank you Mayor Wells-Armstrong my name is Scott Snavey I work downtown with.banks I am the Marketing President for seven banks in Kankakee County. I have a vested interest as a Task Force member but I also have a business downtown. I think when I look at the master plan and I see where everything could be, I can’t imagine myself not wanting to walk down Schuyler Avenue to be able to enjoy a walking trail or biking trail along the Riverfront. I think that is certainly possible when you think of all of the people that work within the two mile radius of the public river I think you would find a lot of other people would join as well. I am at a place with things where obviously I think everyone here already knows and I think it goes without saying. That Kankakee County has gone through a renaissance so to speak, but I know when I Google just Kankakee or Kankakee County over the last seven or eight months and search for articles in the Daily Journal, I mean its plastered with story after story, after story about all the good things that are coming to Kankakee County. I participated in a ribbon cutting for an event for a hotel by the mall, when was the last time we had a hotel built.it’s been a while. We have a.square foot Meijer store being built. We have an expansion from Aqua, I know there are representatives here from Aqua. We’ve got CSL Behring doing an.amount of expansion and development attracting new residents. We’ve got expansion plans for several million, I think it is.from Nucor Steel as well. I know I have attended several meetings and the proposition that was given that we would love to hire people from Kankakee. I think that Kankakee Community College would be ground zero hires for CSL Behring and Nucor Steel. So I think the plan is to hire folks local with good paying jobs. What can we do as Kankakee Community with our Riverfront to provide the amenities to be able to retain these folks in our community as well as attract those that are being interviewed from places up North. The other plans in place such as route 50 but again, I think as Stacy said the River front is our biggest asset that is certainly underutilized today. I think the plans that I saw, I can just envision what it could be but things are different than they were five or ten years ago. We were looking at different plans but I just don’t think we have the economic thrust that we are embarking on the next five or ten years which is probably how long it will take to fill the whole plan so I am asking that you please take this to heart. The time is now to act on this and really have a positive impact on our Kankakee Community. So thank you.

Mayor Wells-Armstrong: Thank you and finally, James Stokes.

James Stokes: Yes Mam. Good Evening Mayor. My name is James Stokes, citizen of the City of Kankakee. It is a great honor tonight to come here again to see all of you that came out tonight. Mayor I am here to night to make an impact in our community and that’s what I am trying to do. I am trying to inspire every neighborhood in our community. There is not one side of this community that I do not want to participate in. So Mayor, I am going to start off tonight by basically thanking the Fire Chief, Chief Schultz.Thank you Sir. I want to thank hum as well as you for the Cadet Program, one fine program he put together with his team and it is just remarkable. Guess what.even my son was able to participate in this program and it is just remarkable. Thank you Chief. Moving right along Mayor, I thought about what Mr. Bohlen spoke about and it only makes sense. We need to take block by block and analyze each block and if there are any big time hazards in that block we need to deal with those right away especially those eye appearances as what Mr. Bohlen has spoke about. I thought about the flood early spring perhaps. We had the flood at the Park down by McBroom. I was just thinking Mayor, if the City can just get with the Park District and hike that bank up; I understand that we are working on the North side of the shore but perhaps we need to work on the South side of the shore. There is no way that water should have ran into Water Street. If we hike that part up that probably would correct a lot of them. Mayor shortly, I have been pushing this lately for the last eight years and I am still motivated; dedicated about it. What I speak about tonight is simply the free block survey, there is no fee there is no thing. For example: you care about your block, everyone in here care about they block. Yes you do, and but you don’t know what to do out there. The street light out, pothole, the tree that’s hanging over the light. Nobody knows what to do right. Perhaps you have called your Mayor or you don’t know who to call and that’s when you call me; James H. Stokes Jr. that’s my job. I step in, I have a survey paper Mayor and it’s got about 30-40 items on it. If it is not on there you can write it in. They can make their block 100 percent better than what it is because there haven’t been anything done about it. So you are going to be seeing more about that in a way that you have never seen before because I care about our community. It’s almost like you are so beautiful to me and that’s what I Kankakee. I have a vision for this community and that’s what I am trying to do. Thank you.

Mayor Wells-Armstrong: Thank you. Roll Call of City Council.

Clerk Dumas: Present: Tetter, Brown, Curtis, Baron, Lewis, Tall, Faford, Crawford, Osenga, O’Brien, Gall, Malone Marshall, Kennedy

Absent: Swanson

(13) Present (1) Absent

Mayor Wells-Armstrong: Department Heads.

Clerk Dumas: Present: Dumas, Schuldt, Kubal, Schiel, Piggush, Bertrand, Schmitz, Croswell, Koehler. Thank you.

Minutes Of The City Council Meeting Monday, MAY 21st, 2018 – Regular City Council Meeting

Mayor Wells-Armstrong: May I have a motion to approve the minutes from Monday, May 21st, 2018?

Ald Osenga: So move Mayor.

Mayor Wells-Armstrong: Motion made by Alderman Osenga.

Ald Crawford: Second

Mayor Wells-Armstrong: Seconded by Alderman Crawford. Any Corrections? Edits? All in favor.

Council: Aye.

Communications Riverside Healthcare Requesting Permission To Block Off Butterfield Trail To Host The Riverside 5k Walk/Run On Saturday October 13th 2018, From 9:00 a.m. Until 12:00 p.m.

Glenn Davidson Is Requesting A Noise Permit For The Fifth Annual Corvette Cruise Night To Be Held In Downtown Kankakee Area On Sunday, August 19th, 2018 From 5:00 p.m. Until 9:00 p.m.

Kankakee Public Library Is Requesting A Street Closure Of Merchant Street To Schuylr Avenue To The Library Parking Lot To Host The Annual Family Fun Day On Saturday, July 7th, 2018 From 6:00 a.m. Until 12:00 p.m.

Mayor Wells-Armstrong: Motion carries. There are no petitions. Moving onto Communications. If there are no objections, I would like to Combine items: A, B and C. Item A pertains to Riverside Health Care requesting permission to block off Butterfield Trail to Host the Riverside 5K Walk/Run on Saturday, October 13, 2018 from 9:00 A.M. until 12:00 P.M. Item B: Glenn Davidson is requesting a noise permit for the Fifth Annual Corvette Cruise Night to be held in downtown Kankakee by the Farmers Market parking area on Sunday, August 19th, 2018, from 5;00 P.M. until 9:00 P.M. and then Item C: the Kankakee Public Library is requesting a street closure of Merchant Street to Schuyler Avenue to the Library parking lot to host the Annual Family Fun Day on Saturday, July 7th, 2018, from 6:00 A.M. until 12:00 P.M. May I have a motion to approve?

Ald Osenga: So move Mayor.

Mayor Wells-Armstrong: Motioned by Alderman Osenga.

Ald Gall: Seconded by Alderwoman Gall.

Mayor Wells-Armstrong: Any discussion? All in favor, aye?

Council: Aye

Presentation By Dr. Dawn Broers, Executive Director Of Fortitude Community Outreach

Mayor Wells-Armstrong: Opposed same sign. Motion carries. Next we will have a presentation by Dr, Dawn Broers, who serves as the Executive Director of Fortitude Community Outreach.

Dr. Dawn Broers: Good Evening and thank you for allowing me to speak with you tonight. My name is Dr. Dawn Broers, I am the Executive Director of Fortitude Community Outreach. Fortitude is a nonprofit organization that utilizes volunteers and donations directly from or community to engage in outreach to the needy and the homeless with locations in both Kankakee and Bourbonnais. The mission of Fortitude is to build relationships with struggling individuals in Kankakee County by meeting them where they are providing physical, emotional and physical needs by connecting through community resources. Every week we serve about 80 individuals by providing personal hygiene, we provide clothing and we provide food on the street where they are. We also provide zero degree sleeping and back packs for those that are living directly on the streets. Everything we give have been donated by our generous community. Fortitude was developed based on an evidence based model called trauma informed perspective.

As such our primary mission is to build relationships and trust within this community and it is through those relationships that we are able to encourage them to believe in themselves and then seek help and jobs and get themselves out of homelessness and receive the help of social services. Fortitude has also become the go to source for information and help for the homeless as we are available by phone at all times. I regularly receive calls from law enforcement, from hospitals, from elected officials, the public library, agencies, business owners and individuals that come across someone who is in need. T is how we know that on Christmas Eve last year a gentleman’s car was towed with everything he owned which meant that he was literally left on the streets on what was a very snowy and cold Christmas Day. It is how I know Harbor House is full and domestic violence victims are ready to leave the hospital after an assault, there is nowhere for them to go. I know that women and children that live with someone else are regularly kicked out with nowhere else to go. It is also how I know that the heart breaking end to almost all of those calls is, I am so sorry there is nowhere I can send you. Agencies are providing hotel vouchers this is a valuable community resource but Agencies are not open on evenings weekends and holidays and funds for vouchers frequently run out. Homelessness is traumatic for anyone that experience it but its impact extends well within our community. In Kankakee County there are nearly about 100 homeless at any given time. According to National Statistics, about one fifth of the homeless are mentally ill. One percent of jailed individuals are homeless upon arrest. The rate of crime is 27 times higher among the homeless. We have heard some police officers tell us that some will break a window and stand and wait to be arrested so they will get a bed and a meal for the night. 28 percent of women have taken unwanted sexual partners in exchange for housing; 33 percent of ER visits are homeless individuals. Homeless individuals visit ER’s on an average of 5 times annually and this cost tax payers about $18,044.00 a year per homeless individuals. It is because of all these experiences and the knowledge that Fortitude has committed to opening a Pads Model Shelter this winter for Kankakee County. Pads Model Shelters has successfully served the homeless around the Chicago Suburbs for 30 years. With this model, 7 different overnight sights will rotate each night a week. Each Site will have an assigned day so we will know what shelter is on any given day. Each night from October to May donated meals and breakfast will be offered along with a mattress and clean bedding. We offer case management, health screening, job and social skills training in the evenings. The site will be primarily staffed by volunteers and anyone short of registered sex offenders is welcomed to obtain this emergency shelter. It is a fiscally responsible model sheltering sharing the burden among the entire community which is where you come in. Homelessness is a public health issue and our cities and our counties must play a role in alleviating this broad burden. This is more than altruism, this is more than doing the right thing. It is a wide financial fiscally responsible decision to invest in reducing crime, minimizing healthcare cost and alleviating nuisance to citizens and business owners. I have spoken with leaders in our county and the reality is we are looking for Kankakee to set the bar for government body to invest in this issue. You are the leaders in our county seat in setting the example for other county leaders to follow. Although a fiscally responsible shelter cost money to offer shelter to anyone; state and federal dollars are simply not available to us. We want to be a shelter supported by the community and we know our community can financially support this when it’s made a priority, when we show value to all of our citizens through our dollars. We are asking $10,000.00 annually from city and county so we are asking that Kankakee leaders as you are to approve a budget, to consider investing toward that goal that both reflect value for all of our citizens that sets the bar for others to follow. I thank you for your leadership and for your time. I will be happy to answer any questions you may have. Are there any questions?

Ald O’brien: Are you privately funded or funded through donations? How are you operating?

Dr. Dawn Broers: Privately funded and solely through donations. We have some corporate sponsors and we have some regular individuals who donate. Many churches have also supported us.

Ald O’brien: Are you locally based or part of a bigger.

Mayor Wells-Armstrong: Push and hold when you talk.

Ald O’brien: Oh I’m sorry. Are you local or part of a statewide National organization?

Dr. Dawn Broers: The organization was.by me last year January 2017 and we are completely local to Kankakee County.

Mayor Wells Armstrong: Alderwoman Kennedy?

Ald Kennedy: Thank you. Do you have any materials with you?

Dr. Dawn Broers: Yes I do and I have more.

Ald Kennedy: Thank you.

Mayor Wells Armstrong: Any other questions? Thank you Dr. Broers

Dr. Dawn Broers: Thank you.

Presentation By Hitchcock Design Group Regarding The Riverfront Master Plan

Mayor Wells Armstrong: Before Mr. Hitchcock gets started, I want to remind you that a link was emailed to you all of you on Tuesday, May 29th by Carolyn in my office. This is a draft of the master plan for the Riverfront Development. We want you to have it to review. I know it was about 165 pages to print a lot of the was graphics and pictures so that helps make it not as intense. It is a draft so we ask that you take some time over the next couple weeks and just to look at the draft and make sure you have comments and questions. Elizabeth and I have made ourselves available for three meeting opportunities. Right now, three City Council Members have signed up to. There are plenty of opportunities to get signed up for those meetings contact Carolyn in my office and at that time we will go through questions, record your feedback or thoughts and such. So, I will go ahead and turn it over to Mr. Hitchcock.

Mr. Hitchcock: Thank you Mayor. Good Evening Aldermen. Yes, I think before we get started.Mayor if we could.the big reveal. Well this is a fairly short clip so.no matter where I go I am in somebody’s way so I am.of that.I don’t know if.

Pete Schiel: If you shut it off the whole broadcast will go dark.

Mr. Hitchcock: It will. Okay, then we will make do. That is September.Good Evening, that’s a good place to start. Back in September, we were very, very, fortunate the City of Kankakee chose to engage our firm along with Scott Shipply from. Dan Martin from Martin feasibility Advisors, Neil Piggush from Piggush Engineering; to take a look at the riverfront and it has been a wonderful journey. Suppose you might say we are at the end of the beginning or we are at the beginning of the next chapter, either way you would like to take a look at that. We have gone through an Opportunity Analysis that was extensive. We have gone through a Preferred Strategy that took a little bit of time. We have been in front of you before and as you can see we are on the last part and that is Council approval. We don’t take anything for granted, we realize it is a big vision some may call it maybe audacious but it is a really important vision and you are going to have a lot of questions so we are going to try to get through this tonight so at least everybody understands the basics and then we will ask for any questions. A lot of credit this evening to the Riverfront Task Force who’s names we see up there. There are some in the audience; Scott and Stacy spoke earlier and if there are other members of the Task Force we.in the back there and certain members of the Aldermen or members of the Council.as well. Thank you, Thank you, Thank you for your time. The action that we will be requesting, not tonight; tonight is presentation. What we will be asking as soon as the 18th of June which is to please adopt the Riverfront plan because without your adoption it doesn’t have any legs. This is really important like I said this is the end of the beginning or the beginning of the next chapter however you chose to look at it. From the beginning you have been asking, people have been asking us and we have been asking this question of others. Can Kankakee use this river to connect its citizens to improve the economy, to attract more visitors and to redefine its brand. We suspect that the answer is yes and here are the reasons why. We started by exploring three really important categories all relating one to the other. Out of the resources, out of the market place, out of the stake holders. How does a those overlap and where are the greatest opportunities, where do they coincide for the best opportunities for success. The river is not just a big influence in this city, it’s a big deal. It’s surely if not the best river in the state it is among them. It’s a part f the natural water trail system. It’s got spectacular characteristics. I’s clean, it’s got the 6 mile pool of the dam, it flows North and there are too many rivers that do that. To be sure, water is an incredibly powerful resource; mesmerizing and there is no more mesmerizing point than the spillway. The low head dam is about 9ft tall and helps to generate power, it creates the 6 mile pool and it shows the power of the river in no uncertain terms. It’s mesmerizing, it’s dramatic. Incredibly, the 70 acres of adjacent park land or public land, most of it owned by the Park District, it is a wonderful street and trail network and the fantastic art.exposure in particular the area between Schuyler and Washington that we will focus on this evening. Stakeholders versus people in this room or outside of this room, there is regulators, enthusiast, there’s people who are property owners, there’s business people; people who love the river, people who love the city and are trying to do things to help move them forward. Everybody feels it is critically important. We have heard this over and over and over. We have heard that they want to improve the community image. They want to increase resident activity. They want to support the economy. They want to improve the ecology and they want to attract and retain skilled workers we have heard from the corporations in town. When you have looked at the master plan, there is a lot of pages as the Mayor said. It’s a big project and there is a lot to talk about. The section that talks about the Riverfront today, 86 respondents to a very highly utilized on sight or online platform that we used, 86 of the respondents said they thought the river is extremely important to the identity of Kankakee and when asked what kinds of things were amazing, look at all the red and yellow with action of any number of things such as accessibility, to safety, to appearance, this is really folks being frustrated by this magnificent resource and on the flip side of the coin, 91 percent of those same people said that they really felt strongly that city leaders or all of us in the room I would guess, city leaders should enhance the river front particularly with a focus area. Market place: you cant do anything if the market isn’t supportive. You don’t always think about great supportive market necessarily when you think of Kankakee but it is really important because there is multiple a very diverse markets and it is incredible easy regional.about 80 minutes from Chicago, that is hugely important. There is increasing family households, there is supportive recreation entertainment needs, there is regional corporate investment going on and there are countless comparable examples. For instance, we have talked about other communities and how they enhanced their riverfronts: Greenville South Carolina, a little closer down, Neenah, Wisconsin a project we worked on. We have worked on like 19 of these projects so we have a pretty good feel for what makes them click, the lighting is not doing us any favor. This is.a blue-collar town downtown has turned around as a result of this river walk. It’s a beautiful place. So, the question is, Can we use the river to do all these things? Yes we can, yes we can. The goal of the River Front Task Force has been from its outset is to create and sustain an extraordinary Riverfront as a catalyst for Kankakee’s Renaissance as a premier Illinois Riverfront community. That’s a mouthful. We have been proving that point time and time again. We have explored the details. How are we going to do that? There are seven things on here, I wish there were only 3 because that would make it easy to remember but there are 7 pieces to this puzzle. We have to construct and program the package of distinctive river attractions. We can construct 3 dimensional connections and leverage the most valuable development sites; that’s crucial. Power of sustainable management team, vigorously promote the river centric brand, this is incredibly important for the community; retail comes and goes, businesses come and go shoot even leaders come and go let’s be honest but this river is permanent it is a part of your brand. No one is taking that away from you and it is something that we can play up in a much, much, bigger way. We need to think big, we are going to be thinking big a lot tonight, and we need to aim high and follow some proven practices that have been done in other communities. We are going to focus on primarily attractions and connections tonight because there are so many other pieces we would be here all night with the entire report. The principle attractions of the riverfront especially the focus area which is roughly between court on the North.by the pedestrian bridge by the hospital and just to the East of Schuyler on the South East the principle attractions are 3 things: the Kankakee Riverfront trail way much which is already constructed on the Westside and it crosses the river and heads north to Bourbonnais to Kankakee River State Park. We want to bring that barrier free all the way south, all the way down to what we call the River Walk Middle Race District, the area between Washington and Schuyler. Why do we want to do that? Because we want to give people access to Riverfront, we want to have a healthy way bringing family outside and engaging in recreation scene beauty of the river and we want to bring people to this spot. I will get back to this in a second. The Kankakee River Walk is different than the river front trail way is not so much a regional trail, it is a much more refined much more elaborate, much more energized piece of the puzzle that extends eventually all the way from Court all the way to Schuyler. That’s a very big area. What that River Walk is going to be is a beautiful attractive multipurpose walkway affect separated halfway.filled with all kinds of immediate attractions we are going to talk about in just a second. Lastly but not least is Bird Park. I want to make sure not only the citizen of the community but that our friends in the Park District understand that Bird Park is not forgotten in this equation it is really important because it is such a beautiful asset to reenergize and it can become a great destination but we have chosen to focus instead on this area of Washington and Schuyler because it has the most.potential, frankly the ability to help pay for itself and that’s really important to this group because we know that you are asking yourself and everybody else is asking, how are we going to pay for this? This is the answer right down here. So, we are kind of going backwards, we are going to talk in just a second about going from which is Alpiner right now going from what we call the lifts down to this River Walk Middle Race District, the red dash line shows the existing bicycle trail riverfront trail ways, this shows the extension of that same trail ways which by the way we recall, last fall when you approved our submitting on your behalf the application for the ITEP funding. We kind of.glass half full, we did not get all the funding that we wanted but we got funding for the design and engineering of this piece right here from the pet bridge all the way down to Station. So, that is a really important.you will be happy with that. The really good news, it looks like there is life down in Springfield. Hooray for that! So there is maybe some activity.to sustain these types of improvements. I am going to spend just a second kind of going backwards.so we start up at Court Street looking to the South East and this is the ellipse. Here’s the bicycle trail coming underneath East Court so you don’t have o cross that very dangerous street. You come flying underneath Court Street you have a pathway that can take bicyclist.sit on the terraces and enjoy overlooking the river. This is really more of a garden environment. In fact, you can see here separate pathways for strolling, separate pathways for cyclists, with lots of beautiful garden improvements along the way. This s an area that is a really important compliment to what is happening with Presence St. Mary’s which has been bought by someone else but anyway, Presence St. Mary’s Hospital they have invested a lot of money into a Senior Living in the community and this is a perfect kind of compliment for that type of investment and others like it. We are thinking about something that is very artful even whimsical.and make that whole area kind of front porch to that development into the hospital there. As you come around the bend here, of course there are a lot of homes next to the river here now and they flood very frequently. The City has received Grant Funding from FEMA to purchase most of the homes along the water’s edge. This will provide continuous access along the edge and to the edge of the river. One of the feature places where the park is right now we are calling the children’s garden. The children’s garden is an interactive play space again something that will be appealing to new generational people from inside the community and outside the community would really enjoy a huge play experience like this where nature comes together with kids and it’s a great place for mom’s and families to take a break. If we come farther now the Children’s Garden back up this direction, toward downtown we get the area we call the terrace, I am told it is the best fishing in town. You can see houses there but this will all be opened up to gain access to the Riverfront and there may be a pavilion here for performance. Look at what this area would be like maybe 15-20 years from now with these fantastic accessible platforms that will get you down to the water’s edge that are not only functional but really beautiful. That brings us to the area that we think is the key to success which is the.District. That area again between Washington Bridge and here’s Schuyler and downtown in the background here’s Amtrak.the train and catching it there. You can probably barely see those of you that have been looking at the report more closely but there is a fort of frothy looking thing on the edge here. Well this is one of the features, an accessible.course that takes and transitions that 9 ft drop all the way back on the East side of Schuyler and drop it down 18 inches, two feet at a time until you get all the way n the other side of Washington so that there is safe passage for rafts, paddlers, kayakers, tourist. This could be an area that could be managed in a way that we think would be absolutely unique feature a one of a kind feature just by itself is a tremendous magnet combined with the power of the spillway and the beauty of the river in this area, we think this is where the focus should be two or three blocks away from downtown. Again, 80 minutes away from Chicago; Amtrak stops down here. Capital exposure from Route 50. Lots of.this is sort of the bad news good news piece of the story. Lots of underdeveloped property on both sides of the river, that if we do this right could be best for new residence, could be apartments, could be a place where.workers would love to live in this type of environment that may work at CSL Behring and other corporations around the city. This is a place where older folks and younger folks, people of all backgrounds will want to hang out simply because this is going to be the coolest place in town. Here is Washington, the tracks; here’s Schuyler, here’s River Street and the reason River Street gets all this attention is because we are calling this festival street. It’s kind of a regular street by day and maybe by weekend or special occasion in turns into a place that is really terrific. Where there is opportunity for larger festivals or smaller festivals, there is opportunity for strolling upper level River Walk and lower level River Walk; people just hanging around watching people come.of these.that come through a big chunk of what is now incredibly powerful and very dangerous, very dangerous spillway. I’m sorry, I should also mention why I have this up. For those that have no interest in going; certainly have no interest in going over that, or no interest in going down the paddling course, they can come down here, they can get out right here, tie up their kayaker canoe up for that matter we can set it up to tie a power craft here and people can walk around and get a bite to eat at a restaurant down on Festival Street or they can take the kayaker or canoe down here and put it in on the other side of Washington. We think this is a very unique opportunity, we have been joking about this fir sometime calling it the beer float because we don’t know what to call it. There is one little area that is right outside of the flood plain right in the shadow if you will where Washington intersects with the river, and there is an opportunity for a little bit of commercial construction right there. What a great place for a very unique type of a restaurant, there might be roof top seating with all the.can you imagine.on a night like this I would buy everybody drinks. Anyway, this could be a fantastic place to come and watch the river, watch the paddling course, watch people fishing, watch people walking up and down the River Walk. There is all kinds of opportunity on the North side of the street for redevelopment, commercial for business. We thing there is hotel opportunity. That may seem preposterous in the area and just lots of same kinds of opportunity in town for hotels. It would be really unique right on the riverfront but we think this is a spectacular opportunity. What is the name on that?

Inaudible: Sully’s.

Mr. Hichcock: Thank you. I’m sorry, I should have introduced; this is where I apologize. Lacy Lawrence, Project Manager and Craig Farnsworth is our Design.and Dan Hartman, They are all a part of the team but I did not let anyone Know that they are here. Sully’s yes, this beautiful historic Stone building, what should be a restaurant. Notice we closed off East and West Streets so we won’t have people tearing down the Streets here. This is part of the green connection that goes back up to downtown and creates a.which is a marvelous festival space right by what used to be kind of a Milling foundation.which is why we call this the Mill Race District well because this is kind of a great opportunity to recreate the Mill Race feel. What might that look like? Well this is back toward that plaza looking at the Amtrak Bridge, this gives you a little bit better idea if what this space might look like. There could be performance areas, there could areas for hanging out on the lawn, interactive fountains, beautiful lighting, kiosk around the perimeter and maybe some food trucks. This is the Mill Race in the Mill Race District. This is Rivers Street and we are looking East back toward the Amtrak Bridge and you see here you step down to this terrace and you step down to the river walk and we take this notch right out where the dam is now and two step down one at a time safely so that you can navigate through that area. This is what that might look like. This doesn’t really do it justice although it shows a more urban environment. The fact of the matter is Scott.reminds us all the time. For every person in the water kayaking, there is always at least 7 people, and I think if you count them up there is more than that. There are always at least 7 people hanging on the shore watching them. Whether it’s for someone who wants to go through this time and time again or someone who just wants to traverse this area and make their way down stream toward Wilmington. This is sitting up on top of that restaurant that we talked about that might be in the South side of Washington Street looking back.lower River Walk, Festival Street, beautiful lighting, lighting on the bridge. You can see the background here the Hydro plant

It is kind of a utilitarian building you can out colored lights on it and really make it look spectacular. This is what that view may look like at night, lots of activity on the street just a cool place to hangout, but this is why you came, Councilman you all came because you are supposed to but this is why the public came because everyone wants to know how are we going to do this. Let’s talk about the economics, let’s talk about the cost, how are we going to fund it and what are the impacts when we get it accomplished. When we are talking about cost we are talking about 2 sets of numbers. Capital expenditures which are the cost for public improvements and once again take the.of improvements. We are talking about, philanthropy on a very large scale. We are talking about local taxes and in some cases federal tax supporting revenue, in particular we are talking about TIF which we will circle back to in a second. I’m sorry the taxes are the local funding, the grants is the state and federal funding. We are thinking this will be a 60/20 split. The impact is specifically while we are gathered and are here tonight because this really gets complicated. Those of you who have skipped to the back and read the impact analysis you will see that we are talking about two kinds of impacts. One time construction impacts and then the annual concurrent impacts that are really. Alright there is the big number everybody has been waiting for. It is this one right here. It is reasonable to assume it could be as much as $30,000, 000 of public improvement in an area that is roughly bounded by Washington and Schuyler in the Mill Race District. It’s a big investment that also by the way, not only the River Walk Mill Race but the $30,000,000 also includes the complete extension of the River Walk trail ways all the way from Riverside Medical Center pedestrian bridge there, all the way South around the bend, all the way to Washington Avenue. So it gets those two things done. Annual operations, we have just have a very rough idea of that so I would rally hate to put a number up there now. We are working on that, let’s talk about where the money is coming from. We think that it is realistic because of the nature of the community.the incredible importance of this initiative to the community we think that it is reasonable as much as 20 percent maybe even more that will come from philanthropy. This is not a big sale, this is not selling bricks one at a time, these are some large, large, contributions that we will be soliciting form some major donors but there is certainly opportunity for everyone to participate with things like buying benches, buying bricks and trees. So it’s the kind of thing that the whole City can participate in. Why philanthropy? Because when you have your pocket book we know it really matters. It struck me in.when we did the River Walk there had been a tremendous.which was practically erase whenever the community realized that high school were helping to lay the bricks on the River Walk. The word got out, don’t be messing the stuff I am doing on the weekends. There was tremendous pride in the community for the work that was done and we see this many, many, other.Taxes.we are talking specifically about TIF. Tax Incremental Financing. There is a TIF District that is being contemplated for the area which is very large. Early on, there is going to be very modest kinds of revenue coming off of it. This is sort of the complementary peace if you will.what comes first is a big leap of faith and a big investment and a public improvement that in turn, drives private sector investment. When a private sector comes in an invest we think that in 10 years this is very reasonable. I am thinking this is a conservative number, it is very reasonable there could be 2 million increment property tax generate. This is above what’s being generated in the area. Again that is not going to happen overnight but as time goes on and that investments come on.the increment is captured in the TIF District and it can be plowed back to pay off bond issues that might pay for public improvement. Last but not least, 20 percent that comes from grants. I am a little bit encouraged about Springfield like I said we maybe could bump this number up a little bit. Grants will come in the form such.ITEP, things from the IEPA and water quality grants. There are also some opportunites for some out right appropriations. There is no more powerful tool when your leaders are meeting with elected officials not so much at State but the Federal level when you are talking to Senators and Representatives. When you say hey look, we have millions of dollars of private contributions for public improvements. We have got a TIF District that we think is going to be generating more than $2 million a year as we get deeper in this thing and we a are looking for some Federal Assistance on some really tricky pieces such as the dam modification. It’s a very, very powerful combination it is the best kind of lovely private partnership that plays all day long with officials at the higher levels. The impacts, there is a lot of numbers here again Dan is going to back me up because these can really get a little tedious to explain. But why would you bother to do any of this? Well sure, it’s going to be fun, It’s going to be a fun place to hang out, it’s going to look fantastic, It’s going to create some development. But what’s the money side of it? We think that early on.this is a very conservative number but we think we can do $52 Million or more in construction activity this is on the private sector side based on the mileage that Dan’s firm has done. We think that it will create almost 400 jobs, almost $70 Million from this economic impact from the public sector improvement stand point and the private sector.What happens year after year after year, over 100 jobs, over $2 Million additional property tax over $13 Million in combined economic impact. If you have been reading toward the end of the report you will note that it was summarized on the addendum of the report.Okay, you are still not convinced? That’s fine, we know it’s a big vision, we know it will brand the community, we know it will be exciting, it will be fun, it is going to appeal to age groups, it will appeal to all age groups , different backgrounds from outside the community. We have shown a path on how it can be funded. By gosh it sure seems like a lot. Well, yes it is a lot of work. But there is a logical incremental way you go about doing these things. Creates, builds and sustains momentum and it is so much fun once it gets rolling. We have got to start by creating a standing river walk team, call it whatever you want. The Taskforce was a. group but you need something that is semi permanent now, we need to increase promotion and., as soon as possible, its Summer. We need to get people reacquainted so they know that they know what our intentions are. We need to acquire some key properties by the River’s edge so we can get to the river. We need to create that TIF and Frank’s go that underway. Recruit some developers and get excited about development in this area. We need to create a foundation so they can accept a large scale of private sector contributions for funding. We need to construct some demonstrations a fast as possible, so we can demonstrate our intentions, starting of modestly mentally and stay fiscally responsible. We need to do the engineering a finish the design on the trial ways project.

Get that ITEP grant to build that thing all the way from the Stations street and then lastly, to continue all the way down to Washington. Last but not least, get the design engineered for the Mill Race.it is the start of the show. It is the thing that moves the needle and gets people attention its going to make this River Walk Mill Race District, it’s going to make the Kankakee Riverfront a one of a kind destination in the State of Illinois I am certain of. So can we connect our citizens, improve our economy and redefine our brand. Yes we can. I hope in a couple of weeks I will be answering questions may have; answering more questions. You will be taking a vote to affirm or pass public policy for Kankakee Riverfront Master Plan. It doesn’t prescribe any appropriations. Leadership doesn’t prescribe anything. It just makes recommendations for the next three years which are crucially important. It lays out a big vision and a step by step process to get to the finish line. It is critical public policy and it starts with you adoption. Simultaneously, we are encouraging our friends at the Park District to look at this plan because they have a lot of skin in the game. The own the property in the vicinity of the Mill Race District nonetheless they should be.Thank you for being so patient through a long presentation. Any and every question that you ask about the market place I will have Dan up here to bail me out. Questions please.you are all overwhelmed, I hope you are overwhelmed in a good way.

Mayor Wells-Armstrong: Thank you. Okay again, you all have the draft. Take your time looking through it write down your questions and contact Carolyn so we can meet with you, Elizabeth and I.

Mr. Hitchcock: Mayor, we did not rehearse this part but surely our name is on there. If you have any questions, I certainly encourage you; I beg you to speak with the Mayor.if you have any questions or don’t understand something in the report, don’t hesitate to send me an email, I will be happy to answer them as soon as I can.

Presentation By The Kankakee Fire Department Recognizing The Students Who Participated In Explorer Program

Mayor Wells-Armstrong: Thank you. Moving on we have a presentation by the Kankakee Fire Department Recognizing the Students that Participated in the Explorer Post Program.

Chief Schuldt: Thank you Mayor, Members of the Council and Members of the public. We wanted to take a few minutes to recognize our Explorer Post but before I do I want to talk about a little history and where we are at today. So when we started the program, we thought we would need a little bit of an oversight committee and governance to oversee the program just in case any issues. So we decided to have a group of five people including myself and I just want to recognize those real quick and that was: Judge Tom Peddington, Erica Garza, Principle District 111, Reverend Marshall Crawford of Morning Star Church, and the Ryan Barry of People’s Bank. So thanks for being a part of that group. I sort of told them, we are the type of group that should never have to meet, we should not have any problems and I can say over the last 9-10 months we had very few issues never had to meet once and I think this is accredited to this group, the first group of kids that we had. So next I would like to bring up a couple people that were very instrumental from the Kankakee Fire Department. Captain Brian Roche and Sargent Darryl Hunt, you guys can come forward. Just to give you a little history, about a year ago these two came into my office and they said hey we have an idea about a cadet program we would like to do. I said that is very ironic because I always felt that when I got the position that is something I would like to do.we started putting our.together and as many of you know, Mike Cassagrande, Captain in charge of our Fire Prevention Bureau. Mikes got a lot of history with the Boy Scouts so he suggested that we go that route. The four of us met in the office off and on last summer we started putting things together and getting a lot of things done. I can tell that the Explorer Post would not be here today if it weren’t for them, especially these two individuals and everything they did. It encounters trainings in Saturday Mornings and evenings. They spent a lot of their own time putting this together along with other members of the Kankakee Fire Department. We had about 6 of our regular members who raised their hands to volunteer to do instructing day and night and Saturdays as well. It all started with.they took a group of Explorers down to Iroquois County to a training facility to actually get some fire fighter training with live smoke as well. Can you give these two.Mike could be here.a round of applause. I watched the both of them they spent hours and hours doing this and they were very enthusiastic. Now I want to call up the Explorers. Come on up guys and ladies. When we decided to do this program, I spoke at the orientation back in October. We wanted to give them a real live experience as we could. So we told them they are going to spend sometime in the fire station with us, do ride- a-longs, learn how to clean the bathrooms, spend some time in the fire trucks, washing vehicles off, when they did some ride along with us they got the chance to see real fires on the shift. We got all of them fire gear. I also want to say we spent very, very, little money out of our budget and bought some T-shirts. Some of the fire gear we gave them was old that some of the guys gave up. We got a help form the grant program and other departments.and we tried to make the best experience possible. In orientation we told them they would be cleaning bathroom and vacuuming, one of mother said of now you can do that at home. I guess in addition to firefighting we try to teach some life skills as well. So this has been a very dedicated group, it’s been a privilege to know them. We talked about ending the program with the Summer and starting back up in the fall and some of them want to continue to do that. A few of them will help us out through another program as well. I think there is a few individuals that will seniors and but the others will return next year. I think it will be a bit of a challenge to bring some new people in and keep them interested but I think everybody is up for the task so we can keep this program going from year to year. So thanks for that. I would like to read off the names of right now. I ask that you hold your applause until the end and if there is any family that want to come up and take pictures you can do that: Nathaniel Lavoy, Jenny Lasano, Nicole Beaupre, Samantha Huff, Christian Bryant, Mathew Ryan, Nicole.,Hannah Allen, James Stokes and there is one individual who couldn’t be here tonight. Give them a round of applause. There is one other award I would like to talk about. I don’t think they know about it. Ryan came to me and he said he wanted to do a Explorer of the Year type of award: somebody who is an outstanding member of the group who went to all the trainings and participated a lot and showed his/her leadership ability. I thought that was a good idea to do that. I am proud to present our first ever Explorer Post of the Year and that’s Hannah Allen. Alright Thank you everybody.

Mayor Wells-Armstrong: Thank you future.Next we have a presentation from the Public Library recognizing their staff who works at the Avis Huff Student Support Services Center through the Project Next Generations Grant Provided by the Secretary of State Jesse White’s Office. So at this time. Do you want me to call them up them up Steve?

Steve Bertrand: Yes.

Mayor Wells-Armstrong: At this time I will call up the staff. Ronald Johnson, Grant Writer.

Roland Johnson: That’s Roland.it’s not right n there.

Mayor Wells-Armstrong: Oh, I’m sorry.

Roland Johnson – Grant Writer/Tutor/Mentor Camille Rose - Youth Services/Supervisor/Tutor/Mentor Zanette Benson - Tutor/Mentor Megan O’Neil – Tutor/Mentor Kent Wade - Tutor/Mentor

Steve Bertrand: Thank you everyone. I am Steve Bertrand Director of the Public Library. Thanks for having us this evening. We have been hearing a lot of things this evening about what the City does on a Macro of scales as we take in the City’s Problems. What we are going to talk about tonight is what we have been doing on a micro scale trying to address individuals one at a time. As most of you , all of you know, we have had difficulties with use of the Library in the community. Unfortunately the youth find their way to Avis Huff Center because they don’t have the support at home that they need to perform adequately at school. So, we receive annually a grant from the Secretary of State’s Office – Project Net Generation and it has been spent in a variety of ways through the years but this year and previous years, we’ve begun working with the kids at Avis Huff. I can tell that it is a draining experience.difficult but it is.rewarding. This year each of the tutors took a student from Avis Huff close to not graduating and worked with that student to improve their chances of graduating. I am proud to say.Megan is the only one that is not here, she couldn’t make but all of the students that we worked with at Avis huff graduated this year. Just to give you a little description in what can be involved with that, a couple of our Tutors went to Court with one of our student who had quite a bit of legal trouble at that time and had a conversation with Jim Rowe the States Attorney about the possibility of finding some way for that student not to have to go to jail or to do something else. I was our call. Jim said that, if this young person graduated School and was able to pay off his Court fees and have no negative interaction with the Police in the next 6 months that he would waive the charges against him. So this was Roland’s Student that he was mentoring. There was no further interaction with the Police, he graduated and in order to pay off his debt to the Court, he had a car wash and I will have to say that at the end, Jim Rowe should up at the Car Wash and paid off the end of his debt. So not only was he able to get across to the finish line, I am pretty sure he was going to get there anyway because he was close but Jim was happy to do that for him. So, I am happy to tell you how proud I am of these people. I do very little with this other than say Great Job! Keep Going! Don’t Stop! They do all the heavy lifting. One of the projects that they worked in is doing an interview at the Veteran’s Home in Momence. That was very revealing to the student because a lot of the guys they interviewed had very similar experiences that they young people did only.30,40, 50, 60,70 years ago. The way the found there way out were through war situations. It was very interesting for the students to talk to them to find out what their life was like. So we have a ten minute video to show you. The videos are much longer than this. If you want to see the entire video they are available on our You Tube page on the Web. I am going to put the microphone here by this (Video started/stopped).

Roland Johnson: As Steve indicated, we worked with these kids. Discipline and Empathy were the two things we tried to instill. This kind of gives you a picture of who they are.we are going to get to the Mission Accomplished part of our program. We changed our focus to working with them making sure that the seniors amongst them graduated. As Steve noted, these seven seniors here did successfully graduate this past graduation season. We are extremely proud of what they accomplished. In addition to graduation because we worked with them two years in a row. The first year, they created these Veteran History Projects.Videos that were submitted to the Library of Congress and to the Illinois State Library for their inclusion and their Archives. Those videos totaled ten. We have ten video interviews; all ten were accepted by Illinois state Library and three were accepted for inclusion of the Library of Congress. Those that were rejected were rejected because they didn’t meet the 30 minute limit. We want to just tease you with what a little of what those videos contained. As Steve noted they are all located on the Library website in their entirety. (Video Now Playing).

Steve Bertrand: (Video Ended). I will just close with this. What I said to the Staff, we can’t guarantee that these young people will have successful lives but I feel like we gave them a chance. We gave them a chance they may not have had if it weren’t for the Library Staff being in their lives. Thank you.

Mayor Well-Armstrong: I just want to take the time to thank all of you for investing in our community and especially our youth. Getting them through high school is a huge step so now they at least have a fighting chance. So at this time I just want to present each of you with one of our City of Kankakee Medals. Roland Johnson. Steven can you come here for minute please.

Steve Bertrand: Sure.

Roland Johnson: Thank you.

Mayor Well-Armstrong: Camille Rose, Zanette Benson, Mary Bass, Megan is not here, I will give you hers.

Inaudible: Okay, Thank you.

Mayor Well-Armstrong: Last but not least Kent Wade. Thank you.

Inaudible: Thank you.

Report Of Officers Approval Of Bills - $308,602.74

Mayor Wells-Armstrong: Moving on to standing committee reports we have none. Moving on to the report of officers. May I have a motion to approve the bills?

Ald Faford: I move that we approve the report of officers, place the money in the proper accounts and pay the bills in the amount of $308,602.74

Mayor Wells-Armstrong: Motioned by Alderman Faford.

Ald Tall: Second the motion.

Mayor Wells-Armstrong: Seconded by Alderman Tall. Any discussion? Roll Call.

Clerk Dumas: Ayes: Tetter, Brown, Curtis, Baron, Lewis, Tall, Faford, Crawford, Osenga, O’Brien, Gall, Malone Marshall, Kennedy

(13) Ayes (0) Nays

Unfinished Business:

Pb18-03-An Application For Microgrid Energy, Llc., Requesting A Conditional Use Permit To Allow For The Operation Of A “Solar Array Farm” At The Property Commonly Known As 2801 East Court Street

Mayor Wells-Armstrong: Motion carries. Moving on to Unfinished Business under Item A, we have an application for Microgrid Energy, LLC., requesting a Conditional Use Permit to allow for the Operation of Solar Array Farm at the property commonly known as 2801 East Court Street. Frank, I will defer to you.

Frank Koehler: There is not a lot of information on this Mayor. This is from the days of when Cliff Cross was here. The company clearly had gone through all the.processes of the Planning Commission. By the time they got to the zoning, there was a change in the name of the company from my understanding. There is no change in the ownership matrix if you would. In fact, Pat Power reviewed it and found out whatever changes that there were they were minimalistic and they will not interfere with the terms of the application. The concern was had there been.change they would have to go back and repeat that process. The findings of the Planning Board still stand for the recommendations to be approved by the City Council.

Mayor Wells-Armstrong: May I have a motion to accept the findings of the Planning Board?

Ald Brown: I will make that motion.

Mayor Wells-Armstrong: Motion made by Alderman Brown.

Ald Tetter: Second Your Honor.

Mayor Wells-Armstrong: Seconded by Alderman Tetter. Any discussion? Roll Call.

Clerk Dumas: Ayes: Tetter, Brown, Baron, Lewis, Tall, Faford, Crawford, Osenga, O’Brien, Gall, Malone Marshall, Kennedy

Abstain: Curtis,

(12) Ayes (0) Nays (1) Abstention

First Reading An Ordinance Approving The Operation Of A “Solar Array Farm” At The Property Commonly Known As 2801 East Court Street

Mayor Wells-Armstrong: Motion Carries. Next is the Ordinance. Motion to suspend.

Ald Brown: I make a motion that the rules won’t interfere with the passing of this Ordinance.

Mayor Wells-Armstrong: Motion made by Alderman Brown.

Alderman Tetter: Second Your Honor.

Mayor Wells-Armstrong: Seconded by Alderman Tetter. Roll Call.

Clerk Dumas: Ayes: Tetter, Brown, Baron, Lewis, Tall, Faford, Crawford, Osenga, O’Brien, Gall, Malone Marshall, Kennedy

Abstain: Curtis,

(12) Ayes (0) Nays (1) Abstention

Second Reading An Ordinance Approving The Operation Of A “Solar Array Farm” At The Property Commonly Known As 2801 East Court Street

Mayor Wells-Armstrong: Motion Carries. May I have a motion to put the ordinance on final passage.

Ald Brown: So move.

Mayor Wells-Armstrong: Motion made by Alderman Brown.

Ald Tetter: Second Your Honor.

Mayor Wells-Armstrong: Seconded by Alderman Tetter. Roll Call.

Clerk Dumas: Ayes: Tetter, Brown, Baron, Lewis, Tall, Faford, Crawford, Osenga, O’Brien, Gall, Malone Marshall, Kennedy

Abstain: Curtis, (12) Ayes (0) Nays

(1) Abstention

Proposal For Advantage Copier Equipment & Services

Mayor Wells-Armstrong: Motion Carries. Next under unfinished business is the proposal for Advantage Copier Equipment & Service Inc. I will defer to Carolyn Croswell in our HR Department.

Carolyn Croswell: Thank you Mayor. We have worked on this project for a few months. I would like to talk about what we think we are doing well and better. We know that we will be saving the City money with this proposal. We know that we will not bind future Administrations which we discovered as we put the project together. We also know there will be good training and that. we will be tracking our use of our copies both color and black and white so that we can make informed decision about what we need to do to make sure that we are being charged correctly of our proposed vendor. We also, know that there will be retraining as staff learns how to use the equipment and last but not least, the other peripheral equipment that we have now; printers, fax machines, in time most of them will go away because the equipment is State of the Art and it will be able to do all those things all those other devices do individually. Which will also save the City money especially the use of ink and hopefully paper. So I feel it is a good solid proposal and I would like to turn it back over to the Mayor.

Mayor Wells-Armstrong: Thank you. As Carolyn stated this will not exceed the end of my term because of past practices we found that the contract for the copy machines and printers had been binding Administrations. So this will not exceed that. Alderwoman Kennedy asked at the last meeting. we have 15 copy machines this proposal Phase 1 will replace 10 of them with updated technology. Phase II will start phasing out the ink jet printers that are on our desks. It cost more to print on a inkjet printer opposed to copiers. The cartridges for the inkjet machines are over $100.00 so we will save money there. We are looking to be more efficient with tax money. This does not require a bid. The contract does not exceed $100,000.00 and I did confirm that with our lead team. So at this time if I can have a motion to approve the proposal.

Ald Tetter: So move Your Honor.

Mayor Wells-Armstrong: Motion made by Alderman Tetter.

Ald Lewis: Second

Mayor Wells-Armstrong: Seconded by Alderwoman Lewis. Any discussion?

Ald O’Brien: Yes Mayor.

Mayor Wells-Armstrong: Alderman O’Brien?

Ald O’Brien: I recall that we talked about the savings opportunity. I don’t recall what the number is on an annual basis.

Mayor Wells-Armstrong: We don’t have the exact number at this time. We are phasing out the inkjet printers. I think my cartridges cost $134.00 every time I order inkjet on my desk.

Carolyn Croswell: It’s also the purchasing power in regards to reordering paper and supplies including ink. We were purchasing as individual departments the contracts were individual in some cases departments and each one of those contracts had an automatic roll over. If we didn’t advise the vendor that we wanted to terminate that contract then we were as a city required to live with that contract another 12 months. So there will be savings. We are looking this year may be around $2500 I future years as we phase out all those.that we have it will be tens of thousands of dollars.

Mayor Wells-Armstrong: Alderwoman Kennedy?

Ald Kennedy: So Carolyn, how will they order? Will they all have to come through you to get ink?

Carolyn Croswell: Well right now and thank you for that question. Right now ordering is done by individual departments. What will happen is because the technology resides in the clouds, our new vendor will know when a machine is running low.

They will learn our paper reutilization and they will order those things for us.

Mayor Wells-Armstrong: Alderman Osenga?

Ald Osenga: Yes Mayor. As I look at this contract, I am sure this is a very reputable company. I think there proposal is $1700.00 per month and if we go 36 months to the end of your term.that is still $61,000.00. I would feel much more comfortable about this if we looked at other vendors. Have we looked at other vendors? Have we done an RFP?

Mayor Wells-Armstrong: We have checked into others.

Ald Osenga: You have seen what other vendors have done.

Mayor Wells-Armstrong: Yes we have.

Ald Osenga: Has any of that information been represented? I saw some from Martin /Whalen the other day but that’s.I really didn’t understand all that paperwork. I would feel more comfortable if we did an RFP. So all.can look at this and so everybody I the community and everybody outside the community can have the opportunity to bid on this contract.

Mayor Wells-Armstrong: Any other discussion? Okay, Alderman Crawford?

Ald Crawford: When we went out to.did we also price cost if to see how much it would be if we bought them out right?

Mayor Wells-Armstrong: Did you hear that Carolyn?

Carolyn Croswell: I did not hear the entire question.

Mayor Wells-Armstrong: Alderman Crawford can you push and hold.

Ald Crawford: When we got the bids for the items we are leasing for the different copier, Did we also get a price on buying them out right?

Carolyn Croswell: No and thank you for that question Alderman. No we did not that would be a bigger proposition for the City. I am not sure what the exact cost of every machine is plus, the service contracts but I can certainly get that for you.

Ald Crawford: Thank you.

Mayor Wells-Armstrong: Any other discussion? Okay we have a motion and a second on the floor. Roll Call.

Clerk Dumas: Ayes: Tetter, Brown, Curtis, Baron, Lewis, Tall, Faford, O’Brien, Gall, Malone Marshall, Kennedy

No: Crawford, Osenga,

(11) Ayes (2) Nays

Motions And Resolutions

Mayor Wells-Armstrong: Motion carries. We have no new business. Moving on to motions and resolutions. Item A we have a motion for a Resolution Authorizing Acceptance of a Grant from the Illinois Housing Development Authority and I will defer to Frank.

Frank Koehler: Thank you Mayor. In essence, Items A and C are two separate resolutions but they are the same item. One is authorizing the acceptance of the grant the other is authorizing the acceptance of the grant agreement with the State. This is the $150,000.00 Grant that we receive from the Illinois housing authority to look into the feasibility in establishing the land bank within the City of Kankakee. We talked earlier, the CRC Committee this evening. Land bank facilitates the acquisition of abandon property by the municipalities. That in and of itself does not necessarily address the ongoing problem..create down the road a community development corporation ; a neighborhood corporation which facilitate.of these properties and then.approving redevelopment of those. The land bank is the beginning to allow the City to get better control of those properties. Alderman Tetter and I attended a Community Workshop in Milwaukee a couple of weeks ago on in depth training on vacant properties. The grant allows reimbursement of the City for attending that conference. Thursday this week, Jan Gathing and Gloria Dowdy will be attending a program in Peoria to learn more about the land bank program. There is only a handful in existence and right now. Cook County land bank.land bank, one recently created.Danville, there is a feasibility study underway.in Chicago, Waukegan and other communities to establish a land bank in that area. There were about 5 or 6 communities that were awarded money to pursue the studies ourselves and a few others, not very many. It’s a unique opportunity.A and C are two separate resolutions for the same thing.

Mayor Wells-Armstrong: Thank you Frank. May I have a motion to accept the resolution for the acceptance of the grant.

Ald Crawford: So move

Mayor Wells-Armstrong: Motion made by Alderman Crawford.

Ald O’Brien: Second.

Mayor Wells-Armstrong: Seconded by Alderman O’Brien. Any discussion? Alderman Curtis.

Ald Curtis: Will the land bank, will this basically be the City of Kankakee’s own land bank or will it be part of South Suburban?

Frank Koehler: This will be our own land bank. Land banks in Illinois does require a home rule community. So we will operate on our own so if we chose to do so. In the future if successful, The potential there is to enter into an intergovernmental agreement with other communities to allow our home rule power to be used with in their community.but it will be our land bank not South Suburban.

Ald Curtis: So it is very similar to South Suburban but we will be controlling this one.

Frank Koehler: That is correct.

Ald Curtis: Thank you.

Mayor Wells-Armstrong: Alderwoman Kennedy?

Ald Kennedy: Just wondering if Fred and Frank would be open to getting the information they received in Milwaukee to the rest of us at some point.

Mayor Wells-Armstrong: I believe that was included in the minutes you sent out from the CDA meeting.

Frank Koehler: I will get it out to the full Council.

Mayor Wells-Armstrong: Thank you.

Frank Koehler: I have some handouts this evening that I will get out to the full Council as well.

Mayor Wells-Armstrong: Okay. Any other discussion? Roll Call.

Clerk Dumas: Ayes: Tetter, Brown, Baron, Curtis, Lewis, Tall, Faford, Crawford, Osenga, O’Brien, Gall, Malone Marshall, Kennedy

(13) Ayes (0) Nays

Resolution Authorizing Acceptance Of Illinois Housing Development Authority Land Bank Capacity Program Grant Agreement And Related Issues

Mayor Wells-Armstrong: Motion carries. We have already taken care of Item B. Item C is Authorizing acceptance of the Illinois Housing Development Authority Land Bank Capacity Program Grant Agreement and the related matters. Frank do you have anything else to add?

Frank Koehler: No Mayor, I do not.

Mayor Wells-Armstrong: May I have a motion accept the resolution.

Ald O’Brien: So move.

Mayor Wells-Armstrong: Motion made by Alderman O’Brien.

Ald Crawford: Second

Mayor Wells-Armstrong: Seconded by Alderman Crawford. Any discussion? Roll Call Please.

Clerk Dumas: Ayes: Tetter, Brown, Baron, Curtis, Lewis, Tall, Faford, Crawford, Osenga, O’Brien, Gall, Malone Marshall, Kennedy

(13) Ayes (0) Nays

Alderman Comments

Mayor Wells-Armstrong: Motion carries. There is no need for Executive Session.

Alderman Comments. Alderman Tall?

Ald Tall: Yes Mayor, I would like to speak to the neglect of the vacant properties and.Code Officers in our Ward.If I walked into the yard the grass is so high you wouldn’t see me.Station Street, Fifth Avenue, Entrance and.

Mayor Wells-Armstrong: Station Street, Fifth Avenue, Entrance and.

Ald Tall: Stone Street.

Mayor Wells-Armstrong: Yes, to answer your question they were alternating the Code Officers, they have different territories.Stone Street by pumping station. Any other.Alderman Crawford?

Ald Crawford: With the changes you made in the Code Department changes you made.

Mayor Wells-Armstrong: I didn’t make those changes. The Code Director.

Ald Crawford: Okay, Can we get those changes by our Wards?

Mayor Wells-Armstrong: You want the assignment of the Staff for the respective Wards? Absolutely.

Ald Crawford: Thank you.

Mayor Wells-Armstrong: You’re Welcome. I wanna say can I go from memory. I think Steve has 1 and 6. Crystal has 3 and 4. Pam has 2 and 5. Who am I missing? Don has 7. Did I get all the Wards? Did I get everybody?

Ald Brown: Who retired?

Mayor Wells-Armstrong: Don has not retired yet. There is no retirements.

Mayor Wells-Armstrong: 1 and 6 is Steve. 3 and 4 is Crystal I believe. Don has 7.

Carolyn Croswell: Excuse me Mayor. Alderman Brown, there has been some chatter about one of the employees retiring but he has not made that official yet.

Ald Brown: Thank you.

Mayor Wells-Armstrong: And regards to the home on Indiana, Kris do you have some updates? I know you were speaking to our legal regarding that property on South Indiana.

Kris Schmitz: They were talking about sending.a letter to see if he would agree to demolition and. so that’s where we are at.

Mayor Wells-Armstrong: Thank you Kris. Alderwoman Kennedy?

Ald Kennedy: We happen to have a property in 1st Ward the roof is falling in. I believe it was on the demo list at one time. It use to be a day care center or something like that.

Kris Schmitz: I believe we have a demo order on that

Ald Kennedy: So.a couple concerns with the grass, he mentioned some what to Council. Has there ever been an opportunity where some of the local lawn care services can assist DPW in taking care of some of these lawns?

Mayor Wells-Armstrong: I spoke with Bert last week and they need work orders. They haven’t receive very many of them. Alderman Crawford had sent me an address that was taken care of correct?

Ald Crawford: Yes.

Mayor Wells-Armstrong: They had not been receiving tickets so Carolyn and I went over to Code Department to address that last week.

Ald Kennedy: Okay, and how about lots that are vacant next to people that own property? Is there an opportunity for them to actually offer them those lots.what’s that?

Mayor Wells-Armstrong: I will have to consult with our legal team. We have had a chance to discuss that yet.

Ald Kennedy: Okay.

Michael Mcgrath:.Program or.the grass next to their house.we will let you know.

Mayor Wells-Armstrong: Any other comments for specific members?

Alderman Crawford?

Ald Crawford: I will be sending you the rest of that list

Mayor Wells-Armstrong: Lawns that need to be cut?

Ald Crawford: Lawns that need to be cut? It’s about 15 or 20 of them. I have taken pictures of all of the and I have also put the address down. I will email them to you and Code. Thank you.

Adjournment:

Mayor Wells-Armstrong: You are welcome. Any other comments?

May I have a motion to adjourn?

Ald Kennedy: So move.

Mayor Wells-Armstrong: Motioned by Alderwoman Kennedy.

Ald O’Brien: Second.

Mayor Wells-Armstrong: Seconded by Alderman O’Brien. All in favor aye?

Council: Aye.

Mayor Wells-Armstrong: Opposed same sign. We are adjourned.

https://citykankakee-il.gov/perch/resources/editor/city-council-mtg-minutes-june-4th-2018-meeting.pdf