Chambana Sun

City of Danville City Council met April 1

Here are the minutes provided by the council:

#1.... THE REGULAR MEETING of the City Council of the City of Danville was called to order at 6:00 p.m. by Mayor Rickey Williams, Jr. at the Robert E. Jones Municipal Building, 17 W Main Street, Danville, Illinois. 

THE ROLL CALL was answered by Mayor Rickey Williams, Jr., Vice Mayor Tricia Teague, Aldermen Ed Butler, Jon Cooper, Bob Iverson, Eve Ludwig, Mike O'Kane, Sherry Pickering, James Poshard, Mike Puhr, Rick Strebing, Carolyn Wands, Robert Williams, Heidi Wilson, and Darren York. A quorum was present. 

Staff Members Present: City Clerk Lisa Monson, Comptroller Alyssa Sweeten, Corporation Counsel Leon Parker, Acting Engineer Eric Childers, Fire Chief Aaron Marcott, IT Chief Technology Officer Agnel DSilva, Community Relations Administrator Rheanna Ollis, IT Technician Cody Shadley, Planner II Mumuchhu Gurung, Police Chief Chris Yates, Public Transportation Director Steve White, Public Works Director Dave Ruwe, and Treasurer Chris Heeren. 

There were 22 audience members and 3 news media in attendance. 

#2....INVOCATION was given by Pastor Dave Anderson, First Church of the Nazarene, followed by #3....THE PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE led by Alderman Wands the regular meeting held, March 18, 2025, having been published and distributed, were presented. Alderman Butler moved for approval as presented, seconded by Alderman Ludwig. On the voice vote, all ayes, no nays; the motion so ordered. 

#5.... THE AGENDA for the evening was presented. Alderman Wilson moved for approval as presented, seconded by Alderman Poshard. On the voice vote, all ayes, no nays; the motion so ordered. 

#6....MAYOR'S REPORT 

#6-A... Proclamations - none presented. 

#6-B... Board/Committee/Personnel Appointments 

1. Appoint Aldermen to Credentials Committee 

Mayor Williams announced the appointment of Alderman Ludwig as Chairman, Alderman Mike O'Kane, and Alderman Sherry Pickering to the 2025 Credentials Committee. Alderman Puhr moved to concur, seconded by Alderman Strebing. Mayor Williams explained that the purpose of the Credentials Committee is to verify that each of the newly elected officials are eligible and qualified to serve on the Danville City Council. On the voice vote, all ayes, no nays; the motion so ordered. 

#6-C... Reports of Boards, Agencies, Commissions - none reported 

#6-D... Items of Information 

• Mayor Williams announced the passing of two individuals and expressed condolences, retired firefighter Roosevelt Cunningham and David "Bud" Gouard, who were pillars in the community and asked everyone to keep their families in thought and prayer. 

• Mayor Williams announced we have our Mario themed 5K fun run on Friday, April 4, 2025 and there is still time to sign up. 

#7... AUDIENCE COMMENTS 

•  Mohammad Abed of Danville voiced concern with a problem he cannot get resolved with a property at 101 N. Gilbert Street regarding roof repairs. He has gone back and forth with the inspector. Mayor Williams stated we will look into the situation and have someone get in touch with him. 

•  Chris Albin of Danville spoke regarding proposed changes to Chapter 163 Rental Registration. He voiced concern with taking tenant complaints from the legal department as someone else may not understand the situations as sometimes it is based only on opinion on somebody's feelings about how they were treated and there is no objective way to address it. He feels it should stay in the legal department. Adam Stuhr of Danville and with RC Management asked if a tenant has a retaliation claim is that going to stay in the legal division and not being considered to go to the HR department. Mayor Williams stated "yes". He stated he owns RC Management, and they manage 1,800 homes in the City of Danville, so they have a chunk of town rental properties. He stated he represents around 160 different owners in various states and the average rental property is financed through a bank. Some folks own them outright, but most people have them financed. The average rental property per year profits around $1,000 a year. He shared he has letters going back to 2020, our highest year for City of Danville letters was in 2023. We received 42 whether it be grass, problems with the outside of the property or other things. Last year we received 356 letters. This year we have received 57 letters so far, same landlords, same properties, same everything. Taking a stance to go after exterior things, bad garages, peeling paint, etc. The letters are all legitimate. We had to take down 28 detached structures in the last 18 months. The past four years we have had to take down zero. The city has a ton of homes that need to be torn down, which are on a list to be torn down. He feels the city is doing a great job, but you cannot tear them all down at once because there is a financial component there where you can only tear so much down at one time. The average city interior inspection costs the landlord on average between $300 to $500. To tear a garage down, on average $1,800. The average city letter is $200. There is no profit there. 

• David Tyler speaking on behalf of Jayne Cayten of Danville, who is an investor in Danville and began investing over 15 years ago and have a strong interest in growing my portfolio. However, the increase in property taxes, sewer fees, permitting fees and now the increase in rental registration is starting to make Danville an unattractive investment market, which will start to make it an unaffordable rental market. The fee increases are going go be passed on to the tenant as a prudent investor will not absorb these. I grow increasingly frustrated with the violation notices I receive for frivolous things such as the trash can wasn't put up off the curb, or an item left in the lawn and by the time I receive the notice in the mail, the response dates have long passed. These types of violations should be sent directly to the tenant as they live in the home and are responsible for these types of items outlined in the lease agreement. Aaron Troglia of Danville spoke regarding tenant retaliation complaints going to human relations department instead of legal department and disagrees if that would happen. The legal department is already in charge of these inspectors and can have them look into these complaints. The legal department also has legal experience where the human relations department does not and this seems to be a matter that the legal department is much better equipped to handle. Also, what happens if it's found that the tenant's complaint is fraudulent or frivolous, are there repercussions to the tenant? There are large fines of landlords who are found guilty, but no consequences for tenants found in the wrong. Tenants could bring false claims with no consequences and waste everyone's time. Also I think it is great that you step up and do the job as aldermen as it can be time consuming and may need to make some tough decisions, although I do not always agree with the Council women and men, I do think they have the best interests of the city at heart and I respect that. I don't always believe this is true with Alderman Cooper. From my experience with him and several other people I've talked to, he's extremely vindictive and a bully. I would ask people on the Council when Alderman Cooper brings something to Council, is it really what's in the best interest of the city, or does he just have an axe to grind with somebody. Jerry Hawker of Danville and representing the Danville Area Landlord Association, spoke relating to the rental registration ordinance and stated for the last almost 25 years, there has not been one Ordinance relating to landlords that the Danville Area Landlord Association was not involved in, or at least talked to. We still really don't know what you're voting on tonight because just a few minutes ago they finally showed me where the resolution that you're talking about tonight is. So, I think that's really disheartening because we have been involved all the way along. Absolutely said nothing about this one. The problem that I do have in general with the housing ordinance is on the internal inspections and I will tell you I've had a couple and I have no problem when there's nobody living in them. They've all passed. I have no problem if a tenant calls for a complaint with your inspectors to come in. Where I have a problem is there's a Fourth Amendment to the US Constitution that you can't just come into a person's property because you want to, and that's what you're really doing. If the tenant doesn't want you in there and the tenant has not filed a complaint, I don't think you meet the law. I mean, somebody's got to stop this kind of stuff all the way. It's nothing but being bullies and I commend Alderman Cooper because of the complaint you know we have been dealing with and he is really the only one that stood up for that citizen. I really think you're wasting your time on refiguring your retaliation ordinance. You've had it. It's been there for months and months and months and the only case has been filed with you, nobody did anything. Not one person other than Sandra Finch returned the calls and worked with that tenant, not legal counsel, not the mayor. Nobody. So, I think that you might as well flush it down the toilet because nobody's going to enforce it. 

• Gayle Jochim, Danville landlord, spoke regarding rental registration and stated the ordinances were the subjects of revision in some very quiet rewriting late last fall and early this year. To date, the Danville Area Landlords Association has not been asked for their input. They've not been advised of the revision process or of any of the meetings and the information has not been freely distributed. The ordinances, as they have been revised or are up for revision are not easily available, no matter how hard you look. I did look over the things that came through in December and January and so my information is based on those what revisions are being brought up after that. I have no clue and I'm not sure anybody else does. I feel that Danville's landlords should have some say on the ordinances that are governing them. Our voices need to be heard. Attendance here was critical, making our voices heard is absolutely imperative. There are hundreds of landlords in this city. Thousands of rental units. That's an awful lot of financial contribution to the community's good standings here for those landlords that have just one or two or three units that a lot of them are feeling, their voices are not heard. It doesn't matter. It doesn't count because they only have, you know, a couple. There are an awful lot of landlords and managers managing properties in Danville and have decent respectable units. There are crummy, rotten landlords, but unfortunately it appears that all the landlords are being painted with the same brush as the stereotypical slumlord the tenant needs to be protected from and the landlord is not afforded any assistance in dealing with their tenants who are not good neighbors who don't pay rent, who engage in illegal behavior, or who damage the property they live in, the penalties of landlords for attempting to rectify these are quite extreme. If you've read through the ordinances, unless they've been changed, they're very severe. Interior inspections are an affront to the tenant without cause. The inspections are an invasion of the tenants privacy. It's an unwanted search. Tenants should be able to expect peaceable enjoyment of their own homes. With cause, there's already procedures in in place to address the issues. If a tenant has a complaint, there are ordinances out there. There are procedures and protocols to follow to get some assistance from the city. I had no problem with warranted complaints by the tenant. Absolutely. The insulting inference is that tenants are either too afraid or too ignorant to report legitimate issues. 

• Brenda Brown of Danville spoke regarding the job posting for the Human Relations Administrator. I believe this is my third time addressing the Mayor and the Council and I asked you, I think I believe I said, don't take this lightly and because it's a very serious concern to me, not only to me, but to the citizens of Danville. And I believe the first time I was here; I quoted the four-way test that Rotarians recite at each meeting. But it's not only for Rotarians, it's for any business. It's for any personal issue and the first one is it fair? Is it the truth? Is going to build goodwill and better friendships? Is it going to be beneficial to all concerned and my concern today is when I read a posting of the Human Relations Administrator job that has been minimized tremendously and some going to legal, some going to human resources which if we all would do our due diligence, I'm asking this of the Council to seek the difference between Human Relations and Human Resources. The Human Relations has a large responsibility, a lot of it is legal and I'm very disappointed that this job has been minimized and I don't know why. And why it's like that? Because I think what had been in place before worked. But you know can answer that later, but right now then, I'm not sure about on the our Corporate Counsel to advise us and things. But my main concern after seeing this posting is that I've been to meetings and I have not seen this come before the Personnel Committee about the changes with some of the job being minimized going to different other areas and other parts of administration for the city, so I'm very disappointed with that. I see our city going backwards. I don't see our city moving forward with these issues. I've listened to these complaints tonight and it's all coming down to separating issues because I believe we want to control different things Mayor and Council and that should not be so. It should be if you're a Human Resource Director, be Human Resource. If you're Human Relations, be Human Relations. They're two different entities. Do your homework. Check this out before we let this posting go ahead. Now, this person hired. It should have come to your Public Services committee and then brought to the Council and it was not, but it was posted even before this meeting. And so, I'm very hurt. I'm very disturbed being a citizen of Danville and know what has taken place with our city fathers and how far we've come. And now we're taking steps backward. Don't let our city go backwards. Please, I beg of you, and I ask the City Council now if you need to pray, just pray on these issues and ask the Lord to give you direction please and not just take what's put in front of you. Austin Johnson of Danville, Vice-President of Council 31, Local 2052, spoke regarding the firing range at the Danville Correctional Center. So, this range has been closed for quite a while, and I've heard a lot of safety concerns that people are asking about. This firing range that is on grounds is facing east. It's not facing any businesses. The noise. I don't know if Council you guys' own weapons, but we fire a couple weapons. It's going to be a 9mm and a 223 rifle, both of which I don't. I'm not an expert but wouldn't feel that that would be loud enough to actually harm any businesses around there and it costs the taxpayers quite a bit of money to send correctional officers two hours away to a firing range and it can be a burden on safety and security of the institution for our members. He asked that you really clearly think about this vote. 

• Jake Molenkamp of Danville spoke regarding rental registration and shared he is Adam Stuhr's business partner and we are the largest landlord in Danville by quite a bit. Adam and I started buying houses almost 15 years ago now, and, you know naively, we wrote a little mission statement. We wanted to own houses that we would live in. And we've tried to do that, you know, we invest quite a bit of money in our properties that Adam and I own. You know our repair and maintenance budgets every year are crazy high when we do turns, we spend a lot of money. We try to make them nice. We don't patch the roof, we replace the roof. You know, talk to the inspectors, we spend a lot and do a lot with our houses. Now we're managing for other people and we encourage our investors to do the same thing. They don't all take our advice. They don't all have the money to do it. As Adam mentioned, some of them are trying to sell their houses and leave because of the burdens that the cities put upon them, but I'm just disheartened that you guys did this, didn't consult the largest landlord in town. I mean, you could listen to us and then throw out everything we have to say. I mean, that's fine, but no one called. I mean, city inspections. I mean, why not inspect them when they're vacant? You could do four times as many. You'd see them, you know, before the tenant got in there and messed it up. I mean, there's some challenges there. I've got some ideas, but no one called so. You guys should be looking at both sides. I mean, if you're trying to address issues in the town of Danville. I mean, look at what we're doing and ask the inspectors. We're trying really hard to make these properties better. We're spending a ton of money doing it. We're encouraging the people we manage for to do the same thing, but not just this issue, but whatever you're looking at, try to get all the voices please, you're going to get a better outcome. 

#8...ZONING PETITIONS - none reported 

#9... PAYROLLS 

Mayor Williams presented the Payrolls, having been published, posted, and distributed, for March 21, 2025, of $729,105.50, and March 28, 2025, of $98,439.50. Alderman Poshard moved to dispense with the readings and asked for approval as presented, seconded by Alderman Wands. There being no questions or discussion, the roll call vote being: 

Ayes: Aldermen Strebing, Pickering, Ludwig, Teague, Williams, York, Cooper, Butler, Wilson, Wands, Poshard, O'Kane, Iverson, Puhr 

Nays: None 

Motion carried 14 to 0. 

#10... SCHEDULE OF VOUCHERS PAYABLE 

Mayor Williams presented the Schedule of Vouchers Payable, having been published, posted, and distributed for special run of March 20, 2025, of $81.00, for run of March 25, 2025, of $136,980.90, for special run of March 28, 2025, of $81,774.63, and for run of April 1, 2025, of $764,059.44. Alderman Pickering moved to dispense with the readings and asked for approval as presented, seconded by Alderman Strebing. There being no questions or discussion, the roll call vote being: 

Ayes: Aldermen Pickering, Ludwig, Teague, Williams, York, Cooper, Butler, Wilson, Wands, Poshard, O'Kane, Iverson, Puhr, Strebing 

Nays: None 

Motion carried 14 to 0. 

#11... PUBLIC SERVICES COMMITTEE REPORT 

#11-A) Chairman Strebing presented ORDINANCE NO. 9537 Amending Chapter 123 of the City Code Pertaining to Tobacco Products Regulation, moved to dispense with the reading and asked for approval as recommended by Committee, seconded by Alderman York. Those changes being: 

123.03(E) The City Clerk shall forward a true copy of such application to the Director of Public Safety Chief of Police or his designee for review and investigation. The police department shall report back to the City Clerk any record of violations of this chapter by the applicant. Upon receipt of such report, the City Clerk shall include the application on the City Council's agenda for its next regular meeting occurring more than three calendar days later. The license shall be issued only upon approval by the City Council. The license shall be issued upon approval of the Chief of Police. There being no questions or discussion, the roll call vote being: 

Ayes: Aldermen Ludwig, Teague, Williams, York, Cooper, Butler, Wilson, Wands, Poshard, O'Kane, Iverson, Puhr, Strebing, Pickering 

Nays: None 

Motion carried 14 to 0. 

#11-B) Chairman Strebing presented an ordinance Amending Chapter 163 Rental Registration, moved to dispense with the reading and asked for approval as recommended by Committee, seconded by Alderman Wilson. Vice Mayor Teague shared she was involved in lots of discussions and writing and rewriting of this ordinance multiple times. One of the things that came up that I sent an e-mail about last night regarding tenant notifications of violations and I heard several people who came to the podium mentioned that as something that was important to them, it is important to me and in the correspondence one of the cases that I had referred to human relations for complaint was a case where one of the tenants was charged what they thought was an exorbitant amount of money to remediate. A situation and they had no notification that the situation was even problematic, or that there had been a citation, and so even though from a legal perspective, the complaint in terms of the investigation and whatnot was there was no legal basis for a complaint for that tenant. There's still something to be said as it relates to making sure that the tenants are notified of issues for a variety of reasons because sometimes especially when you're talking about environmental issues, many of the times it's the tenant that caused these problems, whether that is leaving a toaster on the curb or having vehicles that are not running on the property, it's not something that the landlord can go and change for the tenant. The tenant needs to be able to do that for themselves. I think this needs to be changed and that would do a lot to help the landlords and to help the tenants. I can't see a downside to that, but the tenants need to be notified of any violation. That way the tenant can take responsibility for themselves and try to remediate the violation for themselves. If the mailing is sent out to the landlord and the address of the property at the same time, the likelihood is that the tenant will receive the mailing at the same time that the landlord receives them or even before the landlord if the landlord is out of state. The tenant can then take action to remediate the issue and if they don't, then the process should occur that is already in place, but I do think that that change needs to happen. Alderman Pickering stated she concurs with Vice Mayor Teague but asked for Counsel Parker to speak about the legal side. Counsel Parker stated with regard to notice, we send the notice to the landlord/owners because through the registration process, we know who they are. There's tenant turnover and we don't always know who the tenant is to even notice up. So, if there's an issue between who's responsible for what the tenant or the landlord should consult, go to their lease. That's a civil matter. There are terms in the lease that should dictate who's responsible for whatever the case may. I think I know what case you're referring to, because it came before me and it was brought as a discrimination case, but it was not a discrimination case, and it turned out to be an issue where the owner got a code violation and cost about $1,200 to resolve. The landowner billed the tenant and that is an issue that should have been resolved by their lease. Vice Mayor Teague stated I never said the tenant was responsible. I said the tenant should be notified so we can easily address a letter that says occupant and address because we know the address of the violation. Additional discussion ensued regarding who takes responsibility for violations between a landlord and tenant. Mayor Williams suggested a friendly amendment to the ordinance where it is stated we will notify the owner or management that we would notify the occupant as well. Discussion also occurred regarding the cost for the registration and the possibility of including the members of the Danville Landlords Association (DLA). Chairman Strebing stated the DLA was included years ago when this was first started. Alderman Butler voiced concern with not including them in meetings. Chairman Strebing shared a situation that happened to him where an inside inspector told him he doesn't look at anything on the outside and a time when a tenant made a phone call to change the time, and he didn't get a phone call from the tenant. He was sitting there waiting on Wednesday and receiving a letter the following Saturday. Chairman Puhr stated there are bugs that need to be worked out in the ordinance. Alderman Pickering shared I was involved with this. I did not know any of the previous things that happened, and I will take some responsibilities for this, but I will tell you I will get a hold of the DLA anytime we have a change, I will get a hold of the President and let them know. I am sorry and I will take responsibility for that. Discussion ensued regarding those who met to discuss changes to the ordinance. Vice Mayor Teague welcomes the Landlord Association to go through the ordinance and provide comments, so that way we can still make amendments to this in the future. My personal opinion is it could be tabled to address where the notifications go because there's no mention of notifications here except for the amended complaint section. Now the question becomes when? So, if it's just a simple, let's just make sure that every time we notify the landlord, we notify the tenant. Then I would say we bring it back in two weeks if it's something more substantive where it is, we want to make sure that we incorporate the input of the Danville Landlords Association, and I think more time would be needed. Alderman Cooper moved to postpone the ordinance to the Public Services Committee for further discussion on April 22, 2025, seconded by Alderman Butler. Alderman Pickering stated what we are voting on tonight is just the retaliation part of this, which I think if we keep kicking this can down the street, we're never going to get this done. We can add additional language later. There being no further questions or discussion, the roll call vote on the amendment to postpone to the April 22, 2025 Public Services Committee meeting being: 

Ayes: Aldermen Teague, Williams, York, Cooper, Butler, Wilson, O'Kane, Iverson, Puhr, Strebing Nays: Aldermen Wands, Poshard, Pickering, Ludwig 

Motion carried 10 to 4. 

#11-C) Chairman Strebing presented RESOLUTION NO. 2025-37 Authorizing the Sale of a 1999 Pierce Dash Fire Apparatus - 75 Foot Ladder Truck to the Village of Tilton in the amount of $85,000, moved to dispense with the reading and asked for approval as recommended by Committee, seconded by Alderman Wilson. There being no questions or discussion, the roll call vote being: 

Ayes: Aldermen Williams, York, Cooper, Butler, Wilson, Wands, Poshard, O'Kane, Iverson, Puhr, Strebing, Pickering, Ludwig, Teague 

Nays: None 

Motion carried 14 to 0. 

#11-D) Chairman Strebing presented RESOLUTION NO. 2025-38 In Opposition to Danville Correctional Center's Motion to Vacate Permanent Injunction/Restoring Firing Range, moved to dispense with the reading and asked for approval as recommended by Committee, seconded by Alderman Butler. There being no further questions or discussion, the roll call vote being: 

Ayes: Aldermen York, Cooper, Butler, Wilson, Wands, Poshard, O'Kane, Iverson, Puhr, Pickering, Ludwig, Teague, Williams 

Not Voting: Alderman Strebing 

Nays: None 

Motion carried 13 to 0 with 1 not voting. 

#11-E) Accept and Place on File the City Treasurer's Report for April 2024 and May 2024 Chairman Strebing presented the City Treasurer's Report for April 2024 and May 2024 with recommendation from Committee. Alderman Pickering moved to dispense with the reading and asked for approval, seconded by Alderman Wilson. The reports as follows: April 2024: Statement of Cash Position Beginning Balance $64,584,405.82, Revenues of $11,013,663.91, Expenditures of $11,327,016.69 with Unexpended balance of $64,271,053.04; May 2024: Statement of Cash Position Beginning Balance $64,249,903.07, Revenues of $7,358,043.12, Expenditures of $9,174,910.59 with Unexpended balance of $62,433,035.60. There being no questions, on the voice vote, all ayes, no nays; the motion so ordered. 

#11-F) Items of Information 

Vice Mayor Teague asked what changes were made in the Human Relations Administrator job description because the Mayor had mentioned publicly that he had planned to make changes. She thought the changes would come before the Public Services Committee during the personnel section and then be brought to City Council. She has found out the position has been posted. She compared the new description to the previous description and highlighted the changes and shared with the Council and questioned if responsibilities are being taken away. Mayor Williams stated there are no responsibilities being taken away from the Human Relations Administrator and it states the individual will conduct their job as outlined in Section 95 of the Code. Vice Mayor Teague questioned the lessening of experience because one of the things that changed was minimum of four years of experience to minimum of two years of experience. Mayor Williams responded some of the changes had been made by Administrator Finch and he isn't sure if Vice Mayor Teague has the most updated version. There was an updated version provided to the Council when they did the wage study. Administrator Finch had made a number of updates on that and I don't know if you have the updated one that we provide to them. Vice Mayor Teague stated she believes she does, but that doesn't answer the four years versus two years, so can it be changed back to more experience and then how will we go about getting that change made since it's already posted. Mayor Williams stated yes, but just as a reminder, changes in job descriptions don't come before the City Council. That's a management responsibility. The only time that I provide you all with job description is if we're asking for a change in wage ranges or if we are going to create a new position. Those are the only times that the Council is provided with job description updates. Vice Mayor Teague stated can we request a change even if we had been provided with Council of updates. Mayor Williams stated that I don't have a problem with that. Alderman York asked for some clarification about the responsibilities in the job description regarding when the human relations administrator would deal with tenant or property owner tenant issues. Vice Mayor Teague stated and that is not in Chapter 95. Alderman York shared I'm asking for clarification on that because my understanding of the human relations administrator position is it should be related to tenant and owner complaints related to discrimination and not just general so that has to be in the job description. Mayor Williams stated that is why the clarification because it says there in Chapter 95 that if there is discrimination of housing, it outlines what that is and how you investigate it. Vice Mayor Teague asked so everything that it says is not in Chapter 95, so there is some discrepancy. Mayor Williams stated the housing complaint is something I think Administrator Finch added on her job description updates when they were done for the wage study. Vice Mayor Teague stated because that was one of the things that she was doing and just wants to make sure she is clear because those were the things she was doing in her job that was provided when we were doing the wage study. Mayor Williams stated she was still referring those things to legal to investigate when there were complaints that were not discriminatory. Additional discussion ensued regarding the job description, Chapter 95, and whether the position requires a certified EEO investigator. 

[The next Public Services Committee meeting will be held April 22, 2025 at 6:00 p.m. in the City Council chambers] 

#12... PUBLIC WORKS COMMITTEE REPORT 

Chairman Puhr presented Items A to D together, moved to dispense with their readings and asked for approval. There being no objections, Chairman Strebing seconded. Those items being: 

#12-A) RESOLUTION NO. 2025-39 Appropriating MFT Funds for the Maintenance of Streets to be paid from IDOT MFT Section Number 25-00000-00-GM and tracked in line item 103-103-00-600 GM utilizing $1,100,000.00; and 

#12-B) RESOLUTION NO. 2025-40 Approving MFT Funds for Voorhees Street Bridge over Lick Creek and Approving Additional Project Development (Phase 1) Engineering Services for the Agreement for Engineering Services between the City of Danville and Farnsworth Group in the amount of $13,665.00 to be paid from MFT Section Number 20-00362-00-EG line item 103-103-20-63620; and 

#12-C) RESOLUTION NO. 2025-41 Appropriating MFT Funds for Voorhees Street Bridge over East Fork Lick Creek and Approving Additional Project Development (Phase 1) Engineering Services through agreement for engineering services between the City of Danville and Farnsworth Group in the amount of $13,665.00 to be paid from MFT Section Number 20-00362-01-EG line item 103-103-20-63621; and 

#12-D) RESOLUTION NO. 2025-42 Appropriating MFT Funds for Voorhees Street Bridges SN 092-0153 and SN 092-0155 over Lick Creek and Approving Phase II Design Engineering Services through agreement between the City of Danville and Farnsworth Group in the amount of $488,269.00 to be paid from MFT Section Number 20- 00362-00-BR line item 103-103-20-63620 Lick Creek (SN 092-0153) and line item 103-103-20-63621 East Fork of Lick Creek (SN 092-0155). 

There being no question or discussion, the roll call vote being: 

Ayes: Aldermen Cooper, Butler, Wilson, Wands, Poshard, O'Kane, Iverson, Puhr, Strebing, Pickering, Ludwig, Teague, Williams, York 

Nays: None 

Motion carried 14 to 0. 

#12-E) Chairman Puhr presented RESOLUTION NO. 2025-43 Awarding the Contract for Bid # 769 - Commercial and Washington Roadway Improvements to lowest responsible bidder Midwest Asphalt Company in the amount of $126,266.08 to be paid from line item 031-031-52053 Maintenance of Streets ($83,019.33) and line item 402- 402-52024 Maintenance of Storm Sewer ($43,246.75), moved to dispense with the reading and asked for approval as recommended by Committee, seconded by Alderman Poshard. There being no question or discussion, the roll call vote being: 

Ayes: Aldermen Butler, Wilson, Wands, Poshard, O'Kane, Iverson, Puhr, Strebing, Pickering, Ludwig, Teague, Williams, York, Cooper 

Nays: None 

Motion carried 14 to 0. 

#12-F) Chairman Puhr presented RESOLUTION NO. 2025-44 Approving the Purchase of a New 2023 F350 Dump Bed Truck from LaFontaine Ford of Lansing Michigan for the amount of $59,995.00 plus applicable processing fees of $314.00 for a total cost of $60,309.00 to be paid from line item 402-402-55015 (sewers) Vehicles, moved to dispense with the reading and asked for approval as recommended by Committee, seconded by Chairman Strebing. There being no quesitons or discussion, the roll call vote being: 

Ayes: Aldermen Wilson, Wands, Poshard, O'Kane, Iverson, Puhr, Strebing, Pickering, Ludwig, Teague, 

Williams, York, Cooper, Butler 

Nays: None 

Motion carried 14 to 0. 

#12-G) Items of Information 

• Director Ruwe reported the Garfield Park Project will being on Monday, April 7, 2025. We are still pushing very hard to make sure the football field is ready to be played on next fall. 

• Director Ruwe provided an update on the Bresee Tower demolition project as follows: 

○ Begin seeing heavier equipment being shipped in over the week of April 7th for Phase I. 

○ Starting on April 9th, we will see some closures on Vermilion Street. The closure is expected to last up to two weeks. 

○ Larger pieces of equipment will arrive later in April when work will begin on Bresee Tower. 

○ There will be possible road closures on Vermilion and Main Streets when the Bresee Tower demolition begins. 

○ Visitors checking on the demolition are advised to stay back from the fences and please do not approach any workers outside of the fence as they will at times have spotters with radios to watch the operator's blind spot. These spotters need to stay focused. 

○ South Street should be opened back up before April 18th for the event at the David S. Palmer Arena. 

○ Press release will be sent with additional details. 

#13... ITEMS OF INFORMATION - none reported. 

#14... CLOSED SESSION - not needed 

#15... ADJOURNMENT 

There being no further business to discuss, the meeting was adjourned at 7:57 p.m. following a motion by Alderman Wilson, seconded by Chairman Strebing. On the voice vote, all ayes, no nays; the motion so ordered. 

https://www.cityofdanville.org/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Minutes/_04012025-218