Galesburg Reporter

City of Monmouth City Council met Sept. 2

Here are the minutes provided by the council:

I. CALL TO ORDER & PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE

Mayor Rod Davies called the meeting to order in the Council Chambers at City Hall, 100 East Broadway at 6:00 p.m. and led the audience in the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag.

II. ROLL CALL

City Clerk Melissa Teel called the roll and those answering Present were: Aldermen Roger Teel, Brad Bone, Brian Daw, Juan Pinedo, John VanVleet, Kevin Ferry and Jim Conard Absent: Alderman Scott Weber Also Present: Mayor Rod Davies, City Clerk Melissa Teel, City Administrator Lew Steinbrecher, City Attorney Marcum Spears, Communications Director Ken Helms, MFD Chief Casey Rexroat, MPD Chief Joe Switzer, Public Works Director Brayden Bledsoe and Building and Zoning Director Joe Clark

III. APPROVAL OF THE MINUTES

A. Approval of the August 18, 2025 Council Meeting Minutes as presented

It was moved by Alderman Ferry and seconded by Alderman VanVleet to approve the minutes. AYE: Alderman Teel, Bone, Daw, Conard, Pinedo, Ferry and VanVleet NAY: None

MOTION CARRIED.

IV. PRESENTATIONS

A. Fire Chief Casey Rexroat presented a citizen by the name of Doug Dotson with a Civilian Commendation Award for an incident that the Monmouth Fire Department was called to assist the Warren County Sheriff’s Department and the Central Warren Fire Protection District with an extrication where someone was trapped between the movable parts of the machine and the machine itself. Doug was instrumental in that he provided essential information about the machine and how it operated. The information helped the MFD to remove the person faster and with far less injury.

Assistant Chief Spears nominated Mr. Dotson for the award as he was the Commanding Officer in charge at the incident.

B. Chief Rexroat presented two new firefighters that had just started working the prior Monday for the Fire Department and will be leaving for IFSI academy on September 8 th. City Clerk Teel swore in Lucas Potter and Schuyler Melton as Fire Fighters.

V. CONSENT AGENDA

A. Approval of the Bills

It was moved by Alderman Daw and seconded by Alderman Teel to approve the bills as presented. AYE: Aldermen Bone, Daw, Conard, Pinedo, Ferry, VanVleet, and Teel.

MOTION CARRIED.

VI. COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE

A. Zoning Director Joe Clark presented the August monthly zoning report. The Junk and Debris and Mow notices were a little heavy this month, but it seems to be getting cleaned up. The completed projects include Trojan Storage, LLC on East Jackson. Open projects include OSF Holy Family Project 2502, renovation converting an old surgery room to a CT Scan Room and Project 2503, renovation of a rehab room to convert to a sleep study lab. Monmouth College is still working on the house at 915 East Broadway. The old Banker’s Life building renovation is ongoing and will be finishing up the windows hopefully this week and then the contractor will be at City Hall to complete the window project. Whisker Wash is about finished. Using funds provided from SCP grant, 3 houses were awarded to a local contractor. The one at 416 E Franklin is completely done and they are backfilling and grading. The one at 120 E 9th should be loaded out by mid morning.

B. Public Works Director Brayden Bledsoe presented the annual report for Contract Year 12 with Woodard and Curran. He started by introducing a few of the area managers from Woodard and Curran and they each told a little about their history and what they do with Woodard and Curran. Director Bledsoe explained that Richard Nelson is now retired and they have hired Brian Glasgow to fill that position as water superintendent. He explained that their top priority is health and safety training so everyone can get home safely at the end of the day. For the 24-25 fiscal year the amount of revenue collected was about $8,265,000.00. Woodard and Curran stayed right on budget for the year with no overages. While revenues have averaged 4% growth per year over the last 10 years, expenditures have only averaged 2.7% growth over that period. There were several capital projects going on that Woodard and Curran has been helpful with. The West Harlem water main phase II was just completed and that went from G St to Main St. The UV disinfection project is up and functioning. Lead line service replacement, phase I is almost complete. There are a lot of value-added services through Woodard and Curran such as engineering. Another big added service is the GIS mapping and asset management service. It is Utility Cloud which allows them to track everything from water mains to the pumps inside the water plants. They can create work orders, maps and maintenance schedules which help with inventory and ensure things are being maintained properly. Woodard and Curran has a grant team that has helped with several grants including: The Rebuild Illinois Grant ($2,000,000) for the West Harlem Plant, The STAG Grant ($500,000) for the West Harlem watermain phase II, The SRF partially forgivable loan through IEPA (2,500,000) for waste water UV project, Community Projects Grant (1,000,000) for lead line replacement phase II, another SRF loan (2,700,000) for the first phase of lead line service replacement and finally the USDA loan and grant program is in the application process for the downtown sewer replacement. Woodard and Curran is instrumental in helping with the environmental compliance. Alderman Bone expressed concern about the length of time the West Harlem roadway project is taking to complete. Director Bledsoe explained that while they were digging out the existing roadway, they ran into a telecom line and were waiting for the company tocome and relocate it so the project could be completed. Mayor Davies added that  IMEG was also supervising the project so they have their guys overseeing it as well and there definitely is some frustration for the snag they ran into that set them back about 2 weeks. Director Bledsoe explained that they had only so many working days and once they run out, they would be looking at fines although it is the hope that doesn’t happen.

C. Mayor Davies requested City Attorney Marcum Spears to explain the Comcast Franchise Agreement. Attorney Spears explained that the agreement allows Mediacom to use our right of ways and we get to collect a tax or franchise fee on everyone’s cable. Mayor Davies added that this was a 10 year contract and Marcum replied that yes it was about the 3rd one since he has been with the City of Monmouth. It was moved by Alderman Daw and seconded by Alderman Bone to approve the Comcast Franchise agreement.

AYE: Aldermen Daw, Conard, Pinedo, Ferry, VanVleet, Teel, and Bone NAY: None

MOTION CARRIED.

VII. RESOLUTIONS

A. A Resolution to join Prairie Hills Land Bank and Appoint a Director- Lew explained that they just wanted to point out a few bullet points including: The City of Monmouth would receive priority in receiving development grants from the IHDA, joining enables the City to intervene in properties of questionable ownership and take control while the home is still salvageable for renovation, ownership does not have to be transferred to the Land Bank until deals are made with the land bank about the projects which are then presented to the City Council for approval. The City does not lose any of its authority or control by joining the Land Bank. Lew also explained that Vicki Livingston was also present to answer any questions and that he would ask for Council’s favorable consideration in passing the resolution.

Mayor Davies added that it would be priority to make the homes available to the citizens before moving on to any other avenues for the properties and that single family homes are the first priority. Alderman VanVleet had concerns on the 3 year commitment and Miss Livingston explained that the City could get out of the agreement whenever they wanted. Alderman Ferry had concerns about the cost we spend in legal fees as compared to the $25,000 per year to join the Land Bank. Lew replied that the total was an average of approximately $7,800. It was moved by Alderman Conard and seconded by Alderman Pinedo to approve the resolution.

AYE: Aldermen Conard, Pinedo, Teel, and Daw. NAY: Aldermen Ferry, VanVleet, and Bone

MOTION CARRIED.

VIII. ORDINANCES

A. Fraudulent Identification- Chief Switzer explained that several officers have requested an ordinance be drawn up for fraudulent identification. He explained that right now it’s a state violation as a misdemeanor and that having an ordinance would give the officers another avenue to enforce the law. Alderman Daw wanted to know what the advantage was, and Chief Switzer explained that most of the people we are dealing with are college kids and high school kids that can be ticketed for the offense through an ordinance violation versus them getting arrested for the offense. Marcum explained that it is cutting the kids a break. Chief Switzer explained that he was  requesting it to be a $300 fine and $300 for each subsequent violation or it could be escalated to a misdemeanor.

It was moved by Alderman Daw and seconded by Alderman Teel to pass the Ordinance.

AYE: Alderman Pinedo, Ferry, VanVleet, Teel, Bone, Daw, and Conard. NAY: None

MOTION CARRIED.

XI. EXECUTIVE SESSION

A. Per Illinois Statute 5ILCS 120/2 to consider with possible action to follow: Sale/Purchase of Property- It was moved by Alderman Ferry and seconded by Alderman Bone to go into executive session At 6:53 p.m.

AYE: Aldermen VanVleet, Teel, Bone, Daw, Conard, Pinedo and Ferry. Nay: None

MOTION CARRIED.

XII. REGULAR SESSION

A. It was moved by Alderman VanVleet and seconded by Alderman Teel to return to regular session At 7:01 p.m.

AYE: Aldermen Teel, Bone, Daw, Conard, Pinedo, Ferry and VanVleet. NAY: None

MOTION CARRIED.

XIII. OTHER BUSINESS

A. 25-005 A Resolution for Sale of Property Identified as 600 S Main St- It was moved by Alderman VanVleet and seconded by Alderman Ferry to approve the resolution.

AYE: Aldermen Ferry, VanVleet, Teel, Bone, Daw, Conard and Pinedo. NAY: None

MOTION CARRIED.

XIV. ADJOURNMENT

A. Alderman Daw moved to adjourn the September 2nd meeting at 7:03 p.m. and Alderman Bone seconded the motion. MOTION CARRIED by unanimous voice vote with the exception of Alderman Weber who was absent.

https://www.cityofmonmouth.com/sites/g/files/vyhlif7191/f/agendas/september_2_2025_council_meeting_minutes.pdf