REGULAR MEETING OF THE MAYOR AND COUNCIL OF THE VILLAGE OF TAMPICO
October 1, 2024, 7:00 PM
Reagan Community Center
Mayor Bruce Peltier called the Regular Meeting of the Tampico Village Council to order at 7:00PM.
Commissioners Sherry Coleman, Susan Dean, Jim Coleman and Tammy Kendell were present. Tampico Police Chief, Terry Strike, and Village Superintendent, Tyler Chriest, were also present. Village Clerk, Jamie McIntire, was present and recorded the written and audio minutes.
Mayor Peltier led those present in the Pledge of Allegiance.
Minutes of the September 17, 2024 Regular Meeting were approved as presented.
Minutes of the September 17, 2024 Closed Meeting were approved as presented.
Mayor Peltier advised that Judge Joe McGraw who is running for US Congress is present and would like to speak and take any questions anyone may have for him.
McGraw said my name is Joe McGraw and I’m running for US Congress in the 17th Congressional District. I was a judge in Rockford for more than 22 years. I retired from that job and 2 weeks later, I decided to run for Congress. People thought I was crazy and thought I should be going to Florida like everyone else does when they retire.
McGraw said I saw a lot of changes in the last few years when I was on the bench. I saw a lot of drugs and crime coming across the southern border in ways that I’ve never seen before in my entire career. There’s also a lot of people dying of fentanyl overdose. 80% of fentanyl comes across the southern border and it’s manufactured in communist China then shipped across to the southern border and is killing Americans one at a time. This isn’t just a big city thing. McGraw said I was talking to some of the law enforcement in Galesburg and they searched a railcar coming over from Mexico and it had 3 large cylinders of fentanyl in it. I also spoke with Prophetstown who just did a seizure of fentanyl, and the amount ceased was enough to kill everybody in town. Just the amount of a head of a pin is enough to kill you. McGraw said I didn’t even know what fentanyl was until a few years ago and now its on the tip of everyone’s tongue.
McGraw said I saw that and the guy I’m running against isn’t taking any affirmative action to secure that border. I’m endorsed by Law Enforcement, all the Sheriffs in the district, a number of Chiefs of Police and Police Unions. It’s because they know me and my background as a former prosecutor doing violent crimes up in Rockford. I served 2 terms on the Winnebago County Board before I was elected Judge. During that time, I saw what was going on.
McGraw said I have 5 adult kids and 2 grandkids, and I decided to run for our kids and grandkids. I’ve had a great life but the American dream that I’ve experienced and enjoyed is slipping away from so many people. With the really high interest rates and high inflation, it’s just so difficult for people to be able to see themselves getting a home. Homes are scarce and they’re expensive. They can tell you inflation is going down, but the prices haven’t gone down. If you go to the grocery store or go to the gas pump, wherever you go, and that because our government has spent money that they don’t have. They have been borrowing money that they don’t have, and they’ve been paying old debt back with new debt at a higher interest rate then what they borrowed the original money at. This is the first year that our government is spending more on debt service then they are on the military. That alone tells you that something is way out of whack.
McGraw said national security is a big issue and the border is a big part of that because there’s also cartel members and human trafficking going through there. I had a human trafficking court up in Rockford, the first one outside of Cook County, so we saw it from that perspective as well. There are military aged males from middle eastern countries that are here now, and even the FBI Director said it’s not a question on whether or not we have another 9/11, it’s a question of when. That’s not very reassuring. Our government has told us that there’s no border problem until now since we’re in election season.
McGraw said I think you have to look at people’s life work and my life works an open book, as a prosecutor, as an attorney, as a Judge. I’m asking you to make a decision not based on party labels. I think party labels are largely irrelevant now. I’m running to represent the folks here in the 17th Congressional District. That’s why I’ve but 47,000 miles on my vehicle to go all over and talk to folks firsthand. I want to go to DC and represent you and I need to know what’s important to you. I’ve talked to farmers, factory workers, guys in the trades and I want to go there and represent you and your values in DC. McGraw said I’ll answer any questions if you have any.
Commissioner J. Coleman asked so you’re not affiliated with any party? McGraw said I’m running as a Republican. The way Illinois ballets are set up, when you’re running for Congress, you have to run as a Republican or as a Democrat. I’m running against Eric Sorensen. I’m not going to DC to be like some of the guys you hear about on the news on FOX or CNN, shooting their mouths off. I’ve made tough decisions from everything to the death penalty to child custody cases. I’m a trained mediator and also a trained arbitrator. I’ve settled multimillion dollar cases. I’m going to bring my same decision-making skills to DC and try to work with people on either side to solve problems because this extreme polarization that’s going on isn’t working for anybody. If you say something bad about somebody, it’s hard to sit down at a table and talk with them. I’m not doing that. I don’t care where the idea comes from. If it’s a good idea, it’s a good idea. I’ll work with anybody to get a problem solved because I believe there are a lot of people with good will who want America to be better and more productive. To be a better place to live and a safer place to live. A more prosperous place to live but they’re all tied up doing a lot of other stuff right now, and that’s why I’m running.
Mayor Peltier said I have one question. A lot of things that you mentioned, not that they’re not important issues, what are some things you plan to do that will affect small town rural Illinois in your district? McGraw said that’s a great question. I’ve talked to a number of town councils or trustees. In fact, I was doing that today on the phone. The things that keep coming up are infrastructure and lack of money for infrastructure. Whether is applying for a grant or matching funds and it’s so frustrating because some places are small enough and really take the applications seriously. Or they’ve applied for a low interest loan but it’s not enough money to be considered seriously. It makes sense to me for our government to reinvest in the streets and roads and bridges of all of rural America. We spend so much money on the illegals, spending money overseas and all these different things and then you’re told there’s no money here at home. I say put Americans first. That would be one thing I’d also, not having such a lopsided way of evaluating whether municipalities can get a low interest loan because your kind of caught in the middle. Other communities that want to borrow more money are given consideration before smaller communities that don’t want to borrow a lot but need to borrow something to offset whatever the project is. Do you have any issue with your well or water systems here? Mayor Peltier said that’s why I asked this question. We’re going through that right now. We’re applying for a few grants and for smaller municipalities, with their revenue and income being very low, applying for these grants and all the upfront costs that we have to cover. It’s a gamble because you don’t know if you’re going to get the grant. You’re putting money towards getting this grant and possibly not getting it, then you’re out that money. That amount of money isn’t a big deal to a bigger city but to a small municipality like us, that’s a lot of money. McGraw said I believe I’ve heard that from a number of people in your situation. The amount of either sales tax revenue or whatever tax revenues, they’re limited and it’s not growing. The population is diminishing and that’s another problem but let me go off for a minute here. The EPA is not supposed to make law. They’re supposed to make rules. Only Congress can make laws. The various agencies are supposed to implement rules to effectuate laws. Congress has been so deadlocked, and no one wants to take a vote on anything controversial, so that’s one of the reasons we don’t have a budget. We have a continuing resolution. Everyone has been hands off. One of the first things we need to do is have an actual budget. Not a balance budget, a budget. The last President we had where we had an actual budget was President Bill Clinton. We had an actual budget. It wasn’t balanced but we had a budget. That’s important because if there are line items in a budget and Joe McGraw has to vote on each line item, then I’m going to be accountable to you folks. Accountability is step one and I think that alone will cause a lot less excess spending because Congressmen won’t be able to justify a vote. If it won’t help the folks in the district, I’ll vote no. That act of having an actual budget is going to make things better. As far as the EPA and other government agencies, they have way overstepped their boundaries and the supreme court has clipped their wings. There was a decision a couple months back where they reversed the Chevron Doctrine. The Chevron Doctrine gave all kinds of deference to administrative bodies to impose penalties without the due process of law. That was not what our founding fathers intended. Congress makes the law, and the agencies are responsible for rules to implement the law. Not to make laws by themselves.
Superintendent Chriest said I don’t know if you can touch on this at all, but our local law enforcement is looking for a half a percent tax increase to fund the 911 call center. Do you know anything on that? McGraw asked is this a County tax? Chriest replied yes. McGraw asked where’s your 911 dispatch now? Chriest replied it would be in Morrison then I heard that there’s somewhat of a branch in Sterling. It’s possibly going to be a merger. They are looking for a building but I’m not sure. McGraw said that’s another thing I’ve heard as I’ve gone around that law enforcement is underfunded. So are the firemen and EMT. It’s another thing with OSHA. They just passed a rule that says volunteer firemen have to pass all these rigorous fitness tests and if your equipment is so many years old, including a breather, that has to be destroyed, and you have to get a new one. I have spoken to a number of Chiefs, and they don’t know where they’re going to get the money for that. It’s all volunteers and the equipment used isn’t like in a city where you go into a burning building every day. The equipment is still in good condition and should be able to be used but you can’t because of federal regulations. It’s putting a financial burden on municipalities that have no way of complying, which will result in closure of volunteer fire departments, closure of EMTs and so forth. Then the larger communities that are some distance away will be answering the 911 calls and it might be 30 minutes before anyone shows up. That’s a government one size fits all. The big intellectuals in Washington DC don’t live here and don’t live under the rules. They don’t understand the economics. For a 911 center, I know Winnebago County has a 1% sales tax strictly for Public Safety. It’s important for the County Board to have good stewardship over that money.
At this time, Judge Joe McGraw thanked everyone for their time and asked everyone to vote for Joe McGraw. The Mayor and Council thanked McGraw as he exited the meeting.
Reports of Village Officials
Mayor Peltier said he would like to use the old police department office for his Mayoral office as it’s currently not being used. He asked the Council if anyone would have an issue with that. The Council agreed to the mayor using the unused space.
Remarks from Guests
There were no other remarks from guests at this time.
Unfinished Business
The first item for unfinished business was to review updates on the Lead Service Line Inventory. Mayor Peltier advised that 10 or 11 more inventories were completed with that last door hangers. Clerk McIntire advised that representatives with both Willett Hofmann and CFPS have been receiving information from her office to get the grant application process going.
Next was to review / discuss / approve an alarm / camera system for the RCC building (Village Hall and PD Office). A motion was made by Commissioner Kendell, second by Commissioner J. Coleman, to approve the quote with The Audio Video Connection company out of Dixon, IL for the amount of $1,718.97. “Yes” votes were S. Coleman, Dean, J. Coleman, Kendell and Mayor Peltier. The motion carried.
New Business
First under new business was to review / discuss / approve Halloween Hours for the Village of Tampico. A motion was made by Commissioner Dean, second by Commissioner S. Coleman, to approve Halloween trick or treating hours for the Village of Tampico to be held on Thursday, October 31st for the hours of 4:30PM to 7:00PM. “Yes” votes were S. Coleman, Dean, J. Coleman, Kendell and Mayor Peltier. The motion carried.
Next, the Council reviewed the lease renewal agreement for RCC room rental with Lawrence Batten Trucking LLC. Clerk McIntire advised that the current agreement expires on October 30, 2024. The renewal would be for the same terms and begin November 1, 2024 and expire October 30, 2026. If anyone has and questions, concerns, or would like any possible changes, they are to reach out before the next meeting where it will be up for approval. Clerk McIntire said she’ll be in touch with the Licensee about the upcoming renewal.
Building Permits
Building Permits approved by Zoning Administrator, Tyler Chriest, was 302 W. Kimball St. – Deck.
Communications
Clerk McIntire advised there was nothing to communicate at this time.
Bills were ordered paid on a motion by Commissioner Kendell, second by Commissioner J. Coleman. “Yes” votes were S. Coleman, Dean, J. Coleman, Kendell and Mayor Peltier. The motion carried.
The meeting adjourned at 7:24 PM. The next Regular Meeting of the Tampico Village Council is Scheduled for Tuesday, October 15, 2024 at 7:00 PM in the Reagan Community Center located at 202 W. Second Street.
Jamie M. McIntire
Clerk
Bruce Peltier
Mayor
MINUTES APPROVED THIS 15th DAY OF October, 2024
**These minutes are not official until signed, dated and sealed by the Village Clerk**
