May we all stand for the place, please.
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.
Madam Clerk, please call the roll.
Ted Odendahl?
Here.
Kathy Wilken?
Here.
Kathleen Altensey?
Here.
Kelvin McIlwain?
Patrick Sellers?
Here.
We have a quorum.
The first order of business is the approval of minutes for the April 6th, 2026 meeting on the motion and the second please.
So moved.
I'll second it.
All right, motion by Altensey, second by Wilken.
Please take a look at the minutes if you haven't done so already.
Thank you, Calvin.
Are there any questions for the minutes, for the minutes for last meeting?
Seen that there are none.
Okay, all in favor.
Aye.
Any opposed?
Motion carries.
The next order of business is approval of bills payable.
I need a motion and a second please.
So moved.
Second.
Motion passed.
Altensey seconded by McIlwain.
Please take a look at the bills payable if you haven't done so already.
There was a charge from the trust.
Yeah.
Yep.
Go ahead.
I asked him about it.
Wilken, McIlwain, Altensey, Odendahl, Sellers, All abstained.
Oh, you're going to abstain?
Yes.
Yes, abstain.
Okay.
Let me put that just a minute.
Don't leave me yet.
Odendahl abstains.
Okay.
Oh, that's right.
Boys and girls.
Okay.
Did you call?
I did.
Patrick Sellers.
Oh, okay.
Well, all right then.
All right.
Motion passed.
Motion passes.
The initial business is approval of Appropriation Ordinance T-26-2026, T-001, fiscal year 2026-2027.
We've had our motion and our second man.
We've had our discussion.
Did you guys see the adjustment that Liz made?
Is that what these tabs are for?
Yes.
Did you guys know why she did it?
It was in the email, but it's probably good to go ahead and explain it here.
We have accounting services payroll fee, which is our QuickBooks fee.
She had it for a dollar, O'Neill Towne Fund ending balance, the total funds ending balance on page 11.
So, and everything went up 999 dollars because that's, you know, she had to take it.
I don't have page two in here.
I have one, three.
I have three.
Thank you, Miss.
Right.
Those are the changes.
Okay.
Those pages, what I was saying was those pages are the ones that have the changes on them.
You need a motion to amend according to this because it was different than the original that we motioned to amend in order to accept these, this change.
Wilken, McIlwain, Altensey, Odendahl, Sellers, Motion passed.
Now we're going to vote to approve the budget as amended as amended okay so what I need a motion to approve the budget as amended we just did that okay so madam Burke this this is the motion this is this is to approve the budget well no I think we do need a motion we just did a motion to amend we amended it we just We just did the motion to amend it, but now we need a motion to go on it, right?
No, you need a vote on the approval of the budget as amended.
So we need to we need to vote to approve the budget as amended okay okay so madam so madam clerk call the roll.
Wilken?
Aye.
McIlwain?
Aye.
Altensey?
Aye.
Odendahl?
Aye.
Sellers?
Aye.
Okay.
Motion passes.
Good job.
Hey Ted, good catch too.
Thank you.
Appreciate that.
The next on the business is the discussion and approval of the renewal of the service provider agreement with and Jeharry Allen for Operation Jumpstart Program.
So I need a motion and a second.
So moved.
Second.
Motion by R. And C. Second by McIlwain.
Are there any questions about this?
I made the adjustment that there was an adjustment on page 13, which we had in there 18 hours per month.
It should have been 18 hours per week.
So I changed the word from month to week.
So that's the change that we had for the service provider agreement.
So I made that adjustment.
The only thing I would say is I think this is an important role.
And I think it's a complicated role, having had a little bit to do with working with people in the same kind of background Me!
Me!
To the board.
Will you guys give a report every meeting?
No.
But as progress, as we make progress, we will give you those reports.
And as you guys can see from the last time I provided a report, the numbers have grown.
The success is there.
This program is necessary.
And if we are going to help our youth, this is one of the ways that we do it.
Okay?
To to get them employed, to get them their GED, to get them in college, to get them in the trades, these are the things that we can do to help our youth, okay?
So the importance of this program is just that, the importance of the program, and the importance of the program is to help our youth, as we've been talking about doing, as we've been doing this.
So your question is, the oversight, the oversight is me, Johara answers to the supervisor of Freeport Township.
Okay.
Anybody have any more concerns, questions, comments, concerns, give them to me because tonight is the night we vote to approve.
Because tonight is the night we vote to approve this contract because I want to keep the program going.
Yeah, no, I mean, I'll just say, um, gosh, it's been in existence for two years now, I think it was three years.
What's that?
The program.
No, this is the first year.
This is the second half of the first year.
Yeah.
Because it was a six-month program, more of a trial year.
And then we extended it to the end of the year.
Which is April 31st?
We've had progress reports.
We had the one that was done a couple of months ago, then we also had an initial one shortly after it started, so I'm comfortable with the controls that are in place.
Don't see where the complication comes in at because the mission of the program is pretty straightforward.
I'm saying the work is complicated.
Working with people with the kind of backgrounds and problems that most clients have is complicated.
It's complicated work.
I'm not criticizing the program in any way.
I'm saying it's complicated work.
It's important work.
All I'm saying is I think it's all it's there's in part because it is there's a danger that it it kind of becomes left over there because it's you know because you don't want to everybody try May this help clear things up?
There are different mechanisms in the program.
There are different Gears.
There are all these different nuances inside the program, but please understand that I wrote those nuances.
I created those gears.
So I know every piece that's working in this program, how it's supposed to be working.
And Jahari reports to me directly all the time and I'm keeping close tabs on numbers.
I want to see progress.
Now, I know there's going to come a point in time where the program is going to plateau.
Every program does that.
Okay.
And that's when we sit down and we kind of reinvent the program to make sure it keeps We're getting more and more people calling to join the Jumpstart program.
Actually, we had a gentleman call from Rockford who wanted to be a part of the Jumpstart program.
Unfortunately, you're not from Freeport, so we can't assist you.
But the program is starting to get well known, it's starting to get big, but the controls are in place.
So can other townships duplicate?
Absolutely, if they would like.
And I would encourage other townships to duplicate.
What do you guys think?
All is fair?
Any more questions, comments, concerns?
We're good?
Matta, Clark, Keith, all in a row.
Odendahl?
Yes.
Altensey?
Aye.
McIlwain?
Aye.
Wilken?
Aye.
Sellers?
Aye.
Motion passes.
Next on the business is the Supervisor's report.
I'm not going to bore you guys to death with a whole bunch of talk.
Thank you.
Wow.
I must talk too much.
Okay, I'm going to hand out the expenditure and budget report.
I think this might be the last one for For this fiscal year.
I'm not mistaken.
And so I really don't have a whole lot to discuss.
I mean, I could think of something, have Barbara do a whole lot of writing, but I'm not going to do that.
I wouldn't do that.
And then do it in a different language.
Yeah, do it in a different language.
We're 72% of what was budgeted, so that's kind of, this is kind of to go with the kind of show on paper, the conversation we said that typically we end up less than what we budgeted.
Yes, so clearly we're ending 18% below what the budget was, so even though there is an ending balance that on the service you may think it might look higher, in reality, based on our past experience, it's going to be higher than what was approved, because we were budgeting for $1.5 million and we're coming in at $1.1.
So that's all I just want to point that out.
Alright.
So we should probably be returning maybe like maybe $400-something thousand.
The way the way it's looking, but you know we will we'll gauge that once the once the fiscal year actually ends and then we'll go back and take a look at how things end.
But as you can see we are under budget.
Yeah no problem with being under budget and no problem if that turns into a surplus, that's fine because it's good to have reserves in place because you never know what may come up.
Right.
Absolutely.
All right.
The next order of business is the Assessor's Report.
Okay.
Next order of business is the Trustee's Report.
Trustee's.
Anything.
Next order of business is Public Comments.
Yes.
Yeah, I'm a speed girl.
And at the last board meeting, Mr. Orlow spoke about school year's ending, kids are going to be out, and he can talk about an undercurrent, and these kids will be spilling into our neighborhoods.
Two days later, I saw exactly what he was talking about.
Across the street, right in front of my house.
House, 12 to 15 kids, ages from probably 16 down to about 14, 13, were confronting individuals that lived across street who were part of the Batten Forum.
The police were called, they cleared the streets, and there's been an ongoing problem that's getting worse.
There's some individuals moved into the neighborhood several months ago and brought their problems with them.
The cities.
I got the call log and everything sent it to everybody on the city council.
Of course you don't hear back from them.
But this is going to be a problem and I'm so afraid that it is going to escalate from words to something much worse.
So this could be a very bad year and the city is on total lockdown as to what's really going on.
I think we all know that.
It's happening and it's real.
Thank you.
Any more public comments?
Seeing that there aren't any other business coming before the town.
Okay, I'll intend to motion to adjourn until Monday, May 4th, 2026 at 4.30.
26Th at 4:30 PM So moved.
Second.
All in favour?
Aye.
Any opposed?
Motion carried.
Meeting is adjourned.
Thank you all for coming.