The time limit for a person who speaks during the public comment portion of a Pekin City Council meeting was cut in half Monday by the council.
Instead of a 10-minute time limit, which had been in place since 2021, the time limit was reduced to five minutes.
The vote for the change was 5-2, with council members Rick Hilst and Lloyd Orrick dissenting.
The time limit isn't set in stone. Council can vote to extend a speaker's time.
And the mayor, or whomever is running the meeting, can limit speakers to three minutes if more than 20 persons want to speak, and ask for a spokesperson for a group that wants to speak on the same topic.
City Manager John Dossey said he favors the time limit change because it makes meetings more efficient.
He also said the change brings Pekin in line with several other area communities.
City staff surveyed 13 area communities, Dossey said, to find out their time limits for a person making a public comment at a council or board meeting.
Of the 13, only North Pekin had no time limit.
Bloomington, Chillicothe and Normal have a three-minute time limit. Bartonville, Canton, Creve Coeur, East Peoria, Mackinaw, Morton, Peoria, Peoria Heights and Washington each has a five-minute time limit.
Hilst wasn't swayed by the survey.
"I don't care if we're consistent with other communities. I don't mind if we stand out," he said. "This won't make a good impression with the public."
Orrrick said he doesn't think it's too much for elected officials to listen to someone speak to them for 10 minutes.
"It's what we're paid to do," he said.
Mayor Mary Burress said she's found most speakers can communicate their opinions to Pekin's elected officials in five minutes.
Council member Karen Hohimer agreed.
"If someone wants to say they hate me, I'm fine if they can do it in five minutes," she said.
Couple can receive as much as $150,000 in TIF money for renovation of downtown buildings
Up to $150,000 in TIF funding was approved unanimously Monday by the council for a project to renovate two downtown buildings that have been vacant and used for storage for more than 30 years.
Gary and Crista Flynn purchased the buildings at 525 and 527 Court Street.
It will cost the married couple an estimated $400,000 to renovate the buildings, said Joshua Wray, Pekin's economic development director. The Flynns already have incurred more than $100,000 in TIF eligible expenses, Wray said.
"First, we had to remove 12 Dumpsters full of junk that was inside the buildings," Crista Flynn told the council Monday.
Wray said the building at 527 Court is expected to be ready for a business to move in within a year and the building at 525 Court is expected to ready for a business to move in within a year after that.
Council approved $50,000 in TIF funding for the Flynns in the 2023-24 fiscal year, $50,000 in the 2024-25 fiscal year if there's a business at 527 Court, and $50,000 in the 2025-26 fiscal year if there's a business at 525 Court.
Businesses must be in the buildings for at least five years after the Flynns open them or the TIF money must be returned to the city, to be consistent with previous TIF agreements, Wray said.
Majority council vote now needed to approve sale or lease of city-owned property
Council can now approve the sale or lease of city-owned property through a majority vote instead of a 3/4 majority vote.
The change was approved 5-2 Monday by the council, with Orrick and Hilst casting the no votes.
"Under the old system, if one council member wasn't at a meeting, one no vote could have held up an important sale the city needed to make," Burress said.
Wray concurred. He said a developer looking to invest in the city sometimes needs a quick decision if other sites for a project are being considered.
"How long has the (3/4 majority) been on the books? Many years, and it's worked," Orrick said. "It was there to protect residents."
The council made a similar move at its Feb. 26 meeting, changing its approval to vacate a public right-of-way from a 3/4 majority vote to a majority vote. Orrick and Hilst also opposed that change.
Later in the Feb. 26 meeting, council voted 5-2 to vacate the 300 block of Elizabeth Street between Capitol and Third streets, opening that area for Tazewell County's planned construction of an annex for its Justice Center.
Plans call for the annex to be built on the site of the former Arcade and Tobin buildings, which have been demolished by the county.
Hilst called the council vote approval change for a public right-of-way "a shady tactic by the city to manipulate a vote because Lloyd (Orrick) and I are against the annex project."
Company rehired to do code enforcement violation clean-ups and board-ups
Pekin-based Gutters by Tunyuck, owned by Vilachai Tunyuck, was re-hired Monday by the city to provide mowing, brush clearing and other landscaping services for non-compliance of code enforcement violations, and board-ups of dangerous buildings from April 1 through March 31, 2025.
The council votes on the contracts were unanimous.
Gutters by Tunyunk has done the mowing, brush clearing and landscaping code violation work for the city for two years and the building board-ups for three years.
"I'm not comfortable with approving the only bid for these services, but this company has done a good job for the city," said Mayor Pro-Tem Dave Nutter.
Gutters by Tunyuck's regular mowing charge will be $125 per hour and heavy mowing charge will be $225 per hour. The trip charge for the removal of brush will be $200, with cutting and clearing brush costing $125 per hour.
Among the board-up charges are $125 per hour for businesses, and $225 per hour for emergencies and after-hours work.
Police Chief Seth Ranney said Gutters by Tunyuck did $40,000 worth of mowing, $34,000 worth of brush work, and received $19,000 for boards-ups during 2023.
Engineering contract approved for airport fuel system replacement
The underground fuel system at the Pekin Municipal Airport must be replaced.
Pekin Public Works Director Dean Schneider said the Federal Aviation Administration has determined the system is at the end of its life based on its age.
The council Monday unanimously approved an engineering agreement with Peoria-based Hanson Professional Services for the planning, design and construction phases of the replacement project at a not-to-exceed cost of $111,065.
The estimated construction cost of the project is $645,000. Ninety percent of the total project cost will be reimbursed to the city by the Illinois Department of Transportation's Division of Aeronautics.
Schneider said the city most likely won't sell fuel at the airport after the old fuel system is removed and the new one is being installed. He hesitated to guess how long installation will take, but he thought it would be three to four months.
