Illinois Valley Times

City of Peru Committee of a Whole met July 21

Here are the minutes provided by the committee:

A Committee Of A Whole meeting was called to order by Mayor Ken Kolowski in the Peru City Council Chambers on Monday July 21, 2025, at 3:30 p.m.

City Clerk Jamey Mertel called the roll with Aldermen Ballard, Tieman, Payton, Sapienza, Edgcomb, Lukosus, and Moreno present. Alderman O’Sadnick absent. Mayor Kolowski present.

PUBLIC COMMENT

MINUTES

Mayor Kolowski presented the Committee of A Whole Minutes of July 7, 2025. Alderman Payton made a motion that the minutes be received and placed on file. Alderman Edgcomb seconded the motion; motion carried.

PRESENTATION

None

PUBLIC WORKS (IT, Water & Sewer, TEST, Airport, Buildings and Grounds, Streets & Alleys, Electric, Engineering)

IT

None

WATER & SEWER

None

TEST

Chris Perra, President of T.E.S.T. introduced his daughter Camryn Perra and announced that she has joined the family business.

AIRPORT

Eric Carls, Director of Engineering and Zoning reported

BUILDINGS & GROUNDS

Eric Carls, Director of Engineering and Zoning reported that asbestos abatement is scheduled to be completed soon on the 1410 8th Street property.

STREETS & ALLEYS

None

ELECTRIC

Kevin Minnick, Electric Operations Manager, reported that Unit 2 should be up in September, noting that River Dam Crane had a malfunction and will need a repair.

Mr. Minnick initiated a discussion on the need to develop standards for power lines.

ENGINEERING

Eric Carls, Director of Engineering and Zoning, reported on the following:

• Rte. 6 project is down to punch list items

• Plank Road Widening is midway through the 4th phase of the project

• General Fund Street Program should be finalized and out for bid in two weeks

• Baker Lake Path widening should be finalized and out for bid in two weeks

OLD BUSINESS

None

NEW BUSINESS

None

PUBLIC SERVICES COMMITTEE (Code Enforcement, Police, Fire, Landfill, Cemetery, Parks & Recreation)

CODE ENFORCEMENT

None

POLICE

Police Chief Sarah Raymond asked for a motion [to be on the next regular meeting agenda] to authorize the Board of Fire and Police Commissioners to hire a replacement patrol officer to fulfill a vacancy

Chief Raymond initiated a discussion regarding part-time social worker. Chief Raymond reported the city has already received $45,000 in grant money, and noted it is a year-to-year grant. Chief Raymond reported the social worker would be available to all first responders. Chief Raymond asked for formal approval at the next regular meeting. Alderman Lukosus asked that language be added to the motion to reflect that approval for the position will only be granted as long as the city receives future grant funding. Mayor Kolowski stated the grant is a great benefit for the city and will revisit again in a year.

FIRE

None

LANDFILL

None

CEMETERY

Alderman Lukosus reported that Deputy Clerk Trina Stevens sent information regarding the columbarium and suggested moving forward with plans on constructing a second structure. Alderman Lukosus asked for further discussion at the next committee meeting.

PARKS & RECREATION

Adam Thorson, Director of Parks, Recreation and Special Events reported this is the last week of summer recreation camps and next weekend is the Taste of the Illinois Valley. Mr. Thorson reported sponsorship funding is up to $35,000.

OLD BUSINESS

Alderman Moreno provided a summary of the Peru Pool Advisory Committee meeting of July 14th.

Committee members said the city could fund the pool with a 20-year bond, but not aldermen weren’t convinced.

Alderman Payton said the minutes from last week’s meeting didn’t say anything about an interest rate on the bond.

Mayor Kolowski stated he had talked with Finance Officer Tracy Mitchell regarding a possible interest rate.

Finance Officer Tracy Mitchell reported she didn’t know what the interest rate would be, nor want to make an assumption, but stated it’s like a mortgage, you take out a certain principal amount … you would have to pay interest.

Alderman Payton stated the city would have to secure a bond in the next five years for capital improvements and the pool would need to be backed by property taxes should revenues fall short.

Committee members also wanted to know what the next step in obtaining a pool would be.

Director of Engineering/Zoning Eric Carls said that the city typically would have a detailed site evaluation to determine where the best site would be before determining costs associated with the site. The step after that would be seeking a proposal for developing the plan. Mr. Carls stated that he would typically expect, at earliest, a nine to 12 months from a plan preparation and permitting standpoint. Mr. Carls said the city then would work through design drawings before those would be distributed to actual contractors to bid the project. Mr. Carls said that the only steps presented at this time are conceptual drawings, which are presented to the council before projects. Mr. Carls stated we have to execute an agreement with the consulting firm, stating what he typically sees in a lot of our projects is those agreements can range anywhere from say 7% to 10%.

Alderman Tieman asked if the proposed city center study includes a pool. Mr. Carls stated yes, the study includes a pool and noted that many sports complexes have pools attached inside and outside.

Alderman Payton asked Mayor Kolowski to expand on brick fundraiser similar to what the Illinois Valley YMCA has. Reported the IV YMCA had brief discussions with the pool committee, but nothing final.

Pool committee member and Alderman Moreno said that the point of the committee also was why he wanted the vote to be next Monday – to establish location, cost and design. Alderman Moreno also noted that Washington Park was chosen by the committee as a central location to the city and that Kmetz Architect was given figures to work with.

Mayor Kolowski said he didn’t think it was smart to advance with spending $500,000 on a design before determining that the city wouldn’t move ahead with the pool.

Alderman Edgcomb said he believed it would be premature to vote on the pool, stating it sounds like there are questions that aren’t answered. Alderman Edgcomb stated he really didn’t know what he is voting for at this point, but I’m going to recommend finding out our next steps. Alderman Edgcomb suggested having a Committee of A Whole meeting at 6pm on Monday and inviting Mr. Kmetz to answer the lingering questions and figure out next steps.

NEW BUSINESS

None

FINANCE COMMITTEE (Finance, Human Resources)

FINANCE

Finance Officer Tracy Mitchell reported on unaudited FY25 budget actual-to-budget results.

HUMAN RESOURCES

OLD BUSINESS

NEW BUSINESS

None

PUBLIC COMMENT

Resident George Marple asked to speak on the subject of the proposed pool and noted the cost to amortize at 4.3% would be a total of $10.4 million over 20 years plus wages and upkeep. Mr. Marple stated the referendum was not reflective of the actual amount of residents in the city. Mr. Marple noted that only 49% of the eligible voters showed up to vote.

Mr. Marple noted the information for the vote was not complete. Mr. Marple also noted hotel/motel tax paid by outsiders in not true and disingenuous to use pillow tax and say citizens are not going to pay for it. Mr. Marple stated he has lived in Peru for 60 years and there are other projects that need to be done.

Gina Martin reported that kids need things to do.

Alderman Moreno asked Adam Thorson, Director of Parks, Recreation and Special Events, about how many kids attended the summer camps this year. Mr. Thorson stated all camps were full, noting that 1000 kids participated.

Mr. Thorson also noted that a large majority of the camps were free.

CLOSED SESSION

Alderman Sapienza made a motion to go into closed session to discuss the appointment, employment, compensation, discipline, performance or dismissal of specific employees of the public body or legal counsel for the public body, including hearing testimony on a complaint lodged against an employee or legal counsel for the public body to determine its validity. Alderman Moreno seconded the motion. Clerk Mertel called the roll with Aldermen Ballard, Tieman, Payton, Edgcomb, Sapienza, Lukosus and Moreno voting aye. Alderman O’Sadnick absent. Motion carried.

Closed session began at 4:35 p.m. and ended at 4:43 p.m.

Alderman Edgcomb made a motion to reopen the meeting. Alderman Moreno seconded the motion. Clerk Mertel called the roll with Aldermen Ballard, Tieman, Payton, Edgcomb, Sapienza, Lukosus, and Moreno present.

Alderman O’Sadnick absent. Mayor Kolowski present.

ADJOURNMENT

Alderman Edgcomb made a motion that the meeting be adjourned. Alderman Moreno seconded the motion and motion carried.

Meeting adjourned 4:43 p.m.

https://www.peru.il.us/government/agendas-and-minutes/minutes/committee-as-a-whole-1/committee-of-a-whole-minutes-2025/6992-committee-of-a-whole-minutes-07-02-125/file