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Home My WebLink About01-06-2026 Canton City Council Regular Meeting Minutes CANTON CITY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES TUESDAY, JANUARY 06, 2026, at 6:30 p.m. Historic Depot-Donald E. Edwards Way th 50 North 4 Avenue, Canton, Il 61520 A regular meeting of the Canton City Council was held on January 6, 2026 (6:30pm) at the Historic th Depot located at 50 North 4 Avenue Canton Illinois. STAFF IN ATTENDANCE: Mayor Kent McDowell, City Clerk Andi Smith-Walters, Acting City Treasurer Paula Grigsby, Police Chief Mike Eveland, Fire Chief Scott Roos, Alderperson Andra Chamberlin, John Lovell, Angela Hale, Patrick Ketcham, Dave Pickel, Greg Gossett, Public Utilities Director Joe Carruthers OTHERS IN ATTENDANCE: City Attorney Chris Jump, City Engineer Keith Plavec, and Comptroller Beka Shultz. MEDIA IN ATTENDANCE: Fulton Democrat MEETING CALLED TO ORDER PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE OPENED THE MEETING INVOCATION – Mayor Kent McDowell ROLL CALL Yes No Absent Alderperson Gossett x Alderperson Pickel x Alderperson Ketcham x Alderperson Hale x Alderperson Grimm x Alderperson Lovell x Alderperson Nelson x Alderperson x Chamberlin ADDITIONS OR CORRECTIONS TO THE AGENDA: PUBLIC PARTICIPATION: MAYORAL COMMUNICATIONS/REQUESTED ACTION: Hurel Johnson with SolAmerica Energy gave a presentation communicating the concerns of the extra territorial jurisdiction notification for two projects they are looking to develop within Fulton County. SolAmerica has built over 100 projects within 15 states. The company’s mission is to help America achieve energy independence. The purpose of tonight’s presentation is to discuss two projects referred to as “Fulton County S2 and Fulton County S6” that are within 1.5 miles of the city’s municipal boundary. The Fulton County S2 project is a 4 megawatt facility, and the landowner is the Bunk family. The Fulton County S6 is a 5 megawatt facility and the landowner for this property is the Miller Canton family. The first project, the Fulton County S2, is located south along county highway 19. The land will be leased from the property owners for the life of the project, typically 30 years. The project will meet or exceed all requirements of the county ordinance. The point of interconnection for the project will be Ameren. These are energized facilities so there will be a security perimeter. A 5 megawatt facility could supply up to 1200 homes. CITY CLERK COMMUNICATIONS/REQUESTED ACTION: Nothing to report. DEPARTMENT HEAD COMMUNICATIONS/REPORTS: Acting City Treasurer, Paula Grigsby – Nothing to report. Deputy Police Chief, Corey Miller – Nothing to report. Fire Chief, Scott Roos – Nothing to report. Public Utilities Manager, Joe Carruthers – On January 19 there will be no trash pickup, instead th the trash will be picked up on the 20. CONSENT AGENDA - APPROVAL OF THE COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES HELD DECEMBER 16, 2025. BILL LIST DISBURSEMENT REPORT TREASURER’S REPORT PUBLIC WORKS REPORT POLICE REPORT FIRE REPORT Motion and second were made by Alderpersons Pickel/Gossett to approve the consent agenda. ROLL CALL Yes No Absent Alderperson Gossett x Alderperson Pickel x Alderperson Ketcham x Alderperson Hale x Alderperson Grimm x Alderperson Lovell x Alderperson Nelson x Alderperson x Chamberlin The motion carried. COMMITTEE REPORTS: PUBLIC SAFETY AND LEGAL ALDERPERSON JUSTIN NELSON, CHAIR REGULATORY AND POLICY ALDERPERSON ANGELA HALE, CHAIR COMMUNITY & ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT ALDERPERSON JOHN LOVELL, CHAIR The City’s economic developer, Cole McDaniel, presented an update to the council. For the next council meeting it is McDaniels recommendation to formally adopt the BDD scoring matrix. That way any new applications received will then abide by it, but most importantly once it is formally adopted, they want to market it and make sure the information gets out there as there will be people coming and applying for a BDD. DISCUSSION REGARDING INTERESTED PERSONS OF THE CARDOSI BUILDING AND THE ODD FELLOWS BUILDING. Lovell suggested to the council about creating a different type of incentive program to help get someone into these buildings. He believes that there is someone interested in the Cardosi building but has not met with them yet. Lovell knows in particular with the Odd Fellows building that the city has gotten a bid of $200,000 for the mold remediation, which is quite the number for someone to come in and take over. As of right now, its nearly impossible to walk through either building. PUBLIC WORKS ALDERPERSON GREG GOSSETT, CHAIR APPROVAL OF CHANGE ORDER REGARDING CANTON WASTEWATER TREATMENT PLANT IMPROVEMENT PROJECT WITH RIVERCITY CONSTRUCTION. City engineer Keith Plavec shared a few pictures with the council and explained that the first part of this project was the earth excavation for the digesters. According to the pictures, there is suddenly a bunch of water popping up and essentially a bedrock layer and a couple feet of sand on top of that. As soon as they would start digging it would just cave in. Plavec had some geotechs come in and look at it and they recommended over excavating all the material down to the sand and bring back 4” diameter rock back up. The original estimate was $1.43 million to do the work. They had to put in dewatering pumps to keep the water down so they could work in these areas. The subcontractor had to bring in power to run those pumps. With the work completed, there are three parts to the change order. The over excavation ended up costing $814,000. The EPA had a contingency built into the city’s loan funds. The $1.43 million would have essentially used up all of that. With what has been used, there has been a $14 million debt forgiven. The second part of this project is with the inlet channel. When Plavec received the shop drawings from the manufacturer they had changed the dimension which now they have to extend the inlet channel about 6” with a cost change of around $6,000. The total change order increased with a majority of that cost being the soil removal and replacement to $822,913.21 and also asking for a 21 calendar day extension in time. The EPA was notified about a month ago to make them aware of the situation. Motion and second were made by Alderpersons Gossett/Grimm for approval of change order regarding Canton Wastewater Treatment Plant Improvement Project with RiverCity Construction in the amount of $822,913.21 and increasing the time 21 calendar days. ROLL CALL Yes No Absent Alderperson Gossett x Alderperson Pickel x Alderperson Ketcham x Alderperson Hale x Alderperson Grimm x Alderperson Lovell x Alderperson Nelson x Alderperson x Chamberlin The motion carried. FINANCE ALDERPERSON ANDRA CHAMBERLIN, CHAIR IT AND CYBERSECURITY ALDERPERSON DAVE PICKEL, CHAIR DISCUSSION REGARDING INTERNET QUOTES FOR GREENWOOD CEMETERY. This is in regards to the GIS project being worked on out there. One of the quotes came from MidCentury for $1,000 to install and $89.95 a month and would go up an additional $10 after the first of the year. They tried to get a quote from Comcast, but they were unable to do the project. The department head is having trouble with service out their thus making their job difficult. City attorney Chris Jump explained the contract cannot go beyond the mayors term. These costs would come out of the cemetery budget. LABOR AND EMPLOYMENT ALDERPERSON RALPH GRIMM, CHAIR APPROVAL OF MEMORANDUM OF AGREEMENT WITH FOP REGARDING LATERAL HIRED AND AUTHORIZING MAYOR TO NEGOTIATE AND EXECUTE SAME. Pending any additional negotiations. Motion and second were made by Alderpersons Grimm/Lovell for approval of memorandum of agreement with FOP regarding lateral hired and authorizing mayor to negotiate and execute same. ROLL CALL Yes No Absent Alderperson Gossett x Alderperson Pickel x Alderperson Ketcham x Alderperson Hale x Alderperson Grimm x Alderperson Lovell x Alderperson Nelson x Alderperson x Chamberlin The motion carried. APPROVAL TO HIRE NEW DISPATCHER. th Deputy police chief Corey Miller explained there was a resignation and their last day is on the 5 of this month. Another one of the dispatchers is also looking for a leave of absence in the near future. Motion and second were made by Alderpersons Grimm/Lovell for approval to hire new dispatcher. ROLL CALL Yes No Absent Alderperson Gossett x Alderperson Pickel x Alderperson Ketcham x Alderperson Hale x Alderperson Grimm x Alderperson Lovell x Alderperson Nelson x Alderperson x Chamberlin The motion carried. PROPERTY ALDERPERSON PATRICK KETCHAM, CHAIR RESOLUTION APPROVING AN INTERGOVERNMENTAL AGREEMENT WITH THE ILLINOIS DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION REGARDING MAINTENANCE. This discussion has been ongoing, Mayor McDowell had a conversation with an iDOT representative who sent an email stating this agreement would be for snow removal and street sweeping only, if it changed to maintenance it would have to be mutually agreed upon by both parties. McDowell expressed that up until the road gets fixed, the agreement isn’t going to happen on the city’s part. For the full 12 months iDOT is supposed to pay the city $20,659.31. Motion and second were made by Alderpersons Grimm/Gossett for approval of a resolution approving an intergovernmental agreement with the Illinois Department of Transportation regarding maintenance. ROLL CALL Yes No Absent Alderperson Gossett x Alderperson Pickel x Alderperson Ketcham x Alderperson Hale x Alderperson Grimm x Alderperson Lovell x Alderperson Nelson x Alderperson x Chamberlin The motion carried. DISCUSSION REGARDING STREET DEPARTMENT BUILDING. Keith Plavec explained the street department building at the current location is looking to demolish the three existing buildings. Dash, Joe, and Scott have already started looking through Morton buildings. The project was put out for bid and there was six bidders. The lowest bid was Greenfield Contractors LLC out of Princeville. Their pre-engineered metal building was $4.63 million, and their post frame building was $4.75 million. The next bidder for the pre-engineered was from Cat Construction based out of Tremont, and then a bid for a post frame building was put in from Laverdiere at $4.95 million. The way the bid packets were set up, the city was th allowed to hold the bids for an x amount of days which expired on January 4. After talking with the city attorney, he recommended the Plavec reach out to every bidder and ask if they would be willing to essentially sign a letter saying they would extend their bid and hold it. All the bidders except for Leander Construction and Hines construction sent back the letter signed. The bottom line, they are short on funding for the project and are trying to explore options on loans, BDD, TIF, and other avenues. The bids are active until February 3, 2026. McDowell stated as of right now his opinion is to refuse the bids and regroup to figure out how to finance this project and then rebid it at another date. EXECUTIVE SESSION/CLOSED MEETING EXECUTIVE SESSION/CLOSED MEETING PURSUANT TO 5ILCS 120/2(C)(2) AND (C)(11). Motion and second were made by Alderpersons Gossett/Hale to go into executive session/closed meeting pursuant to 5ILCS 120/2(C)(2) and (C)(11). ROLL CALL Yes No Absent Alderperson Gossett x Alderperson Pickel x Alderperson Ketcham x Alderperson Hale x Alderperson Grimm x Alderperson Lovell x Alderperson Nelson x Alderperson x Chamberlin The motion carried. ADJOURNMENT Motion and second were made by Alderpersons Pickel/Gossett to adjourn. ROLL CALL Yes No Absent Alderperson Gossett x Alderperson Pickel x Alderperson Ketcham x Alderperson Hale x Alderperson Grimm x Alderperson Lovell x Alderperson Nelson x Alderperson x Chamberlin The motion carried. _________________________________________________________________ Andi Smith-Walters, City Clerk _________________________________________________________________ Kent McDowell, Mayor