Latest / WIXN AM 1460 - Shaw Local Radio / Talk Line: Mayor Glen Hughes shares the latest news from around Dixon

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Talk Line: Mayor Glen Hughes shares the latest news from around Dixon · WIXN AM 1460 - Shaw Local Radio

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Speaker 1: Good morning, Sock Valley. You've joined the Waking crew here
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Speaker 1: on FM ninety five one and AM fourteen sixty WIXN.
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Speaker 1: It's eight fifteen on your Thursday morning, and that means
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Speaker 1: it's now time for talk line and I'm joined once
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Speaker 1: again in the booth by Dixon's own mayor, Glenn Hughes. Glen,
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Speaker 1: how are you today, sir?
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Speaker 2: I am doing well. How about you?
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Speaker 1: I cannot complain. We've had a stretch of great weather.
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Speaker 1: I'm not even going to be upset about the cold
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Speaker 1: that's coming in, and we'll come back out of it,
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Speaker 1: so I don't care what that rodent says. I don't
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Speaker 1: think we got six weeks a winter.
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Speaker 2: Well, I guess supposedly, hypothetically we've got at least that,
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Speaker 2: you know, but well, no, probably from the time of that, yeah,
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Speaker 2: a little a little bit more than six seven weeks.
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Speaker 2: But it's nice to be at this time of year,
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Speaker 2: getting some warm stuff and then realizing spring is not
0:50
Speaker 2: that far away.
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Speaker 1: No, it's absolutely not. February is always the worst of
0:54
Speaker 1: it for me. And if we're getting these days mixed
0:56
Speaker 1: in and we're already over halfway out, I'm not complaining
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Speaker 1: about two six so far. So you wanted to share
1:03
Speaker 1: some some news from around the city or fire and
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Speaker 1: street departments.
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Speaker 2: Well, actually, yeah, I'll get get into that, but probably
1:13
Speaker 2: want to give some accolades or's some recognition to some people.
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Speaker 2: First in at our February second meeting, people may be aware,
1:24
Speaker 2: but if not, Christopher Scott was sworn in as our
1:30
Speaker 2: new deputy chief that he's filling the position that Deputy
1:36
Speaker 2: Chief Doug Layman retired from, and I had been had
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Speaker 2: the opportunity last month to thank Doug for his his
1:46
Speaker 2: time with the with the City of Dixon. And then
1:51
Speaker 2: we also swore in two new officers, Griffy Rodriguez and
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Speaker 2: Christian Yepsen. So that was that was from the first
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Speaker 2: meeting in the month and then the for this last meeting.
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Speaker 2: Want to mention that for those that aren't aware, and
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Speaker 2: it's hard to believe that, but February is Black History
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Speaker 2: Month and the city has for the last several years
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Speaker 2: award had an Ike Mercer Award, and then a couple
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Speaker 2: of years ago we did a Black History Month Lifetime
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Speaker 2: Achievement Award. This year, the Ike Mercer Award went to
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Speaker 2: Dantron Dodd and the Black History month Lifetime Achievement award
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Speaker 2: went to George Reid, both of them very deserving individuals.
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Speaker 2: Would have been nice if anybody wants to see the
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Speaker 2: the video of those presentations, and here's some of the
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Speaker 2: background that's available on the city's website from the last meeting.
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Speaker 2: Some very good people and interesting comments and presentations on
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Speaker 2: their behalfs. So so just giving some before we get
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Speaker 2: into any of the technical city stuff, we'll just deal
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Speaker 2: with the recognition of individuals.
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Speaker 1: Sure, sure, no, and and so how is that? How
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Speaker 1: were they selected? Is that like a voter? Does the
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Speaker 1: city choose this award? How does that work?
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Speaker 2: There's a committee that does that, and I think that
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Speaker 2: partly involves and I'm and I am not involved in that.
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Speaker 2: Probably the individual that could tell you the most about
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Speaker 2: that process is Councilman Mike Vanier. But I believe there's
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Speaker 2: a committee of prior Ike Commercer winners, and I think
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Speaker 2: including some of his family members on that committee to
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Speaker 2: select that. And I'm not specifically sure, but I think
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Speaker 2: it's a similar committee structure for the Lifetime Achievement that
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Speaker 2: one I have to pass on the details. So you
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Speaker 2: can probably ask Calsaman Vanier about that though.
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Speaker 1: Sure, well congratulations to the to those winners.
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Speaker 2: Though, yeah, and uh, we're pleased to have Christopher Scott
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Speaker 2: is our deputy chief and and the and the new
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Speaker 2: officers on staff, Griffy Rodriguez and Christian y Epsom. Moving
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Speaker 2: on from there and getting back to the question you
4:41
Speaker 2: asked me about or comment you made a couple of
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Speaker 2: meetings ago. I believe that was at the first meet now, yeah,
4:49
Speaker 2: I would have just been at the first meeting in February.
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Speaker 1: I believe.
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Speaker 2: We had some updates from the the Street Department and
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Speaker 2: the Fire Department, so I just wanted to pass along
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Speaker 2: a little information. Obviously, people are aware of the continuing
5:12
Speaker 2: work that we do on the streets, and quite a
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Speaker 2: bit got done. I don't remember the number of blocks
5:23
Speaker 2: I left my notes, so I'm bringing this off at
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Speaker 2: the top of my head, but not including, not including
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Speaker 2: the work that the state did on Galena Avenue. Thank
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Speaker 2: you very much, State of Illinois. I dot that was
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Speaker 2: well past time that that work needed to be done.
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Speaker 2: I appreciate the citizens giving me thanks for getting that done,
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Speaker 2: but I have nothing. I had nothing to do with it.
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Speaker 2: I am just very happy that it that it got done,
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Speaker 2: but we got several streets done last year. But the
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Speaker 2: other thing I wanted to mention is that the city
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Speaker 2: improved about two thousand, two thousand and forty linear feet
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Speaker 2: of sidewalks. Half of that was under the funding that
6:27
Speaker 2: the city provided directly the one hundred thousand that were
6:31
Speaker 2: committing to the sidewalk program, and the other half of
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Speaker 2: that actually was the program that's been in place for
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Speaker 2: several years where the citizens can get on a list
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Speaker 2: with the city. That usually happens right around the first
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Speaker 2: to April, but the citizens pay for the materials and
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Speaker 2: the city's Street department does the work. We usually can
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Speaker 2: get at least ten properties done. Sometimes uh we could
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Speaker 2: get upwards to to twenty, depending on how the weather's
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Speaker 2: holding out, what other work is going on. But between
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Speaker 2: the two programs, it was equivalent of improving eight city blocks.
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Speaker 2: And we'll continue to work on those sidewalks along with
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Speaker 2: working on the streets. I know that you know this
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Speaker 2: has come up on various times before and I've had
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Speaker 2: people asking me about it. So we've got a program
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Speaker 2: to continue working on the sidewalks, and I really appreciate,
7:40
Speaker 2: appreciate the Street department. We also put a new brine
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Speaker 2: system in place, and I think that worked pretty well
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Speaker 2: for the removal of I this this past winter. I
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Speaker 2: think the the response by the Street Department and the
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Speaker 2: U so that new brine system did a pretty good
8:03
Speaker 2: job of the had the ice. The other thing is
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Speaker 2: one to note that the city fire department responded to
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Speaker 2: over twenty seven hundred calls this past year. Of those,
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Speaker 2: approximately twenty two hundred were actually EMT calls. The fire
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Speaker 2: and rescue calls was something over five hundred this past year,
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Speaker 2: but twenty over twenty seven hundred calls by our fire department.
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Speaker 2: When you start dividing that down by a monthly basis,
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Speaker 2: it's you got over two hundred calls a month. That
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Speaker 2: gets to be a pretty active.
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Speaker 1: Yeah, that's quite a lot.
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Speaker 2: And the other thing worth noting is is that we
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Speaker 2: have twenty firefighters and they put in over seven thousand
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Speaker 2: hours of training. So kind of think about that in
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Speaker 2: terms of the job they do relative to responding to calls,
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Speaker 2: and then the hours of ongoing training and education that
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Speaker 2: they get to make sure that they're up and active.
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Speaker 2: You know, their response to the city is as good
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Speaker 2: as it can be.
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Speaker 1: Yeah, Yeah, quite a lot of training to stay on
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Speaker 1: top of that, want to be coordinated and know how
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Speaker 1: to best approach the situation. And then two just being
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Speaker 1: like you said, keeping physically active so that when it
9:41
Speaker 1: comes time for that to happen, that they're ready to
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Speaker 1: spring into action. So you got to give it up
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Speaker 1: to them.
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Speaker 2: Yeah, they our fire department does a just does an
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Speaker 2: excellent job and it's really appreciated. It on how much
10:01
Speaker 2: training they do. Wanted to actually wanted to break down
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Speaker 2: in some of the specialized training that gets done, but
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Speaker 2: without having my notes, I'm going to have to pass
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Speaker 2: on that at this time.
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Speaker 1: That's okay, we forgive you that. What else did you
10:19
Speaker 1: want to jump into this morning?
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Speaker 2: Well, actually, as long as we're talking about reports from
10:25
Speaker 2: city departments, we had a report from our IT department
10:31
Speaker 2: and I thought it was kind of interesting in that
10:36
Speaker 2: a lot of people when they think about id IT departments,
10:40
Speaker 2: they think about making sure your hardware is working, you know,
10:45
Speaker 2: making sure your software isn't glitching, those type of things,
10:49
Speaker 2: and that's probably the case at one point, but the
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Speaker 2: bulk of what our IT manager does these days is
11:00
Speaker 2: work with cybersecurity, you know, making sure things aren't getting
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Speaker 2: into the city into the systems, making sure things are
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Speaker 2: you know, are staying functional. It's just cybersecurity is way
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Speaker 2: beyond my my knowledge base. But Alan does a heck
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Speaker 2: of a good job. Has really helped maintain the systems
11:28
Speaker 2: at the city, kept us current on what needs to
11:32
Speaker 2: be done. And although some of that hardware software is
11:37
Speaker 2: still part of, you know, part of what he handles.
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Speaker 2: There's always some glitches with a computer, and kicking it
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Speaker 2: or turning it off doesn't necessarily always take care of
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Speaker 2: those problems.
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Speaker 1: What upside, the TV always works. I don't know what's
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Speaker 1: going on down there. He has got to get some
11:57
Speaker 1: better equipment, something slap friendly.
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Speaker 2: But it But it is interesting his commentary and some
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Speaker 2: of the stuff that he was explaining about how much
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Speaker 2: he puts into the to the cybersecurity and keeping that
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Speaker 2: that system viable.
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Speaker 1: Yeah, you know, the more we share information, the more
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Speaker 1: we're connected, the more there's people out there trying to
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Speaker 1: get a hold of all of it, whether it belongs
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Speaker 1: to him or not. So you've always got to be
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Speaker 1: on guard. If not, you are an open book that
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Speaker 1: is screaming from within your pages.
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Speaker 2: So yeah, that that's a real issue.
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Speaker 1: Yeah, you wanted to uh, what did you want to
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Speaker 1: touch on next, because I know we were kind of
12:37
Speaker 1: we got a couple of minutes before the break.
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Speaker 2: Well, okay, so.
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Speaker 1: We got a little heavier.
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Speaker 2: Yeah, And I was actually going to save this for
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Speaker 2: the second half, so I don't necessarily want to start
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Speaker 2: it right now. I wish we'd get somebody to make
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Speaker 2: a call in here and ask me the question, or
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Speaker 2: maybe maybe you can.
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Speaker 1: I'll tell you what. We're close enough outlet, we'll cut
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Speaker 1: to breaking when we come back. We've got a pretty
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Speaker 1: deeper issue for you here. So I'm good, Glen.
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Speaker 2: Yeah, that sounds good.
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Speaker 1: Hey, there's sock value. You're back with the Waking Crew
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Speaker 1: on FM ninety five one fourteen sixty WIX and now
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Speaker 1: it's time for more talk line. We're joined by Dixon's mayor,
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Speaker 1: Glenn Hughes. Glenn, how are you.
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Speaker 2: I'm doing good still.
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Speaker 1: Well, yeah, and I'm asking you that to remind you
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Speaker 1: because we're going to dive into a bit of a deeper,
13:32
Speaker 1: more more serious, less life parted issue. And that was
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Speaker 1: Pritzker's State of the State address. Yeah.
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Speaker 2: It it leads me a little bit to a concern
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Speaker 2: over the state trying to look at the state government
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Speaker 2: trying to look at the state as a one size
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Speaker 2: fits all situation. I'm not going to analyze the detail
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Speaker 2: of it, but there's there's an area of his State
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Speaker 2: of the Union that addressed an issue for municipalities that
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Speaker 2: the state is looking at taking away municipal options in zoning.
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Speaker 2: I applaud the idea of trying to take you know,
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Speaker 2: make housing more affordable. He talks about reducing regulations, and
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Speaker 2: you know, I don't know about other communities, but I
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Speaker 2: know that the City of Dixon has been applauded by
14:49
Speaker 2: developers for the ease of being a not that we
14:52
Speaker 2: don't enforce our codes, but we take a look at development,
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Speaker 2: whether housing or commercial, and we do things to make
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Speaker 2: sure that they have a positive interaction with the city.
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Speaker 2: You know, if they're willing to meet the code, then
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Speaker 2: we're going to try and help that, you know, development along.
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Speaker 2: And he seems to imply that municipalities are dragging their
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Speaker 2: feed or creating obstacles for housing developers. And I don't
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Speaker 2: see that to be the issue. Now, there may be
15:35
Speaker 2: other communities that are, but that gets back to the
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Speaker 2: fact that a lot about this is a one size
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Speaker 2: fits all. You can't be making statements, putting in regulations
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Speaker 2: statutes that assume everybody falls into the same basket, and
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Speaker 2: his initiative on housing seems to do that. He appears
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Speaker 2: to want to take away restrictions for communities on lot size,
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Speaker 2: for on street parking. It may be on street parking
16:20
Speaker 2: may be fine for Chicago, and I'm not even sure
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Speaker 2: the citizens there would agree that it's fine there, but
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Speaker 2: it's not necessarily fine for every community lot sizes, there's
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Speaker 2: minimum lot sizes, there's setbacks. We don't want to have
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Speaker 2: necessarily have rows of housing where the only distance between
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Speaker 2: your house and the next one is the walkway in
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Speaker 2: between them.
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Speaker 1: Sure, yeah, I absolutely agree. I don't want to that
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Speaker 1: works in a city because of how many people there are,
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Speaker 1: and that's what you're kind of forced to deal with.
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Speaker 1: But I don't think anybody in the community the size
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Speaker 1: of ours wants to see that just spread kind of
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Speaker 1: like a plague. To be honest with me, I liked
17:15
Speaker 1: it a little bit of yard.
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Speaker 2: Yeah. And the other side of that is, yes, lots
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Speaker 2: cost money, but it's still a matter of the construction
17:25
Speaker 2: cost is the big issue. And in January of twenty five,
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Speaker 2: a statue went into place for construction relative to energy conservation. Now,
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Speaker 2: the feedback that I've gotten, and I'm gonna disclaimer right here,
17:52
Speaker 2: I haven't done any technical research. I'm talking to people
17:57
Speaker 2: in the industry, people that you know have an impression
18:02
Speaker 2: on it, even a couple of people involved in the
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Speaker 2: inspection side. And this energy conservation sounds great from the start,
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Speaker 2: But the criteria that the state put into place, what
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Speaker 2: I was initially told was for the average size house,
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Speaker 2: it was going to add thirty to fifty thousand dollars
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Speaker 2: in construction cost. Not only that, it was not the
18:32
Speaker 2: energy efficiency that was being generated was not going to
18:37
Speaker 2: pay for itself. Okay, So if you've got if you've
18:42
Speaker 2: got a furnace that's old furnace and sixty percent efficient,
18:49
Speaker 2: and you put in a new furnace that's ninety percent efficient,
18:53
Speaker 2: you've got a good probability of getting payback in a
18:57
Speaker 2: reasonable time. And all of us kind of do that
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Speaker 2: in different phases, either in business or in our homes
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Speaker 2: and say, okay, if I buy, you know, if I
19:08
Speaker 2: get rid of the old one and I buy this
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Speaker 2: new one, what's the advantage and how does it pay
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Speaker 2: back for me? What's the advantages for me? What they
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Speaker 2: put into place last year for the energy conservation does
19:26
Speaker 2: not pay for itself. It added additional cost to individual
19:32
Speaker 2: homes and those builders, those homeowners are not going to
19:42
Speaker 2: recoup that It made the house more efficient. It puts
19:47
Speaker 2: supposedly less strain on the power grid or our power options,
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Speaker 2: whether it's oil or gas, I mean gas or electric.
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Speaker 2: But it's not efficient. I mean it's not effective. Let's
20:06
Speaker 2: put it that way, especially when it can't that added
20:10
Speaker 2: efficiency is not sufficient to pay for the extra cost
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Speaker 2: that went into that. Since then, I have heard that
20:19
Speaker 2: not only is the levels of insulation and the C
20:25
Speaker 2: and criteria an additional cost like I was told, but
20:33
Speaker 2: it also has created problems with the structural side of
20:41
Speaker 2: building these houses. Two by six won't handle it in
20:49
Speaker 2: the normal configuration. It's difficult for the builder to get
20:56
Speaker 2: the level of insulation in both in the walls and
21:01
Speaker 2: the attic area. With that, some of them are have
21:08
Speaker 2: actually having to lift the joy structure put a straightened
21:14
Speaker 2: area rather than the pure diagonal so that they've got
21:17
Speaker 2: enough room to put in additional insulation. Plus the two
21:24
Speaker 2: by six the installation insulation that can be put in
21:27
Speaker 2: there needs to be supplemented. One of the ways I
21:33
Speaker 2: was told was putting putting a layer of foam or styrofoam,
21:41
Speaker 2: and that might not be the right term, but effectively
21:46
Speaker 2: as much as an additional two inches on top of
21:50
Speaker 2: the framing to add that insulation. So not only is
21:59
Speaker 2: there was they're the original problem with the added cost
22:03
Speaker 2: of housing, but there's bigger issues than was initially anticipated.
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Speaker 2: And now the governor seems to be saying, well, communities,
22:19
Speaker 2: this is your problem. You guys are making it too
22:22
Speaker 2: tough for these builders. They can't, you know, they can't
22:25
Speaker 2: address the affordability, and we're going to take your authority away.
22:32
Speaker 2: We're going to make you reduce your lot sizes, We're
22:38
Speaker 2: going to make you reduce your requirements for off street parking.
22:46
Speaker 2: It's not appropriate, in my opinion, for the state to
22:52
Speaker 2: remove the local authority on things like the zoning. They
22:57
Speaker 2: already did that on solar and wind farms, in terms
23:03
Speaker 2: of whether or not a city or county could, you know,
23:09
Speaker 2: just make a decision on an area, whether those wind
23:15
Speaker 2: farms they took or solar farms. They took most of
23:19
Speaker 2: the local authority away. They said in the statute and
23:23
Speaker 2: they said you'll follow this. I don't see that appropriate,
23:29
Speaker 2: you know, as as a mayor, as a man who
23:32
Speaker 2: is trying to take a look at what's best for
23:38
Speaker 2: the community to have the state the states step in
23:42
Speaker 2: and say one size fits all and all communities are
23:45
Speaker 2: going to be handled in this manner is inappropriate and
23:52
Speaker 2: getting on my soapbox a little bit, but it's it's
23:56
Speaker 2: a matter of it's a matter of local control. Now.
24:00
Speaker 2: I'm also going to give him credit for there's a
24:02
Speaker 2: lot of things that he said, even in that housing
24:06
Speaker 2: that are correct in terms of the need for additional
24:08
Speaker 2: housing throughout the state, throughout the communities. There are needs
24:14
Speaker 2: to look at revising those lot sizes or the criteria.
24:23
Speaker 2: I still think you need setbacks looking at accessory dwelling
24:30
Speaker 2: units ADUs. That's probably appropriate, and in a lot of
24:36
Speaker 2: communities that's not, you know, an acceptable use. You can't
24:40
Speaker 2: put two houses on one lot. But my feeling is
24:46
Speaker 2: that's that's appropriate as long as you can continue to
24:50
Speaker 2: maintain your zoning setbacks. So there's some there's some ideas
24:56
Speaker 2: in there. You know, I'm not going to say it's
24:58
Speaker 2: a whole bad thing. What I what I have a
25:00
Speaker 2: problem with is the state trying to control what a community,
25:06
Speaker 2: whether it's Dixon or Sterling or Rochelle or Ottawa or Rockford,
25:13
Speaker 2: the state trying to assume that one statute fits all
25:21
Speaker 2: of those communities or or what their citizens want in
25:26
Speaker 2: the forward development. He even knocked comprehensive plans and going,
25:33
Speaker 2: wait a minute, that's what takes you forward, that's what
25:36
Speaker 2: gives you, what gives your whole community a vision of
25:40
Speaker 2: what they're hoping your community becomes. That's not an anti development.
25:50
Speaker 2: Maybe in some communities it is. Maybe some communities just
25:52
Speaker 2: want to stay where they're at. But again that gets
25:56
Speaker 2: back to one size does not fit every community, and
26:01
Speaker 2: having the state step in on local zoning, whether it's
26:05
Speaker 2: on solar farms or whether it's on zoning, is inappropriate.
26:14
Speaker 1: Yeah, you know, I've development is needed. Development is good.
26:18
Speaker 1: Growth is good. But I'll be honest, I'd never want
26:20
Speaker 1: to see Dixon become Chicago. I like the thought of
26:24
Speaker 1: living in a a in a smaller city. You feel
26:27
Speaker 1: like you know people, your your kids grow up. It
26:30
Speaker 1: feels safer. I mean, you guys do a great job
26:34
Speaker 1: with the development, bringing things here that you would normally
26:36
Speaker 1: have to go travel out of the city for but
26:39
Speaker 1: you come back home and you feel like you're not
26:41
Speaker 1: a part of that. Some people want to live in
26:42
Speaker 1: the city, and that's great, but it's it just goes
26:46
Speaker 1: to your point, like you said that if you're putting
26:49
Speaker 1: a one size fits all model there, it's with the
26:51
Speaker 1: intent that everybody's going to end up in the same spot,
26:54
Speaker 1: and not everybody wants everything to end up in the
26:57
Speaker 1: same spot.
26:58
Speaker 2: Yeah, and again I'm not sure. Considering the fact that
27:04
Speaker 2: at least out here, you know, going into the western
27:07
Speaker 2: suburbs and in Chicago lots lots size may be a
27:12
Speaker 2: critical factor in terms of cost, it's not nearly as
27:18
Speaker 2: much out here, So we don't you know, our current
27:21
Speaker 2: code provides for a standard lot. That doesn't mean you
27:25
Speaker 2: can't develop an old one that still fits within you know,
27:29
Speaker 2: the way it was, the way it was platted. But
27:34
Speaker 2: we're looking at six thousand square foot lots right now
27:36
Speaker 2: for standard housing. That's not to say that we might
27:39
Speaker 2: not need to reevaluate that, but that's not a particularly
27:43
Speaker 2: big lot. Going down to a twenty four hundred square
27:47
Speaker 2: foot lot. Twenty four hundred square foot lot is not
27:52
Speaker 2: reasonable because you still got to build a house on there.
27:57
Speaker 2: And you know, if you want to get and I
28:00
Speaker 2: think there's some great designs for houses that you can
28:04
Speaker 2: get that are twelve or fourteen hundred square foot that
28:06
Speaker 2: will fit on smaller that fit on smaller lots, But
28:10
Speaker 2: it's not everybody's option. It really means you got to
28:13
Speaker 2: go two stories to do that type to do that
28:17
Speaker 2: type of thing, and a lot of people don't want
28:20
Speaker 2: to be having to walk stairs. It's just one of
28:24
Speaker 2: those pieces. But my building department supervisor and multiple people
28:35
Speaker 2: will tell you that I've I have been looking at
28:39
Speaker 2: what we need to consider for that affordability myself and
28:44
Speaker 2: the option to go to smaller homes. So is there
28:48
Speaker 2: is there a need for middle you know, middle housing.
28:51
Speaker 2: Is there a need for us to make adjustments for
28:55
Speaker 2: building on smaller lots. Absolutely, the city should be able
29:01
Speaker 2: to determine that, you know. So some of the things
29:03
Speaker 2: he's talking about, I don't disagree. I already said this,
29:07
Speaker 2: I don't disagree. I think they're good ideas, but communities
29:11
Speaker 2: need to be able to do that in and of themselves.
29:15
Speaker 2: And again, you know, we had community involvement, city staff involvement, Council, involvement.
29:21
Speaker 2: We on our comprehensive plant. You know, a lot of
29:25
Speaker 2: that community involvement was based on where do you see
29:28
Speaker 2: the needs? Obviously everybody saw housing as one of the
29:33
Speaker 2: prime needs. So we're doing We're going to continue to
29:37
Speaker 2: do things to make that opportunity available. But I don't
29:43
Speaker 2: want to be told how to do it by the state.
29:45
Speaker 1: Yeah, you know, and I'm by no means an expert
29:48
Speaker 1: in any of this, or even an amateur any of this.
29:51
Speaker 1: But it would seem to me that like if if
29:53
Speaker 1: he's doing this because he's he's saying, you know, certain
29:57
Speaker 1: communities or it just said, it sounds very right that
30:00
Speaker 1: there's municipalities out there dragging their feet on development or
30:04
Speaker 1: making it more difficult. That sounds like a problem that
30:09
Speaker 1: is more akin to surgery. And you're bringing chainsaw instead
30:12
Speaker 1: of a scalpel to a problem. How what you know,
30:15
Speaker 1: what alternative? You know?
30:17
Speaker 2: That's a that's a really that's a real good comparison.
30:19
Speaker 2: And again I want to go back to what the
30:23
Speaker 2: state did last year on that energy conservation. And again
30:29
Speaker 2: I'm not opposed to some minimum standards because you don't
30:31
Speaker 2: want somebody coming down the road who doesn't know that
30:36
Speaker 2: you didn't put you know, insulation in the walls until
30:40
Speaker 2: after they're in there, and you know, paying a five
30:43
Speaker 2: hundred dollars a month winter, you know, heating bill or
30:46
Speaker 2: type the thing. But one of the one of the
30:50
Speaker 2: easiest things he could do right now is roll back
30:54
Speaker 2: that and just on the average house save substantial dollars
31:02
Speaker 2: not only from the initial cost but from the added
31:05
Speaker 2: things that we found out since to complicate the development,
31:11
Speaker 2: there's also an issue on the the EV chargers. Every
31:19
Speaker 2: new home now has to have capacity. They don't have
31:23
Speaker 2: to have an EV charger put in, they have to
31:26
Speaker 2: have available capacity for an EV charger. And that goes
31:32
Speaker 2: into when you're looking at apartment complexes the availability of
31:38
Speaker 2: those EV chargers, and I think in what in the
31:42
Speaker 2: some of the less dense size, there has to be
31:46
Speaker 2: capacity available for every unit you've got in that building.
31:53
Speaker 2: There's some other adjustments for the different sizes. Now the
31:57
Speaker 2: developer doesn't have to pay the cost of putting it in.
32:03
Speaker 2: It becomes the cost of the tenant that has to
32:07
Speaker 2: take care of that, which also brings the question if
32:10
Speaker 2: somebody only expects to be there for a year or
32:14
Speaker 2: two years, are they going to put in an EV charger,
32:18
Speaker 2: even if they've got a electric vehicle. But the other
32:22
Speaker 2: thing is that in some of these larger complexes, if
32:25
Speaker 2: you've got to if you've got to be you know,
32:28
Speaker 2: meeting those capacity. Part of making it available, not putting
32:35
Speaker 2: it in, but having the capacity to do it, is
32:38
Speaker 2: putting in substantial additional electrical connections. And you know, if
32:48
Speaker 2: you've got a large complex fifty buildings, you know how
32:54
Speaker 2: much additional capacity for your electrical or you're going to
32:58
Speaker 2: have to provide.
33:00
Speaker 1: Yeah, so.
33:03
Speaker 2: You know right now, I still think the individual, the
33:07
Speaker 2: individual homeowner needs to make the choice whether they want
33:12
Speaker 2: put an EV charger in or not.
33:14
Speaker 1: Yeah.
33:15
Speaker 2: But you know, again, he's putting in things that are
33:20
Speaker 2: mandating things that people don't necessarily need and may not
33:25
Speaker 2: need or even want for years. And those are things
33:30
Speaker 2: that could be very simply rolled back.
33:32
Speaker 1: Yeah. Well, I agree with you on that without having
33:35
Speaker 1: to know anything. I don't have an electric car, don't
33:37
Speaker 1: plan to get one. Nothing against them, but I like
33:39
Speaker 1: what I have so far, and don't make me pay
33:42
Speaker 1: for it. Glenn. I'd love to keep solving the state's
33:45
Speaker 1: problems with you, but we're out of time. Thank you.
33:49
Speaker 1: So much for dropping in the booth as always, and
33:51
Speaker 1: I look forward to future updates.
33:52
Speaker 2: Thank you