The presiding official opened a public hearing at 5:30 p.m. on Dec. 1, 2025, at Freeport City Hall to consider the proposed 2026 appropriation ordinance and asked the City Clerk to read the published notice into the record. The City Clerk said the notice ran in the Journal Standard on Nov. 9, 2025, and that the proposed ordinance was on file at City Hall and available on the city's website.

The presiding official asked whether any written correspondence had been received; the City Clerk said none had been submitted and the presiding official then invited public comment. When someone in the room indicated an intention to speak, the presiding official asked that person, identified in the transcript as Alderman Sanders, to approach the podium and allotted three minutes for any remarks.

Alderman Sanders used the time to assert that the meeting was "not approved" and "out of order," said the mayor "does not conduct council business," and accused the city's governing practices of lacking "integrity." Sanders told the council he would bring records and evidence to support his claims and said, "This meeting should be adjourned. It should never come up again unless council has official meetings about governing and legislation." The presiding official responded by declaring Sanders' time expired and warning that further interruptions would be called out of order: "Your time has expired" and "If it continues, I will call you out of order."

With no other public commenters and no written submissions, the presiding official closed the hearing at 5:36 p.m. The City Clerk had earlier stated that the proposed appropriation ordinance is on file at Freeport City Hall, 314 West Stevenson Street, and that an electronic version is available on the city's website for public inspection.

No votes or formal actions on the ordinance were taken at the hearing; the session was limited to the statutory public-notice reading and the invited public-comment period, which produced no accepted public comments that evening.