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HomeMy WebLinkAbout05-11-2010 Council MeetingA regular meeting of the Canton City Council Clerical Committee was held on May 11, 2010 in Council Chambers at Donald E. Edwards Way, {50 North 4th Avenue) Canton, Illinois. Mayor Kevin R. Meade called the meeting to order at 6:30 p.m. Aldermen in attendance -Rick Reed, Eric Schenck, Craig West, Larry Sarff, Gerald Ellis, Jim Hartford, Dave Picket. Absent -Jorge Rivero. Others present -Mayor Kevin R. Meade, City Clerk Nancy Whites, City Treasurer Aaron Anderson, Deputy Police Chief Rick Nichols, Public Works Director Cliff O'Brien, Keith Plavec from Maurer-Stutz Inc. (City Engineer & Zoning Officer), City Administrator Jim Snider, Assistant Fire Chief Dan Oaks, Joe Ginger Video Services, Mark Rothert SRPED Executive Director, ESDA Director Phil Fleming, news media of John Froehling from the Daily Ledger and, Kevin Samplier from the Journal Star. Finance Committee -Eric Schenck, chairman BILLS. Alderman Sarff made the motion to refer the bills as presented to the City Council for payment, and was duly seconded by Alderman Picket. The motion carried by voice vote and was unanimous. TREASURER'S REPORT. City Treasurer Aaron Anderson sent out the following information fast week for this meeting. The following is the report. Now that things have settled down on the budget end and we have wrapped up fiscal year 2010, I will be unveiling a new Treasurer's Report format starting for the month of May 2010. There are several things I would like to change in the format that is currently presented. First, it only shows General Fund and Water/Sewer Fund activity. As most of you are aware, we have many other funds within the City, many of these do not have any activity but I still believe it is important for Council to know the balances in every fund. Furthermore, I would 1 like to show beginning and ending balances with cash inflows and outflows so that everyone can see how all funds dovetail from one month to the next. Additionally, there will be a page strictly dedicated to grant receipts and a page strictly dedicated to bond expenditures, broken out by project. With all of the activity on the IH site and related grant funds as well as infrastructure projects, I think this is very important. The idea behind this change is to not only give Council a greater picture of the City's financial situation, but to also put together a comprehensive report that will allow the auditors to walk in and look at these reports on May 1 and get a good head start. I'm hoping this will at least contribute to solving the problem with the yearly audit process so that we can get more timely audit reports. Now to the Treasurer's Report. First, we ended FY2010 with a net loss of ($537,144). That is a number that I'm sure none of us are happy with. You can see that I have added a monthly gain or loss directly underneath the month column of the General Fund. In April, we "lost" $260,503. I use the term "foss" somewhat loosely because a portion of it is a reflection of money being held in the General Fund that did not necessarily belong to it. Some time ago, the State passed legislation that required municipalities to allocate a portion of replacement tax receipts to police, fire, and IMRF pension funds. The share for the pension funds is based on actuarial figures from the Department of Insurance for the police and fire pension funds and 10.595% of the tax levy for IMRF. This amounts to a total of $153,336.27 in replacement tax revenue that was transferred to the pension and IMRF funds. The IMRF portion is reflected in the fund balance in the available cash section. Without these transfers, the General Fund would've only lost $107,000 for the month. Now that we have reached the end of FY10, I think it is necessary to discuss how we came out on the budget end. As you can see from the YTD numbers, we fell about 9°~ short on the revenue side and we were right on budget on the expense side. I'm outlining some surprises and disappointments for General Fund revenues below: Surprises Road and Bridge Tax-$3,510 over budget Sales Tax-$86,158 over budget Permits-$9,583 over budget 2 Fines-$18,544 over budget (thanks to the Police Dept. for this) Interest income-$6,987 over budget SRPED Facade Grant-$40,000 over budget (this was a donation from the SRPED to assist with facade improvements for the Drow Building-we received this in April) Disagnoin# en#s Use Tax-$24,898 under budget income Tax-$364,060 under budget (who needs a cut in revenue shares when the State can't pay this on time anyway) Utility Tax-$73,231 under budget Licenses-$6,221 under budget On the expense side, there were several items that were non-recurring #or the month. First, it was decided by council on April 20t'' not to utilize the $50,000 in loan funds from the State for the purchase of a special response vehicle. For the sake of organization, I paid this money back to the State before fiscal year-end to clean up the books for the year. Also, we paid $30,950 to Hocker & Fitzjarrald for the 2009 audit. This invoice was paid out of the Audit Fund and is reflected under the available cash section. The police department purchased $26,950 in mobile data computers for 7 squad vehicles. This was paid for by State grant, which I mentioned last month. With these changes in mind, you can see that we ended the year with total cash and investments in the General Fund of $2,241,491. This is pretty close to my prediction a couple of months ago so we know that our budget numbers for FY2011 are correct. On the Water and Sewer expense side, you can see that the Water and Sewer Fund only used 50.6% of the budget for the year. This Is mostly due to lower-than- anticipated bond expenditures. The Water and Sewer Fund ended the year with total cash and investments of $11,895,337. This includes ail cash, bond investments, and depreciation accounts within the fund. In the TIF fund, you can see we ended the year with a total balance of $1,549,774. This includes the IH and 4A cash accounts and the 2009 debt certificate investments remaining. As of the end of April, we had received all IDOT grant funds necessary to pay our YTD eligible expenses for the 3~d Avenue project. 3 Under the TIF-IH expense recap, you can see that $94,581 was paid to Laverdiere Construction for this project. We are still awaiting EDA and CDAP grant funds to round out this project. At the committee meeting Aaron then highlighted his report - ! have a rough format they used at the bank from the Board meetings, and they used this report to give detail of inflows and outflows. I need this for our grants and will use a spread sheet for that report. We have a net loss in the General Fund of $107,000 for the month Alderman Schenck asked about the State Income Tax. Do you have a sense amount that is owed to use in arrears. Aaron said it is pretty difficult to get a sense of how much we are owed. Alderman Schenck said the other question is how our revenue projections compared to last year's budget. Jim Snider answered were in line with the State, and the trend was in the forecast this year. Alderman Schenck said with so much of our budget being personnel cost, and if you look at our revenue income is lagging and may end of $1.2 million dollars short. We made cuts in our capital items. The more we can tweak those out in our fiscal years then this will give us more flexibility in our budget. Alderman Sarff asked for Aaron to work with the Finance Chairman and Jim Snider to keep a running total each month, and show if were on target or off. City Treasurer Aaron Anderson said I'm open for feedback on my new report that I'm planning. Alderman Sarff made the motion to forward the Treasurer's Report on to council, and was duly seconded by Alderman Picket. The motion carried by voice vote, and was unanimous. HUMANE SOCIETY WATER BILL. Mayor Meade said he received a call from Sheriff Jeff Standard and mentioned they use to have a commercial meter where they were before. They are being billed and the amount has been high. Their asking for the same type of meter they had before. They could not be here for this meeting. 4 Alderman Sarff made the motion to decay action and send on to the Public Works Committee in two weeks, and was duly seconded by Alderman Pickel. The motion carried by voice vote, and was unanimous. ELECTRIC SUPPLY CONTRACT City Administrator Jim Snider mentioned that Integrys Electric is our current supplier at .08% per kilowatt. We have been working on pricing and received a quote from Integrys Electric at $0.049398 and DaCott Energy $0.052330. recommend accepting the low quote price from Integrys Electric which gives us these cost for two years, which is the best way to go. We will have annual savings of $162,000 over the current rate. Alderman Sarff made the motion to accept the 2 year low quote from Integrys Electric and forward on to council, and was duly seconded by Alderman Pickel. Discussion - Jim Snider commented that we have to sign the agreement in 24 hours. They are our current provider and I don't feel I'll see any glitches within the next week. Alderman Reed said he agreed with Jim, the savings helps our budget tremendous as we were just barely over a deficit. Ali of the Aldermen agreed by consensus to go ahead with the agreement, and mentioned that it is a good contract. The motion carried by unanimous voice vote. TIF BOND UPDATE Alderman Schenck said he wanted this topic on the agenda. The Treasurer's Report showed a balance in the IH TIF account at % million dollars. We have a budget spending of %: of that amount this fiscal year. We need to be pretty cognize of the TIF money coming in and the TIF money coming out. My major point we're at a place again of TIF funding a new large expenditure. We have talked about a program on our TIF funds to a long term bond in a larger amount than the $4 million debt certificates we have now. We've talked about a $7 million bond. The TIF 4A expires in December of this year. We ought to make sure that we have a good plan for that expiring account. And if we have some funds (eft in that account we should have a good project in place to go with those funds. City Administrator Jim Snider said he had met with the mayor, Mark Rothert, Thomas Jacobs & Associates about the several projects going on in town. The 5 Cook Company has met with us and they did bring to use several options to consider of using TIF funds. I recommend that during the next month 2 Aldermen meet with the Cook Company people for 1 hour at a time, and having brief sessions of what your priorities are. Mayor Kevin R. Meade said he did get a letter from our TIF Consultant. He estimated what will bring in this year for the downtown IH TIF of $194,648.00 and the Industrial 4A TIF $32,065.00. Alderman Schenck said he sees this as a routine update and wants it on his committee again next month. Maybe looking at TIF funds for assistance. We have a plan in place to look at TIF bonds, and need to look at having some type of development we can use those dollars. The Finance Committee adjourned at 7:00 p.m. Legal & Ordinance Committee -Alderman Dave Pickel, chairman SMOKERS ORDINANCE. Mayor Kevin R. Meade said he received a call to consider making the city's ordinance near the states ordinance, as people are smoking in places not suppose too and it's not being controlled. City Attorney Chrissie Peterson said a couple of years ago most tickets were being thrown out. A lot of municipalities are smoke free. We could consider that option. Deputy Chief Rick Nichols said the new state law does not have due process, they revisited the ordinance and they did not designate who oversees the law. Now it's in limbo. Alderman Schenck said if we pass a city ordinance would we not have our own due process in the city. We did that on the dog ordinance we had our own process. Alderman Sarff made the motion to have the city attorney research the ordinance, and forward on to council, and was duly seconded by Alderman Schenck. The motion was carried by voice vote, and was unanimous. CONSIDER/DISCU5S/VOTE ON FOIA/OMA OFFICERS. City Attorney Chrissie Peterson mentioned that in January this year this act we had to comply with when we named City Clerk Nancy Whites as the FOIA/OMA officer and anything not related to the Fire Department or the Police Department. And with her upcoming retirement, it is necessary for the City to designate a different officer so they can go under the training before the deadline which is July 1. I recommend that you appoint Diana Tucker to this position. Alderman Sarff made the motion to forward the appointment of Diana Tucker as FOIA/OMA Officer for the City and on to council, and was duly seconded by Alderman Schenck. Discussion - Alderman Schenck asked why wouldn't our city attorney be a good choice? City Attorney Chrissie Peterson said most municipality's that belong to the Illinois Municipal League recommend against that because in affect I could be defending my own defense in front of the attorney general's office. One of these days !would have to represent myself rather than represent the public body. The motion carried by voice vote, and was unanimous. ANNUAL IDENTITY THEFT PREVENTION PROGRAM REPORT. City Attorney Chrissie Peterson said this is just a report you don't have to do anything - The Fair and Accurate Credit Transaction Act of 2003 (FACT Act) required certain financial institutions and creditors with "covered accounts" to prepare, adopt, and implement an identity theft prevention program to indentify, detect, respond to and mitigate patterns, practices or specific activities which could indicate identity theft. The City of Canton maintains utility accounts (water, sewer, garbage) that involved multiple payments or transactions and these accounts are "covered accounts" within the meaning of the FACT Act. In order to comply with the obligations of the FACT Act, the City of Canton approved an Identity Theft Prevention Program via Ordinance No. 1968 on April 7, 2009 Section 6-3 of the Program requires an annual report from the Program Administrator (City Attorney) on (1) the cost effectiveness of the policies and procedure in addressing the risk of identity theft in connection with the opening of new covered accounts and activity with respect to existing covered accounts; and (1) staff training updates; and (3) service provider arrangements: and (4) significant incidents 7 involving identity theft and management's responses; and (5) recommendations for a program update, if warranted. 1. Cost Effectiveness: The Program is cost effective. The water department experienced increased costs of $35 month for CINTAs (locked-box for document destruction) as a means to insure proper disposal of all paperwork that contains "identifying information." Due to the need to retain copies of driver's licenses and rental leases, there was also a minimal increase in costs for paper and copying supplies. The minimal program costs are outweighed by the ability to better track customers who frequently move, leaving delinquent bills at one or more properties. When customers can better be tracked from one location to another it increases the water department's ability to recover those delinquent costs. Although not a direct goal of the Program, the ability to recover additional fees is a benefit to the City. Z. Staff Trainirte: On April 14, 2010, Greg Pollitt, Pam Smith, Cecily McGhee, Nelson Bugos and Mike Meade underwent training conducted by the City Attorney. Staff has a very good understanding of the Program and has implemented it well over the past year for new and existing accounts. 3. Service Provider Arraneements: The City of Canton has a service provider agreement with MidAmerica Bank for processing fees as well as an agreement for electronic payments. Both documents contain specific language requiring MidAmerica to have their own policies and procedures to detect, prevent and mitigate identity theft. The City received a copy of MidAmerica's policy on April Z7, Z009 and still maintains the policy on file. 4. Sienificant Incidents/Response: No significant incidents occurred between the initial adoption of the Program and April 14, 2010 that required a response. 5. Recommendations for Program Updates: The costs of the Program, although minimal, could be eliminated entirely if computer hardware and software upgrades occur that would allow for a paperless system. a The Lega! & Ordinance Committee adjourned at 7:16 p.m. Community & industrial Development Committee -Jorge Rivero, chairman UPDATE FROM MARK ROTHERT SRPED EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR. Downtown/Former IH Site: • Lee Rose, Scrapbook Dreams, and Spoon River Optical have started facade renovation on their buildings. Orendorff Emporium and Legacy Bookstore are about ready to start facade projects. Dave Lewis Studio, Fuller's Jewelry and Innovations Design Studio are remaining projects. A{derman Schenck asked if there is still money available. Mark Rothert said maybe depending on the scope of work completing with the grant work project. If they don't use all the grant funds they will be returned for a second round of funding. And then we can go out to other business as some on Elm Street have expressed an interest. We don't know yet how much. I imagine we would use all the funding. We are a test pilot of this type of funding as it's never been done before and we have done really well with the funding. • Attended BIO International Conference to network and provide information about the former 1H site and development opportunities in Canton to those businesses we would like to recruit in the bio-tech/bio-med industry. This is hopefully parr of larger marketing initiative to target industry-specific companies to expand or relocate to the former IH Site. • Attended regional meeting of Illinois Main Street directors in Beardstown. Special Events/Tourism: • Spent 3 days with WMBD doing 21 interviews for 30 minute Canton Infomercial. • Open Air Markets started weekend May 8t" • Selected vendors for Tractor Pull and Show in June. • Continued work on website. Business Attraction and Support: The SRPED is working with the following business development opportunities. Please call if you would like to talk privately about any of these: 9 • Working with Pro-Image Asphalt on short-term financing needs. • Working with Peda! Pushers, a local flower/primitive, shop looking to open downtown. • Geppetto's has changed ownership and is now called Milano's. Grant Work: • Performed grant administration and reporting for DCEO, USDA, and Hotel/Motel tax grants. • Public Hearing set for tHDA housing rehabilitation grant on Thursday May 20th, at 7:00 p.m. at the Historic Depot, 50 North 4th Avenue, Canton, Illinois. Other: • Preparation for All-America City Award competition from June 16-18 in Kansas City, MO. Putting together a 10 minute presentation. Will tell the story of IH and now Cook Company. • SRPED Annual Luncheon: On Thursday, May 6, 2010, the SRPED hosted Colleen Callahan, who serves as the United States Department of Agriculture's Illinois Director. Over 130 community members attended. • Gateway enhancements have landscaping and wit! soon have lighting. • Spoke to the Peoria Area Association of Realtors about development in Canton and current events. • Toured Duck Creek Power Plant. City Administrator Jim Snider mentioned that during our staff meetings and other meetings we are a town of 15,000 but feel like a town of 50,000 in economic development wise. Our meeting with Thomas Jacobs & Associates from Bloomington they made that comment that we have more economic TIF related activity than Bloomington does right now. Mayor Kevin R. Meade said that the Mid America National Bank will have a community shred day this Saturday from 9:00 a.m. to 12.00 p.m. Mayor Kevin R. Meade stated that with the renovation of Fulton Square and the Goodwill Store -changes are to be made. We can't take any action tonight but I want input next week. Then he asked Keith Plavec to speak about the changes 14 Cook Company wants to make on the Lewis Pharmacy at 8 South Main Street and Goodwill. Keith Plavec explained Cook Company has entered into an agreement with Goodwill Store. Goodwill Store wants to move their unloading of merchandise to N. Main Street. Our concerns are - do we want a drop off area there. You can make it going west would be a right #urn only on to N. Main Street. Coming east would be a right turn only. This area would be parallel parking for the unloading zone and the city would lose 2 parking spaces. The other thing is the removal of a transformer which is in the sidewalk area. There would be landscape around the island that would be in the street by 20 feet and the city will lose 2 parking spaces. We've talked about Feaster's Lot of spending TIF dollars and concrete the area and have diagonal parking of 10 spaces. Alderman Reed suggested having a notch out of the building to place the electrical transformer in there and city would not lose 2 parking spaces. Keith Plavec said he would present that to them Lewis Pharmacy will have adrive-thru window in the building that would be added, and there would be 37 additional parking spaces. I'm not sure how they will work. I do believe they are bettering the situation. They are proposing entering then onto Main Street. And then the city would lose 2 parking spaces on the street and one is a handicapped space. Keith said we are comfortable about this. The drive-thru window looses 8 of those spaces. Keith suggested you would come off of Pine Street to get into the area. The City only owns the right-of-way at the Ameren Tech building. Keith said there are now a lot of cars that park in that lot next to the Lewis Pharmacy building. We want to come back next week to seek your approval. The Community & Industrial Development Committee adjourned at 7:45 p.m. Negotiations, Grievance & Personnel -Alderman Larry Sarff, chairman BCBS INSURANCE RENEWAL. On May 5t" the Insurance Committee met with Rick Semonis to go over the final quote from Blue Cross/Blue Shield for our premium renewal. The quote reflected 11 a 19.98% increase from our current premium, and includes a few changes in benefits. After discussion with Mr. Semonis and City Administrator Snider the Committee voted to recommend that the council renew with Blue Cross/Blue Shield for our Health Insurance at attached rates. Daniel Oaks Chairman, Insurance Committee The following are the attached rates - BCBS Renewal BCB5 6/09 - 5/10 6/10 - 5/11 Employee 406.77 481.40 Employee + Spouse 823.78 978.08 Employee + Child(ren) 768.65 930.37 Family 1,185.65 1,427.05 Medicare Prime -Family 517.55 611.55 Total Monthly Medics! Premium 120,554.51 144,488.33 Annual Expense 1,44fi,654.1Z 1.733.859.96 _ Network BCB5 BCBS Coinsurance 90/70 % $20 copau OV in net 90/70% X20/40 copav OV in net Deductible {Single -Family) 500 -1,500 1,000 - 3,000 500 -1,500 1,000 - 3,000_ Single Out of Pocket {includes deductible} 1500 3,000 1,500 3,000 Family Out of Pocket includes deductible) 4,500 9,000 4,500 9,000 , Drug Card (member pays) ~10 / 20/ 35 Copay $10 / 20/ 35 copav Emer~ency Room copav X75 copav $150 copav Wellness (in network) X20 copav $20 copav __._ If change plan, Rx Copays increase sx Assistant Fire Chief Dan Oaks is chairman of the Insurance Committee and said that the quote from Blue Cross/Blue Shield came in at 19.98% increase. Dan said that since the City went to self insured the city has saved $1.2 million. This goes into affect beginning June 1, 2010. Your children up to the age of 26 and not living at home can still be on your insurance. Health Alliance is the insurance for Dental, and they raised $.10 cents more. We will send out notices to all the employees Mayor Kevin R. Meade commented that Dan does an excellent job presenting this, and Alderman Sarff said the same thing. Alderman Sarff made the motion to approve of Blue Cross/Blue Shield and Health Alliance as the Health Insurance for the city in 2010 - 2011, and forward on to council, and was duly seconded by Alderman Picket. The motion carried by voice vote, and was unanimous. MAURER & STUTZ -PLANNING AND ZQNING SERVICES. Proposal for Professional Services Maurer Stutz inc. 2670 East Ash Street, Canton, Illinois Basic Services for Planning & Zoning Services Maurer-Stutz Inc. will provide the following Basic Services under this Contract: • Act as a liaison between property owners, contractors, developers and the City • Review building permit applications for conformance to the City Code • Issue all zoning certificates and building permits • Issue permits for temporary parking and use of trailers • Maintain permanent records/database of administration and enforcement and provide monthly updates to Public Works Department and County Assessor Office • Coordinate with the Zoning Board of Appeals, Planning and Zoning Commission, Development Review Committee, and City Clerk • Attend Committee meetings, Council, Zoning Board of Appeals, Planning & Zoning Commission, and Development Review Committee meetings as requires or requested • Conduct inspections of uses of land and structures in conjunction with Public Works Department and Building Inspector retained by the City Z3 • Coordinate with Public Works Department, Cvde Enforcement Officer, Police Department, City Attorney and City Council, as necessary and applicable, for zoning complaints • Compile and update City Ordinances pertaining to zoning and develop a system to enforce existing ordinances with the City Attorney • Continue to maintain the planning and zoning section of the City's website • Update zoning map as necessary • Attend regional zoning conferences/meetings FEE: This proposal reflects a time and materials contract for items defined in the scope of Basic Services. Services for work ordered by the City under this contract will normally be invoiced monthly in accordance with Maurer-Stutz's "Hourly Rate Schedule". A report summarizing the work billed for the previous invoicing period will be submitted with each invoice. A monthly fee for Planning & Zoning Services is established at $3,000. Final cumulative fee depends on the total amount of work requested, directed, and authorized by the City. AGREEMENT: This Agreement shalt be in effect for one (1) year. if either party decided to end this Agreement, thirty (30) days notice shall be given to the appropriate party. If any modifications to this Proposal are needed please advise. If this Proposal is satisfactory, please indicate such by executing the AGREED TO BY portion and returning a signed copy to the address on the letterhead. Note that this Proposal is subject to the attached General Conditions. Receipt of the executed document shall constitute acceptance of the terms of the PROPOSAL by both parties and authorization to proceed. Costs provided in this Proposal are good for 90 days and then will be subject review by Maurer-Stutz, Inc. if agreement has not been reached or contract is not in force. Alderman Hartford said during the Budget process he could see a cost saving by using Maurer-Stutz Inc as the Planning & Zoning officer for the City. The cost would be for the year $30,000 and they have served us well since taking this over. Mayor Kevin R. Meade commented that this would be affective for one year from when you approve it. Alderman Sarff made the motion to approve the contract with Maurer-Stutz Inc to offer Planning & Zoning services to the City of Canton for a year in the amount 14 of $30,000, and was duly seconded by Alderman Picket. The motion was carried by voice vote, and was unanimous. Mayor Kevin R. Meade said we have 5 Tuesdays in June and thought we could have the first Council meeting in July on June 29th the 5th Tuesday of June. This is just for information. The Negotiations, Grievance & Personnel Committee adjourned at 7:55 p.m. EXECUTIVE SESSION - TO DISCUSS -POLICE AND PUBLIC WORKS NEGOTIATIONS Alderman Schenck made the motion to go into executive session to discuss Police and Public Works Contracts; and add on Land Sale, and was duly seconded by Alderman Picket. The motion carried by voice vote, and was unanimous. ADJOURN The regular scheduled Clerical Committee adjourned from executive session at 8:45 p.m. Recording Secretary, ~~;~ ~Y~~j~L~ Nancy Whites, City Clerk 1S