Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAbout07-24-2012 Mechanical Committee Minutes MECHANICAL COMMITTEE OF CANTON CITY COUNCIL Tuesday, July 24, 2012 6:30pm Donald E. Edwards Way Historic Depot 50 N. 4th Avenue Canton I161520 Aldermen in attendance: Aldermen Schenck, Pasley, West, Ellis, Pickei, Fritz,Hartford, Nelson Aldermen Absent: Staff in attendance: Mayor Kevin Meade, City Administrator Jim Snider, Attorney Chrissie Peterson, City Clerk Diana Pavley, Fire Chief Keith Frank, Police Chief Dan Taylor, Public Works Director Bill Terry, City Engineer Keith Plavec, Comptroller Caty Campbell Others in attendance: Candi Arnold and family, Stu Harrison Media in attendance: The Daily Ledger (John Froehling) Peoria Journal Star (Teri Bibo) Video Services by: Joe Ginger PUBLIC SAFETY & TRAFFIC ALDERMAN JIM HARTFORD, CHAIRMAN POLICE REPORT Chief Taylor explained that monthly the police officers are required to address a specific quality of life issue during their patrol. Last month the action plan for the first shift was to update the contact registry for the telecommunication center from various businesses. Last month the officers visited over 100 businesses in town and received 97 contact sheets back. During second shift three seatbelt enforcement details with over 30 citations were issued for awareness of seatbelt enforcement. The third shift action plan was to work on making contacts in the field by using field interview cards. During the middle of the night when they see people out they stop and make field cards that are passed on for the special divisions unit with detailed information. All three shifts are being recognized for the work they do. Each year the alliance against intoxicated motorists recognizes various officers throughout the state for DUI enforcement. An award was presented to Officer Dustin Pollitt for exceptional DUI enforcement. FIRE REPORT The Canton Fire Department conducted training drills during the month. The training is required by the Illinois department of labor. The training also helps with the insurance rating. The new training facility for the fire department will continue to help keep the training in- house. Chief Frank met with a group of faw enforcement officers, fire chiefs and emergency managers regarding managing a large scale incident. This is currently fragile x awareness week. Fragile X is the leading cause of inherited mental illness and the leading cause of autism. 100,000 Americans have Fragile X syndrome and over 1 million are carriers of the fragile x syndrome. The department applied for an assistance to firefighter grant in the amount of $394,475.00 for a new pumper. A grant in the amount of $19,484.00 for truck mounted intercom system was also applied for last month. Chief Frank was informed that they would not be able to apply for the training facility grant. FIRE DEPARTMENT DEFIBRILLATOR Chief Frank explained that the current defibrillators at the fire department are 10 years old. The new technology with the defibrillator is better for the heart. The old type of defibrillator actually stops the heart. The new defibrillator brings the charge in from both ends by stopping and restarting the heart. This new defibrillator is combatable with the ambulance. The cost is $2,715.00 plus shipping and is a budgeted item. The two front line vehicles would have the updated defibrillator after this purchase. Motion and second were made by Aldermen Hartford/Nelson to send the request for council for consideration. The motion carried by voice vote and was unanimous. OATH OF OFFICE- POLICE OFFICER City Clerk Diana Pavley gave the oath of office to Candi Arnold. Candi is the first female officer for the police department. The Public Safety & Traffic Committee adjourned at 6:45pm STREETS & GARBAGE ALDERMAN JUSTIN NELSON WHITE OAKS ROAD CLOSURE REQUEST White Oaks will be sponsoring an event for the Canton Booster Club on August 17, 2012. The time of the event will be from S:OOpm to 11:OOpm and will include a road closure on White Court from Elm to Pine. The event will extend into the parking lot of White Oaks. Live music will be outside. A certificate of insurance will be submitted naming the City as additional insured. Motion and second were made by Aldermen Nelson/ Ellis to send the request to Council for consideration for the event and the run pending receipt of insurance. The motion carried by voice vote and was unanimous. CANTON FRIENDSHIP FESTIVAL PARADE An application was submitted for road closure for the Canton Friendship Festival parade. The parade will be held on September 15, 2012 at 10:OOam. The route will be the same as in the past. A certificate of insurance will be submitted naming the City as additional insured. Motion and second were made by Aldermen Nelson/Hartford to send the request to council for approval. The motion carried by voice vote and was unanimous. CLOSURE OF ALLEY BETWEEN EAST SIDE SQUARE AND 15T AVENUE FOR PEDESTRIAN USE The main idea is to help make the alley look better by adding some landscaping for pedestrians. The topic of alley improvements was presented several weeks ago to Council at the recommendation of the Streetscape committee. Council agreed to look at vacating the alley south of the Opera House building between East Side Square and First Avenue and making this a walking path to go between Canton Downtown and the City Parking Lot off of First Avenue. Two options were presented for improving the appearance of this area. Bids were obtained from several contractors regarding the concrete curbing and electrical work. Ameren was also contacted to see what costs would be involved with simply installing a light on the two existing power poles on the south side of the existing alley. In regards to the bituminous paving work a unit price is being estimated at this time. Recommendation is to talk with the MFT contractor when that project is awarded to see if they could complete this work while they are in town. The apparent low bidder for option 1 was Laverdiere Construction for the concrete work. Quick Electric was the low bidder for the electrical work. Discussion has taken place with Bill Terry to have the City crews complete the pavement and sidewalk removal, furnish and place topsoil, furnish and place mulch and plant any landscapting. The recommendation is to award the concrete work to Laverdiere Construction if selecting option 1 for the bid price of $13,947.00 and to Professional Contracting Services if selecting Option 2 for the bid price of $7,316.17. The recommendation is to award the electrical work to Quick Electric for the bid price $8,000.00 This work would be funded from the TIF 1 account. City Engineer Keith Plavec explained that the street signage committee has recommended that greater effort be given to better identify the public parking lots. Keith looked at four of the public parking lots in the downtown area and feel that two of the parking lots would benefit from applying one coat of top sealer and then restriping. The parking lots are located on the east side of First Avenue between Elm Street and Chestnut Street and on the east side of Avenue A between Elm Street and Chestnut Street. Bids were received from Quality blacktop and Spoon River Blacktop with both companies located in the Lewistown area. Keith recommended awarding the top seal and striping work for the two parking lots to Quality Blacktop for the bid price of $10,295.00. The work would be funded from the TIF 1 account. Further discussion took place regarding the lighting needed in the alley for pedestrian use. Additional information will be brought back to the committee for further discussion. PARKING ON CUSTER PLACE Discussion took place regarding parking along Custer Place. Chief Taylor stated that a street must be 18 feet in width. The police department measured the street and it was found to be less than 18 feet that is required. The current ordinance calls for no parking on either side of the street. Custer Place is currently designated as no parking. Signs will be placed along Custer pface designating the roadway as no parking. Alderman Nelson suggested having the police department issue warnings if necessary. PARKING REQUEST ON NORTH 9T" AVENUE Parking is currently allowed on both sides of the street, but people park in front of the homeowner's house. The resident has a family member that is handicapped. He would like to have a handicapped sign placed on the roadway so his handicapped son would be able to park at 436 North 9th Avenue. Alderman Pickel suggested sending this to council with no recommendation. Attorney Peterson said she is not aware of any other handicapped parking areas in residential neighborhoods. It could be a"slippery slope" to go down that could generate many additional requests. Alderman Pickel will gather additional information and bring back for further discussion. The Streets & Garbage Committee adjourned at 7:45pm LAKE, BUILDINGS & GROUNDS ALDERMAN ERIC SCHENCK, CHAIRMAN A RESOLUTION IN SUPPORT OF A NATIONAL SCENIC BYWAY AND DESIGNATION OF ILLINOIS COUNTRY NATURE TRAIL Motion and second were made by Aldermen Schenck/Nelson to send the request to Council for consideration. The motion carried by voice vote and was unanimous. KIOSK DEDICATION A dedication for the kiosk was held yesterday in Jones Park with Senator Dave Kohler, Representative Mike Unes, and Mayor Kevin Meade. Alderman Schenck suggested having a resolution or proclamation supporting the emiqon national wildlife refuge and preserve. The designation will take place on August 8, 2012. This will be placed on the agenda for consideration. The Lake, Building & Grounds committee adjourned at 7:SOpm PUBLIC WORKS, WATER & SEWER ALDERMAN GERALD ELLIS, CHAIRMAN REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL OF ENTERPRISE RESOURCE PLANNING (ERP) SOFTWARE Since your current City Treasurer and Caty Campbell have come on board, they have explored options to make the City more efficient and effective in all areas of finance. We feel that the next step would be to replace our current financial accounting software with enterprise resource planning or government-wide software. That being said, we would like to send out a Request for Proposal to replace our LOCIS software. The City started using LOCIS more than ten years ago. We have since grown to have approximately 6000 utility accounts and 40 funds to account for the City's general fund, enterprise funds and many special revenue funds. We have also had several issues with LOCIS lately, resulting in errors in the monthly Treasurer's Report and late reports both to the Council and internally. LOCIS does not offer some features that are now standard in other systems such as a bank reconciliation feature and reporting capabilities. Nickie and Caty feel that the City has outgrown the product LOCIS has to offer and needs the functionality of a more comprehensive system. With a more comprehensive system, the City would be able to put more internal controls in place. The City's accounting would become more streamlined and transparent. We would be able to audit incoming revenue easier, as well as track expenses in greater detail. We can bring several outsourced services back in-house, which would save the City additional dollars. We would be able to further resolve previous audit findings, as well as make the audit process cleaner and faster. City Administrator Jim Snider explained that the City has not changed the software since 1999 and it would be a significant undertaking. One module would be a payroll software that would eliminate the need to outsource the payroll. The cost for the new software would be close to six figures. The Cost savings would take place in several areas. Motion and second were made by Aldermen Ellis/Hartford to send the request to Council for consideration. The motion carried by voice vote and was unanimous. STU HARRISON WATER AND SEWER UTILITY BILL City Administrator Jim Snider explained that he spoke to Stu Harrison regarding his water bill at 260 North Main Street. Stu Harrison is requesting relief from a bill he incurred from the renter. The amount of the bill is $3475.04 with $90.78 in penalties. Stu Harrison explained that he owned the property since 1975 and paid water bills since. This is the first time he has had a problem since he owned the property. Stu explained that he checked for water leaks and found no leaks. The tenant does not use a lot of water. Stu suggested the possibility of foul play. Stu asked the City to put in a new meter and the readings came out with very little use of water. Mr. Harrison explained that the renter has taken off and left the water bill with him. The request is to have the council waive the bill. Alderman Nelson stated that a water main break took place near the property and asked if that could have caused some of the problems. City Administrator Jim Snider explained that a water main break would not cause the problem or the meter reading. Alderman Pasley stated that the renters are not being held accountable and the ordinance should be reviewed and possibly changed. Attorney Peterson stated that it is a State of Illinois statute making the property owner responsible when the public water supply is owned by a municipality. Further discussion took place about the possibility of an illegal tap. Stu Harrison explained that he has no idea where the renter is currently. The renter left without any forwarding address. Alderman Nelson suggested taking the fees off and paying just the water bill. Stu Harrison explained that the tenants lease terminated in December, but he is not sure when the tenant moved out. The lease makes the tenant responsible for the water bill, and the rent was being paid on time. City Administrator Jim Snider explained that the citizens own the utility and it's very important that citizens in the community are not ultimately held accountable for loss. Whenever an adjustment is made on a bill the citizens are ultimatety paying the bills. Snider stated that it would be a fiduciary mistake to forgive an amount due. It is the owner's responsibility to check the meters and pay the bills. Alderman Nelson explained that obviously something went wrong and he would suggest waiving part of the bill. Attorney Peterson explained that waiving this bill would be setting a dangerous precedence. If landlords come in to the City wanting to waive the bill for tenants it could set a dangerous pattern. Since Mr. Harrison had a lease, he could file a small claim and recover the money from the tenant. Alderman Nelson asked why the City would not notice that the water bill was getting out of control and contact the owner. The meters are read every two months and the City may not notice this immediately. Alderman Nelson explained that the City failed by not notifying the owner of the extreme usage. Alderman Schenck explained that the root of the problem is an irresponsible tenant that Stu Harrison unfortunately had and the City should not be put in a position to pay the bill. Motion and second were made by Alderman Ellis/Hartford to send to Council the recommendation of waiving the penalties and late charges. A payment schedule could be made with no interest for Stu Harrison. The motion carried by voice vote and was unanimous Stu Harrison stated that he would have appreciated a letter from the water department about the high usage. Alderman Ellis suggested that all land owners notify the water department if the tenants are late on the water bill or if high usage has taken place. FIRE DEPARTMENT TRAINING FACILITY CONCRETE SLAB FINAL PAY REQUEST SRV Builders has completed the construction of the 6-inch thick concrete slab for the fire department training facility which is located at the East Side Wastewater facility. Bid price was $11,855.00. The final invoice is $11,855.00 and the project should be paid for out of a fire department account. Motion and second were made by Alderman Ellis/Hartford to send to council for consideration. The motion carried by voice vote and was unanimous. CANTON WATER TREATEMENT PLANT FILTER 1 AND 3 REHABILITATION PAY REQUEST # 2 A pay request from All Service Contracting Corporation in the amount of $21,099.60 was received. The contractor has made good progress completing the change order items on filter 1 and is currently installing the new filter media. The recommendation is to send to Council for approval with funding coming from the bonding account. Motion and second were made by Alderman Ellis/Hartford to accept and send the request to Council for consideration from bond funds. The motion carried by voice vote and was unanimous. CANTON WASTEWATER TREATMENT PLANT UV IMPROVEMENT FINAL PAY REQUEST The final invoice was received from Leander Construction in the amount of $88,338.63. The contractor has completed all punch list items. The original final completion date was May 1, 2012 and they reached final completion on July 18, 2012. It is not recommended that the City pursue liquidated damages for this time delay but wanted to make the City Council aware of the situation. It is the recommendation to send this invoice on to Council for approval with funding coming from the bonding account. Motion and second were made by Alderman Ellis/Hartford to send the request to Council for consideration from the bond funds. The motion carried by voice vote and was unanimous. SANITARY SEWER MANHOLE REHABILITATION BIDS The budgeted amount was $30,000.00 in System Maintenance to line sanitary sewer manholes this fiscal year. Keith contacted the City of Macomb who is currently lining sewer manholes to see who they use and if they are satisfied with the work. They have used two companies; Spectra Tech and Hoerr Construction and have been happy with both companies. The City of Macomb's public works directed stated that Hoerr Construction does not like to manhole rehabilitation but they did some for the City because they were already in town lining sewers. Bill Terry identified 12 manholes that he would like to complete this year. Keith contacted both contractors to discuss what could be completed. It is recommended to stay with the City's bidding requirements that the City award to Spectra Tech for the bid price of $19,975.00. Motion and second were made by Alderman Ellis/Nelson to send to council for consideration pending completion of the work. The motion carried by voice vote and was unanimous. FIRST AVENUE AND CHESTNUT STREET PUBLIC PARKING LOT- TOP SEALER AND RESTRIPING BIDS The street signage committee has recommended that greater effort be given better identifying public parking lots. Keith looked at four of the public parking lots in the downtown area and feel that two of the parking lots would benefit from applying one coat of top sealer and then restriping. The parking lots are located on the east side of First Avenue between Elm Street and Chestnut Street and on the east side of Avenue A between Elm Street and Chestnut Street. Bids were received from Quality Blacktop and Spoon River Blacktop with both companies located in Lewistown IL. Quality Blacktop's total bid was $10,295.00 for both parking lots. This would be paid from the TIF 1 account. Motion and second were made by Alderman Ellis/Hartford to send to Council for consideration The motion carried by voice vote and was unanimous. FIRST AVENUE AND CHESTNUT STREET PUBLIC PARKING LOT- CONCRETE CURB IMPROVEMENT BIDS This improvement goes along with the top seal coating and striping section. The concrete curb installation will provide a different look to symbolize that these are City Public Parking Lots and will eventually be filled with mulch and landscaping. Bids were received from Professional Contracting Services Inc and Jon Newburn Construction. The recommendation is to award concrete curb improvements for these two parking lots to Jon Newburn Construction for the low bid at a price of $12,457.38. This would be funded by the TIF 1 account. City crews would still be responsible for bringing the topsoil, mulch and planting shrubs. A Concept for the parking lot sign will be presented to Council in the near future. Motion and second were made by Alderman Schenck/Ellis to send to Council for consideration the bid from Jon Newburn Construction. The motion carried by voice vote and was unanimous. ALLEY IMPROVEMENTS SOUTH OF OPERA HOUSE BUILDING BIDS Discussed above. ASH STREET AND 20T" AVENUE RIGHT OF WAY ACQUISITION As part of the Ash Street improvements from 16th Avenue to 20th Avenue and 20th Avenue from Ash Street to Chestnut Street, the City will need to obtain right-of-way. The purpose of the right-of-way acquisition is due to the following: • Require additional area for ditches versus curb and gutter • Accommodating a proposed sidewalk on the north side of Ash Street • Improve radius returns at 20t" Avenue The proposal to pay for courthouse research, locating existing property pins, development of right-of way plats and easement plats, property appraisals, assist the City in negotiating payment with property owners and right of way acquisition utilizing motor fuel tax (MFT) funds. The Council would need to consider the following: • Request for expenditure/authorization of Motor Fuel Tax Funds ($65,502.50) • Preliminary Engineering Services Agreement for Motor Fue) Tax Funds with Maurer- Stutz Inc (Estimated fee $21,232.50) • Resolution for Improvements by Municipality under the Illinois Highway Code (75,000) Motion and second were made by Aldermen Ellis/Nelson for a resolution for improvements for 75,000.00 from the motor fuel tax. The motion carried by voice vote and was unanimous Motion and second were made by Aldermen Ellis/Nelson for the request for expenditure/authorization of Motor Fuel Tax funds in the amount of $65,502.50. The motion carried by voice vote and was unanimous. Motion and second were made by Aldermen Ellis/Nelson to approve the preliminary engineering service agreement for motor fuel tax funds with Maurer-Stutz in the amount of $21,232.50. The motion carried by voice vote and was unanimous. The public works, water and sewer committee adjourned at 8:17pm ADJOURNMENT Motion and second were made by Aldermen Hartford/Ellis to adjourn with no need for executive ~e~ssion.. '~J~ ~ ; %'~-.%";-~~'LG Di avley City Clerk % ~