City of Sycamore City Council met Aug. 6.
Here is the minutes provided by the Council:
ROLL CALL
Mayor Lang called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m. and City Clerk Mary Kalk called the roll. Those Alderpersons present were: Chuck Stowe, Alan Bauer, Nancy Copple, Pete Paulsen, Virginia Sherrod, and David Stouffer. Alderpersons Steve Braser and Rick Kramer were absent. City Attorney Keith Foster was also present.
INVOCATION – Pastor Cam Ward, Crossroads Community Church, gave the invocation. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE led by Alderperson Pete Paulsen
APPROVAL OF AGENDA
MOTION
Alderperson Stowe moved to approve the agenda and Alderperson Stouffer seconded the motion.
VOICE VOTE
Mayor Lang called for a voice vote to approve the motion. All Alderpersons voted aye. Motion carried 6-0.
APPOINTMENTS
AUDIENCE TO VISITORS
CONSENT AGENDA
A. Approval of the Minutes for the Regular City Council Meeting of July 16, 2018. B. Payment of the Bills for August 6, 2018 in the amount of $1,812,720.52
MOTION
Alderperson Bauer moved to approve the Consent Agenda and Alderperson Stowe seconded the motion.
ROLL CALL VOTE
Mayor Lang called for a roll call vote to approve the motion. Alderpersons Stowe, Bauer, Copple, Paulsen, Sherrod, and Stouffer, voted aye. Motion carried 6-0.
PRESENTATION OF PETITIONS, COMMUNICATIONS, AND BILLS
REPORT OF OFFICERS
City Manager – Brian Gregory thanked Public Works for bringing the new 5,000 pound pump out as an example for tonight’s consideration on the agenda. He continued that he received notification from Waste Management (WM) that some of the garbage days will be changing effective the week of September 10th. They will distribute a postcard to residents whose pick- up days will be changing. The majority of Monday collections would stay the same, with the exception of about 830 accounts, which will move to Thursday pick-up. The current Tuesday collections would move to Friday pick-up. Our agreement with WM requires a 30 day notice, but typically, they like to send the postcard out 14 days in advance so that it is fresher in resident’s minds. He asked for direction on the Council’s preference. A map of current and proposed changes has been provided and will be put on the City website this week. There will also be a link to Waste Management’s interactive database, where current and new residents can input their address to verify their pick-up day. They plan to pick up both the current day and the modified day for the first week.
Alderman Stouffer asked if WM will leave a notification on the last day of current pick-up.
City Manager Brian Gregory said the postcard indicates that they will pick up both days that first week and then change to the Thursday or Friday day. There will continue to be one collection day for all three services and the At Your Door program will remain the same.
Alderman Bauer said WM does a good job, but he is concerned about the habits of doing weekend work and putting garbage out to sit for the entire week waiting for Thursday or Friday pick-up. We do have an ordinance that says you cannot put garbage at the curb until after 6 p.m. on the day prior to pick-up, but to put it out 5-6 days ahead of time will make our community look trashy. He hopes we can get people conditioned to putting it out at the right time to stay in compliance with the ordinance.
City Manager Brian Gregory said he will ask WM to add the ordinance to the post card as a reminder to residents.
Alderperson Copple asked that the Ordinance Officer be a little gracious in advising and educating the public, first of the ordinance.
City Manager Brian Gregory said that is always our preference and practice. In cases where someone might not be aware of the code, we try to educate them, make note of it, and follow up with a letter. If further enforcement is needed, they would be cited at that time.
Alderperson Copple said to send the postcard the sooner the better.
Alderperson Stouffer said he preferred to have it sent two weeks before the change. Alderperson Stowe said two weeks is a good idea so people don’t get confused.
Alderperson Paulsen said two weeks’ notice is fine as the timing is short to modify the postcard.
Police Chief – Jim Winters said regarding the garbage ordinance, they will do their part with social media efforts to get compliance through awareness for that first stage, as opposed to enforcement. He reported preliminary numbers for mid-way through the year for the dates January through June 2017, there were 116 index crimes. For January through June 2018, there have been 105 index crimes. Index crimes are the most serious that are reported to the FBI and are looked at for crime statistics. They include robbery, aggressive assaults, and motor vehicle thefts. He reminded everyone that the first day of school is August 15th and they will increase visibility that first day as there will be more kids walking, more traffic, and more young drivers.
Fire Chief – Pete Polarek said he is happy to report that they received a $1,000 grant from Enbridge Safe Community Program. They plan to purchase a four-gas atmospheric monitoring instrument with the grant money. He reported that tomorrow, August 7th is Target National Night Out from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. and he invited everyone and their children to come out and participate.
Director of Public Works – Fred Busse thanked everyone who stopped by to look at the pump outside City Hall. He said that they are working on the electrical connections for the two pumps they already purchased and that the other four pumps that are part of the plant expansion, will be wired in the same way.
Treasurer/Asst. to the City Manager – Adam Orton said they received the preliminary draft from the auditors which is under review. They received the annual pension reports for Fire and Police, which have been submitted to the actuary for calculations. The report will be presented at one of the September meetings.
Building & Engineering Director – John Sauter said they have issued 28 single family permits as of the end of July. Last year at this time, they had issued 36, but they’ve seen a little bit of a push this past week, so hopefully that will continue until the end of the year. They’ve done some preliminary review of the new DeKalb County History Museum building and are hoping to get a foundation and building shell permit issued later this week.
City Engineer – Mark Bushnell said they had a preconstruction meeting with Metronet today, who will be starting work on their feeder ring, which mainly includes work on larger thoroughfares such as Bethany, Peace Road, IL Routes 23 and 64. He said that work within residential areas is still under review, but should begin soon, at which time, flyers and yard signs will be placed and residents will receive a postcard notification. MetroNet’s phone number will be on the construction notice and MetroNet’s website will have a contact field to make a comment and receive a response within 24 hours.
Mayor Lang asked if they were doing both Sycamore and DeKalb together.
City Engineer Mark Bushnell said it seems as they are running parallel timelines.
City Manager Brian Gregory asked if they had called in “Julies” (the system that marks the underground utilities) yet.
City Engineer Mark Bushnell said yes, they have already and they are good for 48 hours. They have a meeting Tuesday regarding Bethany Road, to streamline that process to highlight them on the map instead of calling in a Julie for every address as they go down Bethany Road.
City Manager Brian Gregory said he received a call regarding someone’s back yard being spray painted with markings so he asked the press to mention that it is likely attributable to the MetroNet project and that it’s a safeguard to ensure that none of the other utilities are impacted or other resident’s, other services are impacted.
City Engineer Mark Bushnell said the MetroNet vehicles will all have tags on the doors saying MetroNet and the employees will have be wearing MetroNet vests and have ID badges.
Alderman Paulsen said on a separate note, there have been concerns expressed about the path at the Sycamore Middle School and the timing of completion since school is starting soon.
City Engineer Mark Bushnell said Elliott and Wood is the general contractor on that project and they worked this past Saturday and were out there again today. Their schedule is to pave it on Wednesday, August 8th. That is weather-dependent, but they are working to get it completed before the beginning of school.
City Manager Brian Gregory said that is a grant-funded Park District project. The school district and City are doing maintenance on the crosswalk on Brickville Road that will eventually connect the two paths. He said although the city is aware of the schedule, for inquiries and exact schedule times, residents would need to contact the Park District.
REPORTS OF STANDING COMMITTEES
Finance – Alan Bauer - no report
Public Safety – Pete Paulsen - no report Public Works – Chuck Stowe - no report
PUBLIC HEARINGS - None ORDINANCES - None
RESOLUTIONS
A. Resolution No. 757—A Resolution Authorizing the Mayor to Execute a Legal Services Agreement Between the City of Sycamore and the Foster, Buick, Conklin and Lundgren, LLC.
City Manager Brian Gregory said this is a one-year extension of the agreement for legal services with the City and Foster, Buick, Conklin, and Lundgren Law Group. He said the economics of the agreement remain the same. The one change is when there is third party work that is done. At times, the City Attorneys will draft documents on behalf of a third party for annexation and development related projects,. Our Unified Development Ordinance allows us to pass that cost along and those costs would be billed at the customary rate. We just wanted to clarify that in the agreement.
This is outlined in the attached agreement as follows:
• The term of the agreement is for one year (September 1, 2018 through August 31, 2019).
• The firm’s monthly retainer will remain $5,980.
• Work which does not fall under the retainer (e.g. bond work, litigation, labor negotiations, and annexations) would continue to
be billed at $150 per hour during the agreement. Work for any services where the City will be passing the cost of such services on to 3rd parties will be billed at the normal rates.
• The essential duties and responsibilities of the firm would remain unchanged.
MOTION
Alderperson Bauer moved to approve the Resolution 757 and Alderperson Stowe seconded the motion.
ROLL CALL VOTE
Mayor Lang called for a roll call vote to approve the motion. Alderpersons Stowe, Bauer, Copple, Paulsen, Sherrod, and Stouffer, voted aye. Motion carried 6-0.
B. Resolution No. 758—A Resolution Authorizing the Execution of a Lease Agreement Between the City of Sycamore and BBMC Mortgage/Bridgeview Bank for the Mezzanine of the Sycamore Center in the City of Sycamore, Illinois.
City Manager Brian Gregory said this lease is for the Mezzanine level, a 776 square feet area between the first and second floors. When the City acquired and renovated the Sycamore Center, emphasis was placed on keeping the State Street frontage as commercial retail space and the mezzanine and third floor as office space. Those rentals are placed into the Public Buildings Fund. It is used for the maintenance for all the city buildings including the Sycamore Center. He added this is the fund that pays for the recent roof repairs and that will help pay for the improvements at Fire Station #1. This fund takes a burden off the taxpayer and allows that rental income continue to perpetuate that maintenance.
BBMC Mortgage intends to lease the space as the company continues to expand into the Sycamore market. The attached agreement includes a one-year lease that commences on August 6, 2018, with a monthly rent of $900 inclusive of utilities and taxes, with a one-year automatic renewal
Mayor Lang asked if their hours will coincide with the City hours.
City Manager Brian Gregory said they would be normal business hours with some weekend hours. They would look at if there was need for additional hours or overlapping uses and manage that.
Alderperson Copple asked how many employees they would have.
City Manager Brian Gregory said that they indicated having two employees here.
MOTION
Alderperson Stouffer moved to approve Resolution 758 and Alderperson Copple seconded the motion.
ROLL CALL VOTE
Mayor Lang called for a roll call vote to approve the motion. Alderpersons Stowe, Bauer, Copple, Paulsen, Sherrod, and Stouffer, voted aye. Motion carried 6-0.
CONSIDERATIONS
A. Consideration of a Public Works Department Recommendation to Purchase Four Flygt Pumps and Connection Equipment from Xylem Water Solutions USA in the Amount of $348,372.20.
City Manager Brian Gregory said this is a good news piece and that they are in the process of putting together the final pieces of bid documents for the Phase III improvement at the treatment plant. In late FY18, the Council considered the request to replace two pumps that were failing and needed repairs in the amount of $25,000 each. With pumps costing approximately $90,000, it wasn’t financially prudent to put money into an old pump that had outlived its useful life. At that time, Director of Public Works Fred Busse negotiated to have the price fixed for the other pumps if purchased in this calendar year. This consideration would buy the other two large pumps that are contemplated in the Phase III expansion along with two smaller pumps. He added that the city’s design engineer McMahon Associates had suggested that all six pumps together would cost about $623,000 when we got to the Phase III improvements. When combined with the pumps previously ordered ($178,075.99), the total cost for all six pumps and equipment is $526,448.19, which is roughly $96,500 or 15.5% lower than the design engineer’s estimate.
As a result, the pumps and equipment being proposed for purchase are as follows:
| Item | Qty | Cost | Extended |
| Flygt CP3556 | 2 | $90,037.00 | $180,074.00 |
| Flygt NP3301.095 | 2 | $58,040.10 | $116,080.20 |
| Connection, 14x14" | 4 | $7,906.50 | $31,626.00 |
| Connection, 10x10 | 2 | $3,996.00 | $7,992.00 |
| Freight | 1 | $12,600.00 | $12,600.00 |
| Total | $348,372.20 |
Alderperson Copple thanked Mr. Anderson for his negotiation.
Director of Public Works Fred Busse said the first pumps were ordered in March and so delivery of these will be the same time frame they are designed according to each plant’s application.
Alderperson Stouffer asked how long it will be until all four pumps are replaced.
Director of Public Works Fred Busse said hopefully within a year, but anticipate these two new pumps being online by the end of the month.
City Manager Brian Gregory added that this was an anticipated cost with Phase III, it is just less than we anticipated. He also said that a significant reserve transfer was made to the Sewer Connection Fee fund from the Sewer Fund reserve as liquid funds will account for part of the phase III improvements cost. These pumps would be purchased from the corresponding line item (05-000-8633).
MOTION
Alderperson Stowe moved to approve the Consideration to purchase four pumps from Xylem Water Solutions USA in the Amount of $348,372.20 and Alderperson Sherrod seconded the motion.
ROLL CALL VOTE
Mayor Lang called for a roll call vote to approve the motion. Alderpersons Stowe, Bauer, Copple, Paulsen, Sherrod, and Stouffer, voted aye. Motion carried 6-0.
B. Consideration of an Authorization and Approval for the DeKalb County History Center to Construct a New Building on the Engh Farm Property.
City Manager Brian Gregory said this has taken several steps to facilitate the DeKalb County History Center as it joins the Sycamore History Museum and The Joiner History Room into a new facility on Engh Farm. The lease agreement, for a 30 year extension with a 30 year option for a total of 60 years was approved in April 2017. It was re-zoned to allow for a museum use and most recently, having the barn and silo removed on the site where the improvements are planned. Recently, the barn was demolished to make way for the new building and when the lease was extended, the lease included the statement, “It is understood that Tenant desires to construct a new building on the leased property and Tenant agrees to secure approval of the City Council and the appropriate building permits prior to the start of construction.” He said that with the submittal of permit applications, now is the time for the Council to take formal action as see fit to approve or give permission for the project to move forward and would be noted on the building permit. The Building Department will ensure that project is code compliant. This will serve Sycamore and DeKalb County for many years.
Mayor Lang said that Michelle Donahoe was present to answer any questions.
MOTION
Alderperson Paulsen moved to approve the Consideration to authorize the construction of the building and Alderperson Sherrod seconded the motion.
ROLL CALL VOTE
Mayor Lang called for a roll call vote to approve the motion. Alderpersons Stowe, Bauer, Copple, Paulsen, Sherrod, and Stouffer, voted aye. Motion carried 6-0.
City Manager Brian Gregory said that the City of Sycamore and DeKalb County both have Ex-Officio seats on the board of the newly created DeKalb County History Center, so if something comes about that is in the interest of the Council, he will be happy to share that.
Mayor Lang invited Michelle Donahoe to give us updates as well.
OTHER NEW BUSINESS – None
ADJOURNMENT
MOTION
Alderperson Stowe moved to adjourn the meeting at 7:42 p.m. and Alderperson Paulsen seconded the motion.
VOICE VOTE
Mayor Lang called for a voice vote to approve the motion. All Alderpersons voted aye. Motion carried 6-0
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