DeKalb Times

City of Sycamore City Council met January 22. 

Here is the minutes as 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: Nancy Copple, Rick Kramer, Pete Paulsen, Virginia Sherrod, David Stouffer, Alan Bauer, and Steve Braser. Alderman Chuck Stowe was absent. City Attorney Keith Foster was also present.

Invocation – Alderwoman Virginia Sherrod, gave the invocation.

Pledge of Allegiance Led by Alderwoman Nancy Copple.

Approval Of Agenda

Motion

Alderperson Braser moved to approve the agenda and Alderperson Sherrod seconded the motion.

Voice Vote

Mayor Lang called for a voice vote to approve the motion. All Alderpersons voted aye. Motion carried 7-0.

Audience to Visitors

Consent Agenda

      A. Approval of the Minutes for the Regular City Council Meeting of January 7, 2019.

      B. Payment of the Bills for January 22, 2019 in the amount of $714,764.58.

      C. Gateway Improvement Grant Close-Out for County Liquors.

City Manager Brian Gregory pointed out that the beige material County Liquors had to use on the bottom third of the building is slightly different than what was approved, as the original material was backordered.

Alderman Kramer said it really looks nice.

Motion

Alderperson Bauer moved to approve the Consent Agenda and Alderperson Kramer seconded the motion.

Roll Call Vote

Mayor Lang called for a roll call vote to approve the motion. Alderpersons Copple, Kramer, Paulsen, Sherrod, Stouffer, Bauer, and Braser voted aye. Motion carried 7-0.

Appointments

 Presentation of Petitions, Communications, and Bills

Alderman Bauer recognized the Firefighter/Paramedics who responded when his 100 year old mother fell in her home. The first responders helped her up, checked her over, and asked her a few questions, including what she was having for lunch. When she responded that she was having leftovers, they warmed up and served her lunch. He said that is service that is above and beyond the call of duty. He said words of thank you just aren’t enough for what he and his family feels.

Report of Officers

City Manager – Brian Gregory said, as previously mentioned, ComEd is changing out the street lamps for LED lights and he just received notice that it will likely start mid to late 2019. This will improve efficiency, the cost of street lighting, and adds more versatility. He also said that in expanding the social media efforts to Instagram, they found out that someone had already created a City of Sycamore official Instagram page which was not the official city page and was not consistent with what the city would post. It was reported to Instagram and that page was taken down.

Mayor Lang asked about the color of the street lights.

Brian Gregory said the rating on the lights are a warmer rating, as with LED lights, the rating dictates how bright the light is. He said these will be close to typical street lighting. He said they can help and dictate as they go in.

Alderman Bauer commented that when Rochelle changed to LED, there was so much glare and asked if there would be shrouds that direct the light to the ground and said he likes choosing the warm color.

Police Chief – Jim Winters said the officers have been busy today with multiple accidents. He thanked Director of Public Works Fred Busse for all their work on keeping the streets clear. There was closure on the armed robbery at 7-Eleven as the third and last of the suspects was sentenced. It was a total of 90 years that the State’s Attorney negotiated with the plea agreements and said it was good work by the officers, detectives, police departments in Carol Stream, Addison, and the State’s Attorney office. Officer Steve Albrecht, who has 20 years with the department, just announced that he is retiring on February 28th. Please, wish him well.

Fire Chief – Pete Polarek said with the increase in calls, they are seeing a lot of falls inside homes, usually older residents. He advised keeping snow cleared outside and removing rugs inside for senior family members. The department has completed annual firefighter physicals from an outside contractor and they started ice-rescue training today.

Director of Public Works – Fred Busse said the water billing department will be relocated to the Public Works building as of January 28th. He complimented Kim Williams from I.T. for all the work he did to accommodate the transition. The drive upwindow at Page Street is now a drop box as the Page Street location will be closed to the public but will still be the location for operations.

Treasurer/Asst. to the City Manager – Adam Orton said the December Treasurer’s report, on a cash basis, has a benchmark of 67%. Both the State and City’s Sales Tax are near the benchmarks of 66% and 67% respectively. The Restaurant & Bar Tax is trailing slightly however, the service charges and interest revenue are leading their benchmarks. The overall revenues, when weighted by property taxes, are at 65.7% and the General Fund Expenditures are at 63%. The markets slumped in December so both pension funds saw decreases.

Building & Engineering Director – John Sauter said they met with the DeKalb County Builders and Developers Association to discuss proposed amendments to the City’s building Code and they gave their nod of approval. They had few minor concerns, but those were addressed and it appears they are comfortable with the draft code as proposed. A full building permit was issued for the Morningstar Media project last week and work is underway. They’re focusing on underground work inside the building and will start on the exterior work as weather permits.

City Manager Brian Gregory said that John Sauter has done a lot of work, including all the behind-the-scenes work, in the effort to update the code, in conjunction with the City of DeKalb and DeKalb County, allowing to be one code series. That will come before Council late winter/early spring.

John Sauter said that all three bodies met three years ago and agreed that it would be beneficial for everyone as most of the contractors work in all three places. DeKalb adopted their updates last year, which was an 18 month process. He anticipates the County will be next but does not know their timeline. This includes updates to Title 9 of the Municipal Code which makes more sense.

City Engineer – Mark Bushnell said the Well #5 Abandonment Project is out to bid. This, over 1200 foot deep well, was originally drilled in 1962 and has experienced ongoing issues with sand and hasn’t been used in the recent past. The proposed project will abandon the well as required by the Illinois Department of Public Health and since it hasn’t been used, it won’t have any impact on water quality. Bids are due on February 12th and he should have a recommendation to award on Monday February 18th.

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. 776—A Resolution Approving and Accepting Certain Public Improvements on Bethany Road Related to the Northwestern Medicine Project.

City Manager Brian Gregory said the City’s Unified Development Ordinance (UDO) requires that the city accept public improvements when they are made. Once they are accepted, they are considered complete and the City releases any financial guarantee that is placed on that project. This is for the Northwestern Medicine Wellness Center, where the scope of the work included widening of the intersection, bituminous and concrete roadway improvements, and associated restoration. According to section 4.7.10-6 of the City’s UDO the City Engineer shall forward a recommendation to the City Council if the improvements are acceptable. City Engineer Mark Bushnell has monitored the progress and inspected the final surface application and recommends the City Council accept the roadway improvements and release the letter of credit for the project.

Mayor Lang said he appreciates all the effort that went into this.

Motion

Alderperson Kramer moved to approve Resolution 776 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 7-0.

B. Resolution No. 777— A Resolution Authorizing Disposal of Certain City Property.

City Manager Brian Gregory said there are two small items that exceeded the threshold in the purchasing manual. Resolution 777 acknowledges and authorizes the disposal of the following property:

      • Delta Four Port Electric Hose Tester: The Fire Department accepted sealed bids from MABAS Division 6 agencies with the highest bid coming from the Maple Park & Countryside Fire Protection District in the amount of $101.00.

      • Acoustic Guitar: The Police Department sold an unclaimed acoustic guitar on GovDeals.com auction site for $60.00.

Alderman Braser asked if the approval rating can be raised so these small amounts don’t have to be brought to council.

Brian Gregory said yes, they have discussed increasing that level in the purchasing manual and bringing it forward.

Motion

Alderperson Braser moved to approve Resolution 777 and Alderperson Copple seconded the motion.

ROLL CALL VOTE

Mayor Lang called for a roll call vote to approve the motion. Alderpersons Copple, Kramer, Paulsen, Sherrod, Stouffer, Bauer, and Braser voted aye. Motion carried 7-0.

Considerations

A. Consideration of an Administration Request for Direction Regarding the 2019-2020 General Fund Fiscal Year Budget. City Manager Brian Gregory said this officially starts the budget process. We start with the General Fund tonight with the remaining preliminary assumptions for the different funds being presented in the following meetings. He estimates the General Fund Revenues for FY20 to be $17,002,842. He said that without the pension funds, the property tax is about 10% but noted that auditors require showing the pension funds going in and out of the General Fund budget. He listed the percentages of the expected revenues as:

      • property tax – 18.01%

      • sales and use taxes - 46.81%

      • licenses -.78%

      • intergovernmental revenue – 12.07%

      • services charges – 6.31%

       • fines and fees – 1.33%

      • other income/transfer – 14.70%

Mr. Gregory said that personnel expenses including wages, salaries, FICA, Medicare, IMRF, Police and Fire Pension, account for over half or 57.29% and when combined with the cost of insurance, including health, life, work comp and liability, reaches to 72.86% of the General Fund Expenditures. He explained that all three collective bargaining agreements are set to expire on April 30th. Bargaining for successor agreements is expected to begin in January and that the Public Works Department is undergoing a restructuring and employees will be assigned to the appropriate fund based on function. He said the total estimated general fund operating expenditures in FY20 is $17,002,290 and noted that the preliminary FY20 budget is balanced without reliance on transfers-in from capital funds or reserves.

Alderman Bauer said getting the cost shifting back so they are correctly allocated, shows a better story about what we are spending in those areas and asked if an organizational chart can be published once the shifts are made.

Brian Gregory said yes they can. He said the departments continue to provide high levels of services while working within the resources available.

Consensus of Council was to move forward.

Other New Business

Adjournment

Motion

Alderperson Paulsen moved to adjourn the meeting at 7:43 p.m. and Alderperson Kramer seconded the motion.

Voice Vote

Mayor Lang called for a voice vote to approve the motion. All Alderpersons voted aye. Motion carried 7-0.

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