DeKalb Times

Village of Waterman Village Board met Nov. 12.

Here is the minutes provided by the board:

The meeting was called to order at 7:31 p.m. at the Village Hall.

Roll Call: Fenske, Pearson, Johanningsmeier, Radtke, Data, Beach, Feitlich

Approve Agenda: Trustee Johanningsmeier motioned to add "Discuss changing the scheduled time for board meetings" to Old Business. Trustee Johanningsmeier motioned to approve the agenda as amended. Trustee Feitlich 2nd. Roll call vote passed 6/0.

Approve Minutes: Trustee Fenske motioned to approve the minutes of the October 8, 2019 regular meeting. Trustee Johanningsmeier 2nd. Roll call vote passed 5/0.

Accept Council Approval Reports: Trustee Feitlich motioned to accept the Council Approval Reports as presented. Trustee Pearson 2nd. Roll call vote passed 6/0.

Accept Petty Cash Report: Trustee Feitlich motioned to accept the Petty Cash Report as presented. Trustee Fenske 2nd. Roll call vote passed 6/0.

Accept Treasurer's Funds Report: Trustee Feitlich motioned to approve the Treasurer's Fund Report as presented. Trustee Fenske 2nd. Roll call vote passed 6/0.

Mayor's Report -

President Beach discussed how the Halloween turnout was good overall considering the weather.

President Beach discussed the upcoming Gobbler Gallup on the 23rd. Expect higher traffic flow from the event.

President Beach discussed the 1st tree lighting ceremony to be held at Muingan Park on December 14th. This event will coincide with the Boy Scouts pancake breakfast and raffle.

There was a diesel fuel leak reported in the creek on the south side of town. IEPA and Health Department were called. It was determined there was a leak coming from the Conserv FS pump by Pub West. They were required to remove several tanks.

Request for Consideration -

Zoey McAllister with the Girl Scouts requested permission to create a dog park within the village. They were seeking information regarding locations, permits, and other restrictions. Trustee Data will work with the them on the project.

Paul Borek with DCEC spoke regarding the enterprise zone changes. Qualifying companies could qualify for tax abatements or credits if within the enterprise zone. The DCEC has made a few revisions to the enterprise zone and are looking for local communities to approve them.

Staff Reports - Nothing

Committee Reports:

Water & Sewer -Pearson

Trustee Pearson updated on the committee meeting on November 7, 2019. The committee met with a company that provides a system that provides meter reads to the minutes verses the quarterly reads we do now. The meters can be read by Clerk Pool from village hall verses public works having to walk/drive the route. There annual fee of $25,000 would cover all required maintenance issues, repairs and integration with Asyst and they offer flexibility with financing. The rough estimate on the cost for the meter upgrades and tower was $500,000. Pearson will contact our current provider to submit a quote for a similar service package.

Trustee Pearson advised the committee made the recommendation of revising the utility ordinance that requires the bill to only be sent to the property owner/landowner instead of the tenant. This will eliminate several billing issues and cut down on number of bills being created and mailed. Trustee Radtke motioned to approve Ordinance 2019-07 Amending Title 7-2-10 as amended. Trustee Johanningsmeier 2nd. Roll call vote passed 5/1.

Streets & Alleys - Johanningsmeier -

Trustee Johanningsmeier updated on the committee meeting on November 7, 2019. The committee discussed revising the policy for snow towing violations. Trustee Johanningsmeier motioned to approve Ordinance 2019-09 Amending Title 5-3-4. Trustee Feitlich 2nd. Roll call vote passed 6/0.

Public Safety - Fenske -

Chief Cicci advised the PD was awarded a grant in the amount of $2,200 from DeKalb County to cover the cost of installing a new computer in one of the squads.

Buildings, Grounds, and Equipment - Data

Trustee Data updated on the committee meeting on November 21, 2019. The committee recommended the naming of the small park on the north side of Green Ridge Garfield Park. Motion approved unanimously. The committee also recommended purchasing small soccer goals and benches for the park. Trustee Data motioned to approve the purchase of 2 Agora Channel Soccer Goals at a cost of $775.00 each. Trustee Fenske 2nd. Roll call vote passed 6/0. Trustee Data motioned to approve the purchase of two benches at a cost of $412.00 each. Trustee Radtke 2nd. Roll call vote passed 5/1.

Trustee Radtke discussed the need to winterize the Lion's Park shelter in January to avoid any issues like the damaged toilets from last year. We will ask Public Works to handle this process.

Trustee Radtke discussed the committees desire to finish the renovations of the Lions shelter to include redoing the bathrooms. They have also been researching installing a splash pad between the park and the shelter. Trustee Radtke will be working on grant applications to assist in the cost.

Trustee Radtke discussed the update of the electronic sign in the village. The Lions Club will be donating $15,000 towards the cost and would like to advertise on it. Radtke is working on getting approved locations from IDOT. Additionally, we would have to contribute $22,000.

Finance & Personnel - Tony Feitlich -

Clerk Pool prepared the proposed 2019 tax levy. Even though we are not requesting 5% or more we are opting to hold a public hearing before the next board meeting.

The Finance committee will be holding their first budget meeting to prepare for FY21.

President Beach spoke with Chris Perra from Test Inc. regarding the sludge removal and aeration of the lagoons of the WWTP. It is estimated to cost $400,000. The process of permits and EPA approval takes about 6 months. We have not been contacted by the EPA yet, but it has been 28 years since the last time this has been done.

Economic Development - Tony Feitlich –

Trustee Feitlich advised the status of the economic development project. We are still in need of 50-60 more completed surveys in order to be a successful survey sample. Clerk Pool will print more business surveys to be distributed by President Beach.

Zoning - Sarah Radtke -

Ordinance 2019-10 Amending Title 4-2-5 Chickens was tabled.

Planning Commission: - Linda Swenson - Nothing

Regional Planning Commission - Linda Swenson - Nothing

Public comment - Nothing

Old Business -

The Water & Sewer Committee will meet to create a utility service payment plan.

Discussing the computer policy was tabled.

The board discussed changing the scheduled board meeting time changed to 6:30 p.m. We will start the change for the January meeting and we will need to update the ordinance.

New Business -

We discussed the differences between the village's observed holidays versus the federal observed holidays. There was also discussion regarding how holiday pay is distributed. The personnel committee will hold a meeting to discuss.

Minutes of the Village Board of Waterman held Tuesday, November 12, 2019 - continued

Trustee Feitlich motioned to approve Ordinance 2019-08 Enterprise Zone. Trustee Radtke 2nd. Roll call vote passed 6/0.

Trustee Feitlich motioned to approve the Intergovernmental Agreement on Enterprise Zone. Trustee Radtke 2nd. Roll call vote passed 6/0.

Executive Session: - Nothing

Adjournment

Having no further business to conduct, the meeting was adjourned at 10.20 p.m. The next regular meeting will be held Tuesday, December 10, 2019 at 7:30p.m.

https://villageofwaterman.com/agendas-minutes/