DeKalb Times

City of Sycamore City Council met Sept. 8.

Here is the minutes provided by the council:

ROLL CALL

Mayor Lang called the meeting to order at 7:07 p.m. and City Clerk Mary Kalk called the roll. Those Alderpersons present were: Pete Paulsen, Virginia Sherrod, Chuck Stowe, Alan Bauer, Steve Braser, Nancy Copple logged in at 7:11 p.m. after roll call, and Josh Huseman. Alderman Rick Kramer was absent. City Attorney Keith Foster was also present.

INVOCATION- Led by Marc Jones, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints 

PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE – Led by Chief Jim Winters

APPROVAL OF AGENDA

MOTION

Alderperson Copple motioned to approve the agenda and Alderperson Sherrod seconded the motion.

ROLL CALL VOTE

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

AUDIENCE TO VISITORS –

City Manager Brian Gregory said that there were emails that were mainly directed both to the Public Works Committee and the City Council meeting and were forwarded to Council. Having no one speak, the meeting continued.

CONSENT AGENDA

A. Approval of the Minutes for the Regular City Council Meeting of August 17, 2020. 

B. Payment of the Bills for September 8, 2020 in the amount of $1,554,813.49.

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 Paulsen, Sherrod, Stowe, Bauer, Braser, Copple, and Huseman voted aye. Motion carried 7-0.

PRESENTATION OF PETITIONS, COMMUNICATIONS, AND BILLS

Mayor Lang thanked all the employees and staff for their service during this pandemic situation.

REPORT OF OFFICERS

City Manager – Brian Gregory said it was a productive Public Works Committee meeting before this meeting where they heard resident concerns, had information sharing, and had an overview of the water system by Assistant Public Works Director Matt Anderson to explain how everything is coordinated. He appreciates everyone who reached out to Public Works and to himself to try to understand the system better, get more information, and hopefully, address concerns together and improve the quality issues that they are experiencing. The committee made a recommendation to continue those Public Works Committee meetings. The next step is to bring back a consideration that was deferred until fall due to the COVID-19 situation. It’s to re-discuss a fee that the council was previously supportive of as a consideration, for implementation of the 2019 Water Master Plan projects. He said that the Planning and Zoning Commission (PZC) will meet Monday, September 14th at 7:00 p.m. via Zoom to discuss a Unified Development Ordinance (UDO) clean up on a certificate referencing the PZC versus just the Planning Commission. The second item is a Special Use request for a cannabis dispensary on Oakland Drive. He said the 2020 Tree Program, will be smaller than it usually and they are seeking bids which will be awarded at a future council meeting. He mentioned that they are adding trees into the bid for downtown to replace the pear trees being affected by fire blight. He said they will continue to monitor the finances and when June’s Sales Tax numbers are received in late September, they will get a better sense of what COVID-19 impact is but said the trends are going the right way. He added that there are office space vacancies in the Sycamore Center on the third floor and on the mezzanine. Finally, for Waste

Management’s At Your Door program that will pick up electronics, sharps, and other recyclables for free to residents, collected 7,484 pounds in August of which 96.82 was recycled.

Police Chief – Jim Winters said the New WatchGuard cameras have been installed in eight of the patrol cars. Thus far, they have received positive feedback from the officers on the video and audio quality as well as the user friendliness of the control touch screen. They are just awaiting grant reimbursement for that system. As part of our mental health initiative, they partnered with Northwestern and applied for $17,000 in grant funding to facilitate a 40-hour state certified crisis intervention training course for as many of our officers as possible. This class is the gold standard for law enforcement training in terms of mental health response and if awarded the grant, our goal will be to schedule that training in the next 4 months. Around this time, police or fire usually host a 9/11 ceremony to honor those victims of the terrorist attacks in 2001. Even with the pandemic, it is the 19th anniversary of that day and representatives on the honor guards from both departments are planning on creating a brief virtual ceremony to remember those victims.

Fire Chief – Pete Polarek said that in the last 10 days, there were two residential structure fires at 1542 Timberwood Court and 660 Hill Street. He is very proud of the response, as always, is a team effort from the 911 tele communicators, to police officers on the scene, to the Sycamore fire response team, to the mutual aid partners, public works, community development, the local utilities, and the Red Cross. Both cases were very early morning fires and they are fortunate to only have minor injuries and a firefighter minor injury in the first one and none in the second one. In both cases, the structures remain uninhabitable but the property owners are working with the Community Development Department to get the repairs done in a timely manner.

Director of Public Works – Fred Busse said thank you to the residents that had a chance to participate in the Public Works Committee meeting and to the residents that have reached out to the Water Department over the last couple of weeks. There have been a few cases that the issues have been resolved. He acknowledged presenter Assistant Director Matt Anderson, Assistant Director Jake Keck, and City Engineer Mark Bushnell for the work on tonight’s presentation. They and everyone on the staff takes all these issues seriously as they spend time with callers to collect data. In the next month, they will be looking at the Leaf Pickup Program. They were able to get some salt spreaders calibrated which helps as a savings to the city and to the environment.

Treasurer/Asst. to the City Manager – Adam Orton said they are still in the process of finalizing the audit financial report. They are waiting on a few reports from the actuaries and the pension and TIF reports are being finalized. They hope to have the auditors at an October meeting to present the full draft to the council. He announced that new employee, Alexandra Rowland started in the Finance office as an Accounts Receivable Clerk.

Director of Community Development – John Sauter said they’ve issued 23 single family permits as of the end of August and last year, at this time, they were at 30. The numbers are obviously off from last year, but said it’s still a respectable total given current conditions. They closed out the Meijer file this week so that project is 100% complete. They also performed a final inspection at The Business of Food, which is an incubator kitchen at 1330 East State Street, and are now open for business. They’ve also been busy with a variety of complaints which they have had pretty good success seeing them through to resolution.

Director of Human and Administrative Resources (DHAR) – Maggie Peck said the Police and Fire Commission is currently working on the Entry Level Firefighter list, set to begin next week. They did testing last week and next week will be oral interviews. This is promotional process time for Fire and Police for Lieutenant and Sergeant which will be underway in September and October and those lists will be posted as well.

City Engineer Mark Bushnell said Smoke testing of sanitary sewers is scheduled to start next week, weather depending. Notices have been mailed with door hangers scheduled for later this week.

Curran will continue to pave Main and State Streets. The final surface in the downtown area is scheduled for later this week, which is also weather dependent. Downtown paving will occur between 6PM and 4AM. During this time, parking on IL Route 64 will be closed, but all City lots and parking on side streets will remain open.

REPORTS OF STANDING COMMITTEES

Finance – Alan Bauer - no report

Public Safety – Pete Paulsen - no report

Public Works – Chuck Stowe – said it was a good meeting tonight. He appreciated everyone joining in and said it’s good that we are hearing from them if they are having problems so we can solve them. He thanked Matt Anderson who did a great job on the presentation and they will keep following up on this. For those who were not at the meeting, if you are experiencing any sort of water problems get a hold of Public Works so they can trace this down to the cause.

Mayor Lang was impressed with the attitude of everyone and said it speaks well of our city.

PUBLIC HEARINGS - None

ORDINANCES-

A. Ordinance 2020.07—An Ordinance Confirming the City of Sycamore’s Intent to Participate in the Local CURE Program. First and Second Reading.

City Manager Brian Gregory gave some background on the CARES Act money being distributed to the five major counties in the state (Cook, Lake, Will, DuPage, and Kane) and the rest of the funds that were put forward in the local CURE Program as referenced in the agenda. It is distributed per capita on a reimbursement basis on certain eligible expenses related to the impact of COVID-19, however, they cannot be expenses that were previously budgeted for or those that aren’t necessitated by the pandemic. With the per capita allocation, the City of Sycamore’s allocation is over $700,000 potentially. It doesn’t appear that we would have impacts that large, however, they are working with the State to make sure they fully understand what type of expenses those can be applied to and whether they can partner with other local governmental organizations to ensure that those funds help serve our residents as much as possible. This ordinance is saying that the City of Sycamore plans to participate because the state of Illinois, through the DCEO (Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity) requires an ordinance be passed by October 1st. The reimbursement period is from March through the end of December and said any relief is a positive but this is not a program that is meant to offset any lost revenue.

Alderman Huseman asked if the council will get a report and if city staff will administer the program.

City Manager Brian Gregory said absolutely. He said if there are opportunities to partner with other government organizations to maximize the dollars, they will bring those to council as well as that would be a partnership agreement and not necessarily administered by city staff.

MOTION

Alderperson Stowe motioned to waive First Reading on Ordinance 2020.07 and Alderperson Huseman seconded the motion.

ROLL CALL VOTE

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

MOTION

Alderperson Stowe motioned to adopt Ordinance 2020.07 and Alderperson Huseman seconded the motion.

ROLL CALL VOTE

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

B. Ordinance 2020.08—An Ordinance Amending Title 5, “Police Regulations”, Chapter 4, “Miscellaneous Offenses”, to Create a New Section 21, Entitled “Criminal Trespass”, in the City Code of the City of Sycamore, Illinois. First and Second Reading.

City Manager Brian Gregory said this creates a local ordinance violation for trespassing. The city gets a variety of calls for different circumstances where the officer’s only option is to issue a state ticket. For those offenses that are less significant or serious on the trespassing spectrum, this would allow for a local ticket which could be brought forward through the city’s administrative adjudication program for their due process rights. Examples of situations where this could be used are, but not limited to:

• A person at a park or school outside of posted designated hours;

• A person fishing at a homeowner association owned pond when the Police Department receives complaints and is properly posted;

• A person at a business that has been issued a No Trespass Order or has been reasonably told to leave and refuses.

Chief Jim Winters said this would be similar to the retail theft ordinance that Council passed last year in that it gives the officers the option, when there is a criminal violation, to take it through the administrative adjudication process and de-escalate the situation and provide for that non-custodial arrest if warranted.

MOTION

Alderperson Paulsen motioned to waive First Reading on Ordinance 2020.08 and Alderperson Sherrod seconded the motion.

ROLL CALL VOTE

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

Alderperson Copple asked about the comment that was in the Zoom chat room which was a question from Ashley Kirsopp asking if this ordinance is supposed to solve the issue presented by protesters in Foxpointe on August 23rd.

Chief Winters said this ordinance is separate from one of the protests that went through a neighborhood. He has talked with several residents in that neighborhood and said they did have officers there and actually called some more in. He said he would be happy to talk with or meet someone in person and to contact him directly.

MOTION

Alderperson Paulsen motioned to adopt Ordinance 2020.08 and Alderperson Sherrod seconded the motion.

ROLL CALL VOTE

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

RESOLUTIONS - None

CONSIDERATIONS

A. Consideration of a Recommendation to approve a Plat of Vacation and Dedication of Easement for NICOR Gas.

City Manager Brian Gregory said this is straight forward as a dedication of easement requires the Mayor’s signature so they typically bring them through the City Council to make them aware and to get official approval. This projects involves the Nicor Gas building being constructed in the Thanks America subdivision where easements will be dedicated and recorded as described in the agenda. Director John Sauter and City Engineer Mark Bushnell have worked with Nicor on this and recommend approval.

MOTION

Alderperson Stowe motioned to approve the consideration and Alderperson Huseman seconded the motion.

ROLL CALL VOTE

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

OTHER NEW BUSINESS

Alderperson Copple said at the Library Board meeting earlier that Monica Dombrowski gave notice that she will be leaving at the end of the month so they are working on finding her replacement. They currently have seven applicants.

APPOINTMENTS

ADJOURNMENT

MOTION

Alderperson Stowe moved to adjourn the meeting at 7:50 p.m. and Alderperson Paulsen seconded the motion.

VOICE VOTE

Mayor Lang called for a roll call vote to approve the motion. Alderpersons Paulsen, Sherrod, Stowe, Bauer, Copple, and Huseman voted aye. Motion carried 6-0.

https://cityofsycamore.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/cc20200908m.pdf