DeKalb Times

City of Sycamore City Council met Feb. 7

Here are the minutes provided by the council:

SYCAMORE CITY COUNCIL – REGULAR MEETING 

MINUTES OF FEBRUARY 7, 2022 

ROLL CALL 

Mayor Braser called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m. and City Clerk Mary Kalk called the roll. Those Alderpersons present were: Nancy Copple, Jeff Fischer, Josh Huseman, Pete Paulsen, David Stouffer, Chuck Stowe, and Alan Bauer. Alderperson Virginia Sherrod was absent. City Attorney Keith Foster was also present.

INVOCATION Led by Alderperson Nancy Copple

PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE Led by Alderman Jeff Fischer

APPROVAL OF AGENDA 

MOTION 

Alderperson Copple motioned to approve the agenda and Alderperson Fischer seconded the motion. VOICE VOTE 

Mayor Braser 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 18, 2022.

B. Payment of the Bills for February 7, 2022 in the amount of $959,800.97.

MOTION 

Alderperson Bauer motioned to approve the Consent Agenda and Alderperson Stowe seconded the motion. ROLL CALL VOTE 

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

PRESENTATION OF PETITIONS, COMMUNICATIONS, AND BILLS 

A. Recognition of Sycamore’s own Landin Jordan, who became the 2022 Professional Bowlers Association Junior Champion on Sunday, January 30th, 2022. 

Mayor Braser said they are recognizing Landin Jordan tonight. Landin is present as well as his family and Steve Wilder, Sycamore School District Superintendent. He thanked Landin for representing Sycamore so well, as this had national attention.

Landin introduced his family and shared his experience for the tournament in that he bowled a 257 to win the match. He plans to keep bowling in college and maybe go “pro” one day.

City Manager Michael Hall said that the city will recognize Landin with a street sign on Route 23 southbound and Route 64 eastbound.

PW Director said that the sign says “Landin Jordan, 2022 PBA Junior Champion”.

REPORT OF OFFICERS 

City Manager – Michael Hall said they changed the agenda to be more electronic-friendly and asked for feedback. This provides the agenda and then the narrative with supporting documents behind it. He asked the department heads and finance director for written statements of their weeks to be shared.

Assistant City Manager (ACM) – Maggie Peck absent.

Police Chief – Jim Winters said that Meier provided a grant a week ago to host a “Shop with a Cop” event at their store where officers partnered with 12 Sycamore students in need that allowed them the opportunity to purchase toys, clothes and other items. At the end of January, they conducted a joint child safety seat check with representatives from Northwestern Medicine which provided care givers instruction on how to properly install the car seat. He reminded anyone responsible for transporting a little one to please, call them if they need help. An officer certified on installation will provide assistance. The Police Department (PD) does have access to new child safety seats for those who have a financial need. Lastly, the PD was awarded a grant for up to $9,000 from the DeKalb County Mental Health Board to facilitate Peer Support training for officers. The training will provide Peer Supporters with strategies to offer support, share knowledge, teach skills, and connect officers with resources in an effort to enhance overall officer resiliency.

Fire Chief – Pete Polarek said that the new pumper tender will go into service later this week as the current vehicle was sold to the broker for which they got a fair price. He thanked Deputy Chief Art Zern for helping facilitate the work with the broker. Also, they did ice rescue training last week to refresh some skills.

Director of Community Development John Sauter said Community Development received two new permit submittals for review; one is for a commercial remodel to an office building located at 1976 Aberdeen Court and the other is for a minor remodel of the Pharmacy at Walgreen’s. They also performed a final inspection at the building addition to Sycamore Antiques and with the exception of a few minor items, the addition is complete. They plan to open the space to the public in late February.

Director of Public Works Matt Anderson said that 115 initial door hangers were delivered to prospective property owners regarding the IEPA funded Private Lead Service Replacement Program on Friday, Jan. 28th. Residents must respond to the Water Division if interested or not Interested. After owner response, the City will mail forms for the owner to complete. They have currently mailed 43 informational packets out to property owners on 2/3/22 and will mail once a week. He reported that PW Staff recently trimmed 326 trees in Reston Ponds subdivision and will continue to trim trees this winter as weather permits. Through December and January, there have been eight snow/ice events requiring salt usage. An estimated 475 tons of salt have been used as of 2/1/22 with snow totals at 4.75 inches in December 2021 and 10 inches in January 2022.

City Engineer Mark Bushnell reported that the Sanitary Sewer Lining Project is out to bid which is available on the city’s website. The water main project which is the flagship of the water main projects will be in the paper tomorrow, Tuesday, February 8th and will be out to bid for three weeks. There will be a concrete project out to bid in the next two weeks. With the help of staff, they were able to have these projects out to bid earlier in hopes of getting good pricing. When asked about, he said that they met with Representative Lauren Underwood two weeks ago and explained to her how the bipartisan infrastructure bill is going to help with lead water services in the future. There is an existing pot of money there now that we were able to receive a portion of and are also reapplying for next fiscal year as the IEPA’s fiscal year starts in July

REPORTS OF STANDING COMMITTEES 

Finance – Alan Bauer said no report

Public Safety – Pete Paulsen said no report.

Public Works – Chuck Stowe said no report

PUBLIC HEARINGS 

ORDINANCES 

RESOLUTIONS 

A. Resolution No. 904 – A Resolution Requesting a Permit from the Illinois Department of Transportation to Allow for the Completion of Sanitary Sewer Spot Repair on Illinois Route 64. 

City Manager Michael Hall said that Resolution 904 and 905 are together. They are self-explanatory but would refer questions to City Engineer Mark Bushnell as he wrote up the information and narrative.

MOTION 

Alderperson Bauer motioned to approve Resolution 904 and Alderperson Huseman seconded the motion. ROLL CALL VOTE 

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

B. Resolution No. 905 – A Resolution Requesting a Permit from the Illinois Department of Transportation to Allow for the Completion of a Sanitary Sewer Lining within the Illinois Route 64 Right of Way. 

MOTION 

Alderperson Huseman motioned to approve Resolution 905 and Alderperson Fischer seconded the motion. ROLL CALL VOTE 

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

CONSIDERATIONS 

A. Consideration of a Preliminary Three-Year Capital Improvement Program for the City of Sycamore, Illinois.

City Manager Michael Hall said that staff has worked really hard on this and doesn’t want to take any credit as they had done all the work when he came into it. It was impressive to work with them and see the requests that they had. He said that this is really looking at the information and then the budget will be approved. He talked to staff about other ways of doing this plan; out five years, fleet plans, and infrastructure replacement plans. This plan for FY23 lays out each department’s requests. In the future, he would like to lay out the requests, funded and unfunded and then look at priorities as opposed to being given a certain amount of money and using it the best that they could. He noted that the council will see all the Capital Improvement Projects over $20,000. The council will approve the budget and then see the projects again.

Alderman Huseman asked if this is the extent of the ARPA current dollars.

PW Director Matt Anderson said that the ARPA money was planned for the water main replacement He said we have received $1.245 million but is not sure if the full $2.5 million has been received yet. This will be used for the water main at Sabin, State, and Exchange Streets.

Alderman Huseman said all the funds we are getting are being put underground and when he looks at last year’s capital improvement plan versus this year, we are doing twice as much.

City Manager Michael Hall said that it’s important to note that the Department of Treasury decided how the ARPA money was to be spent and one of the categories is water and sewer.

Alderman Bauer confirmed that all the other projects besides the water and sewer are funded and not just a wish list.

B. Consideration of an Administrative Recommendation to Award a Contract in the Amount of $29,845.00 to Tip Top Roofing & Construction, Inc. of Sycamore, Illinois for the Repair and Replacement of the Public Works Salt Storage Facility. 

City Manager Michael Hall said that Tip Top Roofing was the low bidder and is a qualified bidder. City Engineer Mark Bushnell said they were pleasantly surprised with the low bidder.

MOTION 

Alderperson Stouffer motioned to approve the consideration for $29,845 to Tip Top Roofing & Construction and Alderperson Paulsen seconded the motion.

ROLL CALL VOTE 

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

C. Consideration of a Police Department Recommendation for the Disposal of a 2017 Ford Explorer. 

Police Chief Jim Winters said they received a high bid on this which is a “win-win” in that they are getting a fair price and the City of DeKalb, who has a gap in their fleet, is getting the car.

MOTION 

Alderperson Stowe motioned to approve the consideration and Alderperson Paulsen seconded the motion. ROLL CALL VOTE 

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

Mayor Braser thanked the department heads in helping Michael transition. He truly appreciates it. OTHER NEW BUSINESS 

APPOINTMENTS 

ADJOURNMENT 

MOTION 

Alderperson Stowe motioned to adjourn the meeting at 7:26 p.m. and Alderperson Paulsen seconded the motion. VOICE VOTE 

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

https://cityofsycamore.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/cc20220207.pdf