City of Genoa City Council met Aug. 17.
Here are the minutes provided by the council:
Mayor Brust called the meeting of the City Council to order at 7:02 p.m. Roll call was taken. Aldermen Wesner, Pulley, Winter, Hughes and Holcomb were present. Alderman Freund, Stage and Cravatta was absent. Quorum present.
Mayor Brust led the Pledge of Allegiance.
Guest Speakers – None
Motion made by Alderman Wesner to accept the minutes of the August 3, 2022 City Council meeting, seconded by Alderman Holcomb. No was further discussion. Voice vote was taken. All voted yes. Motion carried.
Motion made by Alderman Wesner to approve payment of the account’s payables for August 15, 2022, seconded by Alderman Winter. Alderman Wesner asked Public Works Director about item 36 Street Sweeper Repair, Janice stated that this was a bill that was late coming in to try and repair the old street sweeper before we had purchased the new one. No was further discussion. Roll call vote was taken. Aldermen Wesner, Pulley, Winter, Hughes and Holcomb voted yes. Motion carried.
ITEMS FROM INDIVIDUALS IN ATTENDANCE – Brian Wallace spoke to the council about all the events that have been happening around town this year with Eggapalooza, Kayak on the Kish, Volksfest coming up in September with Lucha libre on Friday night of Volksfest and the duck races. He also announced that disc golf is up and going after only 11 months of planning and wanted to thank the Public Works Department for all of their hard work clearing trees and putting up the equipment for disc golf so far it has been a huge success. There will be a ribbon cutting on Tuesday August 23rd at 3:30pm. Tobinson’s will be selling the discs for anyone that is needing them.
OLD BUSINESS - None
NEW BUSINESS
DISCUSSION ON THE RENEWAL OF THE GENOA TOWNSHIP PARK DISTRICT FITNESS CENTER INTERGOVERNMENTAL AGREEMENT FOR THE SECOND FLOOR OF CITY HALL: Motion made by Alderman Wesner to approve an ordinance adopting the annual budget for the fiscal year beginning May 1 2022 and ending April 20, 2023 for the City of Genoa, DeKalb County Illinois, seconded by Alderman Winter. There was no further discussion. Roll call vote was taken. Aldermen Wesner, Pulley, Winter, Hughes and Holcomb voted yes.
APPROVE AND AUTHORIZE THE MAYOR TO EXECUTE A WORK AUTHORIZATION AGREEMENT WITH C.E.S., NOT TO EXCEED $24,500: Motion made by Alderman Pulley to approve and authorize the mayor to execute a work authorization agreement with C.E.S, not to exceed $24,500, seconded by Alderman Holcomb. In the packet is a work authorization agreement from C.E.S. to complete design engineering for multiple 2023 Street projects including:
• First Street – Sycamore to Duval – add curb, mill, and fill surface
• First Street – Duval to Eureka – mill and fill surface
• Evans Avenue – Prairie to City limits – reconstruction
• Prairie Street – Robinson to East Main Street – mill and fill surface
A very rough cost estimate of construction is $325,000, plus $24,500 for engineering, and $24,500 for construction engineering (cost and work authorization would be presented at a future Council meeting). The City has approximately $340,000 remaining of Rebuild Illinois funds that are required to be spent by Fall of 2023. The remainder of the project costs would be paid for using other street improvement funds, such as other (non-RBI) Motor Fuel Tax funds. These streets were chosen based on the City’s Pavement Management Report and requirements of Rebuild Illinois Fund expenditures. There was no further discussion. Roll call vote was taken. Aldermen Wesner, Pulley, Winter, Hughes and Holcomb voted yes.
APPROVE AN ORDINANCE AMENDING TITLE 1 AND APPENDIX A OF THE MUNICIPAL CODE OF THE CITY OF GENOA: Motion made by Alderman Winter to approve an ordinance amending Title 1 and Appendix A of the municipal code of the City of Genoa, seconded by Alderman Hughes. This ordinance includes implementing a temporary occupancy bond fee, requiring court for building code violations and expired temporary certificate of occupancies, a fine for conducting work without a permit when a permit is required, adjusting fees based on the number of inspections required under the new building code, and adding a fee for solar panels and commercial roof replacements. There was no further discussion. Roll call vote was taken. Aldermen Wesner, Pulley, Winter, Hughes and Holcomb voted yes.
APPROVE A CITY HALL HVAC MAINTENANCE AGREEMENT WITH DEKALB MECHANICAL, NOT TO EXCEED $5,930: Motion made by Alderman Wesner to approve a city hall HVAC maintenance agreement with DeKalb Mechanical, not to exceed $5,930, seconded by Alderman Pulley. Alderman Holcomb asked how much longer till the city will need a new system, City Administrator, Alyssa Seguss stated that we could really use the new system now but it is very expensive and at this time we can still find parts for the current system to keep limping it along, however this is something that we should probably start planning for in the future. Roll call vote was taken. Aldermen Wesner, Pulley, Winter, Hughes and Holcomb voted yes. Motion carried.
APPROVE A PUBLIC WORKS BUILDING HVAC MAINTENANCE AGREEMENT WITH DEKALB MECHANICAL, NOT TO EXCEED $1,525: Motion made by Alderman Holcomb to approve a public works building HVAC maintenance agreement with DeKalb Mechanical, not to exceed $1,525, seconded by Alderman Winter. No further discussion. Roll call vote was taken. Aldermen Wesner, Pulley, Winter, Hughes and Holcomb voted yes. Motion carried.
APPROVE AN AMENDMENT TO THE CITY’S DOWNTOWN FAÇADE IMPROVEMENT PROGRAM: Motion made by Alderman Pulley to approve an amendment to the city’s downtown façade improvement program, seconded by Alderman Hughes. Included in the packet is an amendment to the City’s Façade Improvement Program. This includes:
• Amendment on page 2 to reference paint colors to be used in order to use Façade Improvement Program funds.
• Added Appendix A which includes eligible paint colors.
Alderman Hughes asked about how many buildings have applied and or completed the façade improvement? City Administrator, Alyssa Seguss and Mayor Brust stated that there are quite a few that have inquired about applying for the grant and there are quite a few that have also started and or completed remodeling the outside of the building. Alderman Winter asked about the color scheme and if someone really wanted to do a different color from what is in the ordinance if that was possible? City Administrator, Alyssa Seguss and Mayor Brust stated that all of the applicants have to have the council’s final approval and this is to try and keep uniform downtown. Roll call vote was taken. Aldermen Wesner, Pulley, Winter, Hughes and Holcomb voted yes. Motion carried.
DEPARTMENT REPORTS
Finance Report – Treasurer & Finance Director, Jan Tures stated that she has nothing new to report at this time
Public Works – Public Works Director, Janice Melton stated that Brian Wallace has purchased a bike rack to be placed by disc golf; Roger and JoAnn Watson’s family has purchased a picnic table to be placed by the pedestrian bridge in their honor. Water department is continuing to work on gathering the information on homes that have the lead service and getting the water main attached on Prairie Street. Alderman Pulley asked Janice if Com Ed was the one going around and trimming the trees by the power lines, Janice confirmed that they were the ones trimming the trees.
Police Department – Chief Smith reported that there was a fatal accident on August 10th auto vs bicycle at First Street and Washington, the victim was a 59-year-old male from Genoa and the driver is a 20-year-old female from Belvidere who fled the scene. Boone County was waiting for her when she got home, they arrested her and brought her back to Genoa. They have determined that there was no alcohol or cell phone usage involved. Investigators are reconstructing the accident and have determined that she was going approximately 24-27 miles per hour when she struck the victim. Charges will be determined soon. Full time Officer Baxa has resigned after 5 years, he took a position in Winnebago County, it was a loss to the department but we wish him well. We have a part-time officer that will move to full time on August 29th for the department which we are grateful for, he has 5 years with Kingston and 2 years with Sheridan. We have recently finished the test and we have 4 people on the entry level list and will have 1 on the lateral list that if we need to hire another full-time officer, we can move that person up to full time. We have the new golf cart and UTV stickers in we are up to 56 at this time, currently they have not been many complaints just a few minor things here and there, loud music, parking in the grass, etc.… School has started this past week and all went well, however we are still looking for a crossing guard.
Administrative Report – City Administrator, Alyssa Seguss reported that EDC survey for residents is going to be going out within the next couple of days so if any alderman has residents that have any questions or concerns, please refer them back to Alyssa so that she can walk them through any questions or why they are asking certain information, please remind them that this is all completely optional and completely anonymous. A notice was put out today that the city is looking for residents to help with the comprehensive plan task force, unfortunately it can’t be any elected officials or employees of the city, but if there are any other residents or business owners that are interested have them email the mayor that they would like to participate. They will probably meet 4-5 times between fall of this year and spring of next year and provide NIU with feed back of what the community needs and wants.
Mayor’s Report – Mayor Brust stated that the city is throwing a picnic for employees and elected officials on August 28th from 12pm-3pm. We have received a request recently to have an open house so that the community can meet and talk with the alderman and mayor in a more relaxed setting instead of having a resident or business owner go up to the podium and speak to everyone at once. Compressive plan will be in full swing soon, any and all volunteers would be much appreciated we currently have a lot of talented people already on boards and commissions so that means that the pool is slim, but if there is someone that is not on a board or commission, please send the names to the mayor or Alyssa so that they can reach out. Alderman Holcomb asked about any new information on the downtown grant? Mayor Brust stated that they did receive news and the city did not get the grant however, they are trying to gather more information as to why the city did not get the grant. However, Jan Tures is pulling together various funds that could be allocated to the project still and understand that if we were to move forward with the improvements maybe not the full batch what would that look like, how much funding would we have and the last few years the city has received funding called the ARPA funds from COVID and it is to help communities attract tourism, improve and respond to the last couple of years. We have used some of that money to help off set salaries during that time so we have some amount that has been saved up and will have a report to share with the council hopefully next meeting and get opinions on how to move forward or if we want to move forward on what scale.
ANNOUNCEMENTS – Disc Golf grand opening Tues Aug 23, City picnic on the 28th, Car show Aug 20th, Harvest Fest received confirmation that the museum is fulling opening for Harvest Festival and doing events like they do for Pioneer Days, Alderman Pulley is looking for a couple of volunteers to help with setting up the large movie screen on Friday September 30th at 4pm. If anyone is interested in volunteering for anything else at the event would greatly be appreciated. Alderman Hughes had someone ask if the farmers market will return? Alyssa stated that was a Chamber Event and from her understanding the Health Departments food permits were too strict for them to continue it.
Motion to adjourn the meeting of the City Council was made by Alderman Wesner, seconded by Alderman Pulley. Voice vote was taken. All voted yes. Motion carried. Meeting was adjourned at 7:50 p.m.
https://www.genoa-il.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/Meeting-Minutes-08172022.pdf
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