DeKalb Times

City of Genoa City Council met Oct. 19.

Here are the minutes provided by the council:

Mayor Brust called the meeting of the City Council to order at 7:06 p.m. Roll call was taken. Aldermen Wesner, Pulley, Freund, Stage, Winter, Hughes and Holcomb were present. Alderman Cravatta, was absent. Quorum present.

Mayor Brust led the Pledge of Allegiance.

Guest Speakers – None

Motion made by Alderman Pulley to accept the minutes of the October 5, 2022 City Council meeting, seconded by Alderman Hughes. No 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 October 15, 2022, seconded by Alderman Stage. No further discussion. Roll call vote was taken. Aldermen Wesner, Pulley, Freund, Stage, Winter, Hughes and Holcomb voted yes. Motion carried.

ITEMS FROM INDIVIDUALS IN ATTENDANCE – Chief Bruce Kozlowski presented the council with information in regards to the referendum for the G-K Fire Protection District if this referendum is passed this will ease some burden that the district is currently facing such as staffing issues, equipment, relying on neighboring departments for multiple calls in progress. Chief Kozlowski stated that there is currently a 13% decrease in fire fighters and a 400% decrease in the last 6 years for paramedics due to our district not being able to compete with surrounding areas for compensation. If this referendum is passed, we can increase salaries and be able to maintain 3-4 people on shift 24/7 to help with multiple calls at a time, be able to keep our status as advanced life support and replace old or broken equipment. Alderman Pulley had a resident ask him if this is not passed if homeowners insurance could increase, Chief stated that is a possibility that some owners could face depending on their insurance.

OLD BUSINESS - None

NEW BUSINESS:

PRESENTATION OF THE CITY OF GENOA FISCAL YEAR 2021-2022 AUDIT REPORT BY SIKICH: Brian from Sikich presented the city council with the City of Genoa Fiscal Year 2021-2022 audit report. This report was also presented last week to the financial committee. There was no further discussion.

ACCEPT THE ANNUAL COMPREHENSIVE FINANCIAL REPORT FOR THE FISCAL YEAR ENDED APRIL 30, 2022: Motion made by Alderman Winter accept the annual comprehensive financial report for the fiscal year ended April 30, 2022, seconded by Alderman Holcomb. Each year, the City’s financials and accounting controls are reviewed by an independent auditor, Sikich. The City’s financial statements are presented as an Annual Comprehensive Financial Report (ACFR). In this format, the basic financial statements, statements of net position and budget-to-actual statements are provided with additional information about the City in the introductory section and a statistical section toward the end of the document to show a historical comparison. The City of Genoa will be submitting the ACFR to the Government

Finance Officers Association (GFOA) in order to be considered for the Certificate of Achievement for Excellence in Financial Reporting. The City of Genoa has received the Certificate with the past 16 ACFRs submitted and believes the Audit once again conforms with the GFOA’s award standards. The Management’s Discussion and Analysis (MD&A) is available in the ACFR and the ACFR will be posted on the City’s website, once the ACFR is accepted by the Council. The MD&A is designed to provide a narrative overview and analysis of the City’s financial activities for the past fiscal year. The MD&A focusses on significant financial issues as well as changes in the City’s financial position. Roll call vote was taken. No further discussion. Aldermen Wesner, Pulley, Freund, Stage, Winter, Hughes and Holcomb voted yes.

AUTHORIZE THE USE OF THE MUNICIPAL PARKING SPACES ON BOTH SIDES OF ROUTE 72 FROM MONROE STREET TO SYCAMORE STREET, PARKING SPACES ON THE EAST SIDE OF MONROE STREET, AND THE MUNICIPAL PARKING LOT FOR CRUISIN’ FROM 8 AM TO 3 PM FOR A CAR SHOW ON OCTOBER 30, 2022. Motion made by Alderman Wesner to authorize the use of the Municipal Parking Spaces on both sides of Route 72 from Monroe Street to Sycamore Street, parking spaces on the East side of Monroe Street and the Municipal parking lot for Cruisin’ from 8am to 3pm for a car show on October 30, 2022, seconded by Alderman Holcomb. Roll call vote was taken. Aldermen Wesner, Pulley, Freund, Stage, Winter, Hughes and Holcomb voted yes.

APPROVE THE REPAIR OF THE DIGESTER BUILDING ROOF BY ENECON USA, INC, NOT TO EXCEED $22,680. Motion made by Alderman Pulley to approve the repair of the digester building roof by Enecon USA, Inc, not to exceed $22,680 seconded by Alderman Hughes. Currently, the roof of the digester building needs repairs and is allowing methane gas to escape the building. If the roof was repaired, the building would allow the recycling of methane into the methane boiler to provide heat to the digester tank and reduce the amount of natural gas used to “digest” the sludge at the wastewater treatment plant. The Wastewater Treatment Plant’s natural gas bills are approximately $650 per month. While this won’t be a 100% savings on that bill, it will surely help soften the increasing costs of natural gas moving forward. Alderman Pulley asked if this is just normal wear and tear? Public Works Director Janice stated that yes there are little pin holes in the roof letting out methane and this is a spray coating to help seal the holes and keep in most of the gas. Roll call vote was taken. Aldermen Wesner, Pulley, Freund, Stage, Winter, Hughes and Holcomb voted yes.

APPROVAL OF THE 2023 MEETINGS CALENDAR: Motion made by Alderman Holcomb for the approval of the 2023 meetings calendar, seconded by Alderman Winter. No further discussion. Roll call vote was taken. Aldermen Wesner, Pulley, Freund, Stage, Winter, Hughes and Holcomb voted yes.

APPROVAL OF THE 2023 CITY HALL CLOSINGS: Motion made by Alderman Winter for the approval of the 2023 City Hall closings, seconded by Alderman Freund. Mayor Brust opened the discussion to replace one of the current closing dates and replace it with Juneteenth, after discussion the council and administration tabled this so that staff could discuss this further and come back to council with a date to replace. Alderman Winter made a motion to table approval of the 2023 city hall closing until a further meeting, seconded by Alderman Stage. Roll call vote was taken. Aldermen Wesner, Pulley, Freund, Stage, Winter, Hughes and Holcomb voted yes.

WAIVE THE BID PROCESS AND APPROVE ROYER ASPHALT PAVING TO COMPLETE VARIOUS ASPHALT PATCHING, NOT TO EXCEED $39,490: Motion made by Alderman Wesner for the approval to waive the bid process and approve the Royer Asphalt paving to complete various asphalt patching, not to exceed $39,490, seconded by Alderman Pulley. Alderman Hughes asked why we were waiving the bid process and if we only had the one bid; Public Works Director Janice stated that we did get two quotes. The difference between the bid process and the quote process Alyssa stated that the bid process is you have to post, collect the bids and put them in tabs. A quote is when someone calls a company and asks for quotes for work to be completed. If work that needs to be completed is over $25,000 it has to go out for bid unless the council approves it to be waived. Janice stated that due to the size of this project most companies won’t place a bid because they are so busy right now and it is too small. Alderman Stage asked if when this project will be completed; Public Works Director Janice stated that it will be done this year. Roll call vote was taken. Aldermen Wesner, Pulley, Freund, Stage, Winter, Hughes and Holcomb voted yes.

APPROVAL OF THE DRAFT PERSONNEL POLICY: Motion made by Alderman Pulley for the approval of the draft personnel policy, seconded by Alderman Wesner. Included in the packet is a draft of the City’s Personnel Policy. City Attorney Kelly Cahill has reviewed the Policy, making necessary legal updates and clarifications for some inconsistencies found within the manual. Attorney Cahill stated that they have updated the personnel policies to match State and Federal Statute has done, some of the updates that were completed is the Equal Opportunity Language, New Wage Notification Laws adding 3.07-3.11 are new statutes, updated sexual harassment policy and general harassment policy were combined into one, anti relation policy all of this are required, Illinois Pregnancy Accommodation Act and the Nursing Mother Policy and the Victim Employment Safety Security Act and FMLA language was left general due to the number of employees the city currently has and that it can accommodate if more employees were hired it would still be updated, Drug Free Work Place Act Policy, Progressive Discipline, Employees are at will if they are not in a union if they are part of a union then it is stated that the union contract will control but if the contract is silent then this policy will kick in. Roll call vote was taken. Aldermen Wesner, Pulley, Freund, Stage, Winter, Hughes and Holcomb voted yes.

APPROVE AN ORDINANCE DELETING TITLE 1, CHAPTER 17, SECTION 7 OF THE CITY CODE OF THE CITY OF GENOA: Motion made by Alderman Stage to approve an ordinance deleting Title 1, Chapter 17, Section 7 of the city code of the City of Genoa, seconded by Alderman Hughes. This Ordinance removes the City’s Sexual Harassment Policy from the Municipal Code as it has now been included in the City’s Personnel Policy to be considered in item H. City Attorney Cahill stated that since we have a section in our personnel policy, we do not need this separate policy and this one is outdated. Roll call vote was taken. Aldermen Wesner, Pulley, Freund, Stage, Winter, Hughes and Holcomb voted yes.

APPROVE A CITY OF GENOA PURCHASING POLICY: Motion made by Alderman Winter to approve a City of Genoa purchasing policy, seconded by Alderman Holcomb. City Administrator, Alyssa Seguss stated that with the Personnel Policy revisions include in item H, the Purchasing Policy was removed from the Personnel Policy and instead made a separate standalone document. The Policy is consistent with the City’s policy in the past and has been reviewed and discussed by the Finance Advisory Committee that recommended adoption of the Purchasing Policy. The Finance Advisory Committee also took a look at the credit card purchasing policy which goes hand in hand and will be presented at the next city council meeting. Finance Director Jan stated that the city does have some payments that are ACH and come out every month such as health insurance and utilities that get paid before they are approved so that the city does not incur late fees or penalties. Alderman Stage asked if the city always gets the same quotes from the same people; Public Works Director Janice stated no the city does not; Mayor stated that is why bidding is a good practice so that you can get new company names new quotes. Roll call vote was taken. Aldermen Wesner, Pulley, Freund, Stage, Winter, Hughes and Holcomb voted yes.

APPROVE AN ORDINANCE AUTHORIZING THE CITY OF GENOA, DEKALB COUNTY ILLINOIS TO DECLARE CERTAIN PROPERTY AS SURPLUS AND APPROVING THE DISPOSAL OR SALE OF SAID PROPERTY: Motion made by Alderman Wesner to approve an ordinance authorizing The City of Genoa, DeKalb County Illinois to declare certain property as surplus and approving the disposal or sale of said property, seconded by Alderman Freund. Attached to this ordinance is a list of electronics, most of it which have reached an age that the item is no longer usable, or it is broken. There is also a list of equipment from the Public Works Department that still has some life remaining and can be auctioned off. City staff places electronic equipment in storage and once or twice a year presents an ordinance to the council to dispose of the equipment. Flood Brothers will likely pick up the electronic equipment for recycling. Public Works can provide an update of the auctioned off equipment following the auction. Alderman Winter asked what happens to the items that we are disposing of, City Administrator, Alyssa stated that items will either be disposed of, recycled or sold if something is able to be and if it does not get sold then it will be thrown away or brought back to council to determine what should be done with it. Roll call vote was taken. Aldermen Wesner, Pulley, Freund, Stage, Winter, Hughes and Holcomb voted yes.

DEPARTMENT REPORTS

Finance Report – Treasurer & Finance Director, Jan Tures stated that the annual treasures report will be in the Daily Chronicle tomorrow as we are required every fiscal year to publish the report before the end of October then it gets filed with the county. Starting to prepare the 2022 tax levy estimates and working to complete the fillings for the audit report, now that it is complete and approved it can be finalized by the end of the month.

Public Works – Public Works Director, Janice Melton stated that Prairie Street last two lines were hooked up, hopefully in the next few weeks public works is hoping to get the areas hot patched for over the winter, hoping to do a lift on Prairie Street when everything is all said and done. Last week boy scouts came out and did prairie seed collection. Trying to tie up the storm sewer had to get a few more gaping baskets for Oak Creek, Granger is doing well getting their list done, they were starting the burial of the concrete today and hoping in another week or two that completion of the retaining ponds will be done. Alderman Hughes asked about the lights going into River Bend. Public Works Director Janice stated that she has been in contact with ComEd and trying to find out information, if those lights are their responsibility or the city’s. Once we find out who’s ownership it is it will get taken care of.

Police Department – Chief Smith handed out reports to alderman pertaining to their wards, Alyssa has one for all of the wards for the month of September. There are some events going on in the next few weeks Trunk or Treat is 10/29, Car Show on 10/30 and Halloween on 10/31, Trick or Treat is from 4-7pm. We are also sending some staff over for Pumpkin Fest as Sycamore helped out with Genoa Days. Mayor Brust asked that any Alderman that would be available to be at Trunk or Treat to hand out candy would be great. Alderman Winter asked about dispatch service last month seemed higher than before, City Administrator, Alyssa Seguss and Finance Director stated that we are under contract with an increase each year around July or August.

Administrative Report – City Administrator, Alyssa Seguss stated that Mayor and herself had a kick off meeting for the comprehensive plan, mayor is still looking for some members to join if anyone knows anyone who would be interested in joining. Continuing to work on the downtown design plans with a smaller committee picking out lighting and design details, engineering is working on some different options with the closure of Emmett Street, hoping to share this information soon with the public and getting some feedback. Working on wrapping up the city’s annual report and calendar. Jan and Alyssa have been working on reviewing the insurance renewals for 2023 which will be presented to the council soon, good news there is actually some savings with the health insurance without having to reduce any benefits. Police department has been actively been working on their emergency plan which is also something council will see in the coming meetings as well. Big shout out to Public Works for getting the information on the led service line replacement so far ahead of time that it has bumped up our time on submitting our grant application with Fair Graham, we had a call earlier this week with them and it went really well. They still believe there is a forgiveness with the IEPA.

Mayor’s Report – Mayor Brust stated that progress on the downtown revitalization is going well and hoping to release to public soon. There was an Economic Development Commission meeting recently that had a really good conversation with the marketing team from DeKalb County’s EDC. There has been a lot of effort from the EDC and sorting out where Genoa is today and where the community would like to be, what it wants and needs in the future. With the survey they have received over 100 results with series of questions like how long have you lived here to what are your top dream business to open in Genoa; it has been really eye opening with some of the results that have come in. A Summary will be shared with the council at some point. There has been talk on putting in a quarterly meeting for state of community meeting that would include the Fire Department, Park District, Library, EDC all of these different boards to come together and share what they are doing and what is going on within their departments. The budget process in the next couple of weeks will be starting if any alderman has any requests to be included in this budget, please let us know sooner than later and we will add them into our preliminary meeting in a couple of weeks; it is so much easier to add budget items now than later. Alderman Stage is going to give an update on the waste water treatment.

Alderman Stage stated that the waste water treatment committee meets twice a month, going over ordinances from Malta and Kishwaukee College with the Kishwaukee Water Reclamation. We are trying to figure out what our wants and needs are right now, there is a list going to send out to Kishwaukee Water Reclamation to get their answers on those items. An example is at this time we do not want to give up the extra’s that Genoa is doing such as if there is a water back up. Alderman Wesner is also on the committee and stated that they are working on it trying to decide which is the better route for the community and make sure that if the city decides to go with Kishwaukee Water Reclamation that everyone is on the same page. Mayor Brust stated that we are at the point that if we go with a third party for our waste that these are our must haves and these are our we would like to haves. Alderman Stage also stated that Kishwaukee Water Reclamation charges a meter fee as well as our surrounding communities, the committee would like feedback from the council on opinions on creating an ordinance for these fees. Most residential lines are ¾ inch, thinking on having 1” and above have a meter fee, the cost of the meter is greater for 1” and up. This would be a monthly charge. Most of these with the larger lines are business, duplexes, apartments. Mayor Brust stated that this is a recommendation to council to consider this ordinance, this is not formalized or finalized, trying to figure out if this is something that council is open to moving forward with or keep what we currently are doing. From the discussion council is interested in moving forward with possibly implementing this ordinance.

ANNOUNCEMENTS – Trunk or Treat on 10/29, Cruzin’ Car Show on 10/30 and Halloween on 10/31

Motion to adjourn the meeting of the City Council was made by Alderman Wesner, seconded by Alderman Winter. Voice vote was taken. All voted yes. Motion carried. Meeting was adjourned at 8:33 p.m.

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