City of Genoa City Council met Jan. 18.
Here is the agenda provided by the council:
I. CALL TO ORDER & ROLL CALL
II. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE
III. GUEST SPEAKERS
A) RECOGNITION OF KENNA BRAHENY, THE 2023 CALENDAR COVER CONTEST WINNER IV. APPROVAL OF MINUTES FROM THE JANUARY 4, 2023 CITY COUNCIL MEETING
V. APPROVAL OF ACCOUNTS PAYABLES
VI. ITEMS FROM INDIVIDUALS IN ATTENDANCE*
VII. OLD BUSINESS
VIII. FUTURE ITEMS FOR DISCUSSION
IX. NEW BUSINESS
A) APPROVE A GAS ORDINANCE WITH NICOR
The City’s current franchise agreement with NICOR Gas is expiring in February 2023. Staff and the our consulting legal team have worked with NICOR to reach a mutually agreeable “Gas Ordinance” included in the packet. Highlights of the Ordinance include:
• Grants NICOR, under the terms of the agreement, the permission to distribute and sell natural gas in the City of Genoa for 25 years. This means maintaining and operating pipes and mains throughout the community.
• NICOR must not injure City infrastructure and/or public improvements through the installation, maintenance, and operation of their own equipment. If they do cause damage, they must repair it themselves or the City will and charge NICOR accordingly.
• NICOR must indemnify and hold the City harmless, except in the case of negligence on the City’s part, for any damages, costs, expenses resulting from the privileges given to NICOR in the agreement (right to provide services).
• NICOR shall provide the City with a cash payment of 3.6 therms x 5,298 (city population) x gas rate over 3 years. To compare, under the current agreement (3.0 therms per population) and 3 year cost average, the City received $8,689.25. Under the new calculations (3.6 therms) the City would have received $10,427.21.
B) APPROVE A STATEMENT OF WORK WITH SIKICH LLP, NOT TO EXCEED $29,480
The City of Genoa has contracted with Sikich since 1999 for audit services. Sikich provides auditing services to over 100 governmental clients, making them a prominent auditing firm in Northern Illinois. For over 20 years, Sikich has provided excellent auditing services as well as outstanding resources regarding accounting issues. This year, the costs of these services amounts to $29,480, broken down below. The cost for these services is largely attributed to the City of
Genoa Fiscal Year Ended April 30, 2023 Audit, which is required by law. An audit of the Police Pension Fund and an opinion on the generally accepted government auditing standards are also required, which is included in the Statement of Work being considered.
City Audit – Not to exceed $20,760
Pension Audit – Not to exceed $2,550
Single Audit – IF REQUIRED - $4,110
GAGAS Opinion – IF REQUIRED - $2,060
C) APPROVE A RESOLUTION PROVIDING FOR THE RETIREMENT OF CERTAIN MUNICIPAL INDEBTEDNESS BY THE USE OF MOTOR FUEL TAX FUNDS
If approved, this IDOT Resolution authorizes the City of Genoa to utilize $100,000 of Motor Fuel Tax Funds to pay the principal on the 2020 Bond issue. The 2020 Bond was issued for street improvements done in 2021 and 2022 and the remainder of the bond is planned to be used for the downtown streetscape project.
D) APPROVE AND AUTHORIZE THE MAYOR TO EXECUTE AN AGREEMENT WITH THE ILLINOIS DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE AND ECONOMIC OPPORTUNITY FOR A HOUSING STUDY
The City of Genoa received the RISE Grant through the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity amounting to $33,923.26, which will be provided to the City on a reimbursement basis. These funds will be used for the development of a housing study to be conducted by Northern Illinois University. The housing study will address several issues including but not limited to: workforce housing, identifying infrastructure improvements that would encourage new housing development, and sustaining and growing local businesses serving Genoa residents. The grant agreement in the packet is DCEO’s standard agreement provided to award recipients. Staff and Northern Illinois University are committed to meeting objectives under the grant application within the parameters of the grant program.
E) APPROVE THE PURCHASE OF RESIDENTIAL WATER METERS AND RADIOS, NOT TO EXCEED $23,716
A purchase requisition is included in the packet.
F) APPROVE AND AUTHORIZE THE MAYOR TO APPROVE A STATEMENT OF WORK, SUBJECT TO ATTORNEY REVIEW, WITH INVOICE CLOUD
Staff has been working with Invoice Cloud to discuss streamlining several internal manual processes and providing an interactive website which allows residents to obtain information regarding their utility bills. With this website, residents would also be able to enroll in paperless utility billing, receive email and text reminder alerts, as well as pay their utility bill by check or with credit card online or by text. Residents would not be required to utilize this service – payments will still be accepted via cash and check via mail and in person as well as by card at City Hall. However, providing these payment options is intended to make paying utility bills more convenient, just like residents pay their other utilities.
Additionally, giving residents the capability of looking up their account information and enrolling in paperless billing will reduce the number of calls City Hall receives regarding bills not received in the regular mail (approximately 50 bills per month), as well as reduce the time and cost of reprinting/remailing replacement bills. Invoice Cloud also sends a daily file with the online payments that were received, and the City’s Utility Billing Clerk can upload it directly into our Locis software, instead of manually applying each payment. Invoice Cloud charges a monthly fee of $250 in addition to $.35 per month for every account that utilizes their service.
For those that enroll in the service, the City will no longer print or mail those residents’ bills at a cost savings of over $.50/month per (not including labor cost savings).
Staff’s ultimate goal is to make our utility billing process as user-friendly as possible and we believe this service will assist us in achieving that, as well as being more cost and time efficient.
*Note: Staff reached out to Byron, Pecatonica and Marseilles who currently use Invoice Cloud Services and Locis. They all indicated that the services integrate well with the Locis software and has helped reduce phone calls regarding lost bills in the mail, in addition to the residents having flexible options regarding how they can pay their bills.
X. DEPARTMENT REPORTS
A) FINANCE
B) PUBLIC WORKS
C) POLICE
D) ADMINISTRATION
E) COMMITTEE, BOARDS, AND COMMISSION REPORTS (WTC, EDC, PC, PC, PP, TB, DBC, AND FAC)
F) MAYOR
XI. ANNOUNCEMENTS
XII. MOTION TO ADJOURN
https://www.genoa-il.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/CCagenda-01182023-1.pdf
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