Braidwood City Council met Tuesday, Dec. 27.
The board of trustees provides oversight, guidance and governance for the city of Braidwood.
Here are the minutes as provided by Braidwood:
CITY OF BRAIDWOOD
City Council Regular Meeting Minutes
Tuesday, December 27, 2016
Call to Order
Mayor Vehrs called the meeting to order at 7:00pm.
Pledge of Allegiance
Mayor Vehrs asked the Chief to lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance.
Roll Call
Elected Officials present: Commissioner Hibler, Commissioner Hutton, Commissioner Smith, Commissioner Tessler and Mayor Vehrs were present.
Appointed officials present: City Attorney Matt Campbell, City Clerk Sue Grygiel, Chief Nick Ficarello and City Administrator Don Labriola were present. City Engineer was absent.
Public Comment
Angie Hutton, Wanted to let everyone know that the new Welcome to Braidwood sign that was presented to the city council a few months ago has finally been put up. This new sign has the capability to hang below it annual events that are to be held in Braidwood. The sign has been put up by Tony Altiery for the Chamber and with the help of Supervisor Aubrey Glisson at the corner piece of property at Route 113 and Comet Drive and can be seen coming West on Route 113. It was the perfect day to put the sign up and Angie advised that pictures and a story about the sign will be at a later date.
Mike Compton, resident in Townes of Braidwood. He addressed a letter that was sent by the city to 37 residents in the Townes regarding their trees. There were no ordinance violations given in this letter. Mike said this is actually city property so it’s not on the residents to trim if in violation. Mike said he was told that there was a letter from the HOA turning those rights over to the HOA so they can take care of and that was incorrect. At this time the Mayor explained why this all became an issue. We got a phone call from the Post Office that they’re not going to deliver mail unless one of these trees were trimmed because the tree would hit the mail truck. So the city workers went out there and trimmed the tree and at this point a few residents had issues. Mayor said he talked to HOA President and he explained to him that this is city property. The President then said they had a covenant when they built the subdivision that the homeowner planted the tree. The Mayor said he didn’t read any of that but this is what he was told. The Mayor told him we could write down the addresses of which trees need to be trimmed for the snowplowing trucks so the mirrors aren’t taken off at a cost of about $200 a piece and they’re heated mirrors on our trucks for the safety of the driver. So that was the reason for sending out the letter. The Mayor explained the city’s point of view that anything from the buffalo box to the curb is city right of way and the city will maintain. The Mayor said he will be contacting the HOA President and we will give notice that the city is doing tree trimming.
Public Comment Closed at 7:06pm.
Approval of Minutes
Comm. Smith made a motion, seconded by Comm. Hutton to approve the Regular Meeting Minutes of December 13, 2016. Motion approved 5 ayes, 0 nays (Smith, Hutton, Hibler & Mayor Veers) 1 abstained (Tessler).
REPORTS BY CITY OFFICIALS
Mayor
The Mayor wished everyone a blessed and prosperous New Year.
Administrator
The Administrator deferred his comments to Comm. Tessler who has some good news for all of us tonight.
City Clerk
Nothing to Report.
Engineer
Absent.
City Attorney
Atty. Campbell said the first thing he had was Ordinance 16-19, Establishing Procedures for Reimbursement of Certain Expenses. The state passed Public Act 99-0604 which details the new way government travel expenses are to be handled so this ordinance tonight covers that requirement. A Draft Ordinance was given to council at the last meeting along with a Draft Reimbursement Form. Some adjustments were made to the Drafts but does comply with the State Statute.
Motion made by Comm. Smith to adopt Ordinance 16-19, seconded by Comm. Hutton. Motion approved 5 ayes, 0 nays (Smith, Hutton, Hibler, Tessler & Mayor Vehrs).
Atty. Campbell then addressed Resolution 16-26 Authorizing the Execution of a Letter of Understanding between the City of Braidwood and Local 150. This is in relation to pager pay, it’s a gap that we are trying to fill in before the current Contract expires in April 2017. We will address this situation during negotiations for the next contract.
Motion made by Comm. Smith to adopt Resolution 16-26, seconded by Comm. Tessler. Motion approved 5 ayes, 0 nays (Smith, Tessler, Hibler, Hutton & Mayor Vehrs).
REPORTS BY CITY COMMISSIONERS
Accounts & Finances
Comm. Hibler made a motion to pay the total bills due on our Check Register in the amount of $208,445.68, seconded by Comm. Smith. Motion approved with 5 ayes, 0 nays (Hibler, Smith, Hutton, Tessler & Mayor Vehrs).
Comm. Hibler made a motion to pay the Payroll Expenses due in the amount of $96,574.86 seconded by Comm. Hutton. Motion approved 5 ayes, 0 nays (Hibler, Hutton, Smith, Tessler & Mayor Vehrs).
Streets & Public Improvements
Comm. Smith gave the highlights of what his department had done. Did a good job taking care of snow removal and everything seems to be working out good.
Public Property
Comm. Hutton read the Plant Crews Report and the Outside Crews report for the last two weeks.
Public Health & Safety
Comm. Tessler addressed his Agenda item first. Comm. Tessler made a motion to adopt Ordinance
16-20; Authorizing the Execution of an Intergovernmental Agreement to Establish the Laraway Communications Center, seconded by Comm. Hutton. Comm. Tessler read some discussion items given to him by Administrator Labriola as well as background with the process they have had to go through. Comm. Tessler thanked everyone for their support during this process. Motion approved 5 ayes, 0 nays (Tessler, Hutton, Hibler, Smith & Mayor Vehrs).
Comm. Tessler read the Chief’s Press Release from 12/13-12/27/16, for total calls for service 195.
Comm. Tessler then reminded everyone about the snow removal please don’t park on the roads so snow plows can get through, eliminating possible damage to vehicles which we don’t want.
Planning & Zoning Board Report
Nothing to Report.
Executive Session
Comm. Hutton made a motion to go into Executive Session to discuss Personnel and invited Administrator Labriola and Police Chief Ficarello in, seconded by Comm. Smith. Motion approved
5 ayes, 0 nays (Hutton, Smith, Hibler, Tessler & Mayor Vehrs).
Comm. Smith made a motion to reconvene the Regular Meeting at 8:06pm, seconded by Comm. Hutton. Motion approved 5 ayes, 0 nays (Smith, Hutton, Hibler, Tessler & Mayor Vehrs).
No action taken following Executive Session.
Old Business
Chief Ficarello had items to address. Wescom has offered us to stay with them until the Laraway Center is built. Not sure what the cost is at this time. Wescom also wants us to withdraw our Resolution wherein stated we were leaving. The Chief believes the Resolution is up February 2017. So they are asking us to take the first step and withdraw our Resolution so they can then provide us service until the new center is completed. Chief recommends that our legal counsel discuss with Wescom’s legal to come up with some type of reasonable arrangement so we have dispatch services prior to the new center. At this time the Mayor suggested we table this to the next meeting so that he can talk to the commissioners and the Chief once this Intergovernmental Agreement is signed to see what our options are. The Chief said that on January 19th our letter to withdraw is up and WESCOM wants us to sign a 2yr. Contract and Chief feels we shouldn’t do at this time. Chief then addressed his Radios. He said that they have to purchase new radios no matter where we go. He has quotes from 2 Dealers; one with Motorola Radios and the other Kenwood Radios which we can share at the next meeting.
New Business
Nothing to Report.
Adjournment
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