Will County Gazette

Braidwood City Council met June 12.

Here is the minutes provided by the Council:

Call to Order

Mayor Vehrs called the meeting to order at 7:00pm.

Mayor Vehrs said before we do the Pledge of Allegiance he’d like to honor one of Braidwood’s longtime business owner Muzzy, who owned the barber shop here in town and has been here for 56 years, passed away on June 5th. He asked everyone to please remain standing for a moment of silence in honor of Muzzy.

Pledge of Allegiance

Mayor Vehrs 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 Kopman, City Clerk Sue Grygiel, Chief Nick Ficarello and City Engineer Todd Gereaux were present. City Administrator Don Labriola was absent.

Public Comment

Opened at 7:01pm.

Mike Grace, resident at 475 S. Carol Lane. Mike wanted to let the council know that he and his family are going to have some property up For Sale soon. Mike said the property is zoned Commercial, the lot size is about 330ft. x 300ft. and is at the corner of Walnut and Reed Road. So if the City Administrator would like to get involved with this Commercial Zoned piece of property he now can. Mike then thanked everyone.

Public Comment Closed at 7:02pm.

Approval of Minutes

Comm. Smith made a motion to approve the Regular Meeting Minutes of May22, 2018 as written, seconded by Comm. Hutton. Motion approved 4 ayes, 0 nays (Smith, Hutton, Hibler & Mayor Vehrs) 1abstention (Tessler).

REPORTS BY CITY OFFICIALS

Mayor

The Mayor asked everyone to please slow down on our residential streets now that school children are out for the summer, keep an extra eye out for them on bicycles or walking down the streets. Also said that the weather here in the next few days, from Saturday-Monday is going to be 95+ degrees with a heat index of 105-108. If anyone has elderly family members, elderly neighbors please make sure to check on them. Also anyone looking for a place to cool off, city hall will be a cooling center from 9am-5pm, Monday-Friday.

Administrator

Absent.

City Clerk

Nothing to Report

Engineer

Todd Gereaux advised that Comm. Smith and the city council authorized MG2A to go out for Bid again for MFT Phase 2 because we got back really good competitive Bids for the initial phase and there was some money left over and we thought we’d let out another section for Bids and put out another Advertisement. The Bid Letting was Monday, June 11th and the low bidder for MFT Phase 2 was Austin Tyler at $241,251.75, P. T. Ferro was at $246,295.07, third was “D” Construction at $257,666.35 and Gallagher Asphalt was at $307,299.67.

MG2A recommends that the council approve the low bid to Austin Tyler.

Comm. Smith made a motion to award the MFT Phase 2 Paving Contract Bid to Austin Tyler in the amount of $241,251.75, seconded by Comm. Hibler. Motion approved 5 ayes, 0 nays (Smith, Hibler, Hutton, Tessler & Mayor Vehrs).

Todd then addressed the Agenda item for Erie St. Drainage Improvements Phase 1 & 2, Final Pay Estimate to “D” Construction in the amount of $31, 891.06.

Comm. Tessler made a motion to approve the Erie Street Drainage Phase 1 & 2 Final Pay Estimate to “D” Construction in the amount of $31,891.06, seconded by Comm. Smith. Motion approved 5 ayes, 0 nays (Tessler, Smith, Hibler, Hutton & Mayor Vehrs).

City Attorney

Atty. Kopman gave everyone a Draft Ordinance before the meeting for everyone to review. On June 1st the Illinois Legislature enacted a Bill, Small Wireless Facilities Deployment Act. What they’re doing is allowing companies to start deploying these small cell wireless transmission devices. The Act passed by the Legislature requires municipalities to pass an Ordinance within 60 days, which gives us until August 1st. This Draft is taken from a model by the Illinois Municipal League and has been tailored more for the City of Braidwood. As the Wireless Companies which almost everyone has, 4G wireless and now they’re moving to 5G. This device is smaller than a bucket and they can go on a light pole, a stop light and they require an antenna. It needs to be relatively uniform across the state in order for these companies to be able to roll them out. There are also applications and fees tied to this Ordinance and we can control the locations of these if there are other facilities being used at a particular location. There are also some strict timelines in the Draft regarding the application process.

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 $293,363.58, seconded by Comm. Smith. Motion approved with 5 ayes, 0 nays (Hibler, Smith, Hutton, Tessler & Mayor Vehrs).

Comm. Hibler made a motion to approve the Payroll Expenses in the amount of $99,772.45, seconded by Comm. Smith. Motion approved 5 ayes, 0 nays (Hibler, Smith, Hutton, Tessler & Mayor Vehrs).

Streets & Public Improvements

Comm. Smith said that they’re caught up with grass cutting even though the recent rain was much needed.

Public Property

Comm. Hutton advised that they’re closing Hickory and Cermak at the curve tomorrow for a water tap

which is to start at 7am. This will loop the waterline from Townes of Braidwood back to line going down Hickory.

Comm. Hutton then gave the Outside Crews Report; 78 locates, 1 sewer inspection, 11 sewer taps,

3 water taps, 4 water meter installations, 15 meter repairs, 15 meter reads, 3 water shut offs and sewer taps in Townes of Braidwood. Plant Crew backed out the inflow trough in the headworks building again, made some repairs in the blower building, finished CCR Report and put in newspaper and said he had copy for Wayne from Shadow Lakes, worked on Oak Ridge Subdivisions lift station, used camera in Deer Run Subdivision sewer line, flushing springtime hydrant runs and helped install storm sewer and new water main in Townes of Braidwood.

Public Health & Safety

Comm. Tessler had a few announcements before his Agenda item. Comm. Tessler gave the numbers report provided by the Chief from 5/22-6/12 with total calls for service 375, weather getting warmer so calls are going up which is very typical. Comm. Tessler had a sad note to report, they lost one of the girls at the Police Department, Sarah Nalley. She and her family are relocating to Florida and last week was her last day. He said Sarah has been vital to them over the last year and a half and was always quick to help with the Administrator, the Chief or anyone else at PD. Sarah is definitely going to be missed at the PD. Comm. Tessler said they’re going to try and absorb some of Sarah’s duties the best they can.

Comm. Tessler then addressed his Agenda item, the purchase of a Ford Expedition from the Braidwood Fire Department for use at ESDA functions. He asked Josh Bolatto and/or Mike Pemble from ESDA to approach the council and explain some details on this purchase. Josh approached the council and advised that the dollar amount is a little lower than what’s listed on the Agenda. Josh explained that ESDA vehicles are used for many different types of functions; emergency response, administrative duties and this would give them a third vehicle which will help them out tremendously. Sometimes they have to borrow vehicles from the Police Dept. when they have more than two ESDA members coming out to assist, so this extra vehicle will be a remedy to that. This vehicle has about 75,000 miles on it and all the lights will remain on it. Josh then gave ESDA’s End of Year Executive Summary Report for 2017. The report showed the Total Man Hours for 2017 and the previous year 2016. Comm. Tessler thanked the ESDA Team because whenever they’re needed by Chief or someone else they respond quickly and they do a fantastic job.

Comm. Tessler made a motion to approve the purchase of a Ford Expedition from the Braidwood Fire Department in the amount of $2,550 to be used by ESDA, seconded by Comm. Hutton. Motion approved 5 ayes, 0 nays (Tessler, Hutton, Hibler, Smith & Mayor Vehrs).

Planning & Zoning

No Meeting.

Closed Session

No request for Closed Session.

Old Business

Comm. Hutton brought up the back door of city hall. When we had those 90+ degree days the concrete at the door heaved up so we might have to have that part cut out and repoured.

New Business

Adjournment

Comm. Tessler made motion to adjourn the Regular Meeting at 7:24pm, seconded by Comm. Smith. Motion approved with 5 ayes, 0 nays (Tessler, Smith, Hibler, Hutton & Mayor Vehrs).

http://braidwood.us/government/