City of Braidwood City Council met July 23.
Here is the minutes provided by the council:
Call to Order: The Regular Meeting of the Braidwood City Council on July 23rd, 2019 was called to order at 7:00 p.m. by Mayor Jones in the Council Chambers of the Braidwood City Hall.
Pledge of Allegiance
Roll Call: Upon Roll Call by the Clerk, the following members of the corporate authorities answered “Here” or “Present”;
Elected Officials;
Present: Commissioner Saltzman, Commissioner Money, Commissioner Hart, Commissioner Smith, and Mayor Jones
Absent:
Appointed Officials;
Present: City Attorney Wellner, City Administrator Altiery, Chief Lyons, City Engineer Weber and City Clerk Fisher
Absent:
Quorum: There being sufficient members of the corporate authorities in attendance to constitute a quorum, the meeting was declared in order.
Public Comment: Jason Hartz addressed the Council reference the use of UTV’s, such as Gators, within the City similar to that of the use of golf carts and explained that Illinois law and the safety features of UTV’s put them in the same category as golf carts; maybe safer. Jason proposed a revision to the golf cart ordinance to include UTV’s.
Mike Guinta addressed the Council reference re-zoning his property, 435 Enterprise Drive, to I-2 in order to accommodate an existing business that would like to expand to the area; that being a small trucking firm that operates, maintains, tows semi-trucks, and sells semi-trucks. There would be no storage on the property and parking on the property would be limited to overnight only for the company’s own small fleet and trucks being serviced and the property would be completely fenced in. The location is located on a truck route making access agreeable. Attorney Wellner suggested starting and presenting a site plan and preliminary development plans to the engineer and then re-apply for the zoning change.
Approval of Minutes: Commissioner Smith made a motion, seconded by Commissioner Saltzman, to approve meeting minutes from the July 9th, 2019 Regular Council Meeting. Motion carries with 5 ayes; 0 nays. (Saltzman, Money, Hart, Smith, and Jones)
Mayor’s Report: Mayor reported that it seemed everyone had a good time at Braidwood Fest other than the parade getting rained out.
Administrator Report: Administrator Altiery reported bills were still being reviewed. The computers were gone through and it was found that there was no anti-virus on City servers/computers and this has been remedied. There are a couple businesses hopefully coming to town within the next couple months.
There has been a lot of productive conversation and hopefully this will be moving forward in the very near future and the names of the businesses and more information can be brought forward. A big thank you to E-Z Living. Due to the excessive heat, Administrator Altiery went to E-Z Living and requested a camper to be used as a cooling trailer for the Police Officers. They were happy to go out of their way at the last minute to assist.
City Clerk Report: Clerk Fisher presented a request by the Lion’s Club to approve their Annual Candy Day Fundraiser which supports the lions Sight and Sound Humanitarian services, to be held at the intersection of Rt. 53 at Rt. 129 and Rt. 113, on October 11th, 2019 from 3:00pm to 6:00 pm. Commissioner Saltzman made a motion, seconded by Commissioner Smith to approve this request. Motion passes with 5 ayes;0 nays. (Saltzman, Money, Hart, Smith and Jones)
Engineer Report: The City’s request for an easement is under review with the legal department at this time.
Chief of Police: Chief Lyons thanked the Will County Auxiliary for donating their time to provide extra security for Summerfest, which also saved the City money on overtime. The Auxiliary provided 5-6 Officers Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
City Attorney Report: Attorney Wellner advised that there was progress being made on cleaning up/updating the Ordinances in Municode and there are pending agreements to be presented at the next Council Meeting. Wellner suggested moving to Executive Session prior to moving forward.
Executive Session:
a. Commissioner Money made a motion, seconded by Commissioner Smith, to go into Executive Session at 7:16pm. Commissioner Money made a motion, seconded by Commissioner Hart, to return to open session at 7:35pm. Motion passes with 4 ayes; 1 nay. (Ayes; Money, Hart, Smith, Jones: Nays; Saltzman)
b. No action after Executive Session
Accounts & Finance Report: Commissioner Saltzman made a motion, seconded by Commissioner Hart, to approve the Accounts Payable Report dated 07/23/2019. Motion passes with 5 ayes; 0 nays. (Saltzman, Money, Hart, Smith, and Jones) Commissioner Saltzman made a motion, seconded by Commissioner Smith, to approve the Payroll Report dated 07/23/2019. Motion passes with 5 ayes; 0 nays. (Saltzman, Money, Hart, Smith, and Jones) Commissioner Saltzman thanked everyone for coming out to Summerfest and thanked all volunteers for their help. He specifically thanked Commissioners Smith and Money for their help and especially Rob Grivetti for his countless hours, especially Sunday disconnecting the electric at closing as vendors were leaving. He further thanked Commissioner Hart and Chief Lyons for their help; there was no problems. Figures were way down this year; they were good Friday, but with the heat Saturday, no one came out and the rain and forecast lightning Sunday put a hurt on things. Thank you to Mr. Altiery for contacting E-Z Living for the cooling station and to Rob Grivetti who put together a fan with low pressure spray for cooling the beer garden. Saltzman advised that Kaspernik will be in on Friday to finish the books and he has spoken with Sistek Audit and to prepare for them he will have to take charge and possibly help because they will be in soon. Saltzman states in the future, he will be looking to possibly make budget cuts in all departments and there is no line item for a City Administrator; that comes out of Administration and we can’t afford that. Mayor stated that they could afford it last year. Saltzman stated the budget we’re working on now is last year’s budget and that’s where we got into trouble. Mayor replied there was an Administrator on that budget probably making 30-40 thousand dollars more. Administrator Altiery stated that since they have brought up his position, that he, the Mayor and the Police Chief have cut budget over $750,000.00. Altiery inquired to Saltzman what Kaspernik is doing that has incurred a bill for $43,000.00 not including the last 2 weeks and why Kaspernik is not allowed to inform anyone but Saltzman on what he is working on. Saltzman replied Kaspernik is trying to get things straight and that is not Altiery’s job. Saltzman reiterated that he will be looking into budget cuts.
Streets & Public Improvement Report: Commissioner Smith states he stood for 4 years and battled the budget and is the only person that thought of the taxpayers and turned money back in while he went without things they needed. Smith states a lot of money was spent when there wasn’t a budget there for it and we need to do everything we can to save this town.
Public Property Report: Commissioner Money reported that in the last 2 weeks;
The Water Department cleaned inished bi-annual sludge reporting, had H2O Towers power washed Tower 3 nice and clean, landscaped the drive to well 2 (It was all tracked up from trucks after well 2 repair), are having to clean the west clarifier twice a week in this hot weather to keep up with algae growth, painted some fire hydrants, mowed and trimmed grass at incoming roads into town, installed broken high level alarm light on shadow lakes lift station, vaccuumed out headwords screener trough again, cleaned 3 more beds of sludge. During high heat days, there was problems with unbalanced power which tripped out well 5, and equipment at the sewer plant various times. The NRG energy curtailment last Thursday between 2-3 pm was a success; both generators performed properly. The laptop reader for water meter billing had problems; the tech was called out and the cord assembly and connecter were replaced.
Public Works did 73 locates, 1 MXU repair, 1 new meter Install, 3 meter repairs, 32 meter reads, 8 water shut offs, mowed, helped Street Department with culvert and dirt, took scrap TVs to Lockport, Vac-Con Shadow Lakes Lift Stations, fixed front door at City Hall (saved $2700), and trimmed trees at the Police Department parking lot.
Public Health & Safety Report: Commissioner Hart reported that between 07/09/2019 and 07/23/2019, the Police Department handled 193 Calls for Service and made 2 arrests.
Planning & Zoning Report:
Old Business: Administrator Altiery reports that he has spoken with Mr. Foley reference the alleyway that he has the deed for and pays taxes on. Foley wants to block this off as he is afraid of something adverse happening and him being liable. Discussion will continue with Engineer Weber and Attorney Wellner.
New Business: Administrator Altiery opened discussion of a new copier for the City Hall which would save labor and paper. Commissioner Hart made a motion, and Commissioner Smith, seconded to approve the lease/purchase of the copier. Commissioner Smith and Money had questions reference the lease of the copier. The lease/purchase was tabled pending the answers to these questions and the creation of a resolution
Commissioner Money inquired if there is interest in having Scarecrow Fest again this year. Interest was shown.
Adjournment:
Commissioner Saltzman made a motion, seconded by Commissioner Hart, to adjourn the meeting. Motion carried with 5 ayes; 0 nays. (Hart, Money, Saltzman, Smith, Jones) The July 23rd , 2019 Regular Meeting, of the Braidwood City Council, adjourned at 8:15pm.
https://braidwood.us/download/meetings/minutes/Minutes-07232019.pdf
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