City of Crest Hill City Council met May 11.
Here is the minutes provided by the council:
The City Council work session was called to order by Mayor Raymond R. Soliman at 7:00 p.m. in the Council Chambers, 1610 Plainfield Road Crest Hill, Will County, Illinois. Mayor Soliman indicated that the tonight's meeting will be via video conference with Council and Staff members attending from their homes.
The following Council members were present: Mayor Raymond Soliman, City Clerk Vicki Hackney, City Treasurer Glen Conklin, Alderman Scott Dyke, Alderman John Vershay, Alderwoman Barbara Sklare, Alderwoman Claudia Gazal, Alderwoman Tina Oberlin, Alderman Marco Coladipietro, Alderman Nate Albert, Alderman Joe Kubal.
Also present were: City Administrator Heather McGuire, Assistant City Administrator/HR Director Megan Fulara, Community Development Director Scott McMaster, Director of Water/Wastewater Mark Siefert, Police Chief Ed Clark, Public Works Director Tom Migatz, Finance Supervisor Ashli Motyka.
Absent were: None
TOPIC: Kelly Avenue Watermain Replacement Contract Award. Mayor Soliman presented the Kelly Avenue Watermain Replacement Contract Award per the memo dated May 6, 2020. City Administrator Heather McGuire explained that this project was approved two years ago and was put on hold. Director Siefert gave a presentation on the project. Seven bids were opened. The low bidder was Austin Tyler at a cost of $1,194,879.45. Director Siefert is requesting Council concurrence on awarding the bid to Austin Tyler.
Mayor Soliman asked for an informal vote on awarding the bid to Austin Tyler for the Kelly Avenue Watermain Replacement Contract Award per the memo dated May 6, 2020 in the amount of $1,194,879.45. All members present were in agreement.
TOPIC: Construction Management Contract with Christopher Burke Engineering for Kelly Avenue Watermain Replacement. Mayor Soliman presented the Christopher Burke Professional Construction Engineering Services-Kelly Avenue Watermain Replacement contract per the memo dated May 6, 2020. Director Siefert informed the Council that this would be for an amount not to exceed $124,000.00. He is seeking Council concurrence approve the contract with Christopher Burke Engineering.
Mayor Soliman asked for an informal vote on the Christopher Burke Professional Construction Engineering Services-Kelly Avenue Watermain Replacement contract per the memo dated May 6, 2020. All members present were in agreement.
TOPIC: Budget Presentations #2 and #3: Department Operational Budget, Capital, Revenue, 5-Year Plans. Mayor Soliman presented the Budget Presentations #2 and #3: Department Operational Budget, Capital, Revenue, 5-Year Plans. Administrator McGuire informed the Council that the only major changes are the capital projects. She also explained that financially
we are in a much better place than some other communities. Administrator McGuire explained that the budget will have to be approved with a public hearing. This would be difficult to do via virtual meeting and would like to hold off on the public hearing until we are able to hold a regular meeting. Finance Director Ashli Motyka gave a presentation on the budget.
The first item for discussion was the general fund totals and general fund revenue. The censing fees and liquor fees may go down if the Council chooses to waive a portion of the fee. Local use tax has been separated from the sales tax figures. Video gaming has been moved into its own line item. There has been an increase in the Comed/Nicor franchise tax. There was a decrease in the interest income due to the current covid-19 crisis. There was an increase in the miscellaneous revenue. Mayor Soliman commented on the video gaming. Administrator McGuire explained how we decided on the budget figure. Alderman Coladipietro asked when would we see the sales tax projection from April. Supervisor Motyka explained that we have not even gotten the numbers from March as they are currently unavailable. Alderman Albert asked for clarification on the line item for video gaming.
The next item for discussion is the official's budget. There were no changes and the fees for the IML conference was left in the budget.
Supervisor Motyka presented the Police budget. The highlighted items were the Police pension contribution, legal services, insurance & bonding and K9 expenses. We will be holding a portion of the Police pension contribution in a separate account rather than turning it over to the State. We also received the grant from the State in the amount of $25,000.00 for the canine unit.
The next item for discussion is the street budget. The highlighted items include contractual services, insurance & bonding, utilities, equipment rental and material & supplies.
Supervisor Motyka presented the administration budget. The highlighted items include contractual services and miscellaneous expenses. Administrator McGuire explained that the miscellaneous expenses are where we typically budget for merit increases. She suggested holding off on these increases until we see how this pandemic pans out. Alderman Coladipietro asked if the union and Police got their raises. Administrator McGuire explained they did because of the contracts. Alderman Coladipietro asked if we can hold off on raises for the directors and just give them to the line staff. Administrator McGuire explained that this would not work as these are all done together. Clerk Hackney asked what the union employees raises were. The clerical was 2.25%, the Police was 1.5%. Alderwoman Oberlin asked if we hold off on the merit raises, once they are approved will they get retro pay. They would.
The next item for discussion is the Clerk's budget and there are no significant changes to
Supervisor Motyka presented the Treasurers budget for discussion. The highlighted items were training and transfer out.
The next item for discussion is the Building Department budget. The highlighted items were the contractual services and training. This is the last department under the general fund. Alderman Albert asked for an update on the cable ty budget. Administrator
McGuire gave the Council an update on the equipment upgrades that will be needed. Alderman Coladipietro asked for an update on employee insurance benefits.
Supervisor Motyka then moved onto the Water/Sewer fund totals. The highlighted items under water and sewer revenue were customer metered sales and the BAB grant.
The next item is water and the highlighted items were engineering and material & supplies.
Supervisor Motyka went over the STP budget. The highlighted item is technology.
The next item for discussion was the W/S administration and the highlighted items were insurance & bonding, training, meters, transfer out and transfer out-debt. Alderman Coladipietro asked if there is any consideration to delay the annual 5% increase. Administrator McGuire explained that this increase is done by ordinance. The Mayor informed the Council that we are seeing an increase in water usage due to the stay at home order and residents using more water. Director Siefert said that we are also seeing an increase at the treatment plants. The Mayor informed the Council that we have applied for funds from the CARES Act and would like to see the outcome of it before we make any decisions on the water bills. Alderwoman Gazal questioned the funds that were not going to be distributed from the tax rebate. Administrator McGuire explained that a portion of it was going to be used towards the clean-up of Jasmine creek. Anything that is not used would be put in the Capital project program. Alderwoman Gazal felt that this would be the perfect time to use the excess funds. Discussion followed on the use of these funds and the budget. Also, if the City receives funds from the CARE Act, how to best use them to benefit the residents. Administrator McGuire said that we could have the resident fill out a form and an affidavit indicating that the resident has been impacted by this pandemic. Administrator McGuire explained that she would get information together for the Council and we can go from there. Supervisor Motyka informed the Council that the Village of Romeoville announced a water credit to their customers in March, but it will not appear on their bills until roughly June. Alderman Kubal questioned water accounts that were due for shut off. Supervisor Motyka explained that the water was scheduled to be shut off in March and that has not been done. Discussion followed on the amount of regular shut off notices that are generated. Also, when would we begin to implement the past due fees again. Alderwoman Sklare said that there are a lot of people currently on unemployment, but what happens when that runs out and they will be unable to pay their bills.
Supervisor Motyka presented the replacement program. The highlighted items included vehicles, computers, and technology capital. Supervisor Motyka explained that we are looking into updating our laptops. The employees that are working from home are having problems with the existing equipment. She is seeking approval to purchase the computers and vehicles prior to the budget being approved. We are hoping with the current situation, we may get a better deal on the vehicles. Supervisor Motyka went over the update on the vehicles, computers and technology that is scheduled to be updated this year. Treasurer Conklin questioned the cost of the laptops and expressed his concern. Alderwoman Oberlin asked if we could research a better price on the laptops. Supervisor Motyka explained that the price quoted is the government pricing. This was the lowest cost we could find. Discussion followed. Alderman Coladipietro questioned the need for the purchase of these items at this time. Administrator McGuire explained that these are items that are budgeted for and purchased throughout the year. She explained that need for the upgrading of the computers and how the replacement program works. Discussion followed Supervisor Motyka presented the water/sewer capital. The highlighted items were capital equipment, vehicles, computers, technology capital watermain design, watermain replacement and sewer inlet maintenance purchase. The last item is the capital projects which is for the Public Works building and new Municipal center. The highlighted items are transfer in, facility construction-pw, and facility construction-City Hall/PD.
Administrator McGuire presented the five-year plan for the Police Department and Public Works. She asked the Department heads to go over the first year of the plans. Chief Clark informed the Council there are 32 Officers and we are looking to increase the number. We will be looking at a re-evaluation of manpower needs and adjust accordingly. We are looking forward to the construction of the new Police Department and will continue planning, organization prior to the move. There is a proposed expansion of the DARE instructor to Crime Prevention/Community outreach. We would be replacing new Officers as retirements occur.
Director Migatz present the first year of the five-year plan to the Council. The Jasmine Creek and detention area maintenance, pricing for mowing of Oakland Avenue south of the railroad tracks. Also, the updating of some of the equipment in Public Works. We will be holding off on the watermain. Sidewalk replacement will be scaled back. We will continue with the reflective sign replacement program, continue the MFT program in regard to Pioneer Road. This year instead of leaving a lot of concrete and curb in gravel or asphalt, we could do an in-house program to turn these repairs around more quickly.
TOPIC: Waiver of Business License Fees Mayor Soliman presented a request for the waiver and/or extension of the annual licenses per the memo dated May 11, 2020. Clerk Hackney informed the Council that the license fees are normally due by June 30th. We currently have to enter every type of business renewal into the system. Because of the current situation, we would unable to have the program ready to go in order to get the renewals out. Clerk Hackney has surveyed surrounding communities and found that their due date is December 31st. These communities are not waiving the annual fee because of the due date. Clerk Hackney explained that originally our due date was December 31st and we changed it to June 315. There are a few options we can do to help our businesses during this time. We can change the date to December 31st. We could waive all licenses which would be costly. We can just waive the business fee and again that is costly. Every single fee has to entered into the system individually and that includes, burglar, amusement, vending, etc. by changing the due date to December 31st, you are giving the businesses 6 months to come up with the fees and still collecting the payment during the fiscal year. Treasurer Conklin explained that there are some programs available to small businesses that would cover their fees. Discussion followed on grants that may be available to the City in regard to local businesses. Alderman Vershay recommended sending a letter to the businesses giving them a half year free and keeping the due date as June 31st. Clerk Hackney recommended changing the date the December 31st and if we receive any grants prior to that time, revisit the program.
Mayor Soliman asked for an informal vote on changing the due date for business licensing from June 31st to December 31st. Seven of the Council members present were in agreement. Alderman Vershay cast a no vote.
TOPIC: Liquor License Fees Mayor Soliman presented the liquor license fees per the memo dated May 5, 2020. He is recommending reducing the 2021 by 25% to offset the three months of lost revenue. The Mayor went over the businesses that would be affected by this reduction. The City would roughly lose $7,600.00 in revenue.
Mayor Soliman asked for an informal vote on a 25% reduction for the 2021 liquor license the businesses affected. Alderwoman Oberlin asked what would happen if these businesses are not open for 6 months, what kind of break would we give them. The Mayor explained that this is not something we have to vote on right away and can revisit this if necessary. Discussion followed. The Mayor explained that this is not something that needs to be done until the fall.
PUBLIC COMMENTS: There were no citizens that have filed questions or comments with the City via mail, email, or via phone per confirmation of the City Clerk.
MAYORS UPDATES: Mayor Soliman had no report.
COMMITTEE/LIAISON UPDATES: Alderwoman Oberlin announced that the Lidice ceremony and the annual City picnic have both been cancelled. She informed the Council that St. Joes Park will not be open for any picnics this year.
CITY ADMINISTRATOR UPDATES: Administrator McGuire had no report.
Mayor Soliman announced that the May 11, 2020 was adjourned at 8:53 p.m.
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1A4TiIArxgNiA5DgnucvYMBp2PKhMLGCOcLkxKm8Vguc/edit
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