City of Crest Hill City Council met March 27.
Here are the minutes provided by the council:
The March 27, 2023 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.
The following Council members were present: Mayor Raymond Soliman, City Clerk Christine Vershay-Hall, City Treasurer Glen Conklin, Alderman Scott Dyke, Alderman John Vershay, Alderwoman Claudia Gazal, Alderperson Tina Oberlin, Alderman Mark Cipiti, Alderman Joe Kubal.
Also present were: Administrator Jim Marino, Director of Public Works Mark Siefert, Interim Planner Maura Rigoni, Finance Director Lisa Banovetz, Attorney Mike Santschi.
Absent were: Alderman Darrell Jefferson, Alderman Nate Albert, City Engineer Ron Wiedeman, Police Chief Ed Clark, City Attorney Mike Stiff.
TOPIC: One Day Liquor License Waiver
John Hackett representing the Shorewood Kiwanis Club was in attendance to request a one-day liquor license waiver in the amount of $50.00 for a Casino Night fundraiser with dinner. Mr. Hackett stated it will be at the American Italian Culture Club on Saturday, April 22, 2023 from 4:00p.m. to 8:30p.m. He also stated the profits raised will be given to several organizations throughout Will County. Mr. Hackett further explained all the different drives Kiwanis Club does throughout the year.
Mayor Soliman asked for an informal vote. Alderman Cipiti abstained from the informal vote; all other members present were in agreement to waive the $50.00 charge for a one- day liquor license.
TOPIC: Proposed Weber Crossing Residential Development
Interim Planner Maura Rigoni talked about the single-family development on the northwest corner of Weber Road and Division Street. Planner Rigoni explained the development will have 99 single family lots with dimensions of 53' x 105' for a lot size of 5,565 square feet. She explained there will also be a three story building that will include 124 rental units and have 183 parking spaces available. Planner Rigoni also explained in this development there will be a total of 100 ranch townhomes along the east and southside of the development and fifty-four of these townhomes will have a one car garage and forty-six will have a two car garage. The development will be a 55 year and older community with no children. She also stated there will be an emergency entrance from Zausa Drive but will be utilized for emergency vehicles only. Planner Rigoni commented there are additional features which will be green space, parks, walking paths and a clubhouse and this will be in the ranch portion of the development.
Pat Curran from West Point Builders and Terry Smith with VSP Design talked about the concepts submitted in the past and discussed the new concept plan now. In the past there were comments about adding more guest parking, which they have done, but there is enough room on the streets to accommodate more guest parking.
Alderwoman Gazal commented that this is a better concept plan than what was previously provided. Alderwoman Gazal stated she loved that it is a 55 and older senior community and happy that Zausa Drive is for emergency vehicles only but the one concern she has is the amount of townhomes might create more family members to move in. Alderwoman Gazal asked if there will be restrictions on moving family in? Pat Curran from West Point Builders stated it is a senior independent living development; meaning they must be over 55 years old and all units will have the same rules and restrictions throughout the development. Mr. Curran also stated that the residents will be allowed to have visitors from friends or family to visit overnight for a certain number of days and there will be professional management on site to oversee these restrictions.
Alderman Vershay asked how many bedrooms will these units be? Mr. Curran commented that they will be two- and three-bedroom units with a den. He stated they will be anywhere from 1450 to 2100 square feet. Alderman Vershay asked how many designs? Mr. Curran stated there are four plans and each plan has three elevations with different restrictions with each elevation plan. Alderman Cipiti asked what the expected population is? Mr. Curran stated the expected population would be about 323. Alderman Cipiti stated he has a concern if this will impact our school enrollment and also the lot sizes on the single families; they are smaller lots sizes than typical. Mr. Curran commented they are not looking for a family to come in and need the larger lot sizes. He stated this is a senior development and it is a space for the seniors to come outside and enjoy the outdoors. He also stated the association will be taking care of all the lawn and snow maintenance and you don't want that to be a larger lot. It was stated that this will be a Planned Unit Development (PUD) with single family homes with two car garages.
Alderman Kubal commented that in Carillon Lakes Development they have a covenant that if a resident has a family member living there they must be at least 18 years of age. Alderman Cipiti asked if the public streets going to be maintained by the City? Planner Rigoni commented that since it is a PUD it is private and not maintained by the City but the public streets will need to be maintained by the City. Alderperson Oberlin commented she is concerned over having sufficient parking.
Mayor Soliman commented that he really likes the single-family home concept and the layout and thinks the apartments are a great concept for the single people who need this, but his concern is the amount of rental townhome units. Mayor Soliman stated he would like to see another 'H Building' instead of the townhomes.
Mayor Soliman asked for an informal vote for the concept. All members present were in agreement.
TOPIC: Sign Behind Dais Discussion
Public Works Director Mark Siefert reminded Council that the staff was to check into the options for the sign behind the dais. Building Commissioner Don Seeman met with Fab Werks, a local Crest Hill based business, and they felt that the 2'x4' size would not look good on that size of wall behind the dais. Fab Werks suggested to go with the 4'x8' sign which is $1,500.00 and is brushed aluminum with a clearcoat. Director Siefert stated that Warehouse Direct could not give a price for the 4'x8' sign but did quote a price of $3,500.00 for 2'x4' sign.
Mayor Soliman asked for an informal vote. All members present were in agreement for the 4'x8' brushed aluminum with clearcoat sign from Fab Werks.
TOPIC: Discussion regarding the move of items from the fover
Public Works Director Mark Siefert stated he met with Alderperson Oberlin and Alderman Albert a little over three weeks ago at the current City Hall and went through the items that they believe would need to be moved to the new City Center, which are:
Items to go:
Drug drop off cabinet (Police Dept Foyer)
Lions Club Glasses drop off (Inside Clerk's Office) Vertical Flyer Holder x2
Mayor's portraits (Council Chamber Foyer)
Former Council members (Council Chamber Foyer)
Current Council list
Flag Poles in Council Chambers (Foyer of City Center)
Metal tack cabinets (Foyer of City Center) Agendas will be posted in there. American Flag Painting (Inside Clerks Office)
Purchase:
New Flag Poles (Council Chambers)
New Trash Cans
Not Going:
Tables in foyer
50th Anniversary Frame
GFOA Award
All rest of frames
TOPIC: Elimination of petty cash and requiring itemized receipts for all expense reimbursement
City Treasurer Glen Conklin stated it is a really bad system to keep cash floating around for cash reimbursement. Finance Director Lisa Banovetz commented there is no visibility to Council with petty cash. Director Banovetz stated she spoke to all department heads regarding the petty cash and mostly it was used for meal reimbursement. She stated overtime meal expenses will be included on the employee's paycheck and will be nontaxable.
Alderman Cipiti asked what is some ideas of what petty cash is used for? Director Banovetz stated it could be for buying donuts or a pizza party. Alderman Vershay asked what process does he have to do if he goes about buying flowers for a resident that turns 100 years old? Treasurer Conklin stated he will submit a receipt and then the Council will need to approve the reimbursement and this amount will be added to his payroll check. Director Banovetz stated the Treasure Office is trying to minimize the charges on the credit cards.
TOPIC: Approval of Sales Tax Incentive Rebate Calendar Year 2022 payment to Food 4 Less of $44,539.76
Director Banovetz commented that based on the agreement with Food4Less we will be remitting $44,539.76 for the Sales Tax Incentive Rebate Agreement. Director Banovetz also commented there will be one more year we will remit the sales tax rebate payment under the agreement; and this agreement will conclude in Fiscal Year 2025.
This was just for informational purposes.
TOPIC: Award the external auditing services for 3 years contract to Wermer Roger Doran & Ruzon LLC
Treasurer Conklin commented that we have had a good relationship with the auditors at Wermer, Rogers, Doran & Ruzon LLC (WRDR) but have checked with the market to see what the current rates are. Treasurer Conklin stated we sent Requests for Proposals (RFP) to four (4) external auditing firms and we have received three (3) RFPs back. Treasurer Conklin stated WRDR came back as the lower auditing firm out of the RFPs we received.
Mayor Soliman asked for an informal vote. All members present were in agreement to award WRDR a three-year contract.
TOPIC: Discussion of the proposed Fiscal Year 2023-24 Budget
Finance Director Lisa Banovetz stated they had met with the MAP negotiations with the Police Department and have made changes to the budget. She commented the changes have been shown to include the two (2) additional employees that were asked for by Chief Clark.
Director Banovetz feels that the City should be safe with the numbers that were presented into the budget for the Police Department. Alderwoman Gazal asked if we already have all the upcoming salary raises in the budget? Director Banovetz stated we did populate the salary adjustments but the only items not in the budget are the exact numbers for the hourly changes for the sergeants and patrols which will be figured after the negotiations of the contract. Administrator Marino stated we also do not have the Cost of Living Adjustments (COLA) in the budget; we need to have a discussion on the COLA increase. Treasurer Conklin suggested that COLA needs to be two (2) percent.
Director Banovetz informed the Council that two of our vendors have increased their hourly rates, which are Robinson Engineering and Spesia & Taylor. She stated that Maura Rigoni with Robinson Engineering has increased from $132.00 to $162.00 an hour and Spesia & Taylor increased from $200.00 to $215.00 an hour, which is hard to budget since we do not know how much we will use their services.
Administrator Marino mentioned that there was discussion at the last meeting regarding construction of the park at the new City Center and if the Park District would want to move forward with the construction we would need to budget for the sidewalk and storm sewer connection. Administrator Marino stated he talked with Bill Riordan at Lockport Township Park District and he stated they do have money in their budget for the playground this year and would be able to install it by the fall. Administrator Marino stated along with the sidewalk and storm sewer we would need to add a small parking lot for ADA access at the park. Administrator Marino stated he asked City Engineer Ron Wiedeman to get an estimate for the three items and that estimate came back at $112,500.00.
Treasurer Conklin commented to clarify from the past meeting; any money from the sale of the current building would go into the General Fund.
Alderman Kubal would like to see the money for the park at the new City Center be added to the budget. Other Council members would not like it added at this time. It was commented that the deficit went up some since the last meeting.
Alderman Dyke stated in the past, if he is correct, we never had a deficit like now. Treasure Conklin stated we have a large pull of reserves totaling twelve months currently; normally it was practice to have three to four months of reserves but we will carry over from this year the unspent money in unfinished projects and unspent material costs, as well.
Treasurer Conklin stated legally we post the budget as it is, but we will operate with substantial reserves. He also stated the budget looks like we spent more than taking in, but we did not spend what we proposed to spend.
PUBLIC COMMENTS:
There were no public comments.
MAYORS UPDATES:
Mayor Soliman stated at the next work session he will have some recommendations for reappointments for the appointed officials who are ending their term on May 1, 2023.
Mayor Soliman stated at the next Council meeting we will have the Richland School girls volleyball team here for presentation of an award for winning fifth place in State.
Mayor Soliman also stated he is working with the ABATE Group and will be meeting with them on either April 3rd or April 17th.
COMMITTEE/LIAISON UPDATES:
There are no committee/liaison updates at tonight's meeting.
CITY ADMINISTRATOR UPDATES:
Administrator Marino stated they are continuing to work on the punch list this week.
Administrator Marino also informed the Council that Gas and Wash has recorded their plat with the County, and with this, the approval of the TIF District will be on the April 3rd meeting agenda.
Administrator Marino commented we received a rental lease draft for the park district office at the new City Center building and Attorney Mike Stiff will be reviewing this before bringing it back to the Council.
Mayor Soliman announced that there is a need for an executive session on 5ILCS 120/2(c)(1).
(#1) Motion by Alderperson Oberlin and seconded by Alderwoman Gazal to go into executive session on 5ILCS120/2(c)(1).
On roll call, the vote was:
AYES: Ald. Dyke, Vershay, Gazal, Oberlin, Cipiti, Kubal.
NAYES: None.
ABSENT: Ald. Jefferson, Albert.
There being six (6) affirmative votes, the MOTION CARRIED
Executive Session 9:03p.m.
The meeting reconvened at 10:09p.m.
The meeting was adjourned at 10:10 p.m.
https://cresthill-il.municodemeetings.com/sites/cresthill-il.municodemeetings.com/files/fileattachments/city_council/meeting/4252/work_session_minutes_march_27_2023.pdf
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