City Council

CITY COUNCIL Regular Meeting July 5, 2016 7:30 P.M. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE: The Pledge of Allegiance to the American Flag was given by all present. CALL TO ORDER: Mayor Gottman called the regularly scheduled meeting of the Vandalia City Council to order at 7:30 P.M. ROLL CALL: Aldermen present were: Stunkel, Hubler, B. John Clark, Hobler, Crawford, Swarm and Rebbe. Lester was absent. MOMENT OF SILENCE: A moment of silence was observed for Walter Johnson former owner of Johnson Specialty Co. and “Cap” Haslett, former mayor and alderman for the City of St. Elmo and member of the Fayette County Hospital District Board. MINUTES: A motion was made by Swarm and seconded by B. John Clark approving the minutes from the June 20, 2016 meeting as presented. Motion carried. REGULAR BILLS: A motion was made by Stunkel and seconded by Crawford approving the regular bills as presented. Motion carried. TREASURER’S REPORT: A motion was made by Hobler and seconded by Stunkel approving the Treasurer’s Report. A copy of the Treasurer’s Report will be filed for audit. Motion carried. 1 SPECIAL BILLS: A motion was made B. John Clark and seconded by Stunkel approving the Special Bills as listed: Sheldon Schulte in the amount of $29,793.75 for 5,675 Sq. ft. of sidewalk replacement; Hurst Rosche Engineering in the amount of $18,691.89 for engineering fees for the Thrill Hill project; Land of Lincoln Credit Union in the amount of $12,488.50 for payment on fire truck; Crawford & Associates in the amount of $10,000.00 for Sunset Drive project; Vandalia Asphalt Service in the amount of $2,911.20 for patch mix; U.S. Bancorp in the amount of $14,781.19 for the water meters; Illinois EPA Bureau of Water in the amount of $22,787.56 for water revolving fund/drinking water project; HD Supply Waterworks in the amount of $8,319.97 for plumbing parts; Metro-Ag, Inc. in the amount of $108,000.00 for removal & land application on lagoon sludge; Brenntag in the amount of $16,867.17 for chemicals; Motion carried. APPROVAL OF WATER & SEWER A motion was made by Swarm and COMMITTEE MEETING MINUTES seconded by Hobler approving the Water FROM JUNE 20, 2016: & Sewer Committee Meeting Minutes from June 20, 2016 as submitted. Motion carried. SNAPSHOT ON FISCAL YEAR Mayor Gottman gave a snapshot of what APPROPRIATION BUDGET: revenues the city is expecting to receive for the fiscal year, beginning May 1, 2016 and ending April 30, 2017. The total appropriation budget for the city is $9,043,229.00 with an expected shortfall of $154,761.00 Mayor Gottman said that the shortfall will be covered by city reserve funds. 2  The current appropriation budget includes funds to fix two city bridges. The bridge on Thrill Hill Road and the bridge on Fifth & Randolph. ORDINANCE #2016-7-5-A: A motion was made by Swarm and ANNUAL APPROPRIATIONS FOR seconded by Rebbe adopting Ordinance THE FISCAL YEAR BEGINNING #2016-7-5-A, Annual Appropriations For THE FIRST DAY OF MAY 2016, Fiscal Year Beginning The First Day of AND ENDING ON THE THIRTIETH May 2016, And Ending On The Thirtieth DAY OF APRIL 2017 Day of April 2017. Roll call vote: Swarm, yea; Hubler, yea; Stunkel, yea; Crawford, yea; Hobler, yea; Rebbe, yea; Clark, yea. Lester, absent. Motion carried. APPROVAL OF PLANNING A motion was made by Crawford and COMMISSION MEETING MINUTES seconded by Stunkel approving the FROM JUNE 28, 2016: Planning Commission Meeting Minutes from June 28, 2016 as submitted. Motion carried. ORDINANCE AMENDING THE A request from Beth Cox to add VANDALIA MUNICIPAL CODE AT boarding kennels to the city’s list of CHAPTER 17 ZONING/DIED FOR Special uses died due to none of the LACK OF MOTION aldermen made a motion to adopt the ordinance. AUTHORIZATION TO CLOSE A motion was made by B. John Clark and FILLMORE STREET FOR LINCOLN seconded Crawford, Authorizing the HERITAGE FESTIVAL: closure of Fillmore Street from East Side of Circle Drive to Locust Street and Fletcher From Baseball Field Parking Lot to Fillmore Street For Lincoln Heritage Festival 2:00 P.M. Friday, July 8-Monday July 11, 2016. APPROVAL OF APPOINTMENT OF Mayor Gottman removed the approval of CODE OFFICIAL: appointment of code official, due to the person of interest declined the offer earlier today. CONCERNED DOWNTOWN MERCHANTS B. John Clark said that he spoke with AND BUILDING OWNERS: a group of downtown merchants. 3 Justin Arndt, owner of The Money Pit who would like to see the vacant lot turned into a parking lot and said anything that the city could do to help the businesses out with the parking issue would be appreciated. Rick & Angie Rhodes, owners of The Gallatin Street Grille also spoke to the council about how the parking issues have kept some people from being able to use their business. Joyce Staff & Marilyn Cole who represent the beautification committee suggested that they would like to see something that would improve the appearance of the downtown and is related to the town’s historical background Angie Rhodes responded by saying, beautification is not going to do anything if there are no businesses downtown. She also said that many of her customers are visitors from other towns, and that those visitors want to go to local businesses. Hey don’t want to just see beauty; they want to see thriving businesses. Alderman Swarm said that he operated two businesses downtown and said that this has been an issue for decades. He went on to say that you’re wanting the city to do something but the merchants need to show us that they are willing to help themselves. Also brought up was the availability of parking in city lots downtown, including the one at city hall and the two at Fifth & Johnson Street. 4  Kay Johnson, owner of several buildings downtown said that she doesn’t know why the city could not both improve the appearance of the downtown and create parking for the businesses. Mayor Gottman suggested that the city look at diagonal parking on one side of Sixth Street downtown and suggested that the city look into also replacing parallel parking with diagonal parking Fifth Street as well. Mayor Gottman explained that this could be a short term fix due to the city’s current fiscal situation that would cost several hundred thousand dollars to turn the property into a parking lot. MAYOR’S REPORT: Mayor Gottman reported in regard to the state budget, there has been a Stopgap Budget will include funding for the Department of Corrections, which will allow for the payment of overdue utility payments to municipalities that house state prisons. Mayor Gottman announced that this weekend, July 9-10th will be the 4th Annual Lincoln Heritage Festival. STANDING COMMITTEES: Hubler reported that Sam Kerr, the new sexton is doing a good job. Hobler reported that there was not a big crowd at the lake due to the bad weather. Hobler reported that the gas pump broke down at the lake. 5 COUNCIL CONCERNS: Crawford said she was looking at the IDES (Illinois Department of Employment Security) News Release. She said that unemployment rates are increasing and has so every month this year. This upsets her and worries her wondering where the jobs are going? Mayor Gottman said that it isn’t just Fayette County it’s all over Illinois. He said, it’s not a pretty picture in Illinois. AUDIENCE PARTICIPATION: Pam Jones who has a camping lot #503 said she received a certified letter in regard to a structure that was built on their lot. After discussion on this matter, City Attorney Keith Jensen and Mike Hobler chairman of the Lake Committee will discuss the problem and bring a recommendation back to the council. ADJOURNMENT: There being nothing further to discuss a motion was made by Hobler and seconded by B. John Clark to adjourn. Motion carried. ________________ CITY CLERK 6 7 8 9 10