City Council

CITY COUNCIL Regular Meeting January 7, 2019 7:30 P.M. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE: The Pledge of Allegiance to the American Flag was given by those 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: Barker, yea; B. John Clark, yea; Stunkel, yea; Hobler, yea; Lester, yea; Rebbe, yea; Hubler, yea; Crawford, yea. MOMENT OF SILENCE OBSERVED: A moment of silence was observed for Randy Feldpouch, father of former Alderman Chad Feldpouch; Bonnie Donnals, mother of former city employee, Brian Donnals & wife of former Mayor Neil Donnals; Tara Beard, daughter of Patty & Bill Beard. Bill is a member of the Vandalia Planning Commission. Our deepest sympathy to these families. MINUTES: A motion was made by Stunkel and seconded by Hobler approving the minutes from December 17th, 2018. Motion carried. A motion was made by Stunkel and seconded by Barker approving the minutes from the Special Council Meeting from December 21, 2018. Motion carried. 1 REGULAR BILLS: A motion was made by Stunkel and seconded by Hobler approving the regular bills as presented. Motion carried. SPECIAL COUNCIL BILLS: A motion was made by Stunkel and seconded by Rebbe approving the Special Bills as presented: Westendorf Construction, Inc. in the amount of $5,600 to install rubber roof over existing roof on canopy of eastside of City Hall; Precise Construction in the amount of $58,0000 for work on Janette Drive; Ameren Illinois in the amount of $3,095.97 for street lighting; Land of Lincoln Credit Union in the amount of $9,990.79 for payment on fire truck; Outdoor Power Sales in the amount of 1,606.98 for depth limiter, fire rescue saw; Thompson Coburn in the amount of $4,720.00 for legal services rendered in sale of surplus property; South Central FS Effingham in the amount of $89,885.29 for TIF Reimbursement (100% reimbursement of the TIF tax from their yearly property tax bills); U.S. Bancorp in the amount of $14,781.19 for payment on water meters; Illinois EPA in the amount of $22,787.56 for Water Revolving Fund/Drinking Water Project; Direct Energy in the amount of $17,162.63 for electric; Hawkins, Inc. in the amount of $9,898.29 for activated carbon; Vandevanter Engineering, Inc. in the amount of $2,522.88 for repair to pump; Omnisite Corp. in the amount of $2,484.00 for an annual fee to monitor the remote pumping stations/lift stations (9) using Omnisite automated alarm monitoring equipment. (9) Motion carried. 2 TREASURER’S REPORT: The Treasurer’s Report was submitted for audit. SWEARING IN OF NEW POLICE Jake Etcheson was sworn in by City OFFICER: Clerk Peggy Bowen as the newest police officer for the City of Vandalia. Etcheson will be replacing Shanon Neiber who retired December 31, 2018. APPROVAL OF RESIGNATION OF JOE A motion was made by Hobler and CEARLOCK FROM LAKE COMMITTEE: seconded by Barker approving the resignation of Joe Cearlock from the Lake Committee. Motion carried. RESOLUTION #2019-1-7-A: A motion was made by Stunkel and PROHIBITING SEXUAL HARASSMENT seconded by Barker adopting Resolution #2019-1-7-A, Prohibiting Sexual Harassment. Roll Call vote: Barker, yea; Hubler, yea; Stunkel, yea; Crawford, dah; Hobler, yea; Rebbe, yea; Lester, yea; Clark, yea. Motion carried. Motion carried. ORDINANCE #2019-1-7-B: A motion was made by Barker and ORDINANCE OF THE CITY OF seconded by Hubler Adopting Ordinance VANDALIA FAY. COUNTY, IL #2019-1-7-B, The City of Vandalia, AUTHORIZING TAX INCREMENT Fayette Co., Illinois Authorizing Tax FINANCING ASSISTANCE IN Increment Financing Assistance In CONNECTION WITH A REDEVELOPMENT Connection With A Redevelopment PROJECT (LESKERA LAW FIRM-PHASE Project (Leskera Law Firm-Phase I) I) The City shall reimburse the Developer the sum of $120,900.00 for Phase I Project. That phase shall be completed by June 7, 2019. Roll call: Hubler, yea; Barker, yea; Stunkel, yea; Hobler, yea; Rebbe, yea; B. John Clark, yea; Lester, yea; Crawford, yea. Motion carried. 3  A short time later Alderman Lester asked for a revote to allow him to abstain. Lester wished to abstain because of his possible involvement on the interior work on the renovation project later on. Attorney Ryan Connor asked if he would be involved in any of the exterior work, Lester said that as of now, he would not but felt like he should abstain. A motion was then made by Barker to place it back on the table and seconded by Hubler. Motion carried. So another vote was taken: Lester, abstain; Hubler, yea; Barker, yea; Stunkel, yea; Hobler, yea; Rebbe, yea; B. John Clark, yea; Crawford, yea. Motion carried. MAYOR’S REPORT: Mayor Gottman stated, as part of the Vandalia I, there is Memorandum of Understanding that commits time for Mayor Gottman and Economic Developer, Amber Daulbaugh for a program on Thursday, January 10th. Mayor Gottman reported that he and Amber met with the Comptroller’s/Treasurer’s Office. ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT DIRECTOR: Amber explained a handout from the Illinois Department of Commerce on the 2017-2018 Partner Report Infographic. Creating Opportunities for Retention & Expansion Overview. Mayor Gottman said another thing they are looking at under Economic Development is a meeting set tomorrow with Mike Weber on business districts. 4 STANDING COMMITTEE REPORTS: Marlin Filer announced that Janette Drive by Chuckwagon Restaurant is open. Filer also reported that some milling work will be done on some of the roads in town. Lester asked about the highway when you leave the interstate and travel south on Kennedy who is responsible for the roadwork. Filer said that would be the state. Several of the alderman stated that the highway in that area is very rough. Mayor Gottman asked Filer to call the state garage to see if they could do something about the road. Rebbe congratulated our new Police Officer Jake Etcheson. He will serve the city well. Mayor Gottman praised the work of the cemetery sexton Sam Kerr on two funerals that took place recently with an extreme amount of rain. He handled it so professional. Thank you Sam, for giving it your all. Westendorf Construction finished up on the roof on the canopy portion of City Hall. Barker asked if anyone was interested in working the RV Show in St. Louis beginning January 21st be sure and sign up. Mayor Gottman said in your packet a list of the building permits issued in 2018 for your review. 5  A copy of the IML Statehouse Briefing shows effective January 1st more than 250 new laws went into effect in Illinois. Many of those new laws could have an impact on municipal operations. COUNCIL CONCERNS: Lester said, sometime in 2018 we talked about billing for out of town fire calls to help pay for the new fire truck. He wondered how many did the city have. Clerk Bowen said she did not receive a list from the fire chief. Mayor Gottman said that he would check with Keith Meadows for a year end report for 2018. Lester also asked if there was any information of a local fire protection district. Mayor Gottman referred him to Steve Stombaugh, who is heading up work on that issue. Barker praised Marlin Filer and his crew for the last water break we had working numerous hours to get it fixed. ”Good job” Marlin & crew. Barker asked if there was anyone interested in the Tourism Director position. Mayor Gottman said, there was possibly someone but we’ve got to weigh that whole thing out. It would be a good one but Mayor Gottman did not want to overload that person either. 6  Barker asked if we could get some training for some of the volunteers to get the tourism office opened once or twice a week. Mayor Gottman said in the winter months it is usually closed but will look into it for early spring. Mayor Gottman asked Barker what kind of training are you looking at. Barker said, one time you told me they need to be trained in the history aspect of the city. They will look into that. AUDIENCE: Dennis Grubaugh told the council that his insurance company, General Casualty has denied the claim regarding the damage to the wall adjacent to the collapsed building on Gallatin Street. Mayor Gottman referred the letter & claim over to the city attorney to discuss. ADJOURNMENT: Mayor Gottman adjourned the meeting. __________________ CITY CLERK 7 8 9