City Council

City Council Regular Meeting December 19, 2022 6:30 p.m. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE: The Pledge of Allegiance to the American Flag was given by all that were present. CALL TO ORDER: Mayor Gottman called the regularly scheduled meeting of the Vandalia City Council to order at 6:30 pm. ROLL CALL: Aldermen Brosman, Lester, Lewey, Hubler, Barker and Rebbe were present. Hobler and Stunkel were absent. MOMENT OF SILENCE: A moment of silence was held for Greg Oldfield, former owner of Oldfield Tire Service Company. APPROVAL OF CITY COUNCIL Motion was made by Brosman and MEETING MINUTES DATED seconded by Barker to approve the DECEMBER 5, 2022: minutes from the December 5, 2022 City Council meeting. Motion carried. TREASURER’S REPORT: Treasurer’s report was not provided. REGULAR BILLS: Motion was made by Barker and seconded by Brosman to approve the regular bills as submitted. Motion carried. SPECIAL BILLS: Motion was made by Lewey and seconded by Brosman to approve the special bills as presented: Sandberg Phoenix in the amount of $2,400.00 for professional fees; Government Executive in the amount of $1,995.00 for leadership tuition; Milano & Grunloh in the amount of $2,490.48 for surveying fees; Kaskaskia Supply and Rental in the amount of 1  $2,786.84 for electrical cords for Festival of Lights; Historical Vandalia, Inc., in the amount of $3,721.90 for Fayette County Museum reimbursement; Nyhart in the amount of $4,700.00 for actuarial fees; Milano & Grunloh in the amount of $45,947.50 for professional fees; South Central FS in the amount of $7,188.86 for gasoline; Imco Utility Supply in the amount of $1,996.00 for supplies; Homefield Energy in the amount of $4,015.01 for utility fees for water plant; Kaskaskia Springs Water Company in the amount of $3,011.20 for 7.528 million gallons of water; Milano & Grunloh in the amount of $3,633.50 for feasibility study; Homefield Energy in the amount of $7,555.09 for utility fees for sewer plant. Motion carried. ACCEPTANCE OF LETTER OF Motion was made by Barker and RETIREMENT FROM BRIAN seconded by Brosman to accept a TEDRICK: letter of retirement from Brian Tedrick. Motion carried. AUTHORIZATION TO FILL Motion was made by Barker and POSITION IN PUBLIC WORKS seconded by Rebbe to give DEPARTMENT: authorization to fill vacant position in Public Works Department. Motion carried. ORDINANCE 2022-12-19-A: Motion was made by Barker and AN ORDINANCE MAKING THE seconded by Lester to approve ANNUAL TAX LEVY FOR THE Ordinance 2022-12-19-A: An Ordinance FISCAL YEAR BEGINNING ON Making the Annual Tax Levy for the THE FIRST DAY OF MAY Fiscal Year Beginning on the First 2022 AND ENDING ON THE Day of May 2022 and Ending on the THIRTIETH DAY OF APRIL Thirtieth Day of April 2023. 2023: Roll call: Rebbe, yea; Brosman, yea; Hubler, yea; Lester, yea; Lewey, yea; Barker, yea. Hobler and Stunkel were absent. Motion carried. 2 AUTHORIZATION TO SEEK Motion was made by Brosman and BIDS FOR A NEW POLICE seconded by Barker to give SQUAD CAR: authorization to seek bids for a new police squad car. Motion carried. APPROVE OR REJECT PAY Motion was made by Barker and ESTIMATE NO. 5 FOR seconded by Lester to approve Pay PAYNE/WAGNER STREET Estimate #5 for Payne/Wagner Street PROJECT - $88,529.80: Project in the amount of $88,529.80. Lewey voted nay. Motion carried 5 to 1. UNFINISHED BUSINESS: The December 2022 Engineer Report was provided in the packet. Paslay provided an update on Safe Routes to Schools. MAYOR’S REPORT: Gottman reviewed the handouts that were provided in the Council packet. CITY CLERK’S REPORT: Huhn reported that the following individuals filed candidate papers for the April 2023 Consolidation Election: Ward 1: Ken Hubler; Ward 2: Russ Stunkel; Ward 3: Edwin “Bob” Bowen; and Ward 4: Bret Brosman. CITY ADMINISTRATOR’S Nothing to report. REPORT: SAFETY CODE OFFICIAL: Report provided in packet. STANDING COMMITTEES Barker commended the Street REPORTS: Department on the good job they are doing. Brosman stated that 3 water bill adjustments were presented and were approved. Gottman reviewed the Fire Department calls and training hours for the months of October and November 2022. Lester stated he talked to Stunkel who would like to discuss personnel issues at the Lake. Lewey and Paslay will schedule a Personnel Committee meeting. Hubler asked what the City was planning on doing with the lights on Fourth Street that were recently installed. Gottman will meet with 3  the engineers to discuss and get some costs put together on it. Gottman reported he has heard a lot of positive comments about Festival of Trees, Olde Tyme Christmas and Festival of Lights. Huhn reported on Festival of Lights. Gottman stated the American Legion has been sold, along with the contents and the building. He noted the American Legion has not given up their charter. All of the museum artifacts were donated to the City. Flags from the Avenue of Flags have been picked up by the Street Department. ANNOUNCEMENTS AND Kelly and Doug Klein along with CONCERNS: Reverend Michael Mohr addressed the Council regarding sewer backing up into their basements. Mohr addressed the Council on the wastewater dispersal system. He stated since October, approximately every 7 weeks his basement is filled with stormwater that has been soaked in medical waste. He said it costs him $3,000 each time for proper cleanup. He asked the City to rectify the situation as soon as possible. He feels that the medical waste is coming from the hospital. Lewey stated that the hospital distributed a memo to the hospital employees asking them to not flush unflushables. Kelly stated the first flood was October 11, 2022, the second flood was December 6, 2022 at 12:55 p.m. and the third clog on December 7, 2022 was contained to the street. Doug handed out pictures of their basement that was flooded twice. The second flooding was exactly 7 weeks to the date of the first flooding. The first time they sustained over $5,000.00 in damage. They paid $1400.00 out of pocket for cleanup from the first flood. She stated that she wants this matter 4 resolved. She thanked Marlin Filer and the Street crew for their work on this. There was bloody gauze in the third clog. The Kleins have lived in their house for 13 years and this is the first time this has happened. Marlin Filer, Public Works Director, stated that the Street Department has been checking both manholes at Taylor Street and Fillmore Street three times a week to make sure there are no clogs. Filer said it is the same amount of debris each time (a pickup truck load). It was his opinion that something changed since October. Lester asked if Filer has had any discussion with the City Engineer and Filer replied no. The Mayor directed Filer to obtain the City Engineer’s opinion ASAP. The main is located in front of the Klein residence. Klein said an inspector from IDPH is supposed to be coming this week. The City’s insurance company has been notified and claim has been submitted. Lewey will submit the pictures that were distributed to the Council to the hospital. Klein will also submit the pictures to the hospital administrator. Huhn will provide a copy of the 12/19/2022 Council meeting minutes to the Kleins once the minutes are approved at the next Council meeting. Water and Sewer Committee meeting will be scheduled and the Kleins will be notified of the meeting. Filer said the sewer main appears to be in good shape. He will let the Kleins know when the City Engineer will be here. Brosman asked about the status of the Economic Development Director/Tourism position. Gottman stated the job opening has been sent to IML and National League of 5  Cities. Gottman said the position will be heavily advertised after the first of the year. ADJOURNMENT: Motion was made by Hubler and seconded by Barker to adjourn the meeting at 7:33 p.m. Motion carried. _________________________________ City Clerk 6