Committee Meetings May 26, 2009

First of all, I would like to apologize for not videotaping these meetings and I would encourage more citizens to come to the meetings to see what is going on. By the time the last “public” meeting was completed my wife (who came with me on a whim) and I were the only two people in the audience other than Ron Williams.

Transparency in government is lost if no one is watching.


Committee of the Whole
Discussion in this meeting pertained to a list of items Al Holden has that he would be putting up for auction. Items such as old computer equipment, old city vehicles and some bicycles would be included. In the past, the city has used Action Auctions. He indicated that he would like permission to use this service again. The conversation then switched to possibly using an online site that the state uses to auction items, as an alternative to the live auction service. Action Auctions charges the city 10%. The online source is 4.5% for the service, with the state taking an additional 1%, in addition to a nominal listing fee. Discussion also included the amount of people participating in an online auction versus a live auction. There was discussion as to the feasibility of shipping some of the items in the online auction, or having customers come to Columbia to retrieve these items. A possible consequence of using this service would be out of town winners taking more time than the city would like to pick up the item, or the inconvenience and the cost of shipping some of the larger items to a winning out of town bidder.

The council ruled to use Action Auction in this instance and, in the future, listing a few smaller items as they become available using the online auction service, before listing a large number of items at once. The city could then see more clearly the effectiveness of the online auction. Al said the Auction is tentatively scheduled for July 11, 2009.


Ordinance, Planning, & Zoning
Jim Agne set forth some information regarding the 1700 Ghent Road land sale issue.

He then allowed Mr. Meyer five minutes to state his case again. The city attorney then stated that the resolution to have a topographical survey done and submit a minor subdivision plat as previously required. The survey needs to be done with 5’ contour lines and a USGS topographical survey only has 10’ contours. This would need to be verified before it was accepted. The bottom line is, if you are going to pay someone to verify a USGS survey, you should just pay them to do a survey with the 5’ contours.

Dianne Smith was then given 5 minutes to state her case. I was unsure of why all this background on her part was needed. So far, the city has given Mr. Meyer no exceptions and has not accepted anything less than what she was required to do previously, and chose not to. It then became apparent why some were so eager to have her speak at the regular session council meeting. Diane said when she owned the land she had an offer from Brad Oberkfell to buy a piece of the property and that Kevin Hutchinson had offered her money for another piece of the property and told her that he could make it happen (i.e. get the land subdivided) She was then not allowed to and when she sold it she missed out on the possibility of making $100,000 if she had been allowed to subdivide it. She also wanted Mr. Meyer to explain to her why he should be treated differently than her.

The conversation changed quickly from the topic of the property to the allegations of Ms. Smith concerning Kevin, who she earlier alleged had made promises to people and “under the table deals”. Comments were also made that the Meyer’s were contributors to the Mayor’s campaign fund. It became clear as to the reason Jay Unnerstall had been sitting in the back of the room with a video camera, waiting quietly. He videotaped only sections of this committee meeting, and then when it was over, he left, after stopping in the hall to talk with some alderman. When the Meyer’s were leaving they stated out loud that they don’t remember giving to the mayor’s campaign fund, though by now the camera was off.

A couple of points I would like to make regarding this committee meeting:
• When I videotape any meetings at city hall, I am required to provide a copy to the city which I do free of charge. I would hope the same requirements were made for Jay to have his recording time. It would be much easier for me to not have to make these copies for the city, but is a reasonable rule for recording the meetings, which the State of Illinois allows the person running the meeting to make per the FOIA.
• Who contacted the Smith party? Were they really concerned that someone may get to do something with the land she had been prevented form doing? Has she always been aware of dealings with the property since selling?
• The city has not budged so far on the issue of the requirements to split the property up and they shouldn’t. Really, nothing has changed and the Meyers have not been treated differently than the Smith party, as far as I can tell. They may have pushed the issue more than the Smith’s and done more leg work to find a loophole or exemption, but nothing less has been asked for by the city that I can see.
• I know some people dislike the mayor. I disagree with him on some issues, but having a person who no longer lives in Columbia come back to a meeting to make statements like this is meaningless. For all I know, she could have said it out of anger at the whole situation. Regardless, I need another objective person to verify it other than Ms. Smith or the mayor before I am buying it. If he did say it, he obviously didn’t deliver, as she didn’t get what she needed done. Currently, neither are the Meyer’s.



Ambulance, Radio Communication, & Dispatch
The committee decided, after checking sale prices on similar used ambulances, that the offer on the table was sufficient and that the old ambulance will be sold for I believe $4000.

Ambulance collections will now be handled by a collection agency they had discussed in a previous meeting. With the cities $90,000+ in outstanding ambulance fees, recovery of any of this money will be beneficial to the ambulance service the city provides.

There was talk of possibly having a reduced fare for the father of the boy who died in a car accident over the Memorial Day weekend. The father has severe burns on his body and will need an ambulance service to transport him to Red Bud for his son’s funeral. After discussion, the decision was made to have them call and request transport like any other patient and be billed and worry about payment later. The possibility of negative legal aspects of the city donating personnel time, resources, and giving reduces fees to anyone ahead of time out-weighed the heart-felt reaction to help this man get to his son’s funeral. The situation required much more information and no motion was made.


Municipal Building, Property, & Capitol Improvements
Repairs need to be made to the police station roof as soon as possible. It was damaged and the insurer on the roof has made their settlement offer. The city will work with two roofing contractors who have given pricing to the city. The city needs to meet the specifications set forth by the insurance company.


Executive and Rules.
Since Mr. Unnerstall has been replaced with current alderman Roessler, there are openings that must be filled on committees. Apparently in 2007, when committees were formed, the council had a discussion and everyone apparently got to pick and choose which committees they would like to serve and chair. It was at that time, according to some alderman, that a precedent was set to permit sitting committee chairs hold their chair if they desired. I was not around at those meetings, so I do not know what exactly took place then. However, some alderman stated that certain ways of doing things had been swept aside by the council at that time.

In the city code, there is a provision for the chair of the executive and rules committee to recommend from time to time aldermen to both chair and serve on committees of the executive committee’s choosing. The chair of this committee is alderman Ebersohl, and the members are Row, Agne, & Niemietz.

The main point of contention was alderman Hejna was removed from chair of the finance committee and alderman Roessler was slated to take her place. Roessler is a CPA, so he is more than qualified to chair this committee. Hejna was slated to chair the Refuse committee. It was mentioned that certain chairmen, in the past, have apparently used their committees to “umbrella” items for action by their own committees. Occasionally, these were items that had no business being under their committees.

The committee passed the recommended list of who should serve on what committee. Row voted no.

During the discussion phase of this meeting, Hejna asked Roessler if he knew ahead of time that he was going to get to be chair of her old committee. Roessler, in a bold act that I believe is the reason he was elected, stated by her asking that, she was trying to place him into a group. He also said she put him on a “side” and that he was on no side. He indicated he was offended by such an assumption. Hejna stated that it was not fair that she was removed from being chair of the finance committee. Niemietz stated that things could have been fair over the last two years, but certain people prevented that from happening. The real showdown will be Monday at the council meeting when this comes to the table.

Hejna left right after this meeting. My wife and I left also as the last committee meeting was for the personnel committee and was an executive session meeting, so we could not stay. Earlier I had stated that Alderman Oberkfell had left at this time that was an incorrect statement, he stayed for the duration of the Personnel Committee Meeting


Personnel Committee
Executive session to discuss labor negotiations.

As always if any alderman feel I have mis-represented what I have written here then they are more than welcome to email me or add a comment to this post and I will supplement this entry with your viewpoint, if requests are reasonable.

Fundraising for memorial by two local boys.

The following was forwarded to me by Robert Repasz last night.

EVERYONE is invited to our home on Saturday 5-30-09 from 7:00 am until 2:00 pm!!
618 Pines Way, Columbia, IL 62236

Some of you may already know this but would you PLEASE pass this on to everyone on your email list?

Our sons Robbie (age 11) and Jeff (age 9) were friends with the Coleman boys who were murdered on May 5th. They played football and baseball with them and Jeff went to school with both of them. He played with them everyday at school.

Money is being raised to build a memorial in Columbia, IL for Sheri, Garett, and Gavin Coleman.

Robbie and Jeff have been trying to find a way to raise money to donate to the memorial fund for their friends Gavin and Garett and their mom Mrs. Sheri. It just so happens that our subdivision THE PINES (off D Road) is having our subdivision wide garage/yard sale this Saturday, May 30th. The boys had an idea and they presented it to Rob and I. We said YES! They want to sell their clothes that don't fit anymore, some toys, lemonade, water and baked goods (that they will be preparing) in order to raise money to donate to the fund to build a memorial in Columbia, IL honoring Sheri, Garett and Gavin Coleman.

They will also take donations!! Rob and I will be here but they are doing all of the work. PLEASE come help them to meet their goal. They have set their goal high at $500.00. I know they can do it.

Thank you in advance for spreading the word!

Sincerely,
Rob & Rhonda Repasz

Poor Road Discussion May 19, 2009

May 19 City Council Meeting Excerpt - Poor road conditions near McDonalds from Levi Ottwell on Vimeo.

Excerpt from the May 19 Regular Session City Council Meeting in Columbia, IL.

I think everyone in the city will be happy when this road is repaired. The patching that was done was nothing more than a waste of money. It did not fix the issue in the long run and it in no way made it easier to drive on. It will be interesting to see who is ultimately held responsible for the repairs.

1700 Ghent Road Discussion May 19, 2009

May 19 City Council Meeting Excerpt - 1700 Ghent Road Issue from Levi Ottwell on Vimeo.

Excerpt from the May 19 Regular Session City Council Meeting in Columbia, IL.

With the level of interest the Smith party has in what happened here and her willingness to speak freely about suing the city if they allow the current landowner to do something she was prevented from I feel the city must make the current owner follow every requirement set forward.

They should be given no easy way through this issue and I do feel for them as they are trying to sell their property but if the city is caught doing favors for a owner and they did nothing to help a past owner then they will be in a tough spot. (ie, a full topographical map should be required) There are a couple of variables, maybe the code has changed, maybe the current owner is subdividing for a different reason, maybe the past landowner did not investigate the issue as much as the current owner has and he has a case.

The issue still seems to be an issue ultimately for the county to resolve as the keep the records in question. It does seem that the Smith party is not involved at all in the current situation and should stay out of it. If the city is caught doing favors over one citizen then she may have a legal issue she can bring up at the proper time.

The real issue is that the city must do the right thing and treat all citizens equally and fairly.

New Videos

I will be adding some new video this weekend from this last weeks council meeting. It had a few interesting topics pop up that people will want to follow closely.

Videos

If you have trouble viewing the videos embedded on the blog you can also go to vimeo and view them there.

The link to my channel is as follows

http://vimeo.com/channels/40831

Committee Meetings May 11, 2009

Finance, Claims, Bonds, & Interest

Sam's Club memberships were the topic of the night. Aldeman Hejna asked what others thought of the city's Sam's Club memberships. Mr. Hudzik explained that currently the police department has three memberships, the ambulance department has two, while the fire department has six. City Hall currently holds one membership. He further explained that the police buy snacks and water in bulk for awards functions and paper to make award certificates. The ambulance department buys cleaning supplies and the fire department buys things for fundraisers. In all the city has twelve memberships which cost $35 each annually.

Hejna then said we shouldn't be going to Sam's as Columbia said they supported "Think Monroe County First". She also said the city should not go to Sam's and pay Missouri tax. She also noted that all departments could maybe pool their office supply needs and order together from Quill or Corporate Express.

Few alderman showed any real interest in the issue and a motion was made by Brad to limit each department to two memberships. No one seconded the motion. As Hejna is the chair she could not second the motion and Jay was not in attendance. This left only Fred to second the motion. Fred then made his own motion that the city simply keep the same memberships as last year. No one seconded. A little conversation took place and Fred then agreed to second Brads motion and it passed, it will now be brought up next week Tuesday at the council meeting.

My view on the topic is this. If we're going to think "Monroe County First" then taking away the memberships and ordering online at Quill, Corporate Express, or Staples is pointless.

It was said the departments spend maybe $2,000 - $3,0000 altogether at Sam's. Say you save 20% (which I think would be a high rate of savings) by shopping at Sam's. At $3,000 that's $600. We had twelve memberships at $35 which is $420. So we're paying for convenience in bulk. We're not really saving any money if we're paying people millage to drive to Sam's. With fewer memberships the city will come out ahead. Well a little more ahead but we don't know the millage expenditures.

The real issue is if the city supports "Think Monroe County First" then it should buy what it can here regardless of price. In the grand scheme of things $3,000 is not much to the city, spend it in Columbia especially if its cleaning supplies, snacks, and paper. Save the out of town purchases for things we cannot buy here.

Personnel Committee
Executive Session to discuss collective bargaining and employee salaries.