Commitee Meetings 10-12-09

The mayor was not in attendance as he is out of town on vacation; Alderman Ebersohl is serving as mayor pro-tem while Hutchinson is away. Alderman Stumpf arrived at about 7:12pm. Alderman Oberkfell was not in attendance as there was a death in his family.


Refuse Collection & Recycling

• Refuse & Recycling Contract Presentation/Discussion

Tim Schiebe (sp) was in attendance to give a presentation on the contract the city has with Reliable Sanitation. He proposes that the city not use the CPI to determine the increases in his contract anymore. He noted that Columbia had no increases in sanitation costs last year and throughout all of the high fuel prices he held his pricing to the city.

Tim proposed that the new contract Reliable would have with the city would include a $0.29 increase (2.7%) for his costs and a $0.05 increase in the landfill costs. This would bring the current $10.71 amount up to $11.05. He then proposed instead of using the CPI as is used now the contract would simply increase each year by 3%.

The discussion then moved on to improving the recycling program in Columbia. The council would like to see more businesses recycle and to see an increase in resident recycling. Some council members find the recycling bin to be too small. They discussed with Tim the idea of a second 65 gallon can for recycling or maybe a larger bin for recycling. Nothing was decided on.

Tim then said that at the end of Skyline Drive his driver used to turn around in a driveway at the end of the street. That owner has decided recently that Reliable cannot use his driveway anymore and the trash trucks have to back down Skyline Drive. The owner told the driver that if Reliable fixes the culvert under his driveway then they could use it to turn around again. Time proposed that Reliable could buy all of the material and maybe the city could install it for the owner. He did not have many firm details in regards to an agreement with the owner so he will discuss it with them and then come back to the council for more direction.


Streets Sidewalks, Drainage, and Public Utilities

• Old Town Project – Davenport (404 E. Cherry) Driveway Issue Discussion

It was decided that the city will have the contractor working in Old Town replace his driveway all the way to the garage with 6” concrete and rebar to make the grade in his driveway a continuous 5.6% from the street to the garage. The council was obviously swayed by Mr. Davenport taking time out of his schedule to make a presentation at the Oct. 5 city council meeting. At the previous committee meeting the council was split in support of repairing the driveway. The wording in the easement that said something to the effect that things would be put back the same way as before changed the mind of some alderman. The driveway will run around $5,300 to replace at this time.

Seems to me the council is doing the right thing, but the city should maybe proactively look for other areas of possible issue in the Old Town project.

• Breidecker Street Discussion

The council discussed leaving Breidecker open once the road work is completed. No action was taken and they will continue to think about this possibility and discuss it more in the future.


Committee of the Whole

•Meadow Ridge West Condo Association Agreement Request Discussion

The agreement is almost complete. There will be no street improvements by the city and the city will not be responsible for their upkeep in any way. The condo association will pay for all of the legal fees accumulated before the city signs off on the agreement. The agreement had one item that caused concern for the council. It stated that there is to be no parking on the street. There was also a provision for no cars parked after midnight if I remember correctly. These provisions seemed redundant and didn’t make much sense to much of the council. The council was concerned that maybe the residents were not aware of these provisions.

•Other Items to Be Discussed

Alderman Row brought up the idea that the city should have a policy in place for returning soldiers to have a small processional down main street if they so desired one.

There had been a citizen requesting a while back that she wanted to organize a parade for some returning soldiers. She gave a presentation at an earlier committee meeting and was told of some requirements including the need for an insurance certificate.

Alderman Niemietz asked who would be responsible for organizing the processional. Alderman Row said it didn’t have to be large or even shut down the street; it could be as simple as a fire truck and maybe two cop cars providing an escort down Main Street. Alderman Stumpf mentioned that Waterloo does it for soccer teams and you basically call and a cop meets the group at one end of town and leads or follows them to the other and that’s it.

They decided that a policy would need to be in place for contacting Chief Edwards or the fire department to organize a processional. This policy would be for sports teams as well as returning soldiers.


Personnel

All of issues below were discussed in executive session.

•Discussion on employment and compensation of a specific city employee (City Hall Office)

•Collective Bargaining

IL Library Funding Cuts

The following text was taken from an email forwarded to me by the Columbia Library Director. Please take a moment to visit the site linked below and voice your concern.

The IL General Assembly cut state grants by 50% (PA 96-0042, Article 20, Section 25). This cut affects public libraries, school libraries and systems funding. The Secretary of State mitigated the cuts with some federal money for this year, but this is only a temporary fix. All of this is happening at a time when Illinois libraries and systems are busier than ever.

Please contact your elected members of the Illinois General Assembly and ask them to not cut us any more and to restore funding when it's available. We've put this into a Pledge and we are asking each legislator to sign it. Currently two LCLS area legislators have signed the pledge: Senator James Claybourne Jr., and Representative Eddie Lee Jackson Sr., both from the East St. Louis area.

Go to this website: www.saveillinoislibraries.com scroll down to the bottom of the background page. Click on the link, "Send the pledge letter." Have 6 e-mail addresses ready so when prompted, you can urge 6 more people to send messages. The process is very easy and it will only take you a few minutes.

Members of the General Assembly are in Springfield now for the Veto Session, but it won't last long. They need to hear from those of us who love libraries while they are there.

Feel free to adapt this message and send to family and friends requesting that they send messages, too. In a campaign of this sort, numbers count.

Thanks for helping with this effort.

Tina Hubert
Executive Director
Lewis & Clark Library System
6725 Goshen Road
Edwardsville, IL 62025

TIF articles from Illinois Business Journal

There are a few articles in the October Illinois Business Journal which is available online in its entirety that some may find interesting. The first three are points of view on TIF districts and if reform is needed it the state statutes dealing with them.

Click here for the article by Steve Malec a Metalcutters Union official. He suggests some changes to be made to retail TIF's, business districts and their tax subsidies.

Click here for an article by Kevin Vick who is an attorney at a large law firm who deals with real estate and business law. This article explains some misconceptions with TIF's and is more form a developers point of view.

Click here for an article from Kevin Moran who is president of a consulting firm specializing in TIF's. He covers why he feels that if used properly nothing should or needs to be changed in the TIF statutes.

The following two links cover the ongoing situation in Glen Carbon, IL regarding Star Bonds. If you haven't heard of Star Bonds you should do some reading. I feel that even if you support TIF's you may think the Star Bond idea could be going too far. If you hate TIF's the simple suggestion of a Star Bond will have you voicing complaints at a public hearing before you know if.
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Appointment of Members of Boards, Commisions, & Commitees

Click here to view the ordinance.

I have had a copy of this ordinance that I obtained via FOIA request for a few weeks but did not post it right away. I was expecting that the city's website would have been updated by now and people would be able to see who serves on these particular boards and commissions but it has yet to be updated on the city site so I will add it here.

I know that who serves on these boards and commissions is often a hotly contested issue for some citizens and the city council itself. I am not posting this here to stir the pot, that not my intention on any subject. People in town deserve to know who represents the populous on these boards and commissions and that info should be made readily available.

The vote on this ordinance was split 4-4 and the mayor made the vote that split the tie, as always. It was voiced at the meeting by an alderman who voted no that many of these appointments are of a political nature and do not represent a wide cross section of our community. I can maybe agree that a wider cross section of the population should be sought out possibly as a few names pop up on more than one committee, but I do not know if citizens failed to volunteer or if some volunteered and were turned away. There was not much discussion at the council meeting about specifics of any one person in particular or who would be better suited than those that were appointed, that is except for my appointment.

I talked with the alderman who singled me out and while I do not agree with their reasoning I respect their decision and hope that by my future service to the city on the board I was appointed to their view of me may change. No names were singled out as being appointed because of political ties including mine and I would hope none of the alderman who voted no viewed my appointment as falling into that category, as I honestly have no bias towards any alderman, they all do things from time to time, including the mayor, that I agree and disagree with.

I believe all of these board and commission meetings are open to the public and would encourage anyone to attend the meetings or contact someone on the board if they have a question, concern or idea for improvement related to it. It’s your town get involved and help make it better.

Funding Radio System in St. Louis County

The minutes from 9-14-09 had a section on interoperable radio communication for all emergency personnel in Monroe County. There was an article on Tuesday discussing how St. Louis County is moving forward with a very similar project.

Click here to read the article.

Please note that while the City of Columbia has pledged to move forward with the county, no one has proposed any tax increases here for the upgrades. The county said they were working on some grants to cover costs.

I am not sure how realistic covering the costs of this system for the entire county is with grants but I do know tax increases were not discussed the meeting I attended back in September. Having this system in place will not only make emergency responders able to communicate better but their service to us and other communities will be improved.

Committee Meetings 9-28-09

Alderman Hejna was not in attendance at these committee meetings. Alderman Niemietz arrived at approximately 7:14 right as the Ordinance, Planning and Zoning meeting was beginning.


Refuse Collection & Recycling

• Refuse & Recycling Contract Presentation/Discussion

This meeting did not take place as Alderman Hejna would not be in attendance and she is the committee chair.


Ordinance, Planning and Zoning

• Main Street Facade Grant Guidelines & Application Amendments Discussion

The discussion of prevailing wages came up first. The issue was that Columbia had no criteria for prevailing wage in their grant facade program. Illinois has passed a law (SB 223) that goes into effect next year stating that projects receiving public funding must pay all labor at or above the prevailing wage. Since Columbia is giving these businesses money to improve their buildings appearance they must pay all workers prevailing wage even if they use the public portion of the money to buy only material. Owners of the business can do work themselves but their employees as an example may need to be paid painters prevailing wages for the time they spend painting when associated with a façade grant.

A line will be added where people sign the grant application stating they have read and understand the application, as apparently some applicants have not read or understood the grant process in the past.

The issue of whether painting should be allowed funding through the grant was discussed. Alderman Agne noted that some painting is a maintenance issue and should not be funded by the grant as the city has codes that require maintenance of buildings. Alderman Row noted that painting can greatly improve the appearance of a building which is the point of the façade grant program. The mayor said that in cases where a company changes logos or company colors it is more in line with the program possibly.
It was determined that the facade review board will look at grant applications on a case by case basis remembering that the facade grant is not intended to be used for maintenance purposes and continue to pass their recommendations on to the city council who has always had final say on the projects.


Streets Sidewalks, Drainage, and Public Utilities

• Old Town Project – Davenport (404 E. Cherry) & Crimm (216 Ferkel) Driveway Issue Discussion

I’ll explain these one at a time. But the idea here is that when the new streets went in these residents had issues with the way their driveways changed when compared to before the new street was in. It should be noted that all of the driveways and street segments in question are within in the criteria set forth by IDOT.

Crimm – The city has already changed his approach in an effort to keep his cars from dragging when he pulls in off the street. The city was within the design criteria when the new street was put in. The actual metal on the bottom of his car hit concrete when he pulled in. After the city had the contractor make changes to the driveway only the plastic ground affects on his car hits the concrete. Crimm has two low riding cars which have been altered to ride even lower to the ground than when originally manufactured, I believe one is a Mustang and the other is a Corvette. The city will do no more to his driveway.

Davenport – When this resident backs their boat into their driveway the hitch hits the concrete. Alderman Row made a number of points regarding this resident saying that no one anticipated the issue before construction but if they had Mr. Davenport would have requested what he wants done now in his easement. Row also suggested that the city should replace his driveway all the way to his garage or split the costs in some way with the city. Alderman Roessler said he thought Mr. Davenport had more of an issue with the visual look of the driveway rather than its functionality. Either way they both feel that something should be done

Alderman Oberkfell, Niemietz, and Ebersohl all said that doing anything sets a precedent for the city on similar projects in the future. There is a lot of work to be completed on this project in the coming months.

Alderman Roessler will check with the Davenports to see what solutions the Davenports would find reasonable. HE will bring those ideas back to the council at the next meeting.


Committee of the Whole

•National Incident Management System Discussion

There currently is no system in place for the city to keep tract of which employees have completed required NIMS training. It was determined that Al Hudzik the city administrator will begin a program to track what everyone should have in terms of training and if they have completed it. Al said this was on his list of things to get done. It was suggested he contact Gene Henkler with the county to discuss what everyone is required to have done.


Personnel & License, Insurance, CEMA and Contracts (Joint Committee Meeting)

•Pre-Employment Testing Service Provider Discussion

Additional pricing was available from Progressive Family to compare to the pricing the city already had from St. Elizabeth’s. Some tests were higher at Progressive while others were higher at St. Elizabeth’s, not all tests were available at Progressive Family though. Chief Edwards noted that in the past Progressive did not always have an MD administer the tests as requested.

Alderman Row mentioned that the psychological tests for the police candidates should be administered as close as possible to keep mileage reimbursements costs down. Chief Edwards noted that he is aware of one doctor in Illinois that can administer those tests and he has an office in South County that they send candidates to.

Alderman Niemietz and Row both agreed that as many tests as possible should be administered in one location to make it easier on both the candidate getting the tests and the city when waiting for test results.

The committee moved to have Al Hudzik iron out a one year agreement with St. Elizabeth’s and have it ready for the next council meeting.

•Collective Bargaining

Discussed in Executive Session

Updates

I have my minutes from the committee meeting on Sept. 28 almost complete and will get them finished sometime today. I will also work on a couple of video clips from the Oct. 5 council meeting. A couple of good points were made at the meeting, I'll get clips up this weekend.

Celebrate Your Neighbor Contest

Columbia's volunteer fire department has been made a finalist in the "Celebrate Your Neighbor" contest by the Suburban Journal. Check out the link below to read about all of the finalists, the second link will take you straight to the page to vote.


Click here to read the Story


Click here to VOTE

Pass the links on your your friends and families. All of the finalists are great examples of how we call all help on another.