Sangamon Sun

City of Leland Grove City Council met July 25.

Here is the minutes provided by the Council:

The meeting was promptly called to order at 6:00 pm by the Honorable Acting Mayor Mary Jo Bangert. The pledge of allegiance was recited and the Roll Call was taken by Clerk Klokkenga. The following members were present or absent as indicated:

Jill Egizii, Mayor (A) Brian Miller, Treasurer (P) Steve Klokkenga, Clerk (P) Saul Morse, City Attorney (P) Diana Hetherington, Alderman Ward 1 (P) Nick Williams, Alderman Ward 2 (P) Mary Jo Bangert, Alderman Ward 3 (P) Jim Moll, Alderman Ward 2 (P) Donald LoBue, Alderman Ward 3 (A)

Also present were: Chief Dan Ryan, Leland Grove Police Department Tyler Lanier, City Administrator Micky Mann, City Engineer

APPROVAL - June 27, 2017 Regular Meeting Minutes

PUBLIC COMMENTS - No comments from the public were given.

TREASURER'S REPORT - Treasurer Miller updated the Council on the City's finances and presented his Report for discussion. Being no discussion, a motion was made by Alderman Hetherington and seconded by Alderman Moll to approve Paid Warrants from the General Fund P-07-440 in the amount of $37,131.38. The motion passed unanimously. A motion was made by Alderman Hetherington and seconded by Alderman Moll to approve unpaid warrants from the General Fund P-07-438 in the amount of $9,086.12. The motion passed unanimously. A motion was made by Alderman Hetherington and seconded by Alderman Moll to approve unpaid warrants MFT P-07-439 in the amount of $513.72. The motion passed unanimously.

CITY ADMINISTRATOR'S REPORT Update from City Administrator Lanier Nothing to report at this time.

LEGAL UPDATE AND ACTIONS Legal Memo and Update Attorney Morse reported that a FOIA request came in from a company in Indiana working on a research project involving local area building permits. Attorney Morse will handle accordingly. The Attorney handling the Administrative Hearing involving resident Kent Gray, reported that things are moving along. An Administrative Hearing is scheduled for August to help bring some conclusion to the matter.

Another pending matter regarding Mr. Gray, is a creditor issue involving his property. The City of Leland Grove was contacted regarding other legal action being taken on the property and outside legal counsel recommended the City not follow through with its case against Mr. Gray in order to save legal costs. The Bank is seeking to take back the property and if successful, a sale would take place at the courthouse. If there is a foreclosure then all liens would be closed out. Attorney Morse noted that if the Lien is wiped out, then that would not necessarily end the Administrative Hearing process. Attorney Morse indicated the lawyer handing the case will keep the Council informed as the hearing proceeds. It was also noted that Mr. Gray has yet to pick up the FOIA request he made of the City from months ago.

A motion to pass a resolution on releasing three months of Executive Session minutes and placing them open for review was made by Alderman Hetherington and seconded by Alderman Moll. The resolution passed unanimously. The Clerk will place executive session minutes as indicated in the letter from Attorney Morse, in the respective Regular Meeting Files for each of those months.

Appropriations Ordinance - Final dollar amounts indicated in the budget are intentionally hiked by 25% when preparing the final draft in order to compensate for any issues throughout the fiscal year. Attorney Morse asked the budget be reviewed carefully by the Council for both revenue and expenditure issues and recommend any changes for the ordinance a week in advance of the next meeting. The Council will be asked to vote at the next meeting.

Leland Grove resident Letitia Dewith Anderson is hosting a meeting at her home Thursday at 7:30pm to establish a neighborhood watch. Corner of Wiggins and Ash. Public is invited to attend.

DEPARTMENTAL REPORTS

Finance and Revenue - Alderman Hetherington Health, Sanitation and Environment - Alderman Creasey Police and Public Safety - Alderman Williams Police Report: Various residents have had their cars broken into and one car was actually stolen. Chief Ryan encourages residents to keep their doors locked at all times; A new Squad car has been ordered along with a video system and should be here in a few weeks. Alderman Moll has heard comments about the "overweight vehicle" ordinance being enforced. Chief Ryan does encourage overweight vehicles driving through on business to take the most direct route in and out of the City. Alderman Williams suggested a sticker for the trucks to put in their window and asked if we could possibly charge for a permit for overweight trucks? Chief Ryan would be ok with that and the council may give it some consideration. Current violations are between $100 and $300 charges.

Human Resources - Alderman LoBue Health and Dental Insurance Plan - Administrator Lanier City Insurance Agent Chip Thieben recommended we stay with the same plan we had last year. It was noted that a 9% increase has already been factored into the budget. A motion was made by Alderman Moll and seconded by Alderman Williams to approve the Dental Plan for the City. The motion carried unanimously.

Public Ways and Property - Alderman Moll

Laurel and Illini Intersection - Only two bids came in and both seemed too high. Alderman Moll recommends we do not proceed based on those expensive bids. Alderman Moll believes this project is definitely an improvement but we need to see about getting lower bids. Alderman Moll recommends we put this project back out for bid in the fall when contractors are not as busy and may provide a better offer to the City. Another question came up regarding Chatham Road money and can it be moved over to pay for Illini/Laurel intersection? Council determined that it cannot because then we fall under IDOT guidelines which would slow down the project. Alderman Moll was recognized for doing a great job with this project.

Cherry Road overlay project - Kuhn & Trello will go ahead and put it out for bid by the end of August.

Building Permits and Zoning - Alderman Bangert

Only 6 projects so far involving county inspections.

OLD BUSINESS Mayor Egizii asked that Council be given notice of an Administrative Hearing - set for August 23, 2017 in the matter of resident Kent Gray. Public Notice will be provided in advance.

FY 2018 Budget - Alderman Hetherington Chief Ryan is in discussion with the Village of Jerome to receive funds for a joint program.

Accountants did not bill us for Feb -April 2017 until recently and we need to shift money to pay this since we are over budget. A motion was made by Alderman Moll and seconded by Alderman Williams to amend the budget to reflect the Accountants bill from $10,000 to $13,000 /February thru April, 2017. The motion carried unanimously.

Alderman Hetherington informed the Council that there is not enough money in the budget to do the entire intersection project. Council discussed alternatives and ways to pay for them accordingly.

NEW BUSINESS Update Long Range Plan - Alderman Hetherington met with Mayor Egizii recently and they concluded that now might be a good time to make revisions to the City's Long Range Plan. Mainly look at construction project as the focus. Council may want to check with the Sangamon County Regional Planning Commission on what they would charge to work on updates.

Clean Up Day (Creek)- Alderman Hetherington When the City creek is down, the Council may want to set up a day to work on cleaning it up. It could be a Volunteer Day for neighbors in the area to participate in helping clean the creek, maybe in August or September. The City will use one of its trucks to take any waste to the dump. Work would be from Bates to Laurel Street. The Council set September 23rd as tentative day from 9am to 12pm.

Website Review - Alderman Hetherington Looking for suggestions form Alderman for changes to the website. Please let the City Administrator know if you have any ideas.

ADJOURNMENT

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