Sangamon Sun

City of Athens City Council Committee Jan. 9.

Here is the minutes provided by the committee:

Mayor Bob Dowell opened the meeting and thanked everyone for attending. Clerk Cindy McFarland called roll. Those in attendance were Mayor Bob Dowell, Clerk Cindy McFarland, and Aldermen: Larry Buhr, Amy Chernowsky, Rachel Lantz, Butch Nichols, Chris Reichert, and Angella Thompson. Persons in the audience included Ryan Seifert, Gary Richardson, Robbie Bluett, Michael Lockwood, Sarah McCart, and Craig Jensen. 

Mayor Dowell opened the meeting by acknowledging the different set-up for the evening's meeting. He said that, to order to foster transparency, he hopes to be able to procure a projector from LESO SO that the printed material that the council is looking at during our meetings can be projected on to the wall. The public would be able to see treasury balances, water pant chemical usage, and reports just as the council is seeing them. Mayor Dowell summarized the LESO program and said that Chief Becker has utilized four million dollars' worth of equipment for our community. The Mayor said that Chief Becker will be here Monday to present the police report but that the report is available for the council tonight. Ryan Seifert presented the Treasurer Report. Robbie Bluett presented the Water and Wastewater Reports. Robbie asked for council approval to purchase a Polymer scale for the water plant for $3,173.01 plus labor, a head works motor for the sewer plant for $1,225 plus labor, and a pump for the Boars Nest sewer station for $2,800 plus labor. The Mayor said approval for these purchases will be on the agenda for Monday. Alderman Lantz reported that there will not be a cemetery meeting until March. Mayor Dowell said that Linda Wasilewski had wanted to talk about the mowing contract for the cemetery. However, the Mayor thinks this contract may not be up for renewal yet. He will follow-up. Sarah McCart presented the Office Manager's report explaining that there had been as issue with the water bills showing a zero balance when a customer tried to pay online. Our utility billing company, CUSI, was contacted and the issue has since been resolved. Mayor Dowell added that he had not been happy with the CUSI customer service and that he had contacted the company personally to make his feelings known. The Mayor presented the fleet report and said that the 2020 Tahoe has arrived and been upfitted with police equipment; he directed Chief Becker to get the old Tahoe ready for sale. 

The first discussion topic was the 2020 Council Meeting dates which were provided to the council. Next was the Youth Appreciation Reception which will be held to celebrate the accomplishments of the youth of our community. It will be held on an upcoming Sunday afternoon. Mayor Dowell and School Superintendent Scott Laird have been planning and setting up guest speakers. The Mayor asked the council when they would like to hold the event and the council agreed that it should be in March when some of the on-going community activities are over and more people will be available to attend. 

The Mayor went on to the topic of the upcoming 2020 census. He said that he has put together a committee which will meet Tuesday, 1/16/2020 at 11am at City Hall. Everyone is welcome. The committee will work to get the word out during February and March, and the actual census taking will begin in April. Next was discussion of the City of Athens, Illinois, Annual Financial Report for the years ended April 30, 2019 and 2018. Mayor Dowell explained that our auditor is very thorough, and our audit had gone very well. Alderman Nichols pointed out that the Management Letter at the end of the audit is an important summary of the findings and as you can see, the Statement of Economic Interest was the only finding. In the past, there may have been several bullet points. Mayor Dowell reinforce that we have a good team. 

Next on the agenda was garbage disposal information. Mayor Dowell summarized area waste removal prices: Area Disposal is $22 per month; Republic is $18 per month ($54 for 3 months) with free recycling; A-Team is $21 per month with one can and free recycling; Lake Area is $54 for 3 months/$18 per month with two cans that you provide and no recycling. The Mayor said that we had discussed going to one company, but the county will still be using other companies which will use our roads. Alderman Thompson said that they would not be using our residential roads. Alderman Reichert said that he knew of one of these companies had charged $90 for 3 months. Mayor Dowell said that our office staff had contacted each of these companies and identified herself as a representative of Athens and gathered these quotes. If anyone is paying more, he asked that they contact the company directly or the mayor himself and he will follow-up on their behalf. 

City vacant lot projects was next on the agenda. Mayor Dowell provided pictures and plans for modular homes which could be built on our vacant lots. He said that Chief Becker is working with our attorney to make sure that appropriate funds are used and that all is legal and by the book if we decide to proceed with this plan. The Mayor said that he also believes that if pricing is comparable, we should use local contractors whenever possible. He continued, saying that we are very early in our research and planning. Alderman Buhr asked about the cost. Mayor Dowell said that pricing starts at $67 per square foot plus $10K for the foundation and electrical. The plans provided are for 1000-1200 square foot homes. The Mayor summarized that we have not been able to sell our vacant lots, so maybe we can construct homes on the lots and sell them so that we will beautify our neighborhoods while providing future income for our city through taxes and utilities. 

The last discussion topic was the Mayor's 2020 goals for our city. He began by encouraging everyone to think of new ideas, think outside the box, and bring them forward. First on the Mayor's list is finding alternative funding for sidewalks, drainage, and streets. Representative Butler will be meeting with the Mayor in the next couple weeks to discuss the sidewalk proposal through state funding that he had submitted previously. A CO2 feed for the water plant is another important need for community safety. Mayor Dowell asked for ideas for uses for the old ball park; maybe a community garden, a farming use, flower garden, bee habitat, or expansion of the cemetery. Maybe our storage containers could be moved there to use as a training facility for fire and police. The Mayor continued on with goals including two more additional weather sirens, additional storm spotter training classes, and expanding training here at City Hall for such things as OSHA, streets, fire, and police. Mayor Dowell said that with our successful school sports programs, we may have more people wanting to move to our city. This leads us to possibly having someone who would want to build additional subdivisions here which would require a plan for streets and a homeowner's association. This could lead to more new businesses in our city, a senior citizen center, a senior living center or memory center, a medical clinic, a hardware store, a one screen movie theater. Mayor Dowell asked the council that if they visit a promising business, that they talk to the owner and gather contact information. Alderman Nichols said we do have two new businesses in town. Mayor Dowell said that leads to another goal; we could have 1 or 2 businesses in town speak at our monthly council meetings to let us know what we can do to help make their business successful. The Mayor concluded his lists of goals with, finding funds for Christmas decorations, accepting donations for our fireworks display, cleaning up the creek on Main Street, exploring more stringent property clean-up regulations, possibly charging a fee for parking violations, adding more storage units, and tackling the marijuana and dispensary issue. Treasurer Seifert said he would like the railroad to fix the tracks on Hargrave. Mayor Dowell said he has contacted the railroad several times and they will not do anything. 

Last was the drawing for the weather radio giveaway in conjunction with Athens being a Storm Ready Community. Tenley Seifert drew the name of John Zook. Congratulations! 

That ended the agenda for the evening. The Mayor thanked everyone and asked for a motion to adjourn to executive session. Motion made by Alderman Nichols, seconded by Alderman Buhr, to adjourn to executive session at 8:10pm. The council returned from executive session at 8:22pm and adjourned. 

https://www.athensil.com/documents/75/Jan_9_Minutes.pdf