City Council Minutes 2013 11-02-13 special meeting MINUTES OF THE SPECIAL MEETING OF THE CITY COUNCIL
OF THE UNITED CITY OF YORKVILLE, KENDALL COUNTY, ILLINOIS,
HELD IN THE CONFERENCE ROOM
800 GAME FARM ROAD ON
SATURDAY NOVEMBER 2 2013
Mayor Golinski called the meeting to order at 9 : 04 a.m.
ROLL CALL
City Clerk Warren called the roll.
Ward I Koch Present
Colosimo Present
Ward H Milschewski Present
Kot Present
Ward III Frieders Present
Funkhouser Present
Ward IV Spears Present
Teeling Present
Also present: City Clerk Warren, City Administrator Olson, Police Chief Hart, Public Works Director
Dhuse, Finance Director Fredrickson, EEI Engineer Sanderson, Community Development Director
Barksdale-Noble, Building Code Official Ratos, Superintendent of Parks Sleezer, Superintendent of
Recreation Evans, and Administrative Intern Weckbach
QUORUM
A quorum was established.
CITIZEN COMMENTS ON AGENDA ITEMS
None.
BUSINESS — Goal Setting Session
Mayor Golinski thanked everyone for coming out . He asked that comments be short and concise .
Administrator Olson wrote last year's goals on the board and stated there is a memo in the packet that has
a detailed overview of last year's goals . In the memo it states if the goals were satisfied and where staff
thinks the goals should go based on comments from last year.
1 . Build fund balance - The fund balance got above 15 % .
2 . Road improvement maintenance program - Road improvement maintenance program was created
but not fully funded.
3 . Police staffing levels - Nothing was done with police staffing levels.
4. Economic development - Businesses are moving into town.
5 . Downtown improvement - About half of the downtown property maintenance cleanup was
completed.
6 . Stricter code enforcement on all property maintenance - The City issued many more tickets this
year.
7 . Capital Improvement Planning (River Road Bridge in 2013 ) - This process was started when
doing the budget last year. This will be the focus of next year.
8 . Website improvement - This hasn't been done but will probably be in the admin department
budget request for next year.
9 . Sidewalk Improvement Maintenance Program - This was discussed but shifted away from the
50150 program to doing an entire block length. That is targeted for this year.
10 . Home Rule Referendum - That was voted down by the City Council.
11 . Public riverfront improvement - Several things have been done at the riverfront.
12 . Tourism
13 . Metra extension
14 . Community outreach - This was done well on Route 47 .
15 . Elected official referendum planning - The City decided not to do it after it was voted down.
16 . Updating technology in chamber - This hasn't been done yet but will probably get tied in with
website improvement.
The 2013 / 2014 goals were then discussed among the aldermen :
1 . Empty Commercial Storefronts
2 . Police staffing levels
3 . Website improvements
4. A/V in chamber - City Council meetings recording
5 . Farmers market improvements
The Minutes of the Special Meeting of the City Council - November 2, 2013 - Page 2 of 3
6 . Capital infrastructure plan funding
7 . East ally and parking lot plan
8 . Downtown vacant properties - property maintenance
9 . Downtown overlay district (aesthetics, architectural property maintenance, incentives)
10 . South side economic development
11 . Residential sidewalk plan funding
12 . Riverfront park
13 . Downtown parking plan
14. Comprehensive plan update
15 . Long term debt reduction strategy
16 . Maintain fund balance
17 . Employee salary survey (city wide)
18 . Downtown business outreach
19 . Continue to decrease our property taxes
20 . School intergovernmental agreement
21 . Seasonal special events
22 . 4th of July involvement
23 . Master facility planning
24 . BUILD program
25 . Downtown property acquisition
26 . Old jail (sell)
27 . Caboose (sell)
28 . Furniture improvements
29 . City Hall improvements
30 . Trees
The Department Heads discussed their priorities for 2013 / 2014 fiscal year.
Finance Director Fredrickson stated that long term the accounting software needs to be looked at. The
cost would be around $20, 000 to $30,000 .
Police Chief Hart stated the main issue is personnel and equipment issues .
Superintendent of Parks Sleezer stated staffing is an issue . There are some software issues also . He would
- like to upgrade the playground safety inspection to digital. The City also needs to take a solid look at
grants. City Administrator Olson said lots of park equipment is needed. Superintendent of Parks Sleezer
shared his vision for Beecher Park. City Administrator Olson mentioned the Beecher Center renovation
which was discussed. Mayor Golinski would like to see Bridge Park expanded. Alderman Teeling
discussed a dog park and that many people have showed interest in having one.
EEI Engineer Sanderson said he and Public Works Director Dhuse have been working on a five year
capital improvement program.
Superintendent of Recreation Evans said a big thing for his department is the City website for they are
going to go to online registration. He stated parking was a huge problem. A playground in west
downtown would be useful. If the City wants to expand events then staffing would have to be increased.
His department could use a vehicle of some sort to transport heavier equipment to events.
Administrative Intern Weckbach discussed the possibility of digitizing packets for meeting. Mayor
Golinski mentioned staffing for the Clerk's office, also.
Public Works Director Dhuse reiterated the capital improvement program. Personnel is needed. He
discussed the department building and would like to look at a possible City wide employee mechanic and
building maintenance person.
Community Development Director Barksdale-Noble would like everything digitized in the community
development and building department. When that occurs, the storage area can be cleaned out. She wants
to get a permitting and community development software for her department. She needs to increase her
professional services budget. Staffing is needed. She would like to have the GIS data updated and on site .
She would like a forester on site, which could be shared with Public Works .
Building Code Official Ratos stated they are looking into specific software that would allow residents to
go online and file complaints . They could tag a location of where they are on their phone and submit it. It
would allow them to track their complaint. He stated they are hiring a part time building inspector. This
should even out the work load for his department.
It was decided that rating the priorities like last year using the 5 , 4, 3 , 2, 1 plan was a good idea. City
Administrator Olson started an automation list acknowledging staffing. The big thing the Council talked
about for next year's budget proposal was capital improvement planning. The first draft of the budget, if
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the Council wants a sustainable budget over five years, the City basically can afford police departments
and a website upgrade but almost none of the other things. Long term he is trying to get money towards
automation and technology, permeating software, and GIS . Things that don't cost the City health
insurance, pension costs, and long term legacy cost of employees. Then after the City has automated as
much as possible, a decision needs to be made as to what the City needs from a staff level. Once the City
sets staffing then that is 80% of the City's costs. The City won't be able to nickel and dime discretionary
funds. His goal is to lock everything else down in the budget operationally and then say here are the City's
capital needs. What does the Council want to pay for them. That is his recommendation for strategy when
ranking these items . Push everything towards automation, then staffing, and then it is capital. City
Administrator Olson consolidated the items and went over what he consolidated. He pointed out last
year's goals that were on the board which the Council did not address this year. He asked if any of the
alderman wanted to add those items to this year's goal setting. The alderman went over those issues . The
alderman then took time to rank the 2013 / 2014 goals from highest to lowest priorities.
1 . Police staffing - 75
2 . Downtown - 54
3 . Automation and technology - 49
4 . South side economic development - 46
5 . Staffing - 39
6 . Capital infrastructure plan funding - 37
7 . Debt reduction - 30
8 . Employee salary survey - 24
9 . Equipment - 21
10 . Property taxes - 20
11 . Comp plan - 9
12 . Building needs - 9
13 . Beecher - 7
14 . Sell assets - 6
15 . Seasonal events - 6
16 . Park acquisitions - 5
17 . Residential sidewalk - 2
18 . Park development - 1
The following items all tied: Trees, school intergovernmental agreement, 4th of July, store fronts, master
facility planning, and BUILD .
ADJOURNMENT
Mayor Golinski stated meeting adjourned.
Meeting adjourned at 11 : 19 a.m.
Minutes submitted by:
Beth Warren,
City Clerk, City of Yorkville, Illinois