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COW Minutes 2003 04-02-03 'Page 1 of 9 UNITED CITY OF YORKVILLE COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE MEETING TUESDAY, APRIL 2, 2003 Mayor Art Prochaska called the meeting to order at 7 p.m. ROLL CALL Members present: Aldermen Larry Kot, Joe Besco, Mike Anderson, Richard Sticka, and Paul James; and Alderwomen Valerie Burd and Rose Spears. _ A quorum was established. VISITORS Those who spoke at the meeting or signed the sign -in sheet were: City Attorney Kelly Kramer, City Administrator Tony Graff, Police Chief Harold Martin, Tracy Pleckham, Executive Director of Parks and Recreation Laura Brown, Lynn Dubajic with the Yorkville Economic Development Corporation, Robert and Molly Stadler, Wanda Ohare, Bill Powell, and Dan Waitt with the Beacon News. NEW BUSINESS PC 2003 -01 Robert and Molly Stadler, rezone of 101 W. Somonauk Alderman Richard Sticka said the Plan Commission and the Economic Development Committee gave recommendations for the rezoning of the property. Mayor Art Prochaska said the request is consistent with what the city has done along Route 47 in recent history. He also said the rezoning would be in compliance with the city's comprehensive plan. He indicated that one person expressed concern at the public hearing about access to Somonauk Street. Sticka said it isn't likely the Illinois Department of Transportation would allow access to Route 47. City Administrator Tony Graff said that by granting a rezoning, the city would require a site plan review. At that time, issues of entrance to the property would be addressed. Robert Stadler said he and his wife have no immediate plans to sell their home. However, the project to widen Route 47 will take about one -third of their back yard. At this point, he said they want to keep their options open. The committee decided to bring the issue to the City Council meeting the following Tuesday. OLD BUSINESS 1. Ordinance approving letter of credit and subdivision bond requirement and revoking resolution No. 2002 -37. Page 2 of 9 City Attorney Kelly Kramer said the percentage was lowered to 15 percent on the subdivision bond requirement. The matter will go to the city council on the consent agenda. NEW BUSINESS Prochaska said the first I I items under New Business could be placed on the consent agenda for the City Council meeting because all of the items received favorable recommendations at the committee level. 1. Internship Program Alderwoman Rose Spears said the city plans to hire Bart Olson as the summer intern. Prochaska said it is a good way to use some of the city's younger residents. Olson previously worked for the Beecher Center and his major is public administration. Alderman Larry Kot expressed concern about the internship selection process and wondered if the city was denying other students the same opportunity. However, Graff said the approval process is done at Northern Illinois University, which then sends students to participate in the internship program with the city. 2. Amend 2002 Tax Levy Ordinance Prochaska said the city submitted its tax levy to the county as it always has. However, the County Clerk's office now requires the city to split the EVMF and Social Security out from the library portion and the city portion to clarify which money goes where. City Attorney Kelly Kramer said that essential the way the city does it now, the library sees more funding. If the city were to split the levy as requested by the county, the library couldn't afford it, she said. She added that the county clerk may rescind the request. Prochaska said that the matter will be put on the consent agenda. He said the important thing is that nothing is being changed. 3. Zoning Text Amendment regarding building height in office district Prochaska said that the maximum building height in the office district is 25 feet or two- - stories, but in the business district, which the office zoning is part of, the maximum height is 35 feet. The zoning text amendment simply raises the height to 35 feet in the office district, which is already allowable. 4. Building Permit Reports for February 2003 There were 36 building permits for the month and 72 so far this year. The report was put on the consent agenda. 5. Sewer Rate Study — Deuchler Proposal Prochaska said the city is conducting the study because the city is now dealing with two different sanitary districts. The city needs to have it done to justify the sanitary districts' costs and the city's fee structure. Page 3 of 9 Also, Graff said the last time a study was done, the Yorkville- Bristol Sanitary District did not have an infrastructure fee and the city needs to look at its fee and how it works in concert. The city's fee covers pipes under 18 inches and the Yorkville- Bristol fee covers all the interceptors. Fox Metro covers 15 inches and above. Graff said the study will cost more than $20,000, but it is the justification the city needs to charge the fees for the new developments. Also, he said the city has never done a formal sewer study. Sticka asked if the study would have an impact on the sewer maintenance fee. Prochaska said it could have an impact. The city is looking at justifying that fee and at justifying the connection fees. Graff said the study also will help with the intergovernmental agreement with Fox Metro and the Yorkville- Bristol sanitary districts. The proposal was placed on the consent agenda. 6. Water Reports for February 2003 The report was put on the consent agenda 7. River's Edge Phase 1— Letter of Credit Reduction The issue was forwarded to the City Council 8. Mill and Van Emmon Water Main — IDOT Highway Permit Kot reported that the city needs to work on water mains under Route 47 and in order to do so the city needs a permit from IDOT. Graff said the bids for the project probably will go out in July. Kot added some lane closures will be necessary and that the city hopes to finish the project before school resumes in the fall. The item was placed on the consent agenda. 9. Country Hills Phase 2 — Bond Reduction Kot said the two bonds are being reduced at the recommendation of City Engineer Joe Wywrot. One bond is for water and sanitary and the other is for roadways and storm sewers, he said. The item was placed on the consent agenda. 10. Police Reports for February 2003 Anderson recommended the reports be forwarded to the City Council. The reports were placed on the consent agenda Page 4 of 9 11. Request to Replace Officer Anderson recommended the committee move the request to hire a police officer to the City Council. The police officer will replace an officer whose employment was terminated. The request was placed on the consent agenda. 12. Employee Manual Spears said the Administration Committee recommended approval of the new manual. Graff said the changes are highlighted and they are very minor. He also said that Abby Rogers recommended that under the disclaimer it states that collective bargaining overrides the manual subject to language. However, she also recommended that notation be eliminated from the library because the library employees are employees of the city under the library board. Rogers will talk to the library board attorney about this, Graff said. She feels the two manuals are not in conflict except on holidays. The library is open on several days when the city offices are closed. Graff said Rogers will talk to the library board about adding a few extra days off, so that they are equal. Rogers will come to the city to do training in May. The manual is expected to be adopted in June. Prochaska asked a question about an item on Page 13 where damage to city property is prohibited. He asked if that also applied to personal property. Graff said he'll ask Rogers if that needs to be added. Graff said the attorney also recommended the city offer compensation to employees because there are changes in the manual. The manual says there is no guarantee of benefits and other types of things like that, Graff said. Because the city is changing the employees' rights, such as the city has the rights to inspect employee property on site, the attorneys believe the employees should receive some compensation. The attorneys felt $50 per employee would be acceptable. Alderman Paul James said the committee didn't think the compensation should be cash. However, Graff said the attorneys were adamant that the compensation not be a gift. The attorneys suggested the $50 amount, he said. James said he had a problem with the nominal consideration. He said he just doesn't understand it. Prochaska said the consideration is necessary because the city is changing the terms of the employees' employment. Alderman Mike Anderson questioned the search and seizure aspect and whether the city would be legal under the Fourth Amendment rights of employees. The question sparked a discussion on the Forth Amendment rights. Prochaska said the city cannot write any ordinance that supersedes the Constitution. And, Graff said the text comes straight from a legal firm that specializes in these issues. Page 5 of 9 Alderman Valerie Burd also voiced her concern and said the city would need to exercise caution if the personal property of any employee was searched. Kramer said the Police Department would probably be the ones to do a search. Chief Harold Martin said he would like it to be more specific in the manual as to who can order a search and how a search would be conducted. Prochaska said the section in the manual regarding search and seizure addresses personal property on city property. For instance, Graff said the city couldn't search a vehicle parked in an open area without probable cause. The vehicle could only be searched without probable cause if it was in an employee only parking area. Graff said employees cannot search through each other's items. The changes in the manual would only allow for such as search to be conducted by a supervisor. Burd asked if there was any concern that it could be used as harassment in case of a personal conflict. Prochaska said this comes directly out of Homeland Security. He said there definitely needs to be some control on it. He said he'd like to see some wording regarding the direct line of supervision. Also, he said he's sure harassment wont' be a problem because the manual also has anti - harassment policies in it and there are grievance procedures in the manual. Kot said he's not 100 percent comfortable with the language yet on the aspect of inspections. He said a supervisor should have reason to inspect the personal property of an employee. Graff said a good supervisor would have reason why he or she would conduct a search. Also, he said if an employee felt violated, he or she could pursue grievances against a supervisor. Kramer said employees should know not to bring anything to work that might get them fired because there are no expectations of privacy. Kot said the city has always been fair with employees and he hates the thought of the city getting heavy handed. Burd added that in this time in the country, the city needs to be extra careful not to rush into ordinances. She fears the country is giving away many of the freedoms it's fighting for. Kramer, however, said the portion of the manual is not reactionary. She said such policies have been around for a long time. Graff said that workplace inspections have been in place for at least 15 years and he said most employees like it because it makes them feel safer. The C.O.W. decided the $50 compensation is acceptable. However, it would like to have the wording in the manual adjusted and brought back to the C.O.W. Page 6 of 9 14. Regional Lift Station Report Kot said Deuchler did a preliminary engineering report on a lift station for the Heartland subdivision. The rough estimate is $2.5 million and does not include the construction of sewers on the Heartland Circle property. Heartland Circle would pick up about one -third of the cost, which comes to about $800,000. The city balance would be $1.7 million. If the city goes ahead with the new lift station, it would reduce the amount of maintenance the Public Works Department has on other lift stations in the area. He said if the lift station is approved, three lift stations would be combined into one. Graff said the city is looking for direction from the council on this. He said the city staff wants to create different financing options for the lift stations. Also, he said they are looking at a service area. If they end up with 450 homes on the lift station, they would create a special service area. The homes connected to the lift station wouldn't be assessed extra fees. However, the revenues from the standard maintenance fee would be put toward the debt, he said. Also, he said they'd like to look at other fees and revenue options. Kot said this seems to be a common sense approach. He said it makes sense to have one big lift station rather than several other smaller ones. He said the city needs to move ahead and get a financial analysis on how this might work. Sticka asked if there were any recapture possibilities and Graff said there is some potential on Route 34. Graff said the engineers have sized the lift station to service existing homes. Also, Graff said that every lift station that the three lift stations that would be replaced were initially put in as temporary lift stations. He said they've now been in service for about 12 years. 15. Route 34 /Game Farm Road Traffic Signal Kot said the MFT auditor said the city needs to front the entire construction cost of the project. Therefore, the city needs to appropriate an additional $130,000. Graff said the city isn't making any payments out. At the same time the $130,000 is paid, the city will receive money from the state covering 93 percent of the cost. Graff said the city needs a resolution to appropriate $130,000, but the city actually is only appropriating 7 percent of the cost. Also, Graff said they're adding signs to be put up to identify that a traffic signal is upcoming. If necessary, they will put up a flashing yellow light. Money for the signs or light would be in addition to the $130,000. 16. MFT Appropriation The item was placed on the consent agenda. Page 7 of 9 17. Water Treatment Building Design The committee agreed more information is needed before any decisions can be made on a design for the water treatment building. Kot said it is hard to make a decision on which style of building to build without any pictures. Also, no cost estimates were attached to any of the information submitted, he said. Prochaska suggested the issue be brought back to the C.O.W. with more information. Until more information is provided, he said there's no way the city can make a decision. 18. Land Cash and Capital Purchases The park and recreation department requests two vehicles and new ball field equipment. Parks and Recreation Executive Director Laura Brown said the items are in the capital budget for the next fiscal year. However, she would like authorization to pre -order the items because of time it takes to get the vehicles. Alderman Joe Besco suggested the city order snowplows for the trucks so the equipment is on hand. However, Prochaska said that land -cash money can't be used for things not in use for the parks. In the past, they've purchased things jointly — some money from land - cash and some from the general fund. Besco said it would make sense to get the plow package so that trails can be plowed. The C.O.W. decided to place the ordering of the trucks on the consent agenda. At this point, Prochaska suggested to just request the trucks and not the plow packages. i Additional Business Spears said there's a rusted stop sign at the entrance of the shopping center. Prochaska said it's not a city sign and that the Countryside shopping center should be notified. Kot said that the Public Works Department is getting quotes to clean the north water tower. He said they've received two quotes and wanted to know if two quotes were sufficient. Prochaska said that since it's under $5,000, that's okay. Graff added that the department might want to wait until after the planting season to clean the tower. Burd commented on the situation with the Village of Montgomery regarding boundaries. Burd said recently spoke with a member of the Montgomery Village Board and was told that a unanimous vote by the Village Board sent a message to the Yorkville City Council on how important they think a boundary agreement is to them. Before they took that vote, Burd said she was interested in sitting down and meeting with Montgomery officials about a boundary agreement. Now she doesn't feel she wants to meet with them. She said she feels they're trying to blackmail Yorkville officials into ceding property to them that right now doesn't belong to either municipality. Burd said as much as of the School District property as possible should end up in the limits of the City of Yorkville because they are the ones who care about the children in the district. She said she doesn't want to rush into any meeting with them. Page 8 of 9 Burd also said the fire referendum didn't pass and she wonder if there's a way the city can help. Prochaska said he has met with the fire department officials and has talked to them about their desire for land on the north side to build a new station. He said he would like them to provide some numbers so that the city would have something to justify assistance. Returning to the boundary issue, Kot asked when the next meeting was scheduled between the two communities. Graff said the next meeting date would be sometime in June. Montgomery officials wanted to be able to have all of their officials there. However, Montgomery officials don't have indicated they do not want to talk about boundary agreements at the meeting. They want to discuss comprehensive plans. Sticka said he's not interested in meeting with Montgomery. He believes they've behaved dishonorably. They've collected money for a particular purpose and refused to turn it over until a third party (Yorkville) did something they wanted. He also said he agrees with the mayor that it's in the best interest for the schools to have land annexed into Yorkville. Prochaska said they are trying to put together a meeting. He said he expects nothing less than for Montgomery to start releasing the funds. He also said the only way he thinks it will work is to sit down and talk about it. The School District boundary is not going to change. That needs to be taken out of the equation. The two communities need to sit down and talk about their true feelings on where they think the boundaries should be. He said Yorkville did the same thing with Plano and it worked out well. Burd, though, said that at least with Plano, there was a general feeling of a general area where the boundaries would be. With Montgomery, she doesn't see any area of negotiation at all. Prochaska said Montgomery thinks they can annex to the Yorkville City limits and he will not support any type of a border war. The city will work with developers based on what is in the comprehensive plan. Besco said he felt like the city held out an olive branch and it felt like Montgomery slapped the city in the face with it. Prochaska said the city will continue on its path to try to put together something. He said the city needs to go through the process to try to set up a meeting. He would ask that the Montgomery Village Board reconsider what its doing. Prochaska said the city needs to continue taking the honorable road and stick with the plan. Graff said that in the big picture of things, Yorkville is still meeting with Montgomery on the Grande Reserve development. Prochaska said all the times he's met with the Montgomery Village president have been very amicable and they've walked away from the table saying the only thing they can Page 9 of 9 agree on is to disagree. Prochaska said he won't negotiate away Route 47 to route 30 because that is Main Street Yorkville. If the two communities can't set a boundary, then they at least need to make sure that the comprehensive plans match so that similar uses are next to each other. Prochaska said Yorkville needs to continue to take the high road on the issue. Prochaska brought up the idea of a new committee structure. He is proposing a new structure. Currently the city has committees for Public Works, Public Safety, Administration and Economic Development. Prochaska recommends breaking building and zoning out of Economic Development and have Economic Development include tourism and public relations. He would also like to split administration from finance to create two committees. Also, there would be a technology committee. It would be a good place for new police technology and public works technology. He also would like to see a building and grounds committee. There would then be eight committees and many of them would not have to meet every month. The issue was placed on the next C.O.W. agenda. Prochaska also announced that in honor of National Volunteer week, the city will have a picnic lunch on May 3 to recognize all the volunteers in the city. He said there are many groups who do a lot for the city and he thinks the city should do a little something for them. Graff said the Yorkville Chamber of Commerce has a scholarship program and is interested in partnering with the city. He said they're trying to raise between $300 and $500 for scholarships. The city is looking at using a payroll deduction for employees to contribute to the scholarship or to other charities. Prochaska said that with the new terms starting there are two employees the city needs to renew the contracts for. That will be discussed at the next C.O.W. meeting. The meeting adjourned at 9:25 p.m. Minutes submitted by Dina Gipe I - ' baV1 �ou ++ , - -- - - -- - - - - - - -- - - - i