COW Minutes 2000 09-07-00 UNITED CITY OF YORKVILLE
COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE MEETING MINUTES
SEPTEMBER 7, 2000
Attendees:
Mayor Art Prochaska
Richard Sticka Mike Anderson
Tom Sowinski Larry Kot
Rose Spears Valerie Burd
Jim Nanninga Joe Wywrot
Bob Allen
For guests see list attached to permanent record
LYNN DUBAJEC - EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR YORKVILLE ECONOMIC DEV. CORP.
Mayor Prochaska introduced Ms Dubajec and asked her to tell us about herself.
Ms. Dubajec stated that she has lived in Bristol for 4 years, and has worked in the past for 10
years in Real Estate management for a large company who had apartment complexes. She
performed habitat negotiations as well as groups of leases, and put packages together for
corporate apartment groups. She worked in this capacity with the Chicago Bears Organization
for short term apartments for the team and staff.. When her son was born she went into banking
for 8 years, 6 of these years were in Downers Grove, and then came to Yorkvivlle National Bank
where she did commercial loans. She processed business loans and then was secretary to the
president of the bank. She moved on to Oswego and did a lot of marketing. Her offices are
almost set -up and running now, and has attended a few City meetings. She is looking forward to
working with the City, development and businesses.
Alderman Sticka stated that he has thought about her coming into this position and wanted her to
know that they all want her to succeed, and stated that if there was anything they could do to help
her, they should be contacted.
Ms. Dubajec stated that right now she is absorbing everything like a sponge.
Alderman Sticka stated that she was coming in at an interesting time.
Ms. Dubajec stated that she will be attending a seminar where Corrine Wood from the State of
Illinois will be the Keynote speaker, and she is looking forward to this. She is building a database
and is excited to get started.
Mayor Prochaska stated the Ms. Dubajec has met with Jim and Bobbi to begin the transfer of
information.
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Alderwoman Burd asked about the relationship with the board and how much input the Board
will have on who she should approach, or what freedom she will have. How much involvement
will the board have on this position.
Mayor Prochaska stated that as director, she will have the freedom to go out and pursue what she
needs to do to bring business here with the help of the board.
Ms. Dubajec stated that it is important to talk and she has plans to talk to the businesses here and
has lots of questions for them. She wants to hear what their needs are and what other businesses
they would like to see here to compliment their business. She plans to work with the Board on
their thoughts also.
Mayor Prochaska stated the first meeting is this Wednesday and they will go over more details
then.
UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS /CHICAGO - POLICE REVIEW
Chip Cauldron from the U of I /Chicago stated that they were here a while back and reported to
the Public Safety Committee on their input and observations regarding community policing and
training here in Yorkville. They have been getting involved with the local community, the
police and youth here. One issue which was raised strongly was the number of departments
pursuing and adopting Community Policing, but many of them have not changed the way the
organization operates. Chief Graff asked them to do an organization assessment and make
recommendations on how to revise the operation. They came to Public Safety and did an
overview, the beginning of a road map. The summary is attachment "A ", at the back of the
report. They presented their findings looking at 6 areas, roles and the direction for Yorkville.
Mr. Cauldron stated that lots of good things are happening in Yorkville and with the Y.P.D., also
accepting the philosophy. They are getting the entire department grounded in Public Safety
problem solving. The training goes hand in hand with problem solving. Wonderful things are
happening in this community, there is a strong P.D. and they should be commended for opening
up to the team from the U of I. There are always differences across supervisory levels and
internally with community policing there has to be a leveling of supervisory handling. Number
1, the internal issues, the level of understanding, and communication across the ranks work to
smooth the flow of communication. There are training needs, but they got a good performance
evaluation, and have brought other stake holders into the process. People need to work on this
more effort. First you must decide what you want the new system to do. Strengthen ties to the
community, include community input, keeping the community informed. Page 3 outlines this at
the end of the report. Essentially this is a review of the report distributed tonight.
Alderman Kot asked Chip if they would come back and do another report.
Mayor Prochaska asked if they had an employee performance system.
Chief Graff stated that they had researched other systems and will bring to Public Safety and key
into the next phase of adoption. They have to get training and adopt that. This will be an
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aggressive 3 or 4 months, but they think they can do this. They will look for guidance from the
Public Safety Committee.
Mayor Prochaska stated that the community policing has been successful in Yorkville, and is
happy to hear that this is to expand on that involvement next.
Mr. Cauldron stated to remain stable.
Alderman Anderson stated that the big mistake departments make is changing to community
policing and not changing the review process.
Future Alderman James asked if there were any other towns that Yorkville can refer to.
Mr. Cauldron stated Bloomington and Evanston are trying, and have organized "Go Rides" with
their police departments and a checklist. Kankakee and there are 6 or 7 others that the U of I has
had close contact with.
Mr. James asked if there were books or literature on this.
Chief Graff stated yes, that they have had them and the focus officers are anxious to move ahead.
Alderwoman Burd asked about the Internet use with this.
Chief Graff stated that they are open to any tried and true mechanism.
Alderwoman Burd stated that you are anonymous on the internet.
Chief Graff agreed that this is the easiest anonymous way to track and get response.
Mayor Prochaska thanked Mr. Cauldron.
BLACKBERRY CREEK INTERCEPTOR/COUTRYSIDE SANITARY SEWERS
Mr. Nanninga stated that for full engineering they needed to spend $191,000. The aerial
photography that was done needs to be put on paper, so he is asking for $15,000 to get this done.
Deuchler can do it now, we could wait but Jim is concerned since Menards will need this
information, not for the store site, but for the property to the east. This has to be digitized,
platted and re- platted. He is trying to keep costs at a minimum. They will be putting in the sewer
line going east along Countryside Parkway and need a starting elevation.
Alderman Sticka stated we should have spent the $5000. to start with.
Mr. Nanninga stated the Budget show that we are ahead of where we expected to be now. Our
carryover is strong. If we wanted to we could replace this money when we get the loan.
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Mayor Prochaska stated, yes, we could if we need to. He asked Mr. Nanninga if they can get to
the stages they need to be at with this work.
Mr. Nanninga stated yes.
Mayor Prochaska stated he wanted to get this done and asked for a resolution for City Council.
CANNONBALL HILL - LETTER OF CREDIT REDUCTION
Alderman Sowinski asked if this was reduction #1 and if City Engineer Wywrot recommends
this.
Mr. Wywrot stated yes.
Mayor Prochaska stated that this should be passed on to City Council.
CAPITAL PROJECTS
Alderman Sowinski asked if the water treatment facility is under Capital Projects, due to the
Federal funds the City received through Congressman & Speaker of the House, Dennis Hastert,
and asked how much we received.
Mr. Nanninga stated that we got one million in funding through Denny Hastert and the balance
will come form low interest loans arranged through Speer Financial.
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Mayor Porchaska stated that we will also have official numbers from the census too.
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Chief Graff stated that we have been told we would have the figures for the Census by December
or January for final counts, but that he thinks it will be spring before we get them.
Mayor Prochaska stated that we can get going because starting in May or June those additional
revenues will be coming in.
WHITE OAK - UNIT 4 - LETTER OF CREDIT REDUCTION #1
Mr. Nanninga stated that their Letter -of- credit expired in November, so we need to renew it. The
new amount should be $128,670.
Mayor Prochaska stated this should go to City Council.
CANDIDATE FOR THE SIGN REVIEW BOARD
Mayor Prochaska announced that he had a candidate interested in filling the vacancy on the Sign
Review Board. Mr. Keith Harrison, who recently purchased Wold Cleaners had indicated to the
Mayor that he was interested in serving the City. Mayor Prochaska felt this was an appropriate
place for him to serve due to being a business person, and Mr. Harrison has agreed to this
position. Mayor Prochaska stated that the Sign Review Board will be meeting soon to discuss
portable signs and the shopping center, and he will recommend his appointment.
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IDOT RESOLUTION OF INTENT
Mayor Prochaska stated that IDOT will replace 20 off - street parking places, but the City must
take the responsibility to find those 20 spaces.
Alderman Anderson asked if they would participate in funding for those spaces.
Mayor Prochaska stated, yes they will, and he suggests that the business owners look around and
make suggestions of where they would like those parking spaces to be located.
Alderwoman Spears stated that the copy of the Resolution of Intent should state the United City
of Yorkville.
Mayor Prochaska stated that this should be on the agenda for City Council.
WARD 1 ALDERMAN
Mayor Prochaska stated that he was submitting Paul James for the open position. He lives on
Illini Street in Ward I and has asked to be considered. Mayor Prochaska will submit his name for
consideration.
Alderwoman Spears asked how many applied for this position.
Mayor Prochaska stated there had been several, but one had withdrawn.
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Mayor Prochaska asked Mr. James to tell the Committee about himself
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Mr. James stated that he has lived in Yorkville 5 1/2 years, he is married with 2 children, one 7
and one 10. He has worked on the Riverfront project and Skate Park with Jim and Rich. He
likes the direction Yorkville is going and wants to be involved in continuing that direction.
REVISED LANDSCAPE ORDINANCE
Mr. Nanninga stated that there were a few needed changes to the Landscape Ordinance due to
contradictions. They have changed the minimum tree size from 3" to 2 1/2 ", increased the
number of trees required where there is a mix of species of trees, and made it fit with the zoning.
They also made some clarifications to detention buffer. A clean up of the original ordinance.
Mayor Prochaska stated this should go to City Council.
HEUSTIS STREET SIDEWALKS
Alderman Sowinski stated that he had a memo stating that Hamilton broke 4 squares of sidewalk
at the Baker residence, and that the City would pay for replacement. He asked if the City was
going to deduct this from the payment to Hamilton.
Mr. Wywrot stated that the sidewalk was not cracked, but that it is lower than it was before, Mr.
& Mrs. Baker want it raised higher than where it was before. He felt it was a minor additional
cost.
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Mayor Prochaska stated Mr. Wywrot should draft a letter stating the City would replace 4
squares.
PARKING ORDINANCE
Mayor Prochaska stated that the parking west of route #47 has had a problem with people from
Ameritech and other businesses parking in the City lot rather than their own parking lot all day
while at work. The businesses owners would like to see a two hour limit between 8 am and 4
pm.
This parking area needs to be re- striped to define where parking spaces are and also needs to be
marked as to where the Municipal parking is, perhaps signs that say between these signs parking
is limited.
Alderman Sticka asked if this was enforceable.
Chief Graff stated that Ameritech has been approached and it has been temporarily resolved.
The north side of Van Emmon west of Route #47 also should be 2 hour parking. Maybe the sign
is missing, but he felt it used to be 2 hour parking there, he will check the ordinance.
Mayor Prochaska stated he would like to see a draft by Tuesday.
ADDITIONAL BUSINESS I
Alderman Spears stated that near Fox Hill the weeds are 6 feet tall.
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Mr. Nanninga stated that the developer should be maintaining all of this area to the roadway.
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Alderman Sowinski stated that the Park Board talked about posting signs regarding litter, and
asked if the City has a litter ordinance. The riverfront is being left a mess, and maybe it would be
well to post signs, in a nice way, with a fine.
Mayor Prochaska stated they need to look at this and talk to J.T. & Scott. Sleezer. Maybe we
need to have garbage runs on the weekends because on Saturday and Sunday the cans get
overfilled.
Chief Graff stated that they follow state law
Mayor Prochaska stated that we can enact our own ordinance for this too. Also, he stated he had
seen a letter about pets in the he play area. This needs to be posted "No Pets in the Play Area"
Alderman Sowinski asked bout sidewalk on route #47 near the Skate Park.
Mayor Prochaska stated this is a state highway, and we need to find out what the state will allow.
We need to get approval from IDOT for an asphalt path.
Alderman Sowinski asked what the official date of closing is for winter.
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Chief Graff stated probably the end of October.
Alderman Sowinski asked about the Prairie Park Handicapped installation.
Mr. Nanninga stated the swing is here, we are waiting for concrete to get it installed. A
contractor is required to get the concrete installed.
Alderman Sowinski stated there is talk about the Park Board going to a Park District, as they
think the percentage would be larger.
Mr. Nanninga stated he thought that the Levy provides for 7% to the Parks.
Mayor Prochaska stated that the State Statute will tell them. There has been talk of a master
plan. They want to become a district and then do a master plan. We need to talk to property
owners at Harris Farm.
Alderman Sowinski stated that they have identified 2 areas for a park.
Mayor Prochaska stated he wanted the date that they submitted a recommendation, and what the
vote was. A letter is not a recommendation from the Park Board.
Alderman Sticka stated that on a Public Works issue, a resident had a problem with theft and
asked for a streetlight at Candleberry Lane where the road ends. He hadn't heard anything back
on this. He stated that Mr. Nanninga had indicated that the money was there to be able to do this.
Alderman Kot stated that if we have the money, can we just get it installed?
Mayor Prochaska stated this was recommended by Chief Graff, report back to Public Works.
Alderman Kot stated that the July Police Department Report is ready for City Council.
Alderman Kot stated that Mr. Nanninga has attended the Metra meetings and we have 7
proposals submitted for review.
Mayor Prochaska stated that the Mayor is a delegate for IMLC and is looking for an alternate to
act in his absences. Alderwoman Spears volunteered to be the Mayors alternate.
Mayor Prochaska stated that they had met with YBSD and they had made some progress. They
will work out an intergovernmental agreement. The City will be allowed to work with
developers and if the developer doesn't do what is needed then the dollars will be collected as a
fee. The wording needs to be worked out.
Alderman Sticka stated that a good plan has been developed by Deuchler and we need to be sure
the plan is followed. There was a good spirit of cooperation.
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Mayor Prochaska stated, yes, this should last a long time and be a good guide for the City to
follow.
Chief Graff stated that the labor attorney had said to add the mayor to authorize the contract with
the Police. This will go to City Council.
Bob Allen stated he felt the City should provide a stipend for payment for employees wishing to
have laser eye surgery for correction to their vision.
Mayor Prochaska stated this should go to Administration.
Chief Graff stated that officer Greg Coomes had tendered his resignation due to his wife being
transferred to New York. He will be retained on a part-time basis, as this transfer may be
temporary. They will advertise in the newspaper for an officer
Adjourned 8:40 PM
Minutes by Sandy Marker
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UNITED CITY OF YORKVILLE
GUEST
SIGN IN SHEET
COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE
THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 7, 2000
NAME (PLEASE PRINT!) REPRESENTING PHONE
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