Loading...
Admin Committee Minutes 2002 06-13-02 i 1 United City of Yorkville Administration Committee Meeting Thursday, June 13, 2002 6:30 P.M. In Attendance: Alderwoman Rose Spears (Chairperson) Alderman Marty Munns Alderman Paul James Finance Director Traci Pleckham Mayor Art Prochaska City Treasurer Bob Allen y tY Old Business Update: Residence of School Board Members Appointed to Park Board Alderwoman Spears stated that because these positions were hard to fill, maybe the membership qualification should be changed to state that a school board member must reside within 1.5 miles of the city limits as long as they were not living in another municipality. Mayor Prochaska also added that as a board of the city they are dealing with parks within the city limits and policies within the city, as opposed to people living farther out of the city limits of Yorkville. The committee was unsure if all members should reside within the boundaries, or just one member. Mayor Prochaska stated he would rather opt for all members to live within the required boundaries. Alderwoman Spears would like to see either one board member or all live within the city limits. Alderman James recommended the ordinance be sent back to the park board to see if they would like to make additional recommendations. Alderwoman Spears felt the committee should wait until they resolved the 1.5 -mile issue. Traci Pleckham will touch base with Dan Kramer on the questioning of the 1.5 miles. Update: Residence of School Board Members Appointed to Plan Commission Mayor Prochaska stated that the ordinance now says that only the school district person can live within 1.5 miles of the city limits. Alderwoman Spears decided this item will be sent to C.O.W. Mayor Prochaska then stated he does not want to see a member of another municipality who lives within 1.5 miles of the city limits on Plan Commission for the city of Yorkville. This is stated in the Plan Commission, but not in the Park Board. Traci will give these to Dan Kramer to make the adjustments. Review Elected Officials and Employee Salary Survey Alderwoman Spears compiled a survey of questions pertaining to salary information for the positions of Mayor /President, Alderman/Trustee, City /Town Administrator, Finance Director/Budget Officer/Treasurer, and Clerk. Twenty -one surrounding communities responded including: Elbum, Huntley, Lindenhurst, Minooka, Montgomery, Morris, New Lennox, North Aurora, Oswego, Plainfield, Riverside, Rochelle, Romeoville, Sandwich, South Elgin, Sugar Grove, Sycamore, West Dundee, Willowbrook, and Yorkville. In addition, the following municipality recreation departments also responded: Effingham, Joliet, Lockport, Riverside, Romeoville, South Elgin, Sugar Grove, Willowbrook and Yorkville. These cities are very similar to Yorkville in their annual revenue, and/or population. Alderwoman Spears felt the survey would help the committee learn where their competition is. Alderwoman Spears compiled four different summaries of the 2 i survey information. Survey A Summary refers to the Parks & Recreation Department/District, Survey B Summary refers to the Parks & Recreation Department/District Salary Summary, and Summary Survey C & D refers to the Mayor/President, Alderman/Trustee, City /Town Administrator, Finance Director/Budget Officer/Treasurer, and Clerk Salary Summary. Alderwoman Spears also typed out a spreadsheet for each salary summary for each municipality. Alderwoman Spears would like to bring all her survey information to C.O.W. to present the areas in which Yorkville is considered under average compared to the towns surveyed. The committee decided to make a recommendation to C.O.W. to review the salaries of the positions. Review Electronic Recording of All City Meetings Policy Alderwoman Spears and committee reviewed a memo sent by Clerk Jackie Milschewski regarding the taping of minutes for all meetings. Alderwoman Spears decided to table the issue because there were questions regarding how many years the tapes are kept, and how many years hand written minutes are kept? The committee is waiting for Dan Kramer to draft a policy on the issue. This item was tabled until the next meeting in July. State Photoprocessing Tax/State Income Tax Update Traci Pleckham reported that an ordinance was passed last month asking that the Photoprocessing Tax and State Income Tax Revenue not be eliminated. Ms. Pleckham distributed a memo stating Yorkville will be losing the Photoprocessing Revenue. However the 10% state income tax, will not be eliminated. The bill was adopted by the Senate and has to go to the House before passed officially. EMW 2003 Rate Update Ms. Pleckham contacted the IMRF because an original letter received regarding the 2003 employer rate had a decrease of assets reflected by about 50 %. When questioned on this matter, INIRF realized they had a typographical error in the actual letter, however the employer rate of 12.94% they calculated was correct. Ms. Pleckham was also given an option for a two -year phase in for the increase of the employer rate. Instead of going from 5.58% to 12.94% by next January 2003, IMRF had asked if the rate could be phased in at 9.26% next January. In 2004, RVIRF would then re- evaluate the fund and assess the appropriate rate. This rate does not include the Police Pension money leaving the fund. New Business Minutes for Correction and/or Approval Alderwoman Spears did not accept the May 9, 2002 minutes because it had a few errors Corrections were made in the paragraphs titled the Credit Card Policy, Administration/School Advisory Board Joint Meeting Update, and in the Review Spreadsheet of Carryover Hours /Comp TimeNacation/SickBuyouts. The February 6, 2002 minutes and February 7, 2002 minutes will go to the council for approval. Accounting System Update Ms. Pleckham stated one of the main reasons for the software change from LOCIS to I 3 I GASB 34 would be the GASB 34 update in addition to the fact that the current software LOCIS that is in use has not grown or helped with the growth of the community. Bob Allen stated he had a conversation with an employee named Russ from LOCIS, who is the largest provider of municipal accounting software in the state. According to Mr. Allen, Russ was concerned that the ouncil should look at information on what LOCIS could provide. Mr. Allen believes is the best software for the city and questioned "b " why the city wants to switch. Alderwoman Spears disagreed stating she has spoken to multiple staff members who have complained about the current software. Alderwoman Spears was concerned by the fact that Mr. Allen did not go through the staff before he went on his own to make these calls. Mr. Allen argued that he is an elected official and believes his go ahead was a wise investment of the city's money. Mr. Allen also stated he is concerned with the future of the city. Alderwoman Spears expressed she has an issue with people contacting other people without first checking with the city and the staff. Alderwoman Spears stated there are certain steps and precautions to be taken to approach this kind of matter. Alderwoman Spears mentioned she has spoken to other municipalities that also have agreed with her on the matted concerning LOCIS. Affording to Alderwoman Spears, LOCIS is outdated, has no Windows program, and are �a not compliant. Ms. Pleckham also has heard strong conversations from the employees that work with LOCIS on the problems they've had, the service levels, and the cost. Mayor Prochaska stated it would be a good idea that the city votes on GASB. Review, revise and /or approve Parks and Recreation Job Descriptions Alderman James says it is needed in the job description a statement regarding confidentiality. Mayor Prochaska stated that confidentiality should also cover employee records, salary and negotiations. Alderwoman Spears stated she will fax a memo regarding this issue to Parks and Recreation Department. Mayor Prochaska suggested Bob Smith send the exact written verbiage of the Confidential Employee Definition. The committee will go to G.O.W. with this issue. Review Referendum Procedures Before Next Election A question was brought up regarding the positions and areas mentioned in the memo received by the committee. The committee felt they need to know what steps to take if the city council felt a position is required or not. It was decided to bring this issue back to committee in July. i Letterhead for Elected Officials Alderman Munns raised a conversation regarding letterheads for the Aldermen and women. The concept is to have a letterhead for each of the Aldermen and women for when they send out communications to each other, constituents, and residents. Rental Agreement for Park Board Alderman James reported that the Beecher Building has been renting out their rooms and there have been numerous times when the areas have been trashed. Therefore, the rates have been raised for the security deposit as stated in Item #20 of the Beecher Building Rules and Regulations Policy and Procedures. Item # 15 states there will be no alcohol allowed in the building. It also states the Park and Recreation staff along with the city I I 4 police have a right to patrol the area and check in on the people renting a room. The committee decided to go to C.O.W. TCF Add to Investment Policy Ms. Pleckham said Mr. Allen was informed to add the new TCF Bank to the current Investment Policy. Recapture Agreement for Spring Street Mayor Prochaska recounted his conversation with Joe Wywrot for the committee. When Richard Marker was re -doing the sewer line on Spring Street to bring it up to the size required, he also went ahead and did some repair work. Marker requested there was additional work that was above and beyond what his job was, including an enlargement of the sewer. He also completed driveway work, and a major repair on the street. He claimed the paving of the street was not thick enough, therefore when he began his work the paving crumbled away and obviously he could not leave the street like that. As a result, Marker cut out and re -built a large portion of Spring Street. Mayor Prochaska reported that Marker is asking for reimbursement from the city for just the amount that is more than what was originally needed for the cost of running the sewer line. Technically in the agreement, the city does not have to reimburse him because it was all part of the project. The Mayor stated the issue is the city does not have the money he's asking for in the budget. If council was to grant this, they would have to get more money put in the budget because it is set for this year. Another option would be Marker would have to wait until the next budget year. The committee decided to wait 6 months and bring it back to committee. County CAD Files Mayor Prochaska stated the county has electronic CAD files for the area outside the city limits. Mr. Wywrot is currently trying to work with the county to receive information so Yorkville can update their maps. There is a possibility the county will want to have an agreement stating that if they let Yorkville have this information, Yorkville will not sell it to another city. The committee will go to C.O.W. Internal Procedure for Agenda The committee received a memo from the clerk's office explaining they are interested in developing a procedure for putting together agendas for various meetings. As of now, the clerk's office would like people to read their suggestions and receive comments. This issue will return to meeting in July. Additional Business Alderman Munns stated at the Yorkville Economic Development Corporation Meeting that an Oswego board member suggested that Yorkville should consider doing an annual business license. The purpose of which to gather demographic information on the businesses in Yorkville. This way, it will be relevant of the future economic growth of Yorkville's businesses. Discussion was made on developing a yearly questionnaire to be sent to businesses questioning how many employees they have, if they had to add or subtract employees, their your future outlook. Not looking at licensing anyone, but i I I 5 registering the businesses. Meeting adjourned at 8:45 P.M. Minutes submitted by Janet Lutha i i i I