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City Council Minutes 2010 04-27-10 MINUTES OF THE REGULAR MEETING OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE UNITED CITY OF YORKVILLE. KENDALL COUNTY, ILLINOIS, HELD IN THE CITY COUNCIL CHAMBERS, 800 GAME FARM ROAD ON TUESDAY, APRIL 27, 2010 Mayor Burd called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m. and led the Council in the Pledge of Allegiance. ROLL CALL Clerk Milschewski called the roll. Ward I Gilson Present Werderich Present Ward I I Golinski Present Plocher Present Ward III Mums Present Sutcliff Present Ward IV Teeling Present Spears Present Also present: City Clerk Milschewski, City Treasurer Powell, Attorney Orr, City Administrator/Interim Director of Park and Recreation Olson, Police Chief Hart, Police Lieutenants Schwartzkopf and Delaney, Director of Public Works Dhuse, Finance Director Mika, City Engineer Wywrot, Public Relations Officer Spies, Community Development Director Nobel and Building Inspector Zabel. QUORUM A quorum was established. INTRODUCTION OF GUESTS Mayor Burd asked the staff and guests to introduce themselves. She welcomed the guests and asked them to enter their names on the attendance sheet provided. AMENDMENTS TO THE AGENDA Alderman Gilson asked that Item 46 - Game Farm Road / Somonauk Street ROW Funding Agreement be removed from the consent agenda and placed on the regular agenda under the Public Works Committee Report. Amendment approved by a viva voce vote. COMMITTEE MEETING DATES Public Works Committee Meeting: 6:00 p.m., May 18, 2010 City Hall Conference Room Economic Development Committee: 6:30 p.m., May 4, 2010 City Hall Conference Room Administration Committee Meeting: 6:00 p.m., May 20, 2010 City Hall Conference Room Public Safety Committee Meeting: 6:00 p.m_, April 29, 2010 Yorkville Public Library Historic Meeting Room PRESENTATIONS None. PUBLIC HEARINGS None CITIZEN COMMENTS Brent Schalhamer owner of Parfection Park stated that as a business owner he found the combination of the Route 47 widening and the addition to the sign ordinance confusing. He expressed his concern with his ten - year -old sign which conformed to the sign ordinance when it was constructed. He stated that with the widening of Route 47 he made a deal with IDOT for a right -of -way (ROW) on his property. He believed his sign is now non - conforming to the new ordinance. He questioned if there was a setback to The Minutes of the Regular Meeting of the Citv Council — ADril 27.2010 — Da g 22 the IDOT ROW and wondered if he would have to move his sign which would create an expense for him. He stated he was concerned with the businesses along Route 47. Mr. Schalhamer was also concerned with the amusement tax. He stated that he opposed from a business standpoint. He realized that the city had a deficit but felt the tax would negatively affect his businesses budget. He noted that businesses were getting hit with a water rate increase, an increase to the minim wage, and now an amusement tax increase. He stated that it is increasingly difficult for businesses like his to absorb the increase. He felt the tax would be a deterrent to attracting and keeping businesses. He asked if the tax would apply to the Rec Center. He thanked the mayor for talking to him regarding ways to mitigate the effects of the tax. Steve Andrews with IDOT thanked the City Council for the opportunity to discuss the signs along Route 47. He also thanked the city staff for educating him on this matter. He stated that IDOT is asking the City Council to consider waving fees and granting variances for the signs which will need to be relocated along Route 47. IDOT is asking that signs be moved out of the ROW and placed 5' from the ROW. They realize that these are difficult financial times and the sign cost is taxpayers dollars being spent. He asked the City Council to consider IDOT's requests. Carlo Colosimo noted that Yorkville has vacant businesses and needs to attract more. He felt the amusement tax sends a precedent and attitude to businesses. He felt it was bait and switch; get the businesses to come to Yorkville and then pop a tax on them. He felt that this was not the way to raise funds. He stated that this is a problem state wide; businesses are leaving for neighboring states. If a hostile environment for businesses is created in the city, they will go elsewhere. He asked the City Council to think how the tax will affect the community long term and how it will affect its reputation. John Purcell thanked the City Council for the time they have put into the budget. CONSENT AGENDA 1. Resolution 2010 -10 - Authorization to Close Checking Account and Transfer Funds (Youth in Community Police) - authorize Mayor and City Clerk to execute (ADM 2010 -24) 2. Resolution 2010 -11 - Amending United City of Yorkville Employee Manual Regarding Unused Sick Leave - authorize Mayor and City Clerk to execute (ADM 2010 -27) 3. Water Department Report for January 2010 (PW 2010 -18) 4. Water Department Report for February 2010 (PW 2010 -19) 5. Bid Results for Fox Hill Unit 7 Stormwater Basin Landscaping - award contract to EnCAP, Inc. in an amount not to exceed $30,73 7.70 (PW 2010 -27) Mayor Burd entertained a motion to approve the Consent Agenda as amended. So moved by Alderman Werderich; seconded by Alderman Spears. Motion approved by a roll call vote. Ayes -8 Nays -0 Werderich -aye, Plocher -aye, Spears -aye, Munns -aye, Sutcliff- -aye, Gilson -aye, Teeling -aye, Gohnski -aye PLAN COMMISSION /ZONING BOARD OF APPEAL No report. I MINUTES FOR APPROVAL None. BILLS FOR APPROVAL A motion was made by Alderman Sutchff to approve the paying of the bills listed on the Detailed Board Report dated April 19, 2010, totaling the following amounts: checks in the amount of $170, 804.74 (vendors FY 09/10); $237,654.92 (vendors FY 10 /11); $6,913.14 (payroll period ending 3/31/10); $240,965.86 (payroll period ending 4/10/10); for a total of $656,388.66; seconded by Alderman Munns. Motion approved by a roll call vote. Ayes -7 Nays -1 Plocher -aye, Spears -aye, Munns -aye, Sutcliff -aye, Gilson -nay, Teeling -aye, Golinski -aye, Werderich -aye The Minutes of the Regular Meeting of the Citv Council — April 27, 2010 — page 3 REPORTS MAYOR'S REPORT Patrol Officers' Union Contract (CC 2010 -37) Mayor Burd commended the staff for negotiating a new police contract without the aid of attorneys. Mayor Burd entertained a motion to approve the Collective Bargaining Agreement between the Illinois FOP Labor Council representing Yorkville Patrol Officers and the United City of Yorkville and authorize the Mayor and Chief of Police to execute. So moved by Alderman Spears; seconded by Alderman Werderich. Motion approved by a roll call vote. Ayes -8 Nays -0 Munns -aye, Spears -aye, Plocher -aye, Werderich -aye, Golinski -aye, Teeling -aye, Gilson -aye, Sutcliff -aye CITY COUNCIL REPORT No report. ATTORNEY'S REPORT No report. CITY CLERK'S REPOR No report. CITY TREASURER'S REPORT No report. CITY ADMINISTATOR'S REPORT Administrator Olson reported that a new administrative intern started today. His name is Frank Gilbio and he is a student at the University of Phoenix. He will be working for free a few days per week j ob shadowing Administrator Olson. FINANCE DIRECTOR'S REPORT No report. CITY ENGINEER'S REPORT City Engineer Wywrot gave the City Council a Grande Reserve update. The developer is doing earthwork and will be returning areas back to low cover agricultural crops. The areas they are working on are south of the railroad tracks and east of Kennedy Road and also north of Mill Road. A local farmer will be planting the fields. The developer will also be evaluating potholes and work will proceed in the next few weeks. The public works department was doing some work on streetlights in the area. An electrician has signed a contract with the developer who has also submitted plans for twenty -three street lights in the area of the school. DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC WORKS REPORT Director Dhuse reported that the Water Department has finished with hydrant flushing; it took them two full weeks to finish the job. Also the Street Department is currently finishing upon brush pickup. CHIEF OF POLICE'S REPORT Chief Hart reported on the following: • He thanked the police officers for negotiating with him and Administrator Olson. This saved the city $20,000 425,000. He also thanked Administrator Olson for his role in the negotiations. • A new intern from Western Illinois University would be starting next week in an unpaid position. • An ATM has been installed in the lobby of City Hall. This should help assist in the adjudication process. Old Second Bank is providing the machine. • A Neighborhood Watch meeting was held last Saturday in the Whispering Meadows subdivision. It was the successful meeting where residents discussed their concerns. DIRECTOR OF PARKS & RECREATION'S REPORT No report. The Minutes of the Regular Meeting of the Citv Council — Avril 27, 2010 — va L44 COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT DIRECTOR REPORT No report. COMMUNITY RELATIONS OFFICER'S REPORT Mrs. Spies reported: • The First Community Yard Sale will be held on June 18 and 19, 2010 at the comer of Routes 47 and 34(on the old Countryside Center property). • Staff met with the employees who perform the door to door delivery of the city newsletter and the Park and Recreation Department brochure. Hopefully service will be better at the next delivery. COMMUNITY & LIAISON REPORT Alderman Spears reported on the following: • She attended the DARE graduations at the Autumn Creek and Grande Reserve Elementary Schools. She commended the Police Department and officer Robbie Hart for educating young children about peer pressure, drugs and tobacco. An award was presented to one student from each class for the essays that they wrote. • She attended the Northeastern Illinois Area Agency on Aging capital board meeting where they discussed the lack of state funds and the affect on services. • She attended the Neighborhood Watch meeting in the Whispering Meadows subdivision. It was a great meeting where residents got to express their concerns. • The Kendall Area Transit received 52 requested from seniors for rides. Those living in Oswego, Montgomery, and Joliet can only request rides for medical needs. • She reported on the Honor Flight Program. 850 World War II veterans and 600 volunteers are waiting to participate in the Honor Flight Program. Due to the overwhelming response it will be up to two years before the wait list opens up. KenCom Alderman Munns reported that he attended the KenCom Executive Board meeting. Yorkville has to decide whether it wants to participate in KenCom. The County board is still sticking to its $1.63 million cap on funding. Anything over this amount will be distributed between all the other participating parties. 85% goes back to the police department and 15% goes back to the fire department. Oswego reported a drop in their KenCom calls which could affect all the other participating communities as everyone is billed on a per call basis. A special meeting will be held on June 24, 2010 at which time each community needs to state if they are in or out of KenCom. This item will be on the next Public Safety Committee meeting agenda for further discussion. High School Task Force Mayor Burd reported that she attended the first meeting of the high school task force. The task force is being formed with community leaders, school principals, students, teachers, parents, etc. to work together on drug and gang issues. It was a good first meeting and they plan to meet again over the summer. She stated she would keep the City Council informed. COMMITTEE REPORTS PUBLIC WORKS COMMITTEE REPORT Game Farm Road / Somonauk Street ROW Funding Agreement (PW 2010 -29) A motion was made by Alderman Plocher to approve the Game Farm Road/Somonauk Street ROW Funding Agreement and authorize the Mayor to execute; seconded by Alderman Munns. Alderman Gilson stated that he asked in committee if IDOT would accept funding at the back end of the agreement after they denied the request because paperwork was improperly submitted. He was told that they would. He questioned why IDOT would allow this and stated he would like IDOT's answer in writing- City Engineer Wywrot stated that he talked with Mike Sullivan with the Kane/Kendall Council of Mayors and was told that this is federal money that is funneled through the Council of Mayors and IDOT, who sets the cap on funding. Funds can be used for right of ways, construction, etc. Alderman Gilson asked if IDOT originally denied funding. Mr. Wywrot explained that IDOT is the funnel for the money. Reimbursement request go through MOT and they found that the city did not use the correct forms when they approved the survey and appraisal. They cannot release the money for those tasks due to this. The Minutes of the Regular Meeting of the Citv Council — Anril 27, 2010 — Dag_e 5 Motion approved by a roll call vote. Ayes -8 Nays -0 Golinski -aye, Teeling -aye, Gilson -aye, Sutcliff -aye, Munns -aye, Spears -aye, Plocher -aye, Werderich -aye ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT COMMITTEE REPORT Route 47 Project — Sign Relocations (EDC 2010 -15) Alderman Golinski noted that this was an informational item. Staff has done curbside assessments of various signs for IDOT. Once IDOT evaluates each signs conformance the information will be brought back to the Council for further discussion. Ordinance Approving an Amendment to the Annexation Agreement as to a Portion of the Property Being Included in the Annexation Agreement as to a Portion of the Property, Amended and Restated Annexation Agreement as to a Portion of the Property and a Planned Unit Development Agreement (Bristol Bay Subdivision) (PC 2010 -02) Attorney Orr explained that this item will be coming back before the City Council in three different documents and should be tabled tonight. A motion was made by Alderman Golinski to table the Bristol Bay Subdivision amended annexation agreement until the next City Council meeting; seconded by Alderman Sutcliff. Motion approved by a roll call vote. Ayes -8 Nays -0 Plocher -aye, Werderich -aye, Golinski -aye, Teeling -aye, Gilson -aye, Sutcliff -aye, Munns -aye, Spears -aye PUBLIC SAFETY COMMITTEE REPORT No report. ADMINISTRATION COMMITTEE REPORT Ordinance 2010 -19 Approving the 2010 -2011 Fiscal Budget for the United City of Yorkville (ADM 2010 -16) A motion was made by Alderman Sutcliff to approve an ordinance approving the 2010 -2011 Fiscal Budget and authorize the Mayor and City Clerk to execute; seconded by Alderman Plocher. Mayor Burd noted that there were several items that the City Council agreed to review from the last City Council meeting. The City Administrator and Finance Director have evaluated each item and prepared a detailed analysis (see attached April 14, 2010 memo). She stated that she would introduce each item, Administrator Olson can provide an explanation and then the City Council can vote on it. Transfer to Police Capital Page 8 — Transfer to Police Capital — $25,000. Recommendation from alderman — the transfer from police capital to the general fund in the FY 09/10 budget in the amount of $103,000 was not approved by the Council. The police department capital fund should not have to loan money to the general fund. Response from staff— while the revised budget was never approved the transfer from police capital to the general fund was discussed. Police Capital Fund has money in it from the Weather Warning Siren Fees paid by developers for new sirens. At this time there are areas in the city where homes have not been built so the sirens are not needed at this time. Chief Hart discussed this with Administrator Olson and the lack of the sirens won't affect public safety so he supported the transfer. Alderman Gilson felt that the dollars in the fund could be used for the repair and maintenance of the current sirens. Chief Hart stated that he spoke with the former police chief, Chief Martin, who believed that the funds were to be used for new sirens only. There is a different line item for repair and maintenance. Alderman Gilson stated that he felt the consensus at the original meeting was that these funds were not to be borrowed. Aldermen Sutcliff and Teeling remembered that a larger amount was originally proposed to be transferred but that the Public Safety Committee refused this request and the matter was to be brought back to committee. The Minutes of the Regular Meeting of the Citv Council — Anril 27.2010 — naZ 6 Alderman Golinski stated that this was only discussed once at committee and he was against it. He felt it was a stopgap measure and a shell game with funds. He felt that the general fund should not need a loan from the Police Department. Alderman Spears agreed with Alderman Golinski. Aldermen Werderich and Gilson stated that they were against the transfer and agreed with Alderman Golinski that it was a shell game. Alderman Sutcliff asked if $100,000 was in the 09/10 budget. Administrator Olson stated that it was. She asked what if the money was not used. Administrator Olson they could eliminate the expense but it would create a deficit. Alderman Sutcliff stated that the city should use these funds as a, stopgap measure due to the lack of growth. She supported the transfer of funds in order to decrease the deficit. , Mayor Burd asked if the Park and Recreation Department was paying back their loan from the general fund. Administrator Olson stated that the department received a $150,000 loan which will be transferred back. Alderman Spears questioned the administrative adjudication salary of $15,000. It was explained that the ( Police Department is paying for the salary however revenues are projected which would be put back in the general fund. Attorney Orr added that all fines collected go into the general fund. Alderman Spears further questioned if all the expenses should then come out of the general fund. Chief Hart explained that all income goes into the general fund and then all expenses are paid out of the same fund. Mayor Burd explained that former chief suggested that he would rather make the loan to the city then cut the Police Department budget. She commended Chiefs Hart and Martin for the idea to use the funds. The vote to retain the police capital transfer was approved by a roll call vote. City Council members voting in favor were Teeling, Sutcliff, Mums, Plocher, and Mayor Burd. City Council members against the retention of the funds were Gilson, Spears, Werderich, and Gohnski. Public Relations Page 9 — Public Relations - $1750. Recommendation from alderman: line item is not essential. Response from staff: this line item covers all incidental and general advertising cost for city events. The City Council chose not to cut the community event line item so the expenses used to support the events should remain. Mrs. Spies explained that these funds are used for public relations, website, etc. Alderman Spears noted that she came up with $20,000 of cuts. She felt that at this time nonessential items are not needed due to the economy. Alderman Sutcliff noted that community events have been scaled down and that Mrs. Spies is only using a small portion of her budget. She felt that public relations were reported for the community, a good quality of life and this was a small price to pay for happiness. Mayor Burd stated that the city was fortunate to make money at its events. The Holiday Under the Stars event made money which can be used for next year's event. The Hometown Day event made $40,000 last year. The staff is runnin the events economically so residents can enjoy them for a small amount of money. Also donations were received to help with the events. The vote to retain the public relations line item was approved by a roll call vote. City Council members voting in favor were Sutcliff, Munns, Plocher, Teeling, and Mayor Burd. City Council members against the retention of the line item were Gilson, Spears, Werderich, and Golinski. Police — Legal Services Pages 11- Police — Legal Services - $20,000. Recommendation from alderman: Perhaps the full dollar amount is not needed. Response from staff: $20,000.00 is a minimum expense for dealing with the sergeants union or a possible grievance. Staff feels this is a conservative amount. If no attorneys are used for labor negotiations and if less expensive attorneys are used for grievances and personnel issues this amount should be sufficient. Staff recommends this line item remain. Alderman Munns questioned if the city will use less expensive attorneys and Mayor Burd explained that the city has changed law firms. Chief Hart added that the new attorney's fees are less however the city may need to use specialty attorneys on some cases. The Minutes of the Regular Meeting of the Citv Council — ADril 27, 2010 — Dagg 7 The vote to retain the police legal services line item was unanim ously approved by a roll call vote. Neighborhood Watch Page 12 — Neighborhood Watch - $1531. Recommendation from alderman: cut the entire neighborhood watch program. Response from staff: this program is an important part of community policing. Chief Hart noted that the program has been in existence since 1992 and there are 125 members. Staff recommends the line item remain but be reduced to $1500. Alderman Gilson asked if the program could be run without an expense. Chief Hart stated funds were needed for block parties, food for meetings, etc. The program helps police officers get in touch with the community, resolves issues early on and is a good resource for the Police Department. The vote to retain the neighborhood watch line item was unanim ously approved by a roll call vote. Community Development Employee Salaries Page 14 — Community Development Employee Salaries - $293,840. Recommendation from alderman: look at making cuts in the department. Response from staff: Administrator Olson tried to lay out why the salaries in this department vary from year-to-year and why the department grew. All the employees were approved by the City Council and hired 4 to 5 years in a row. As new employees were hired, some employees left. This department has never been fully staffed in any fiscal year. The new community development director will be starting the beginning of May. Mr. Olson suggested that if the City Council wanted to discuss any specific employees they should go into an executive session. Staff recommends that no cuts be made to this line item. Mayor Burd entertained a motion to go into executive session. No motion was made. Alderman Gilson noted that residential growth in Yorkville is at a standstill and the growth of businesses is also slow. He suggested cuts be made in the department. Mayor Burd asked Alderman Gilson to give a specific dollar amount that should be cut. Alderman Spears stated that while she felt bad about this, staff cuts were needed in certain areas. She stated it was not the City Council's decision to make cuts; that was up to Mayor Burd. She felt that some staff was not needed at this time and could be brought back when growth requires it. Mayor Burd questioned what the City Council felt were non - essential employees. She went over changes in city staff and noted that the entire city staff has been reduced by 20% either due to attrition or layoffs. She also explained that in the past that the code enforcement department was contracted out and had taken in $800,000 in revenue. As to development being at a standstill, she indicated that she has met with developers who are interested in coming to Yorkville and the city should be ready for when they show up. She explained that the city had 82 full time employees of which 33 are police officers, 20 are Park and Rec employees and 10 are water and sewer employees. 25 other employees' salaries are covered by the general fund. Alderman Spears questioned the $800,000 that Mayor Burd mentioned. Administrator Olson explained that the city took in the dollars but paid off 75% of it in expenses to ICCI, the former code officials. He added that the two Community Development employees have to work with code violations, single family residence permits, new building permits, etc. Also there are four amendments to the annexation agreements that are pending. These are significant issues which need to be reviewed by a planner. Now the city has only one planner not three as in the past. Alderman Sutcliff stated it was good to look at staffing in this department and that Administrator Olson's analysis justifies the budget numbers. She stated that the city needs to be ready for developers and needs to provide services. Alderman Golinski stated that he has worked with the Community Development Department and they have provided good services. He wondered how the city got along without the department prior to 2006. Administrator Olson stated that the city paid for contractors like Shoppe Design for services. The Minutes of the Regular Meeting of the Citv Council — ADM 27.2010 — Dagg 8 Alderman Spears asked if ICCI was paid in full. Administrator Olson indicated they were not as they are still working on projects however the city is up -to -date with its invoices. He indicated that the cost of the services will be paid out of the building permit line item. The vote to retain the Community Development Employee Salaries line item was approved by a roll call vote. City Council members voting in favor were Plocher, Teeling, Sutcliff, Mums and Mayor Burd. City Council members against the retention of the line item were Spears, Werderich, Golinski and Gilson. Beecher Road River Crossing, Route 34 Bike Trail, Island Landscaping Page 28 — Beecher Road River Crossing — $100,000; Route 34 Bike Trail -- $75,000; Island Landscaping -- $5000. Recommendation from alderman: cut these projects. Response from staff: staff agrees. Alderman Teeling questioned if these cuts affected the general fund and Administrator Olson stated they did not. Alderman Werderich stated that the Route 34 trail was due to his heart however he believed in cutting the expense. The vote to cut the Beecher Road River Crossing, Route 34 Bike Trail and Island Landscaping line items was approved unanim ously by a roll call vote. Land Cash Transfer to General Fund Page 39 — Land Cash/Transfer to General Fund- $60,449. Recommendation from alderman: land cash money should only be spent on staff time associated with land cash eligible parks and projects. Response from staff. The Superintendent of Parks and the Parks Designer tracked their time spent on land cash eligible parks in FY 09/10 which resulted in the number proposed in the budget. Staff supports that this line item remained the same. Alderman Golinski stated that he has asked for tracking repeatedly which he has never seen. Land cash is attributable to specific parks. He also questioned how staff could pull salaries from something that shows a deficit. He felt that the intermixing of funds was not good accounting practices and hard to track. Administrator Olson stated that in the past fiscal year the Park Designer spent 37% of her time on land cash eligible parks and the Superintendent of Parks spent 16% of his time. He felt that they kept very good track of the hours. Alderman Gohnski asked which developer was being charged. Administrator Olson stated that he could provide a report but it would take considerable time to do. Alderman Golinski asked him to prove the use of land cash with the report. Administrator Olson explained that land cash was like a loan not being paid but being tracked in a line item. When there is surplus it is paid to the general fund. He expected $600,000 to be coming into the fund this year. Alderman Golinski noted that this would only happen if the OSLAD grant deeds are received. The vote to retain the Land Cash Transfer to General Fund line item was approved by a roll call vote. City Council members voting in favor were Teeling, Sutcliff, Munns, Plocher and Mayor Burd. City Council members a the retention of the line item were Golinski, Gilson, Spears and Werderich. Park Expenses Salaries Overtime Page 40 — Park Expenses - Salaries — Overtime - $4000. Recommendation from alderman: Cut to match expense from FY 09/10 internal budget. Response from staff: This line item is applied to baseball field maintenance on weekends. It represents an average summer's call-in for rain events. If employees don't take this as overtime, there is no budget impact. Staff recommends the line item remained as fiord. The vote to retain the Parks Expenses Salaries Overtime line item was approved by a roll call vote. City Council members voting in favor were Teeling, Sutcliff, Munns, Plocher and Werderich. City Council members against the retention of the line item were Gilson and Spears. Alderman Golinski was unavailable for the vote. The Minutes of the Regular Meeting of the City Council — Anril 27, 2010 — ime 9 Parks Expenses Computer Equipment and Software Page 41— Parks Expenses -- Computer Equipment and Software - $500. Recommendation from alderman: Cut entire expense. Response from staff: this line item is for computer repairs and replacements as older units break. The Parks Department has several older computers which are past their replacement dates. Staff recommends this line item remain as funded. The vote to retain the Parks Expenses Computer Equipment and Software line item was approved by a roll call vote. City Council members voting in favor were Sutcliff, Munns, Spears, Plocher and Teeling. City Council members against the retention of the line item were Gilson and Werderich. Alderman Golinski was unavailable for the vote. Parks Expenses Flowers /Trees Page 41— Parks Expenses Flowers/Trees - $1000. Recommendation from alderman: Cut entire expense. Response from staff. This is a policy decision for the Council. Eliminating this expense would free up staff time and would not impact services however staff is recommending the line item remain as it is a relatively minor costs that has a large impact on the visual beautification of the city. Alderman Plocher and Munns recommended that this line item be cut two $500 while Alderman Sutcliff recommended that the line item remain at $1000. The vote to reduce the Parks Expenses Flowers/Trees line item to $500 was approved by a roll call vote. City Council members voting in favor were Munns, Plocher, Werderich, Golinski and Gilson. City Council members against the reduction of the line item were Sutcliff, Spears and Teeling. The vote to retain the Parks Expenses Flowers/Trees reduced line item ($500) was approved by a roll call vote. City Council members voting in favor were Munns, Plocher, Werderich, Golinski, and Teeling. City Council members against the retention of the line item were Spears and Gilson. i Parks Expenses Wearing Apparel Page 41— Parks Expenses Wearing Apparel - $4100. Recommendation from alderman: Cut this expense. Response from staff: although this line item was discussed under the review of the Parks and Recreation budget it was inferred that the City Council wanted to discuss wearing apparel budgets in all departments. Staff surveyed other municipalities and found that they had uniform allowances for Public Work employees, Police Department employees, etc. This line item was also used for safety equipment. Staff recommends this line item remained in the budget. Alderman Gilson asked what type of equipment was purchased. Administrator Olson explained that the equipment purchased would be boots, ear muffs, goggles, etc. Alderman Teeling stated she did not have an issue with safety equipment however she pays for her own uniforms at her place of employment and this includes shoes, shirts, etc. Alderman Plocher stated that he has received wearing apparel in his line of work. Alderman Werderich recommended keeping a line item for safety apparel and police uniforms. Director Dhuse indicated that shirts and pants were in the uniform contract. Alderman Werderich asked what the uniform contract was. Director Dhuse explained that the city has a contract with the uniform company and pays six dollars per week per employee. Alderman Gilson asked if this line item offset the contract. Director Dhuse stated that the contract would be up in two years and there is no out clause. He stated that the contract covers the Public Works and Park and Rec departments. Alderman Munns suggested that the contract and apparel be looked at committee. Alderman Spears indicated she would like to see the contract. Mayor Burd asked that this be placed on the next Public Works Committee meeting agenda. Alderman Gilson stated he felt the uniforms for the Public Works Department and Police Department were needed. He did not feel uniforms for the Park and Rec employees were as necessary and felt that funds should just be kept in the budget for the Public Works and Police Departments. Administrator Olson stated that Park and Rec employees wear "logo" uniforms at events and classes. They also can be identified by their uniforms. Director Dhuse indicated that these uniforms were also in the uniform contract. The Minutes of the Regular Meeting of the Citv Council — Anril 27, 2010 — na 10 The vote to retain the Parks Wearing Apparel line item was unanimously approved by a roll call vote. ➢ Administrator Olson stated that the items on page 8 of his April 14, 2010 memo have no effect on the budget. They were discussed at the last City Council meeting and staff volunteered to research them further. City -wide Capital Pages 27 and 28 - City -wide Capital. Recommendation from alderman: There is no column for "FY 08/09 Actual" figures. Response from staff: this column was inadvertently omitted and is now been added. Sewer Maintenance and Improve Pages 35 — 37 — Sewer Maintenance and Improve. Recommendation from alderman: End of year surplus /deficit and beginning the fund balance figures are not equal. Response from staff: This is in enterprise fund to which many adjustments are made during the audit process however they are not shown on budget reports. These adjustments affect the assets and liabilities. If these are not reported during the year an adjustment is made which causes the: beginning fund balance" to be restated. In the past the beginning was part of the fund balance which does not report what the actual cash balance is as it includes assets and liabilities. The city either games assets or depreciate them. This causes the fund balance to fluctuate. i Alderman Gilson pointed out that the memo states that the beginning fund balance should not be shown. He questioned why the city did not conform to the auditor's recommendation. Administrator Olson stated he was not sure but that they intend on doing this next year. Director Mika added that this was first discussed at the last audit through an internal communication so the City Council wasn't aware of it. Alderman Gilson asked to see the management letter regarding this. Director Mika explained that it was not in letter form; it was a discussion between staff and the auditors. It was a verbal suggestion. Parks and Recreation Maintenance — Office Equipment Page 42 — Parks and Recreation Maintenance — Office Equipment -- $4500. There was no recommendation from alderman on this item. Response from staff: Staff recommended that this line item be reduced to $3500. This line item funds the copier lease agreement which is $1000 per year and used to be the line item where the RecTrac maintenance agreement was coded. The RecTrac agreement will be coded out of the Computer Equipment and Software line item next year. It was the consensus of the City Council to support the reduction to the line item. Parks and Recreation Computer Equipment and Software Page 42 — Parks and Recreation Computer Equipment and Software -- $2500. Recommendation from alderman: leave the line item at $500. Response from staff: As mentioned in the previous item, this line item will be taking on the RecTrac maintenance agreement. staff requests that this line item remain at $2500. The vote to retain the Parks and Recreation Computer Equipment and Software line item at $2500 was approved by a roll call vote. City Council members voting in favor were Plocher, Teeling, Sutcliff, Munns and Mayor Burd. City Council members against were Werderich, Golinski, Gilson and Spears. ➢ The following line items were brought up by elected officials after the last City Council meeting either via e-mail, phone call or verbal discussions with the staff. Engineering Salaries — Employees $263,233 Page 10 - Engineering Salaries — Employees $263,233. Recommendation from alderman: reduced this line item. Response from staff. this department currently has five full -time employees which is down from seven employees at the start of the 08/09 fiscal year. One JULIE locator position and one engineering technician position were eliminated. The remaining employees are struggling to keep up with the demand for infrastructure inspections and punch - list updating as a result of increased requests from existing and new developers looking to the Platte existing subdivisions. The Engineering Administrative Assistant has also The Minutes of the Regular Meeting of the Citv Council — Araril 27, 2010 — ua 11 taken on Community Development responsibilities due to the departure of the Community Development Administrative Assistant. The limitation of any other positions in this department would significantly increase response time on inspections and punch -list completion. Staff recommends no cuts be made in this department. Alderman Spears asked if this department was doing inspections. Administrator Olson set stated that the department is not doing inspections but they are doing engineering reviews ending such as grading, landscape inspection, etc. Director Dhuse added that the department is also working with IDOT on the Route 47 project. Alderman Gilson asked if JULIE inspections were being done in- house. Administrator Olson said that they were still being done in- house. Alderman Gilson felt that cuts were needed in this department due to the lack of growth and that they were proportionate. The vote to retain the Engineering Salaries — Employees at the current budget amount was approved by a roll call vote. City Council members voting in favor were Teeling, Sutcliff, Munns, Plocher and Mayor Burd. City Council members against the budgeted amount were Werderich, Golinski, Gilson and Spears. Finance Salaries — Employees Page 7 — Finance Salaries — Employees — cut $30,000. Recommendation from alderman: eliminate completely. Response from staff: this position was approved by the City Council as part of the budget process in the FY 07/08 year but it was not filled. Originally the recommended hire date for this employee was May 1, 2010 but due to the budget is not recommended for hire until November 1, 2010. This department is down 3.5 full-time employees or 46 %. Staff is asking to fill this when position to catch up on the day to day operations as they are falling farther behind. Staff recommends filling this position. Alderman Spears questioned what exactly the position would be. Administrator Olson explained that the position was for Assistant Finance Director which would assist Director Mika with accounting duties. Treasurer Powell explained that the auditors have recommended this position. In the past the city has been three years behind in its reconciliations. He stated that he supported the addition of staff to this department. Alderman Golinski stated that the line item is actually for $259,690 and appears that this is to be decreased to $30,000. Administrator Olson explained this was a Scribner's error and that the $259,690 was correct and if reduced by $30,000 would be $229,690. Alderman Golinski noted that salaries in the Finance Department have never been lower. He stated he spoke with the auditors and there is a critical need for this position. Alderman Munns stated that if $30,000 fixed the "shell game" of the budget he supported the new higher. Alderman Sutcliff asked if it would be possible to offer a lower salary for this position. Administrator Olson said that this was possible and that he would verify the job description and match it to the market rate for the job. He would take a lower salary into consideration. The vote to retain the Finance Department position was approved by a roll call vote. City Council members voting in favor were Golinski, Teeling, Sutcliff, Munns, Spears, Plocher and Werderich. City Council members voting present were Gilson. There was no more discussion regarding the April 21, 2010 memo. Mayor Burd stated that if every employee who was paid out of the general fund was let go, other than the Police Department, this still wouldn't cover the deficit that the city has and there would be no administrative staff to run the city. She stated she totaled up the proposed cuts and they equal $300,000. If all the proposed cuts were made the city would still have a deficit. She stated that the City Council was forced with hard decisions to make on whether to increase user fees for water. Alderman Golinski noted that the fee increase is being counted as revenue but the City Council still hasn't approved it. He asked if the City Council approved the budget, were they approving the increase of fees. Administrator Olson explained they were not approving the increase of fees; that would be coming before the City Council for approval at a later date. Alderman Golinski questioned what if the increases were defeated. Administrator Olson stated that other cuts would have to be made or the city The Minutes of the Regular Meeting of the Citv Council — ADril 27.2010 — na 12 would just have to live with the deficit. He added that staff wanted to make sure everyone was okay with increasing fees before they drafted the ordinance. He stated all the increases can be enacted soon. Mayor Burd added that increased fees were discussed at the budget meeting and it was the consensus of the City Council to move ahead with them. Alderman Spears stated she shared Alderman Golinski's concerns. She suggested that the amusement tax be taken out of the budget because it was giving a poor message to businesses. She stated that three businesses in Yorkville will be penalized and she questioned if the Rec Center was affected. Administrator Olson stated that the amusement tax does not apply to the Rec Center. Alderman Spears stated she would like to see the revenue from this tax removed. She also note that the budget reflected money from the library. She stated she would also like this removed as the Library Board has not voted on this. She pointed out several items such as dues, the IlvIL conference, etc. that could be cut from the budget. Alderman Munns asked for clarification on the amusement tax amount. Administrator Olson explained that there were two taxes applied to Raging Waves. One is an admission tax (this is just applied to Raging Waves) and the other is an amusement tax. The tax collected at from Raging Waves tax is approximately $162,000. Mayor Burd added that restaurants and stores pay sales tax to the city and until the amusement tax is approved amusement facilities pay no taxes. She continued by explaining that Raging Waves receives 5% back from the city for ten years due to the infrastructure improvements they did. She noted that Yorkville is not a home -ruled community so it can't raise its own sales tax like Oswego can. The amusement tax is an avenue allowed for additional tax revenue to be collected. She stated that if the city increased its real estate tax then everyone would be paying more. If residents do not want to pay this tax they don't have to golf, use mechanical amusement devices or go to Raging Waves. If the amusement tax is not implemented, another way to increase income will be needed. Alderman Teeling asked what happened if the city ran its budget in a deficit. Administrator Olson strongly recommended against it and explained that the City Council would be deficit spending. It would have to borrow funds from other areas to operate. He stated that eventually there would not be enough cash flow to operate. Alderman Werderich felt it was a difficult time to pass on a financial burden to residents. If tax items are cut, expenditures would have to be cut also to even things out. He stated he would like to see no impact versus low impact. Alderman Munns asked what would happen if the budget was not approved tonight. Administrator Olson stated that there would be no funds available and the city would have to close down. Alderman Munns asked if it was not passed would employees get paid and would the Police Department operate. Administrator Olson said no one would get paid but he was not sure of the impact on police service. Alderman Teeling asked for clarification on the total of all proposed cuts. Mayor Burd reiterated that all the proposed cuts equal $300,000 and that would not take care of the city's deficit. She stated the cuts would not even fix the water fund; there will still need to be a water rate increase. She noted that every municipality is forced with some issues at this time. She felt amusement funds would not impact all of the residents. Alderman Golinski stated that it appeared that the city was doubling the tax applied to Raging Waves. He stated that the budget still shows the admission tax and the full effect of the 5% increase. The Administration Committee discussed mitigating the tax applied to this business. Administrator Olson explained that the City Council will set the percentage amount applied to the amusement tax. He explained that when he estimated the number used in the budget he based it on last year's figures. If they have a better year than last year the number is justified. Alderman Golinski clarified that $112,000 would be collected from Raging Waves in admission tax. He asked if the approximate $163,000 amusement tax was coming from Parfection Park and the bowling alley. Administrator Olson stated that this was correct and the tax would also be paid on any mechanical amusement devices in the city. Alderman Gilson stated that funds based on a policy decision not yet made were included in the budget. He stated that the Administration Committee discussed opening the annexation agreement to decrease the amount of the rebate. He asked if this was included in the budget. Mayor Burd stated that this does not affect Raging Waves this year. Alderman Gilson read a statement (see attached) outlining why he could not support this budget. Mayor Burd addressed one of Alderman Gilson's comments regarding uncollected developer fees. She stated that until she came into office, there was no accounting for developer fees. She was not aware of The Minutes of the Regular Meeting of the Citv Council — ADril 27, 2010 — na 13 the bad debt. The Bad Debt Policy was met with resistance but was needed in order to get a clear picture of the accounting. The city has received two reports from reporting firms commending the city for undertaking this policy. Most of the bad debt was the $500,000 written off for Ocean Atlantic. After the city attorney took action to lien the property, another $300.000 was found to be owed by the developer to the city. She added that the landfill litigation is costing the city over $3 million which is a financial mess for the city. She stated that by cleaning up the bad debt it was discovered that the Reserve Fund was depleted. She stated that the City Council has to look at how it affects businesses, especially those who bring in sales tax which are used to maintain services. She challenged the Council to come up with a proposal to increase revenue without implementing taxes; raising the water rates, etc. She stated that if no one had a solution, then the budget should be approved so that the city could pay off its bonds. Alderman Sutcliff felt that the staff did a good job with budget cuts. She stated that other communities have enacted an amusement tax and she felt that this tax would have the least impact on the community and would benefit the city in the long run. Alderman Spears stated that several years ago a spreadsheet was created showing the minim balance of developer fees. If a developer went below a certain amount, the fund had to be replenished. She stated that this was a good method of checks and balances but at some point the process was discontinued. She stated that after this was discontinued the first $1 million was lost and no one was held accountable. Mayor Burd stated that the spreadsheet which went back to 2002 didn't work and the City Council thought the policy was being followed. Alderman Munns commented that the Council cannot go back in time so it should move forward and keep the city runnin Alderman Plocher agreed that the past was always being brought up and if the problems come back they can be readdressed. Alderman Golinski stated that last year he voted against the budget due to salaries being taken out of the Land Cash fund and the fund not being replenished. He noted that this was still being done and that funds from an unapproved tax hike were also be included in the budget. He stated that any serious discussions about the budget needed to include staff reductions. He did not feel that staff cuts were enough. He also felt that the city was asking the older parts of town to support the new developments with an increase on their water bills. He suggested that the city should institute backup SSA's to pay for new areas of the city. Mayor Burd stated that if the City Council didn't like her budget suggestions they should come up with their own solutions. Alderman Golinski noted that in the past Mayor Burd has told him that his opinion didn't matter so he did not feel he should offer any suggestions or solutions to the budget Alderman Spears noted that Mayor Burd was not following the Governing Ordinance; she should not be commenting after each alderman's comments. A motion was made by Alderman Spears to make a 20% reduction in every department with the exception of the Police and Public Works Departments. The motion failed due to a lack of a second. A motion was made by Alderman Plocher to call the question; seconded by Alderman Sutcliff. Motion failed by a roll call vote. Ayes4 Nays4 Gilson -nay, Sutcliff -aye, Munns -aye, Spears -nay, Plocher -aye, Werderich -nay, Golinski -nay, Teeling -aye Attorney Orr noted that a 2/3's vote was needed for passage of the motion Alderman Munns questioned if the budget passed and the increases failed how would it affect the budget. Administrator Olson stated that this would create a hole in the budget but the city would run however there could be a cash flow problem. Alderman Munns stated that he was not sure of the increases but the budget needed to move on. Alderman Gilson asked what would happen if the Rec Center shut down; how much money would be saved. Administrator Olson stated that closing the center would cost $700,000 due to the contract. Alderman Gilson questioned why the lease agreement was signed when it had a payout of the lease plus a penalty if it was canceled. Administrator Olson noted that he was not part of the agreement process. Alderman Gilson stated that mismanagement has been passed onto the residents and businesses of Yorkville. Alderman Gilson felt that the Rec Center was not self sustaining and was even creating debt for the city. Mayor Burd noted that people have contracts to belong to the Rec Center and they would have to be reimbursed if it closed. Administrator Olson added that the $60,000 deficit has been projected for several years however he is trying to get relief for the property taxes for the building. Alderman The Minutes of the Regular Meeting of the Citv Council — Anril 27, 2010 — na 14 Gilson expressed his concern that the city was not following the Developer Deposit or Reserve Fund Policies and now there was no general fund. Alderman Teeling stated that everyone was saying "would have, could have, should have" but that she hadn't heard a solution or an alternative. She noted that everyone on the City Council will have to pay the increase on water bills and increased taxes. She felt that the Council was on track to repair things. Treasurer Powell stated that if expenses cannot be reduced the only alternative is to float a general obligation bond. He stated that this was not the best solution but it would keep the city going. He stated that the budget needed to be passed regardless of how expenses are reduced. Director Mika stated that this could only occur if a bank will give the city a loan. Alderman Golinski stated that the huge cost for the maintenance for all the parks has been discussed at Administration Committee meetings. He suggested that this be scaled back or rolled into the Public Works Department. Alderman Munns questioned why the city kept building new parks. Alderman Gohnski stated that the CEO (mayor) should be proposing cuts to be approved by the City Council. Mayor Burd noted that staff has either been cut or not replaced when the left the city. Alderman Golinski stated that the City Council has been told that only 25 employees are paid out of the General Fund however this is misleading because Park and Rec gets transfers from the general fund and salaries are paid out of this. Alderman Gilson noted that nine proposals of reductions to the budget were made but were voted down. He agreed that the CEO should be the one to make proposed cuts and bring it back to the City Council. Motion to approve the budget approved by a roll call vote. Ayes -5 Nays -4 Werdench -nay, Golinski -nay, Teeling -aye, Gilson -nay, Sutcliff-aye, Munns -aye, Spears -nay, Plocher -aye, Burd -aye ADDITIONAL BUSINESS Fox Valley Shopper Alderman Gilson asked for an update on the Fox Valley Shopper delivery system. Administrator Olson stated that he has tried to contact them several times and was now going to speak to the group's parent company. Canoe Business Alderman Werderich stated he was contacted by a resident who was concerned that the city was proposing to open a canoe/kayak business at the riverfront. They were concerned that this was competition for the existing business in the area. Administrator Olson stated that this item was on the Administration Committee agenda for further discussion. EXECUTIVE SESSION None. ADJOURNMENT Mayor Burd entertained a motion to adjourn the meeting. So moved by Alderman Sutcliff, seconded by Alderman Teeling. . Adjournment of the meeting was unanimously approved by a viva voce vote. Meeting adjourned at 10:50 P.M. Minutes submitted by: - Jacquelyn Milschewski, City Clerk City of Yorkville, Illinois *corrections per the June 22, 2010 City Council meeting in italic REGULAR CITY COUNCIL MEETING April 27, 2010 PLEASE PRINT NAME: SUBDIVISION OR BUSINESS: tic i 0 1 Y(21) NEA D M y L S 4 - Deo i � SIGNM 1 REGULAR CITY COUNCIL MEETING Public Comment April 27, 2010 PLEASE PRINT NAW: SUBDIVISION OR BUSINESS: RG� 57"vc- L SIGNIN Memorandum 1836 esr. ' To: City Council - From: Susan Mika, Finance Director -C CC: Mayor Burd; Bart Olson, City Administrator p� � i p� Date: April 27, 2010 �. . K-W C-q Subject: Bill List Questions 04 -27 -10 City Council Agenda <Ik E The following are questions from the April 27, 2010 bill list: 1. Page 15 - Nelson Enterprises - Community Relations - Please detail what the specific advertisement was for. Response: This was for advertising for the Environmental Fair during the week of March 1st - 5th 2. Page 25 - Tina C. Ward - Please detail the accounting and consulting services for $1,170.00. Response: This was to assist the Finance department with mid -year reconciliations and audit adjustments. 3. Page 25 - $18.84 - Yorkville General Fund - Community /Development - Shipping costs to return Environmental Fair Light Bulbs Back - Please explain why the cost is coming out of Community Development. Also, please explain why this is a City cost. I was under the impression all expenses and revenue were going through the chamber. Response: We were actually given light bulbs, through the Lights for Learning Program to sell for the Green Committee. The costs to us for the light bulbs were $8.00 a piece and we sold them at $20.00 each. The light bulbs that we did not sell were what we shipped back to them at their costs deducted from the profits we made. Therefore there was actually not a cost absorbed by the city for this purpose. �2� o Memorandum 1836 To: City Council EST. 1 From: Susan Mika, Finance Director, Bart Olson, City Administrator O Ures ` CC: Mayor Burd Cwrd Sew p` Date: April 21, 2010 <C � Subject: Budget update After the budget discussion at the April 13, 2010 City Council meeting, we have attached a memo discussing justifications for various line items that were suggested for further discussion. In advance, we offer the following as the changes that were made -to the budget spreadsheet itself. For the City -Wide Capital fund, there was no column for the FY 08/09 Actual figures. This column was inadvertently not shown on the proposed budget and we have now included it. Actual revenues for FY 08/09 were $298,100 and actual expenses totaled $391,278 leaving the year -end balance at a deficit of $93,178. For the sewer fund, the year -end surplus /deficit does not equal the beginning fund balance because this is an enterprise fund. Many adjustments are made during the audit process, which are not shown on budget reports. These adjustments also affect the assets and the liabilities. If these are not reported during the year, an adjustment is made, which causes the "beginning fund balance" to be restated. In the past, the beginning balance was part of the fund balance, which does not report what the actual cash balance is as it includes assets and liabilities. This is similar to what was discussed at the Administration Committee meeting regarding the Treasurer's Report. In the past, our auditors have recommended that we stop showing beginning fund balances on our budget, because we are then combining assets and liabilities with cash. A budget report is to reflect cash only. We will be discussing this further during this next audit process to address reporting the beginning balances in the future. ,= A k o Memorandum To: City Council esr. , = 1836 From: Bart Olson, City Administrator; Susan Mika, Finance Director CC: O� Date: April 14, 2010 Subject: Line -items to be discussed at the April 27 I CC meeting <CE At the April 13` City Council meeting, the City Council gave direction to staff to further study cuts to line -items recommended by specific aldermen. For your information, the following list is the items which were proposed to be cut by a specific alderman, but the City Council chose not to discuss at the April 27 meeting: 1) Community Relations Department, Publishing and Advertising a. (Vote to discuss) 4 -5 2) Community Relations Department, Community Events a. 4 -5 3) Police Department, Citizens Police Academy a. 3 -5 4) Community Development, Operating Supplies a. 4 -5 5) Community Development, Computer Equipment a. 4 -5 6) Police Capital, K -9 Equipment a. 3 -5 7) Parks Department, Part-time Salaries a. 2 -4 8) Recreation Department, Part-time Salaries a. 3 -5 9) REC Center, Recreation Equipment a. 3 -5 Page 1 of 10 The following pages include 1 1 1 to be cut by an alderman 1 then received a consensus 1 1 1 April Council 1 also includes line-items voluntarily put tip for or discussion $ iri value $ value Page Department/ Number Fund Line Item Number Line Item Title o being recommended discussed by staff to budeet for cuts remain 8 of 53 Finance 01- 120 -99 -00 -9942 Transfer to $25,000 $25,000 $25,000 Police Capital Recommendation from alderman: (paraphrased) The transfer from police capital to the general fund in the FY 09/10 budget in the amount of $103,000 was not approved by City Council and is objectionable because the Police Department Capital Fund should not have to loan money to the general fund. Response from staff: l While the revised budget was never approved by City Council, we did discuss the j transfer from the police capital to the general fund in committee (without consensus). The Police Capital Fund has money in it from Weather Warning Siren Fees paid by developers for new weather warning sirens. At this time, the City has not had homes built in areas which are not served by a weather warning siren, and thus no weather warning sirens have needed to be built. No weather warning sirens are to be built for the next two fiscal years, so we felt this money could be loaned to the general fund in FY 09/10 to balance the budget. Declining this loan in FY 09/10 and its repayment in FY 10 /11, FY 11/12 and beyond will impact the budget by causing the FY 09/10 budget to likely end in deficit (because you are eliminating $100,000 in revenue) and the FY 10/11 and FY 11/12 budget will gain $25,000 (because you are eliminating $25,000 in expense). The policy issue at hand is whether or not the Council would prefer to have the loan take place in FY 09/10 and the repayments in FY 10 /11, FY 11/12 and beyond, or not. Staff made the original recommendation for the loan with the justification above and we are reaffirming that recommendation. value value Page Department/ Line Item Number Line Item Title original being recommended Number Fund budget discussed by staff to for cuts remain Community 9 of 53 Relations 01- 130 -64 -00 -5607 Public Relations $1,750 $1,750 $1,750 Recommendation from alderman: (paraphrased) Cut the entire line item because it is non - essential. Response from staff: This line -item covers all incidental and general advertising costs for City events. These costs can be for banners for an event to a newspaper ad to other incidental promotional costs. The City Council chose not to discuss cutting the community events line -item, so the expenses used to support the events should remain. Staff recommends leaving this line -item as is. Page 2 of 10 value value Page Department/ Line Item Number Line Item Title original beL recommended Number Fund bud et discussed by staff to for cuts remain 11 of 53 Police 01- 210 -61 -00 -5300 Legal Services $20,000 Undetermined $20,000 Recommendation from alderman: (paraphrased) Expense for this line -item has varied from year to year. Perhaps the full dollar amount is not needed. Response from staff: Staff is prepared to enter labor negotiations with the sergeants' union without legal representation, in an effort to save money. If these negotiations reach an impasse, attorneys will be used. The typical labor negotiation session has cost the City more than $20,000 in legal fees per round of contract negotiations. This line item also covers all labor attorney costs for personnel issues within the police department, which can vary depending on the year. Attorney costs on personnel issues have ranged from $185 /hour to $500/hour depending on the firm. Even if no attorneys are used for labor negotiations and the City used the cheaper attorneys for all grievances and personnel issues, we would only have access to 105 hours of attorney time for entire calendar year (and we are optimistic we can use less). For the reasons listed above, staff is reaffirming the original request for $20,000. value value Page Department/ being recommended Number Fund Line Item Number Line Item Title original discussed by staff to budget for cuts remain 12 of 53 Police 01- 210 -64 -00 -5612 Watch Neighborhood $1,531 $1,531 $1, 500 Recommendation from alderman: (paraphrased) Cut entire neighborhood watch program because it is non - essential. Response from staff: This program is an important part of community policing. The residents help the Police solve crimes and neighborhood problems before they turn into something worse. It is requested that $1,500 remain. value $ value Page Department/ . being recommended Number Fund Line Item Number Line Item Title original discussed by staff to budeet for cuts remain 14 of 53 Comrunity 01- 220 -50 -00 -5107 Employee Salaries $287,132 Undetermined $287,132 Development Recommendation from alderman: (paraphrased) Expense has varied from year -to -year, look at making cuts in the department. Response from staff: I cannot emphasize this point enough - all discussions of cuts of particular employees should be done in closed session. Discussion of individual employee cuts in open session destroys morale on a workforce which has been under significant stress in the past two years. I (Bart) have made efforts to study the workload and services provided by each employee and have previously made the recommendation in budget presentations not to cut any employees. I reaffirm that any further cuts to this department would significantly affect services, and in many Page 3 of 10 cases would cost the City money in consultants to serve as replacements. For this particular department, the amount of employees authorized to work in the department has varied over the years. In every case except one, the request for new employees was approved by the City Council as part of the budget process. The one exception occurred for the current Code Official and Administrative Assistant in the Building Department. These employees were hired as a replacement to our building and code consultants (ICCI). In April 2005, the City Council authorized the hiring of the Community Development Director, the "Land -Use Planner" (Urban Planner), and the Parks Designer in the FY 05/06 budget. The Community Development Director was not hired until January 2006, which pushed off the hiring of the other two employees two employees until May 2006 and August 2006. In April 2006, the City Council authorized the hiring of a Senior Planner and a GIS Technician through the approval of the FY 06/07 budget. Those positions were filled on October 2007 and September 2006, respectively. In April 2007, the City Council authorized the hiring of an Administrative Assistant through the approval of the FY 07/08 budget. This position was filled internally in June 2007 by an employee of the Administration Department'. In Fall of 2009, the City terminated the contract with ICCI for building department operations, which left no employees or contractors in place to provide inspections, permitting, or code enforcement. At that time, the City chose to bring those operations in house by hiring a full -time Code Official and part-time Administrative Assistant in August 2009. So at one point, this department was authorized to have six full -time planning employees and one full -time and one - part-time building safety employees absorbed through the cancellation of a contract. Because of hire and termination dates, the full amount of budgeted salary was never spent in any of the fiscal years. The current status of the department is that six employees were authorized in the FY 09/10 budget, 4 full -time employees and one part-time employee is requested in the FY 10 /11 budget, and four are filled at the moment. Our Urban Planner left the City in February 2009. The Urban Planner position is vacant with no plans to fill the position. Our Senior Planner left the City in July 2009. The Senior Planner position is vacant with no plans to fill the position. The Administrative Assistant left the City in February 2010. The Administrative Assistant position is vacant with no plans to fill the position. The Community Development Director left the City in January 2010. The City is replacing the Community Development Director in May 2010. In summary, the Planning division has cut three employees and only has three employees remaining (one of which has not started employment yet), and the Building Safety division has added two employees at less than a $100,000 which replaced a contract which gave a contractor a percentage of building permit revenue. value value Page Department/ m I being recommended Number Fund Line Item Number Line Item Title origi discussed by staff to budget for cuts remain 28 of 53 City -wide N/A Beecher Road $100,000 I $100,000 $0 Capital River Crossing Recommendation from alderman: Cut this project. Response from staff: Agreed. This is a capital expense for a study for a roadway which we do not have the money to construct. This would have been suggested in the budget because it is part of the long- term development of the City. Page 4 of 10 value value Page Denartment/ being recommended Number Fund Line Item Number Line Item Title original discussed by staff to budget for cuts remain City-Wide Route 34 Bike 28 of 53 Capital N/A Trail $75,000 $75,000 $0 Recommendation from alderman: Cut this project. Response from staff: Agreed. This is a capital expense for a bike trail along the frontage of the Kendall County governmental complex, which would link Kendall Marketplace and the Rush Copley bike trails. This would have been suggested in the budget because it is part of the long -term development of the City, and was contemplated during the buildout of the Kendall County Courthouse. $ value value Page Department/ being recommended Number Fund Line Item Number Line Item Title original discussed by staff to budget for cuts remain 28 of 53 City -Wide N/A Island $5,000 $5,000 $0 Capital Landscaping Recommendation from alderman: Cut this project. Response from staff: Agreed. This is a capital expense for the landscaping of the triangular area at Route 126 and Identa Road. During the IDOT reconstruction of the Rt 126 and Rt 71 intersection, IDOT had planned to make this a concrete median but planted dirt instead at the request of the City. Since this is a entranceway to the City, staff had discussed doing beautification to the median, resulting in this line -item request. Instead of having its own line -item, staff will landscape the median as time allows and if plants are donated to the City or are leftover from other projects. value $ value Page Department/ Line Item Number Line Item Title original being recommended Number Fund discussed by staff to budget for cuts remain 39 of 53 Land -Cash 72- 000 -99 -00 -9901 Transfer to $60,449 Undetermined $60,449 General Fund Recommendation from alderman: Land -cash money should only be spent on staff -time associated with land -cash eligible parks and projects. Response from staff: Both Superintendent Sleezer and Parks Designer Schraw tracked their time spent on land - cash eligible parks in FY 09/10. The result of that tracking led to the number proposed in the budget. Staff reaffirms the amount proposed in the budget. Page 5 of 10 value value Page Department/ Line Item Number Line Item Title original being recommended Number Fund budget discussed by staff to for cuts remain Parks 40 of 53 Expenses 79- 610 -50 -00 -5137 Salaries - $4,000 $3,000 $4,000 (Parks and Overtime Recreation) Recommendation from alderman: Cut to match expense from FY 09/10 internal budget. Response from staff: As part of our field rental policies and field use agreement with YYBSA, we have committed to provide field maintenance on weekends. This is done by flexing employee time throughout the week. From time -to -time, rain events will render the fields unplayable for our weekend tournaments and games, requiring more employees than normal to be called in. When employees are called in, they have the rights under Department of Labor laws to take the time as comp -time (no budgetary impact) or as overtime (budgetary impact). The $4,000 in this line - item represents an average summer's call -ins for rain events and assuming hours are taken as overtime. If employees don't take this as overtime, then there is no budget impact. I recommend that the line -item remain funded as is. value $ value Page Department/ being recommended Number Fund Line Item Number Line Item Title original . discussed by staff to budget for cuts remain Parks Computer 41 of 53 Expenses N/A Equipment and $500 $500 $500 (Parks and Software Recreation) Recommendation from alderman: Cut entire expense. Response from staff: This entire line -item is for computer repairs and replacements as the older units break. The Parks department is home to a group of older City computers that have passed their replacement dates. This line -item will also be used to purchase a Parks maintenance scheduling software ( —$100) to improve the effectiveness of the parks equipment maintenance schedule. The parks equipment database is currently being maintained on paper, which produces operational inefficiencies. I reaffirm the funding request for this line -item at $500. value $ value Page Department/ Line Item Number Line Item Title original being recommended Number Fund budget discussed by staff to for cuts remain Parks 41 of 53 Expenses 79- 610 -75 -00 -7701 Flowers /Trees $1,000 $1,000 $1,000 (Parks and Recreation) Recommendation from alderman: Cut entire expense. Page 6of10 Response from staff: This is purely a policy decision for the Council, as eliminating this expense would free up staff time and would not further impact services. I am recommending it remain because of the large number of users in the Parks, and the fact that the relatively minor cost of this line item has a large impact on the visual beautification of the City. $ in value value Page Deaartmend Line Item Number Line Item Title original being recommended Number Fund discussed by staff to budget for cuts remain Parks 41 of 53 Expenses 79- 610 -62 -00 -5421 Wearing Apparel $4,100 $4,100 $4,100 (Parks and Recreation) Recommendation from alderman: Cut this expense. Response from staff: Although this line -item was discussed under the review of the Parks and Recreation budget, I inferred that the City Council wanted to discuss wearing apparel budgets in all departments. Across all departments, the City spends $24,000 on uniforms for employees in Parks, Streets, Sewer, Water, Recreation and the Police departments. These line -items pay for clothes for workers in the field (with the exception of Police front office staff). The concept of paying for shoes, shirts, and pants for these employees is to ensure safety, the health of the employees, easy identification of City staff by residents, and to maintain a common and professional appearance for all department staff. For instance, if the City chose not to pay for steel -toed boots for its Street employees, the supervisors would have to verify an employee was not cutting corners by wearing non -steel toed boots. This would not only waste the supervisors' time, but in the instance that an employee manages to escape detection in an effort to save their own money they may put themselves at a greater safety risk. Similarly, if t -shirts were not provided to Parks employees, employees may be more likely to try to extend the life of their shirts, resulting in scenarios where a supervisor would have to further monitor the appearances of employees. It should be noted that the line -items in each department have decreased over the past few years, resulting in renegotiated prices for wearing apparel and greater use out of existing clothing. It should also be noted that safety equipment (goggles, vests, hard -hats) is also spent out of these line- items. Page 7of10 The f ollowing discusse briefly at the City C ouncil and were v olunteered for research by 1 ut a City Council vote of 1 value value Page Department/ in being recommended Number Fund Line Item Number Line Item Title ori discussed by staff to budget for cuts remain 27 and 28 City -wide N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A of 53 Capital Recommendation from alderman: There is no column for "FY 08/09 Actual" figures. Response from staff. This column was inadvertently not shown on the proposed budget and we have now included it. Actual revenues for FY 08/09 were $298,100 and actual expenses totaled $391,278 leaving the year balance at a deficit of $93,178. value value Page Department/ being recommended Number Fund Line Item Number Line Item Title ori�al discussed by staff to budget for cuts remain 35 -37 of Sewer 53 Maint. and N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A Improve Recommendation from alderman: End of year surplus /deficit and beginning fund balance figures are not equal. Response from staff: Please see Susan Mika's memo dated April 21, distributed with this budget. value value Page Department/ Line Item Number Line Item Title orb being recommended Number Fund discussed 'bv staff to budget for cuts remain Parks and 42 of 53 Recreation 79- 650 -62 -00 -5410 Maintenance — $4,500 N/A $3,500 (Recreation Office Equipment Expenses) Response from staff: This line item funds the copier lease agreement for all Parks and Recreation copiers, and used to be the line -item where the RecTrac maintenance agreement was coded. This maintenance agreement was $1,000 per year and will be coded next year out of the Computer Equipment & Software line -item below. Page Department) � value value Number Fund Line Item Number Line Item Title on inal bein recommended budget discussed by 'staff to Page 8 of 10 for cuts remain Parks and Recreation Computer 42 of 53 79- 650 -75 -00 -7002 Equipment and $2,500 $2,000 $2,500 Recreation Software Expenses) Recommendation from alderman: Leave line -item at $500. Response from staff: As discussed in the response immediately above, this line -item is taking on the expense of the RecTrac maintenance agreement. This maintenance agreement is for unlimited technical and operational support and periodic upgrades to the system. Due to the many uses of the program, the Recreation staff does use tech and operational support often — so the maintenance agreement is an economical choice. Because we have expanded the use of RecTrac to the REC Center, the maintenance agreement is more expensive this year. f reaffirm the request for $2,500 in this line item. The following line-items were brought up by i elected officials after the City Council meeting, either via email, plione call or verbal discussion with the staff. value LyjIme . Page Department/ Line Item Number Line Item Title original being recommended Number Fund discussed by staff to budget for cuts remain 10 of 53 Engineering 01- 150 -50 -00 -5107 Salaries - $263,233 Undelennined $263,233 Employees Recommendation from alderman: Reduce this line -item. Response from staff: To repeat the point above - all discussions of cuts of particular employees should be done in closed session. This department currently has 5 full -time employees, down from 7 at the start of FY 08/09. One JULIE Locator position was eliminated via layoffs and one engineering technician position was eliminated due to the employee's retirement. The remaining five employees are a City Engineer, Civil Engineer, two Engineering Technicians and an Administrative Assistant. All of these employees are currently struggling to keep up with the demand for infrastructure inspections and punch -list updating, as a result of increased requests from existing and new developers looking to re -plat existing subdivisions. The Engineering Administrative Assistant has also taken on Community Development responsibilities due to the departure of the Community Development Administrative Assistant. Elimination of any of these positions would significantly increase response time on infrastructure inspections and punch list completion and would be increase service time on all City Hall development operations. I reaffirm that cutting employees from this department would be short- sighted given the increased activity in the building sector in the recent weeks. Page Department/ $ in value value Number Fund Line Item Number Line Item Title original being recommended budget discussed by staff to Page 9of10 for cuts remain 7 of 53 Finance 01- 120 -50 -00 -5106 Salaries - $ 289,690 $30,000 $289,690 Employees Recommendation from alderman: Eliminate completely. Response from staff: This position was approved by the City Council as part of the budget process in the FY 07/08 fiscal year to be hired in February 2008, but was not filled. This position was originally recommended by staff for a May 1 hire, but due to the budget situation we are now recommending a November I hire. The current status of the Finance department is down 3.5 FTE (140 man hours a week) or 46% of the approved 7.5 FTE. We are asking to fill this one position to catch up on the day to day operations as we are falling farther behind. This impacts our financial audit and ultimately our bond rating could potentially suffer as well. The finance department processes bills, payroll, benefits, and risk management to name a few of the key responsibilities that affects each and every department within the City. Currently we are 5 months behind on the general fund bank reconciliation and verifications, the payroll account is not reconciled as there is a lack of time and staff to complete the reconciliation, and the year -end audit journals in November are throwing the balance sheet out of balance. Additional processing work was added by moving the elected official's payroll to once a month from once a quarter. Our fiscal year ends April 30, which means all of our year -end entries need to be completed which includes all of the bank reconciliations. The Finance department will not be ready for the auditors in July. Right now it is looking like a September start date for field work and a December January completion date. Currently, finance employees are capped out of comp time and are unable to get caught up on the work load. We would like to authorize overtime, however there is no overtime budgeted in Finance. Without overtime, several reports will not meet deadlines such as the Treasurer's Report, monthly budget reports, monthly journal entries/ corrections, and bank reconciliations. It is my opinion that the finance department is one of the key departments within the City as we keep track of the finances for each division. As we fall farther behind, we are not able to provide timely, accurate reports and information. 'The vacancy created by the internal hire was filled through an external search in August 2007. i Page 10 of 10 i City Council Final Budget Comments — 4/27/10 1 look at this budget in a survival mode. With the proposed General Fund Showing a $1,354,462 deficit in 2010, 1 feel that this approach is necessary. The past administration and this administration has not followed their own policies in terms of up front deposit collection from developers and reserve savings. As a result we had to write off over 1 million dollars in bad debt and our general fund is depleted. These collected and saved dollars would have made the difference here between a budget in the red, and a budget in the black. These also would have eliminated some of the decisions and cutbacks suggested here. I cannot support this budget for a multitude of reasons including: 1) Mismanagement 2) Rooftop dependent approach w/o caution and responsibility 3) Spend and tax, or pass the buck approach on the re_ t s;�SSzS � 1 �;�� 1 � 4) Lack of wanting to trim this budget more in all areas to adjust to this serious economic downturn. This budget must be trimmed more to tailor to the times. We need necessity spending only until times improve, and our spending is still not to that point and without priority. 5) Furloughs will not do the trick here. We have 87 full time employees and 107 part time employees on the payroll, according to a document that was FOIA'd and provided to me by a resident. We must slim line our operations until times improve. I feel that this can be done in our engineering dept., our Parks and Rec Departments, and our Rec Center. 6) Our Rec Center must be shed, as it is bleeding an already ailing budget with no signs of profit in our near future. This shows deficit in our proposed budget through 2012. 7) Our Community Relations Budget in my eyes, is mostly non - necessity spending and needs to be trimmed back. 8) 1 do not support the enactment of an amusement tax on local businesses. Businesses are struggling to thrive in these times of economic recession and this is not time to increase taxes on any of them. Three of the few businesses in town including one in my ward, have expressed concern and objection to this increase. The cost of this tax increase will ultimately be passed along to the residents, which I object to as well. 9) 1 do not support a water rate increase and infrastructure fee on the residents. Our residents are struggling to make it in today's recession. It is i not the time to impose any additional rate increases or fees on the residents. Professionally I call on cities on a regular basis, and have been doing so for roughly 13 years. I cannot recall one municipality that has shown a water fund deficit for 5 years (since 2004). That even applies to municipalities that have been operating on the same or less water rates and infrastructure fees. Water Departments are supposed to be self sustaining at minimum. In most cases, they are the revenue generator. This r hasn't been the case with our water department since 2004. Even with the proposed water rate and infrastructure fee increase which will put us amongst the highest locally based on a 2 month billing cycle, the water department continues to show a deficit of $1,063,446 in the proposed 10/11 budget and $1,121,755 in the proposed 11/12 budget. *Last but not least, we must stop our practice of borrowing from one department or fund to pay for deficits in others. This is not a good solution to mend deficits when looking long term. II Budget Commentary — Alderman Golinski Last year, I voted against the budget because nothing was being done to replenish the fund balance reserve and I objected to the way salaries were being paid out of the land cash fund. Unfortunately, nothing has changed. There is still nothing being done to replenish the fund balance reserves, salaries are still being paid out of the land cash fund, which already has a projected deficit of almost $200K, and there is an assortment of new taxes and rate hikes included as revenue in this proposed budget which have not even been approved by the City Council. How can we count on this revenue in the budget when these changes have not been approved by this Council. There is approximately, $700K in proposed new taxes that will be collected directly from Yorkville residents. If these tax increases go through, every water customer in Yorkville will be paying an additional $16.50 per water bill as an improvement & expansion fee, an additional 5% for their water and everyone will pay an additional 5% every time they take their family out for a night of entertainment in Yorkville. Even with all of this new revenue being factored in, our General Fund only shows an ending balance of $56K. The j General Fund budget that was passed last year showed a surplus of over $183K. In reality, it ended the year with 'a deficit. What would make any of us believe that this year will be any different. When we started discussing this budget at the Admin. committee, the first thing I said was "any serious budget discussion needs to include a discussion on staff reductions ". That discussion never took place. I know the city has laid off 4 people and lost some more through attrition, but that's not enough. At the Administration Committee meeting on November 13, 2008, our former City Administrator stated that "after closely looking at the budget, in his professional opinion, the City cannot continue to have the present staffing levels ". Mayor Burd responded that Congressman Foster has a proposal to assist municipalities so that layoffs can be avoided. Well, here we are a year and a half later with a budget that still cannot support the current staffing levels. Our current City Administrator has stated that more staff cuts would be short sighted. I respectfully disagree. Continuing with the path that we're on is what's short sighted. Over the years, I've voiced concerns many times about our dwindling fund balance reserve. Now that it's gone, both Standard & Poor's and Fitch has downgraded our debt ratings on both general obligation bonds and debt certificates. At the rate we're going, we will never replenish the fund balance reserve to a level of between 15 -25% as stated in our fund balance reserve policy. Unless something changes, our debt rating will continue to slide. Unfortunately, once again, I'm forced to vote no on this budget.