Chambana Sun

Village of Tolono Board of Trustees met August 1.

Here is the minutes provided by the Board:

The Village of Tolono Board of Trustees (“Board”) met on August 1, 2017. President/Mayor Rob Murphy called the meeting to order at 6:30pm. Roll call found the following trustees present: Vicki Buffo, Jacquie Miller, Ryan Perry, Jared Ping and Terrence Stuber. Trustee Anna Morris was absent. Also present were Police Chief Rick Raney, Treasurer Robert Kouzmanoff, Public Works Superintendent Matt Graven, Administrative Secretary Brandy Dalton and Attorney Marc Miller.

Trustee Stuber motioned to appoint Brandy Dalton to the position of Village Clerk. Trustee Miller seconded the motion. Roll call: Buffo, yes; Miller, yes; Perry, yes; Ping, yes; Stuber, yes. Motion passed unanimously.

President Murphy led the Pledge of Allegiance

Trustee Stuber gave the invocation.

Public Comments:

Paul Moore was present to find out how to change the zoning of his property located at River Road and Central Avenue to R-4. He wants to develop 20 single family homes for those 55+ years old. Graven gave Moore his contact information, and they will be in contact.

Robert Wease asked about the alley vacation adjacent to his property located at 202 South Whitehead. He was told there was an oversight, and there has to be a public hearing. The consideration for vacation will be on the agenda September 5, 2017.

Britt Miller and Eric Smith spoke to the board about cloud based IP phones from Barbeck Communications, saving the Village of Tolono approximately $17,000 over 5 years for phone service. The proposal given to the board includes unlimited everything and a lifetime warranty on the phones.

Public Works:

Superintendent Graven said he has been working with Master Meter to get prices on new meters. The 5 large meters are being estimated first; including Unity High School, the 3 apartment buildings on the east side of town, and Woodworth & Sons Trucking. He is working with Gary Mitchell to get the meter at the high school installed before school starts.

In regards to the road repairs on the Southeast corner of town, Graven said he has had to swap out skid loaders, the roller is rented and cold patch has been bought. Illiana Construction is pushing Public Works to get it done so that they can get started on the MFT oil & chip roadwork.

D.J. Stewart has been working with Graven on rebuilding the hydrant at Holden & Linden Streets. The J.U.L.I.E. has been called in, and the parts have been ordered. They are planning to only have to turn the water off 1 time, with only 4 houses affected.

The contractor that was supposed to cut the tree down on Vorcey Street is not calling back. Graven got a verbal quote from another contractor for $1250, which is $250 more than the first contractor. It will be on the agenda for the next meeting. Graven said that some of the trees that need to come down next year are huge and will be costly.

The radio channel license is up for renewal at $85 for 10 years. Maybe if we upgrade meters, we could use that channel to read meters from the office instead of driving around.

When asked about someone reading the main meter on the weekends, Graven said that Mike Woodworth is currently reading that for free but hopes that the comp time policy is approved so Mike can take comp time for reading the meter. Trustee Perry said that he forwarded an email to Graven from Dave at Illinois American about an add-on for the master meter. If that is installed, nobody would have to crawl into the pit to read the meter. In addition, it wouldn’t have to be read on the weekend because it stores up to so many days in the memory.

Reports:

Engineers:

No engineers were present. Trustee Perry commented on the status of the new police station.

-The punch list was done Wednesday, July 26, 2017 by Perry and Miller. It will take a couple weeks to work on it. There will be another walk through next week.

-Public Works is going to move the landscaping.

-We should be able to have an Open House by the end of August 2017.

Treasurer:

Treasurer Kouzmanoff reported that the audit is going good so far, but the auditors want the sheet with the list of invoices to be paid to be signed by 2 of the trustees for internal control purposes. Also, we will need someone that meets the credentials by state statute to certify the audit once it is done since Kouzmanoff has not been here a full fiscal year yet. Leslie Lundy was paid to look over and sign off on the audit last year. Kouzmanoff was asked to check into hiring her this year.

Kouzmanoff elaborated on a memo he sent the board regarding the 10% reduction in Income Tax Revenue. After some analysis was done, it is not going to be an increase of 5% like he had stated before. In order to close the 2 month gap of payments from the State of Illinois, they are going to be making accelerated payments over 1 fiscal year reduced by the 10%. Since the State of IL fiscal year is different than the Village of Tolono fiscal year, the payments will be spread over 2 fiscal years, with the payments this year totaling approximately $27,000. Trustee Ping asked if the IML lobbyists are trying to get that money back and was told yes.

The net profit and loss is doing well. There are less spontaneous large purchases this year. The monthly invoice folders keep getting smaller. Graven is always researching to find better prices. Chief Raney always does good on only spending what he needs to.

Kouzmanoff spoke about the proposed Compensatory Time Off Policy and Vacation Accrual Policy. The maximum accrual would be 40 hours per year. If someone had 44 hours on their timecard, they would be paid for 40 with 6 going into their comp time bank. Management would reserve the right to require a payout instead of the employee using the banked comp time. It must be used in the same fiscal year it is earned. Comp time would need to be used before vacation in a leave of absence. Vacation accrual proposal would allow first year employees to take time before the end of their first year. They would accrue their vacation time at the end of each month. The maximum cap would need to be raised as well so people that have just earned their annual time would be able to accrue their monthly amount.

Police Department:

Chief Raney said that since yesterday was July 31, he does not have a monthly report. He will have it at the next meeting.

Raney had to run off kids swimming in the retention pond at the sewer plant. President Murphy said that we need to put up “No Swimming” signs.

There were 2 reports of graffiti to personal property last weekend. Raney took the initial reports, and Officer Morgan followed up with information he received yesterday evening. He was able to find the juveniles and get a confession.

Officer Morgan also was investigating a theft case from 2 to 3 weeks ago that Officer Kitts has been working on. Morgan found the $14,000 ring and the suspect.

Approval of Prior Minutes:

Trustee Perry motioned to approve the minutes of the last regular board meeting, held July 18, 2017. Trustee Miller seconded the motion. Roll call: Buffo, yes; Miller, yes; Perry, yes; Ping, yes; Stuber, yes. Motion passed unanimously.

Invoices:

Some questions arose from the invoices presented for approval. All questions were answered by Treasurer Kouzmanoff. Trustee Stuber motioned to approve all invoices presented, except for Health Alliance. Trustee Miller seconded the motion. Roll call: Buffo, yes; Miller, yes; Perry, yes; Ping, yes; Stuber, yes. Motion passed unanimously.

Old Business:

Trustee Perry motioned to accept the proposal from Barbeck Communication for IP phones of $205.70 monthly and not to exceed $2000 up front. Trustee Ping seconded the motion. Roll call: Buffo, abstain; Miller, yes; Perry, yes; Ping, yes; Stuber, yes. Motion passed unanimously.

New Business:

There was some discussion regarding the proposed Police Union Contract. Attorney Marc Miller helped with some changes the board want to make. Trustee Ping motioned to accept or agree to a contract with Teamsters Local #26 for the police officers for 2017 through 2019. Trustee Buffo seconded the motion. Roll call: Buffo, yes; Miller, yes; Perry, yes; Ping, yes; Stuber, yes. Motion passed unanimously.

Trustee Stuber motioned to designate and hire Attorney Justin Brunner as special legal counsel for the Village of Tolono for purposes of litigation at the hourly rate of $165. Trustee Miller seconded the motion. Roll call: Buffo, yes; Miller, yes; Perry, yes; Ping, yes; Stuber, yes. Motion passed unanimously.

Trustee Stuber motioned to approve Ordinance 2017-O-15, an Ordinance amending the Personnel Policy Manual to add section 5.9 Compensatory Time Off. Trustee Miller seconded the motion. Roll call: Buffo, yes; Miller, yes; Perry, yes; Ping, yes; Stuber, yes. Motion passed unanimously.

Nuisance and Tickler Files:

Attorney Miller will send letters citing specific violations and the ordinance that pertains to them possibly before the next meeting.

Chief Raney said he has been working on pool checks. He said the ordinance is too vague because it includes all pools, including kiddie pools. The board agrees that the wording should change to be for pools 4 foot deep or more and so they are not readily accessible.

Miscellaneous:

Trustee Perry brought up the ordinance regarding driveways. He said that building permits are being accepted that were previously turned down by the Zoning Board. We can’t be allowing driveways to be built that are encroaching on property lines just because they were signed off on by neighbors. President Murphy said that he knows that Matt Graven has been doing a good job on researching anything he is not sure of before issuing building permits, and the only thing Graven could find on driveways was that the set-backs must be 5 foot on each side.

Executive Session:

Trustee Stuber motioned to enter executive session for the limited purpose of discussing the hiring, performance, compensation and/or employment of one or more Village employees at 9:25pm. Trustee Miller seconded the motion. Roll call: Buffo, yes; Miller, yes; Perry, yes; Ping, yes; Stuber, yes. Motion passed unanimously.

The board returned to open session at 9:42pm.

Trustee Stuber motioned to approve the Health Alliance invoice in the amount of $8324. Trustee Ping seconded the motion. Motion carried unanimously via voice vote.

Trustee Stuber motioned to adjourn the meeting at 9:44 pm. Trustee Perry seconded the motion. Motion carried unanimously via voice vote.

http://tolonoil.us/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/2017.08.01-minutes.pdf