Chambana Sun

Paxton City Council met September 26.

Here is the minutes provided by the Council:

The adjourned monthly meeting of the Paxton City Council was held on Tuesday, September 26, 2017 at 7:00 p.m. in the Council Chambers at City Hall.

Mayor Ingold called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m.

Roll call showed the following aldermen in attendance: Evans, Glad, Pacey, Satterlee, Steiger, and Wylie. Also in attendance were: Mayor Ingold, Public Works Director LeClair, Acting Chief of Police Cornett, Junior Alderman McMullin, TIF Attorney Dan Schuering, and members of the audience and press.

City Property:

There were no committee meetings.

The sale of the airport will be discussed in Executive Session.

Economic Development:

There were no meetings.

TIF Attorney Dan Schuering was in attendance at tonight’s meeting to give an update on TIF projects. He will not be talking about specific names or companies until projects are further down the road.

The Cobblestone Hotel is done. The hotel will generate over a million dollars in TIF increment. The investment group will receive 55%, up to $725,000, for TIF eligible expenses. The remaining increment will be used for other projects.

The City, with Duane Shields, is working on two projects – Shields Auto Mart and the NexStep Commercial building. There will be $500,000 in improvements to the NexStep building and it will generate about $275,000 in TIF funds. The auto dealership had about $600,000 in updates. Mr. Shields has asked for sharing of the sales tax revenue generated and the City is unwilling to agree. Tilton, IL, lured an auto dealership to the city by agreeing to sales tax sharing, but it is not a common practice and does not benefit the City.

The City continues in discussions with Steve Glazik and Gary Glazik on the remaining portion of their property, approximately 31 acres. The City should have an agreement on the redevelopment plan at the November Council meeting. Currently, there are several projects being considered, one hospitality and one automotive.

Attorney Schuering said that Country Garden restaurant is for sale, building and ground amounts to about 2 acres. He noted that the asking price was too high.

The Phillips 66 gas station owns some acreage to the south of the building.

Discussions will continue on Country Gardens and the Phillips 66 ground.

The Mayor talks with Scott Stinson a couple times of week. He’s a real estate developer out of St. Louis. Interest went up in Paxton when construction started on the hotel. This interest will last for a period of time. We need to get another project going to keep that interest up. The Country Gardens problem is solvable when some realism sets in and the price goes down. Then the City can talk with the owners how to use the TIF to make the price good. Trying to negotiate with them now doesn’t get the cost of the land down to an attractive price yet. The gas station land is similarly solvable. It may be possible to split the parcel into two pieces, sell one off, or buy the whole station, put the business owner in a new building. There are lots of ideas on the table. If the City has financially appropriate deals, local investors will get involved. Once these problems are solved, Mr. Stinson can then go to a national company and court them to our location.

For the downtown project, the City has their first proposal for a façade. If this is done consistent with the StreetScape plan, that makes two and is good progress.

The Council asked if retail is not an option for the property east of I-57, can the City look at residential or manufacturing options. Attorney Schuering said there are two of the top ten hospitality retailers that would go east of I-57 in a heartbeat. Neither one is here. Neither one justifies a $1 million investment on road improvements that would be necessary. If the street was put in properly, at the required width, there would be 2 feet between the back of the curb and the steps to Subway. Another option is to come back east in town, east of the church. There is property, owned by the Warners, which could be used to put a road in. It would be much cheaper than repairing Centennial Dr. If the City is going to build housing, you need a reputable developer with staying power to endure the work required to get it going with no assurances. These are long-term projects. The Council needs to do things that keep bringing people to downtown Paxton to spend their money.

Money can be reimbursed for water, sewer, and infrastructure costs, but the City must pay those costs upfront first.

The City has made several different proposals to the Warners regarding their land. The City has tried to renegotiate the agreement with them for several years, unsuccessfully. Commercial development needs to be our focus.

People are coming, and we need to keep them coming. Swine and Dine drew in 4,000 – 5,000 people. The Harry Moon promotion drew in lots of people. They will be back in October. IL National Guard held a Gold Star event with 34 people riding bikes, 30 support people, and a couple hundred more people with that event.

Alderman Flesner arrived at the meeting at 7:37 p.m.

There was discussion on sales and motor fuel tax.

The City has made some significant progress. The hotel helps with this. It helps keep people in town and spending their money here. The City needs more things the help support this process.

The Mayor let the Council know that he’s willing to sit down and discuss the feasibility study with anyone who’s interested.

Attorney Schuering agreed that additional retail locations would be good. Anything related to later-life adults are popular now. Interstate 57 is a potential source for income. The City needs to develop things that bring people from the interstate into our town.

Because of the improvements at the Paxton Inn Motel the hotel/motel tax is up. This will also increase with the new hotel. This money can only be used for tourism. Attorney Schuering thinks the City should get a web developer in to redesign our website to play up our antique stores and advertise them.

The City needs to be encouraging downtown store owners to get onboard with the StreetScape project. The City and Chamber should be working together on facades. The first proposal received to redo a façade was for $20,000.

Downtown property owners need to be encouraged to develop second story residential areas. There was concern on the Council about the long-term viability of those areas.

The former France Broom building is sold. The contract was signed today. In three years, we’ve turned a gift into $125,000. The Mayor and Attorney Schuering talk almost every day. There has been talk about making monies available to rehabilitate dilapidated properties. Attorney Schuering would point the Council to the Microloan program for these issues. Do this outside of the TIF. If the City takes this $125,000 and invests it into projects that increase property taxes, that would be the best thing to do. All that is needed now, are ideas. There was discussion on various ideas.

There was more discussion on websites and themes. What’s the next project? What’s next for the StreetScape? Attorney Schuering is willing to talk to any of the Council about any ideas you might have.

Other:

At 8:15 p.m., Alderman Wylie made a motion to go into executive session for the limited purpose of discussing the sale of municipal property. Alderman Evans seconded the motion. Roll Call: ayes – Aldermen Evans, Flesner, Glad, Pacey, Satterlee, Steiger, and Wylie. All ayes, motion carried.

Executive Session ended at 8:48 p.m. Regular Council meeting resumed at 8:49 p.m.

At 8:49 p.m. Alderman Steiger made a motion to adjourn the meeting. Alderman Pacey seconded the motion. All ayes, motion carried on a voice vote.

http://www.cityofpaxton.com/docs/minutes/9-26-17%20Adjourned%20Council%20Meeting%20Minutes.pdf