City of Danville Public Services Committee met July 23.
Here is the minutes provided by the committee:
#1 CALL TO ORDER
Chairman Foster called the Public Services Committee meeting to order at 6:00 p.m. at the Robert E. Jones Municipal Building, 17 W. Main St., Danville, Illinois.
Roll Call was answered by Chairman Steve Foster, Aldermen R.J. Davis, Dan Duncheon, and Tom Stone. Absent were Vice Chairman Sharon McMahon, Aldermen Brenda Brown and Steve Nichols. A quorum was present.
Others Present were Mayor Rickey Williams, Jr., Aldermen Sherry Pickering and Mike O'Kane, City Comptroller Shelley Scott, Deputy City Clerk Megan Mudd, Human Relations Administrator Sandra Finch, Information Technology Administrator Agnel DSilva, Interim Fire Chief Don McMasters, Interim Police Chief Chris Yates, Payroll and Personnel Manager Jamie White, Public Transportation Director Lisa Beith, Risk Manager Kathy Courson, 8 audience members and 4 news media were also present.
#2 APPROVAL OF MINUTES
Chairman Foster presented the Minutes of the regular meeting of June 25, 2019. Alderman Duncheon moved to dispense with the reading and asked for approval as presented, seconded by Alderman Stone. On the voice vote, all ayes, no nays; the motion so ordered.
#3 APPROVAL OF AGENDA
Chairman Foster presented the agenda, Alderman Davis moved for approval as presented, seconded by Alderman Stone. On the voice vote, all ayes, no nays; the motion so ordered.
#4 AUDIENCE COMMENTS
Lloyd Randle of Danville spoke concern regarding the use of Community Development Block Grant Funds that are being allocated in support of the Griffin Street upgrade project in conjunction with CSX Transportation.
Vince Koers of Danville spoke concern regarding recreational marijuana stating he would urge the committee and Council to form a discussion on the issue and to be transparent with the public in terms of where the City stands.
Drew Rush of Danville, and owner of The Pub at 12 E North Street, spoke concern regarding video gaming revenue.
Greg Filicsky of Sidell, and owner of Dale's Place at 1217 E Fairchild Street, spoke concern regarding video gaming revenue.
Michael Gregory of Danville, and owner of Big Four Tavern at 620 N Vermilion Street, spoke concern regarding video gaming revenue.
#5 CHAIRMAN'S COMMENTS - None
#6 APPROVAL OF PAYROLLS
Chairman Foster presented Payrolls for July 19, 2019, of $526,293.64. Alderman Duncheon moved to dispense with the reading and asked for approval, seconded by Alderman Stone. There being no questions, the roll call vote being:
Ayes: Aldermen Davis, Duncheon, Stone, Foster
Nays: None
Absent: Aldermen McMahon, Brown, Nichols
Motion carried 4 to 0 with 3 absent.
#7 APPROVAL OF VOUCHERS PAYABLE Chairman Foster presented the Schedule of a Special Run of the Vouchers Payable for July 22, 2019, of 675.80 and the Regular Run of the Vouchers Payable for July 23, 2019, of $360,404.98. Alderman Stone moved to dispense with the reading and asked for approval as presented with the Special Run included, seconded by Alderman Duncheon. There being no questions, the roll call vote being:
Ayes: Aldermen Davis, Duncheon, Stone, Foster
Nays: None
Absent: Aldermen McMahon, Brown, Nichols
Motion carried 4 to 0 with 3 absent.
#8.CITY CLERK'S REPORT - Megan Mudd, Deputy City Clerk #8-A) Items of Information
• Clerk Mudd reported staff is currently working on temporary seasonal permits for the summer months now that the annual liquor license renewals are completed.
#9.DANVILLE MASS TRANSIT – Lisa Beith, Director
#9-A) Chairman Foster presented a resolution awarding Bid #628 for Uniform Rental and Ancillary Services. The agreement is authorized with CLEAN Uniform Company for five (5) years for uniform rental and related services. Alderman Stone moved to dispense with the reading and asked for approval, seconded by Alderman Duncheon. Alderman Duncheon asked if five years is the standard length of time stating that it seems a little long, Director Beith replied our last contract was a five-year contract that had already expired so we just went with what we had before. They are considerably cheaper than the company that we are using now so I was very pleased to keep them for five years. There being no further questions, the roll call vote being:
Ayes: Aldermen Davis, Duncheon, Stone, Foster
Nays: None
Absent: Aldermen McMahon, Brown, Nichols
Motion carried 4 to 0 with 3 absent.
#9-B) Items of Information - None
#10.FINANCE- Shelley Scott, Comptroller
#10-A) ITEMS OF INFORMATION
#10-A-1) RISK MANAGER MONTHLY REPORT - Kathy Courson, Risk Manager
Manager Courson presented the June 2019 Statistics stating Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Illinois and Health Alliance Insurance Premiums for employees, firefighter duty disabilities and police duty disabilities, and incentives which totaled $305,330.15, for retirees $44,029.94, and for Library Employees $16,001.94; June Worker's Compensation totaled two, and there were seven Liability claims submitted. The total cost of health premiums in June 2019 totaled $365,362.03 and the total cost of health premiums for June 2018 totaled $377,671.86. Chairman Foster stated a couple years ago there were several presentations made by advisors and he wanted to know if and when that will be happening again. Manager Courson replied that we have not done a bid recently but we can go out for bid for Brokers again soon, but we have been working off the last agreement we had. We also have a meeting scheduled for the beginning of August because they have been going out and checking with other insurance companies trying to get us the best rate. We had a really good year health insurance wise so we're running lower than we normally would which will be good for when it comes time to renew our rates.
#10-A-2) PERSONNEL MONTHLY REPORT - Jamie White, Payroll and Personnel Manager
Manager White presented the Personnel Report as of July 23, 2019, stating 228 employees eligible for benefits and 50 part-time/seasonal/temporary/intern employees, with one new hire, no transfers, and one separation. Applications are being accepted for City Electrician, City Engineer, Corporation Counsel, Engineer I, Engineer II, Engineer III, and Extra Board Bus Drivers, which are on-going. Alderman Duncheon asked what the name of the new Grants and Planning Manager is that we just hired and also the name of the Code Enforcement Inspector that just retired. Manager White replied the Grants and Planning Manger is Logan Cronk and the Inspector is Jim Meharry, and that currently Jim is working for the City still as a part-time inspector until the position gets filled. They have received over 60 applications for the position so technically it is still an open position but it is no longer being advertised. Mayor Williams also stated that he has received several applications for Corporation Counsel that are local and that he is pleased to announce that he has extended an offer for the City Engineer position, that person has tentatively accepted but they still need to notify their Public Services Committee employer so I'm not at liberty to discuss this at that time. So with that I will be having our Administrator remove that position in the morning.
#10-A-3) Additional Items of Information
Comptroller Scott reported that she will be distributing the tax levy/budget schedule at the City Council meeting on August 6, 2019 and also asked any of the aldermen who still have their budget binders from last year if they could turn those in we will re-use them next year.
#11.FIRE-Don McMasters, Interim Fire Chief
#11-A-1) Items of Information
Chief McMasters presented the Monthly Incident Report for June 1, 2019, through June 30, 2019, stating 252 total incidents were recorded and total estimated loss in fires was $110,325.00. There were 10 fire incidents, of those, five were building fires, two were cooking fires, one was mobile property (vehicle) fire, two outside rubbish, trash or waste fire, and one outside equipment fire. There were 175 rescue or EMS incidents, which accounted for 69% of the service. Breaking that down, 104 were EMS calls, 7 were motor vehicle accidents with injuries, 3 were motor vehicle accidents with no injuries, 1 medical assist lifting patient, and there were 56 medical assists. Chief McMasters handed out a Hazardous Materials Needs Proposal to the Committee and stated it is only an item of information for this evening since it was not submitted in time to make the agenda. The Hazardous Materials team was provided by the Department of Homeland Security to the effect of probably around several hundred thousand dollars worth of equipment that we utilize for this team. We were informed by the Department back in April that they are no longer going to be maintaining and spending the money for us to maintain the equipment and do repairs and such on it anymore. We have a large expense of replacement bottles to replace ones that have exceeded their life span, as well as some other minor items that are on this proposal that we have gotten bids for. We are looking at approximately $14,527 is what we are going to need to replenish these supplies to get us back up to speed. I have had discussions with Shelley and the Mayor and this is considered a capital expense item and this a large dollar figure. The new bottles would have a life span of 15 years so this is obviously a long distance commitment. There is an expense to have these bottles re tested every 3 years but that expense is very minor. Mayor Williams stated that because the amount is under the $20,000 spending thresh-hold and because we have a line item to allocate it from already we will not have to bring it to Council. Alderman Duncheon asked what line item it will come from. Comptroller Scott replied it will come out of Capital, Fund 302. Alderman Stone asked if we get reimbursements from other municipalities that benefit from this. Chief McMasters replied that there is a spiller pays law so whoever created the hazard gets a bill for it and then they and/or their insurance company pays us back. The portions of the bill that is materials that we utilized goes back to replenish those materials and then the rest of it is man-power hours, which goes back into a revenue line item that goes back to us that gets absorbed into our budget. The check we got reimbursed for $1800 because we didn't utilize any more overtime for that. We do not get any money from any County entities, the only entity we get money from is Duke Energy because we have an annual contract with them over in Newport that we get $10,000 a year for us to be their response team if they would need us for an incident. Chief McMasters also handed out a flyer for National Night Out taking place on August 6, 2019 from 5:30pm to 8:30pm at all three Fire Stations.
#12. HUMAN RELATIONS - Sandra Finch, Administrator
#12-A-1) Items of Information
Administrator Finch reported that for the period of June 18, 2019 through July 15, 2019, the office handled 25 complaints, which consisted of 9 police complaints, 1 complaint against other city employees, 12 employment complaints, and 3 housing complaints.
Administrator Finch thanked everyone for their support for Community Day stating it was very successful and the community really enjoyed it.
#13. INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY – Agnel DSilva, Administrator
#13-A) Items of Information
Administrator DSilva reported his department just completed a wiring project at the Public Safety Building so they are onto the next phase, which will be the network equipment upgrade, and that will happen sometime next month. He is also working on the civic platform to replace Public Stuff so we are doing in-house development of the software now and that will take several months to complete. Also looking into the website Public Services Committee and design of it since it needs a major upgrade. We are working on the site-map currently as well and would appreciate any input or feedback regarding the website so we can utilize that in our design. We just finished setting up our emergency broadcast system in the building so in case of an emergency we can broadcast messages over the speakers, in fact we have one speaker right here in the Council chambers. We were scheduled to do a Firehouse software upgrade but that didn't happen due to some bugs in their software so we have postponed that until next month until we get a patch for that software. So we'll be doing that sometime in August as well.
#14.LEGAL – Rickey Williams, Mayor
Chairman Foster presented Items A, B, and D for a single vote. There being no objections, Alderman Stone moved to dispense with the readings and asked for approval, seconded by Alderman Duncheon. Those items being:
#14-A) an ordinance amending Chapter 51 of the City Code pertaining to Storm and Sanitary Sewers; and
#14-B) an ordinance amending Chapter 52 of the City Code pertaining to Municipal Solid Waste Collection; and
#14-D) an ordinance amending Chapter 117 of the City Code pertaining to Public Safety Pension Fee. Mayor Williams stated this essentially does two things, the first being it cleans up language and number two is that right now we are sending bills to the Vermilion County Tax Authority anytime there are properties that they have that had been delinquent in these various fees. So, the bottom line is that legally we cannot extract fees from them so essentially what we are doing is we are spending time preparing and then money sending letters to them to collect fees which we legally can't collect. So this just waives them from the receipt of these fees. After all questions were addressed, and there being no further questions, the roll call vote being:
Ayes: Aldermen Duncheon, Stone, Davis, Foster
Nays: None
Absent: Aldermen McMahon, Brown, Nichols
Motion carried 4 to 0 with 3 absent.
#14-C) Chairman Foster presented an ordinance amending Chapter 111 of the City Code pertaining to Ambulances. Alderman Duncheon moved to dispense with the reading and asked for approval, seconded by Alderman Stone. Mayor Williams stated the primary thing we are doing here is getting rid of the requirement that for the Itinerant license (Ambulance Attendant ID] and the background check that goes along with that. By State law the ambulance companies are required to complete background checks for their attendants and then they provide those to us anyway. So what's happening now is they are doing a background check that the State requires, and then they are coming to us and having to get yet another background check, and then we have to take a photo for their ID badge. So it ties up the time of our staff, and basically they are repeating something that's already been done by law. So we want to eliminate that so that the Clerk's office and our Administrator no longer have to spend time replicating services that are already required. There being no questions, the roll call vote being:
Ayes: Aldermen Stone, Davis, Duncheon, Foster
Nays: None
Absent: Aldermen McMahon, Brown, Nichols
Motion carried 4 to 0 with 3 absent.
#14-E) Chairman Foster presented an ordinance amending Chapter 118 of the City Code pertaining to Licensing. Alderman Duncheon moved to dispense with the reading and asked for approval, seconded by Alderman Davis. Mayor Williams stated the only change is on the second page and that State law changed to allow establishments to have a maximum of 6 licenses (video gaming terminals) versus 5 so this is simply just a change in our ordinance to reflect the State law. Alderman Duncheon stated he would like to re-visit a machine fee. I know it was talked about in last year's budget discussion and let it drop and I know it's been brought up once or twice since then but I think it's going to be slightly complicated because of the way the State and the gaming providers bill the local provider but I think it's not all that complicated. I think it's a source of revenue and if we're going to charge our constituents for sewer and etc. I think this is a fee that we need to look at. Yes as an income provider but also it's just being fair to everyone. It's very profitable for the owner's of the establishments and I think some of that should be paid to the City. I think we need to re-visit that and I don't know if we want to set-up a subcommittee or come put it as an item on the agenda as part of the discussion to Public Services Committee have. Mayor Williams asked if it would be acceptable with the committee to bring it to the next Public Services Committee meeting for a discussion. After hearing some concurrence from Committee members Mayor Williams stated it can actually be put on the agenda at both committees for discussion. We can discuss it at the August 12, 2019 Public Works Committee meeting and then with this committee on the August 27, 2019. After all questions were addressed, and there being no further discussion, the roll call vote being:
Ayes: Aldermen Stone, Davis, Duncheon, Foster
Nays: None
Absent: Aldermen McMahon, Brown, Nichols
Motion carried 4 to 0 with 3 absent.
#14-F) Chairman Foster presented an ordinance amending Chapter 159 of the City Code pertaining to Enterprise Zone. Alderman Stone moved to dispense with the readings and asked for approval, seconded by Alderman Davis. Mayor Williams stated that some of those that were on the Council in 2016 might remember that we actually passed this as an ordinance. However, we were not provided the updated language at that time. The State of Illinois changed some of the language and requirements and they eliminated some of language and requirements for enterprise zones, and the changes in this document essentially reflect the changes made by State code. So again we are just making our ordinance match what the State code says regarding this function. There being no questions, the roll call vote being:
Ayes: Aldermen Davis, Duncheon, Stone, Foster
Nays: None
Absent: Aldermen McMahon, Brown, Nichols
Motion carried 4 to 0 with 3 absent.
#14-G) Discussion of Chapter 96 of City Code Pertaining to Licensing – Gaming Revenue
Mayor Williams stated that as you know we were always told that our statute stated very clearly that no entity having a liquor license could receive more than 49% of their revenue from video gaming. That is something that we told people, including myself as Mayor, because that is what we were instructed, however it is not actually stated in the ordinance. We were told that the intent was to prevent the pop-up of gaming parlors all over town as we have seen in other communities. So what we did is simply put that in ordinance form for discussion and approval but we have had a lot of bar owners who came to us and said listen unfortunately we receive a lot more of our revenue from the video gaming than that. If you enact this ordinance you will put us out of business, and that was absolutely never our intent whatsoever. So the reason I put this on here for discussion is first of all is it still the desire of the council that we not have gaming parlors, and if that is the case then how do we prevent that. The Chairman and I have been discussing a few ideas that I will be happy to share. Alderman Duncheon stated that he hates restricting any businesses, but his gut feeling is that if we allow gaming parlors then that would effectively get rid of some of the bars and business owners who have been here a long time. If 12 more liquor licenses could potentially be issued, I would think that would hurt our already established buildings. I hate restricting new businesses but I think protecting our existing businesses is more important. So yes, I believe that continuing to restrict the development of gaming parlors is a good idea. Further discussion ensued from the Committee members, and it was the consensus of the committee to explore the idea of grandfathering in existing bars and establishments so that they would be considered exempt from the change. Mayor Williams added that he will have Corporation Counsel look into this to see if it's considered legal or not and could potentially have it ready for council if that's the preference of the aldermen present.
#15. POLICE - Chris Yates, Interim Police Chief
#15-A) Items of Information
#15-A-1) Chief Yates presented the Danville Police Division Monthly Report from May of 2019. There was a grand total of 3,418 calls for service, domestic disturbances were at 318, civil disturbances at 191, and suspicious persons at 200. He stated from May to June we had a decrease of right around 300 calls, and being halfway through July we are looking like we are keeping about the same pace as June. Which is good news considering Fourth of July weekend. Also, we were pleasantly surprised this weekend when we found out that we received two JAG grants the department had applied for back in 2017 and 2018. The one from 2017 will provide a little over $18,000 and the one from 2018 will be around $19,000. So combined will be around $37,300 and that will be coming to us, which will help with supplemental patrols and putting additional Public Services Committee resources out there in the streets to help us with some of the challenges. Also, we are hiring one more officer who will be sworn-in tomorrow morning. Chief Yates also announced that a while back Commander Doug Miller suggested an idea about a video registration program that some other departments have used. I think we can customize it and put it in use in our community. Commander Miller and GIS Coordinator Adam Aull were present to give a demonstration outlining a new security camera registration program. Commander Miller stated the principal of the program is to have local area businesses and private property owners, if they have existing security cameras on their premises, they can go to the City of Danville website and all they have to do is click one link and then it's a simple walk-through registration of what they have. To reiterate what Chief Yates said we will be encouraging community members by providing this information to feel a little bit more empowered and have an impact on crime. If someone registers their security camera, at let's say 17 W. Main Street, the goal is we then plug that address in and we see there's five security cameras within 500 to 1000 feet. If it's something that I can manage on patrol or something that our investigators can manage they can then start accessing those addresses and people and requesting permission to view these cameras. This program does not grant anyone with the City or the Police Department any authority to go into a residence or business, and it doesn't give any authority to view the camera. All it does is give us contact information and some general information like where the cameras are, how long is the information stored, what kind of system is it stored on, etc. The Police Department would then contact the registered person and state they are investigating a crime that occurred at this location and do we have permission to come check out your camera system to see if it may have caught something. Hopefully it will encourage community members and businesses in the future to see how this works and maybe get some more camera systems up throughout town. It's a great program and there is zero cost to the City and residents to utilize this program. Commander Miller stated he would be available after the demonstration for any questions. GIS Coordinator Adam Aull proceeded with the demonstration/slideshow.
#16 CLOSED SESSION was not needed.
#17 ITEMS OF INFORMATION - None
#18 COMMITTEE MEMBERS' COMMENTS
Alderman Duncheon asked about Balloons Over Vermilion event and the number of people that attended. Mayor Williams replied there was over 24,000 people in record-breaking attendance.
#19 ADJOURNMENT
There being no further business to discuss, the meeting was adjourned by Chairman Foster at 7:36 p.m. following a motion by Alderman Duncheon and a second by Alderman Stone.
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