Chambana Sun

City of Paxton City Council met June 8.

Here is the minutes provided by the council:

The monthly meeting of the Paxton City Council was held at 7:00 p.m. in the City Council Chambers. Mayor Ingold called the meeting to order at 7:03 p.m.

Roll call showed the following aldermen in attendance: Evans, Geiken, Hoedebecke, Pacey, Wilson, and Withers. Also, in attendance were: Mayor Bill Ingold, Treasurer/Comptroller Tammy Jensen, Assistant Public Works Director Bob Carleton, Police Chief Cornett, City Clerk Suzie Shell, and members of the audience and press.

Mayor Ingold led the meeting in the recital of the Pledge of Allegiance.

MINUTES: Mayor Ingold asked if there were any changes, corrections or additions that needed made to the minutes from the May Council meeting. Alderman Wilson made a motion to approve the minutes of the May Council meeting. Aldermen Evans seconded the motion. All approved on a voice vote.

LIST OF CLAIMS: Alderman Wilson made a motion to approve the lists of claims, excluding EIEC. Alderman Geiken seconded the motion. Roll Call: ayes – Aldermen Evans, Geiken, Hoedebecke, Pacey, Wilson, and Withers. Six ayes, motion carried. Alderman Withers made a motion to approve the EIEC bill. Alderman Geiken seconded the motion. Roll Call: ayes – Alderman Evans, Geiken, Hoedebecke, Pacey, and Withers. Abstain – Wilson. Five ayes, one abstains, motion carried.

TREASURER’S REPORT AND INVESTMENT REGISTER The reports have been emailed to all Aldermen. Alderman Wilson made a motion to approve the Treasurer’s Report and Investment Register. Alderman Withers seconded the motion. All approved on a voice vote.

FINANCE/BUDGET – ALDERMAN WILSON:

Presentation of MFT Compliance Review #74 Alderman Wilson turned over the compliance review to Tammy Jensen – Tammy has completed the compliance information from January 2019 to April 2020. Is that authorizing that we are following all guidelines regarding credit/debit to make sure it matches with their records. Alderman Wilson asked if there were any question. Tammy reported auditors were here this week. Tammy said anyone is welcome to stop in and ask questions regarding the budget.

PUBLIC WORKS – ALDERMAN WITHERS:

Discuss and Approve Bid Opening of MFT Project Aldermen Withers brought up the bid opening at 9am this morning with Greg Cook, Bob and a representative from Cross Construction. Iroquois Paving $137,330.50, Cross Construction came in at $184,713.35. With the low bid from Iroquois there is enough to do another street if the council chooses. Aldermen Withers stated he thought an extra street would be good. Greg Cook stated we needed council approval to approve the Iroquois Paving bid of $137,330.50 contingent upon an 8-day protest period lapsing. Alderman Withers motioned to approve Iroquois paving bid for street paving. Aldermen Wilson asked if council wanted to approve the full amount allotted for the project or just the bid amount granted to give us some flexibility with possibly adding another street. After discussion Alderman Withers motioned to approve up to $161,299.00 for street paving. Alderman Geiken seconded the motion. Money to be used out of MFT funds to do designated streets and possibly a bit more as able. All approved. Call: ayes – Alderman Evans, Geiken, Hoedebecke, Pacey, Wilson, and Withers. Six ayes, motion carried.

Bob Carleton stated the standpipe inspection is coming up on the 21st. Meter replacements have slowed down and he asked if we could add something into the paper again regarding calling in to get the meters replaced. Reminders have been included in bills, newspaper, Facebook and web page. Mike Friend of the Farnsworth Group spoke about the standpipe and the amount of water needed to remain in the standpipe to complete the inspection. This will allow a good look at the tank to see how well it is working. The mayor stated that back in April a letter was received from the EPA for a risk/resilience assessment certification to be completed. The mayor, Bob, Mark and several others worked together to get this completed and sent back in and a letter has since been received back from the EPA saying that we are all good on the paperwork. This will not need to be done again for 5 years. Mr. Friend stated that he submitted paperwork to the Mayor and Bob and they completed the paperwork that has allowed us to complete everything in a very timely manner. Alderman Withers stated that we would go into executive session to discuss employees.

PUBLIC SAFETY – ALDERMAN PACEY:

Alderman Pacey asked Chief Cornett if he wanted to update on current ordinance violations. Chief Cornett said that the Sheila Liggett property on the 600 block of east Patton went to court and an extension was given until July 12. The Chad Minnick property on the 300 block of east prospect will be reviewed in court next week. Chief states they have been giving several ordinances daily.

CITY PROPERTY – ALDERMAN EVANS:

Discuss and Approve Disposal of City Property – Alderman Evans stated that there is a scissor lift that was taken to Kankakee and the batteries were bad and control board was bad. Alderman Evans stated they are asking for permission to dispose of the unit due to the cost to repair exceeding value. This was discovered during the audit. Alderman Evans motioned to approve disposal of lift. Seconded by Alderman Withers. All approved. Call: ayes – Alderman Evans, Geiken, Hoedebecke, Pacey, Wilson, and Withers. Six ayes, motion carried. Mayor provided an update on the doors ordered for the building. 21/28 doors were damaged. They will be replaced at no cost to the city. Streetscape conference held at 1pm today. Everything is done and getting ready to go. Zoom meeting next week with bids to follow right after that. The mayor stated he was told it can wait until April 2023 but the hope is to get things moving. All approved in Springfield and final ok has been given. Alderman Geiken asked about the clock tower. He asked what happened with the bids that were given to paint the clocktower. Mayor and Tammy discussed this earlier today and it will be added to the July agenda to discuss with the full council. Mayor would like to investigate what is needed to be done to the clocktower. He would like to reach out to the agencies that had bid on the paint project initially to give them an opportunity to adjust their bids since it has been so long since they were tendered. Alderman Pacey asked about the next phase of the pavilion at Pells Park and has asked that with other items coming up for the clocktower and streetscape projects what would the impact be on the park. Tammy spoke about a grant of $20,000 from DCEO that may be utilized for the pavilion so that would not be impacted by clocktower repairs. Carol Thilmony from the News Gazette asked what amount of federal money is expected from COVID relief that some other towns have already received figures for. Article she read is that the champaign city council would be making a list for uses for their funds. Tammy stated that she isn’t sure if it is an infrastructure grant but what she is aware of is that it is a portion of the budget. Stimulus and Rebuild Illinois are the only two items that the mayor is aware of at this time.

LICENSE, PERMIT, ZONING & INSURANCE

Alderman Pacey stated that the council has passed all zoning ordinances as well as CAD digital and paper versions are updated. He stated that now is the time to notify property owners of possible changes in zoning. He would like to set a zoning meeting for July and will meet with the mayor to set that date. Need to review the list of addresses that would be impacted as well as get with Farnsworth Group to see how the maps would look. Mr. Friend stated that if annexation has taken place then the GIS maps would be updated and everything could be updated to the county website.

COMMUNITY – ALDERMAN HOEDEBECKE:

Discuss and Approve Donation to Swine and Dine – Alderman Geiken made the motion to donate $6000 to the Paxton Chamber for the Swine and Dine. Seconded by Alderman Hoedebecke. All approved. Call: ayes – Alderman Evans, Geiken, Hoedebecke, Pacey, Wilson, and Withers. Five ayes, one abstains. Motion carried.

ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT – ALDERMAN GEIKEN:

Consideration of and action on a resolution 21-9 entitled “A Resolution Authorizing the Expenditure of Incremental Funds for Public Works or Improvements and other Redevelopment Project Costs to Encourage Redevelopment Along West Ottawa Road and East 1800 Road, and Other Actions in Connection Therewith. – Alderman Geiken stated that this is to tap a water line to get water to the new car wash. This will also be to dig and lay sewer line, excavate, and repair. The estimated use of TIF funds of $21,750. They are hoping to start digging by the 15th of this month with completion by September/October 2021. Alderman Evans made the motion for Resolution 21-9 with Alderman Geiken seconding the motion. All approved. Call: ayes – Alderman Evans, Geiken, Hoedebecke, Pacey, Wilson, and Withers. Six ayes, motion carried.

Discuss and Approve Payment of Road Repair on Jack St from TIF Fund – two residences were annexed into the city and it was approved to add water/sewer to two homes and repave the roads. The cost is $34,000 through United Paving. Alderman Geiken motioned to approve the road repair on Jack St from the TIF Fund for $34,000 with Alderman Withers seconding the motion. All approved. Call: ayes – Alderman Evans, Geiken, Hoedebecke, Pacey, Wilson, and Withers. Six ayes, motion carried.

Discuss and Approve Purchasing Advertising with Rantoul Sports Complex – Alderman Geiken was provided a copy of the information that is being given out at the sports complex. On the back of this pamphlet are listed QR codes that when they are clicked on, it lists all restaurants, shops and businesses in Paxton. The city was able to secure the back page of the brochure for Paxton. The portion needed for this is $2500 from city council with additional money turned in by the Paxton Chamber and Paxton Pride. Looking for a motion for $2500 to enter into an agreement with the Rantoul Sports Complex. Alderman Evans voiced that he would like additional money considered due to increased marketing presence for a higher dollar amount. Alderman Geiken stated he was not present at the meeting so he could not speak to whether the higher amount would gain that much extra. The mayor reviewed the additions available at a higher amount given that included a 30 second ad, company logo/link and banner ad on the homepage. Alderman Geiken then asked if this is based on a calendar year, is this amount pro-rated? Mayor Ingold said that he did not ask that question. Alderman Pacey stated he felt the $2500 would be the best amount for this year and then the hotel/motel sales tax situation can be reviewed after this year. He suggested waiting for viable statistics to be made available on this before considering giving more money. Alderman Geiken made the motion to commit $2500 to begin advertising with the Rantoul Sports Complex with the understanding that additional money will be coming from Paxton Chamber and possibly Paxton Pride for the touchdown package level. Alderman Hoedebecke seconded the motion. Call: ayes – Alderman Evans, Geiken, Hoedebecke, Pacey, Wilson, and Withers. Six ayes, motion carried. Thank you to the Chief for putting the QR code together for the city. We will also be able to run a report to see how often the QR code is scanned to follow up on metrics to see if it is being utilized. Tammy asked that people go out and check the website to make sure there are no missing businesses, misspellings. Early indications show that the sports complex has already begun to attract people to the city.

LONG TERM PLANNING – ALDERMAN COX

OTHER BUSINESS:

At 7:47pm Alderman Wilson made the motion to enter into Executive Session for the limited purpose of discussing appointment, employment and/or compensation of one or more city employees, pursuant to 5 ILCS 120/2(c)(1). Motion seconded by Pacey. Roll Call: ayes – Alderman Evans, Geiken, Hoedebecke, Pacey, Wilson, and Withers. Six ayes, motion carried.

Regular Session resumed at 8:00pm.

Motion made to adjourn tonight’s regular meeting of the Mayor and City Council by Alderman Wilson, seconded by Alderman Pacey. Roll Call: ayes – Alderman Evans, Geiken, Hoedebecke, Pacey, Wilson, and Withers. Six ayes, motion carried. Meeting adjourned at 8:02pm.

https://www.cityofpaxton.com/DocumentCenter/View/462/06-08-2021-City-Council-Meeting-Minutes-PDF