Chambana Sun

City of Paxton City Council Met May 11.

Here are 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 7:00 p.m.

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

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

Comptroller Tammy Jensen swore in the newly elected and re-elected members of the city council. Alderman Cox and Evans, Mayor Ingold and City Clerk Suzie Shell were sworn in. Mayor Ingold asked for the City’s approval of his appointment of Jonas Hoedebecke to Alderman for Ward 4. Alderman Evans made a motion to appoint Jonas Hoedebecke as Alderman for Ward 4. Alderman Withers seconded the motion. Five ayes, one no vote, motion carried. Clerk Shell then swore in Jonas Hoedebecke to his appointed alderman position.

MINUTES: Mayor Ingold asked if there were any changes, corrections or additions that needed made to the minutes from the April Council meeting. Alderman Geiken made a motion to approve the minutes of the April Council meeting. Aldermen Pacey 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 Hoedebecke seconded the motion. Roll Call: ayes – Alderman Cox, Evans, Geiken, Hoedebecke, Pacey, Wilson, and Withers. Seven ayes, motion carried. Alderman Withers made a motion to approve the EIEC bill. Alderman Geiken seconded the motion. Roll Call: ayes – Alderman Cox, Evans, Geiken, Hoedebecke, Pacey, and Withers. Abstain – Wilson. Six 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 Hoedebecke seconded the motion. All approved on a voice vote.

FINANCE/BUDGET – ALDERMAN WILSON:

Discuss and Approve IT Services Contract with MCS. After a brief discussion concerning this contract, Alderman Evans asked if more than one bid/quote was received for IT Services. At this time only one quote was provided, and the council agreed that it should be opened up for additional quotes to be made available. Council agreed and this item is tabled until June meeting.

Discuss and Approve Amended Appropriations Ordinance 21-8. Alderman Wilson made the motion to approve the amended appropriations ordinance 21-8. Motion was seconded by Alderman Pacey. Roll Call: ayes – Alderman Cox, Evans, Geiken, Hoedebecke, Pacey, Wilson, and Withers. Seven ayes, motion carried.

Discuss and Approve Donation to Electronic Recycling to be held June 19th. Ford County Board Member Gene May attended the meeting to ask the City Council members for their help with the upcoming Electronic Recycling event. Recently this event was held in Gibson City with a large turnout of county residents from both the Gibson City and Paxton areas. Mr. May stated that financial offerings would be accepted at the site of the collection at the Paxton City Shed the day of the Recycling Event to help offset costs of not being able to fill a trailer with the needed weight of items. Alderman Withers motioned that up to $600 to cover the underweight fee on a trailer be provided by the City of Paxton and seconded by Alderman Geiken. All ayes, motion carried. Volunteers are needed for the Paxton event. If interested in helping, people can contact Gene May at 217-379-3309.

Discuss and Approve Non-Union Employees Wages and Benefits. Alderman Wilson asked to table this until the end of the meeting to discuss in Executive Session.

PUBLIC WORKS – ALDERMAN WITHERS:

Discuss and Approve Street Repair Bid from United Paving –Mayor Ingold and Bob Carleton went out and reviewed the roads where American St goes into Walnut St and then going around the curve and down through several additional streets. They recommend that the street department go to the west and redo the oak/chestnut/spruce intersections. It is a cost of $97,000 to complete this area and then to finish another 365 feet it would be another $16,000. Mayor Ingold said that we will be planning out the budget soon but at this time the money is not available. Alderman Pacey said that if the money can be found then the consensus is that this work should be done. Mayor Ingold asked how much should be done and he will work with Brad to see what can be completed for that amount. Discuss and Approve Vacancy in Public Works Department – Mayor Ingold stated that Dwain Sanders will have his last day on 5/13/21. Will discuss vacancy during Executive Session. Discuss and Approve Hiring of ICE Students for Summer Help and Next School Year. – Tabled to discuss during Executive Sessions.

PUBLIC SAFETY – ALDERMAN PACEY:

Discuss and Approve Purchase of Traffic Signs for ERS – no committee meeting held. Alderman Pacey and Ed Hanson discussed traffic safety signs to be used this year and in upcoming years for traffic control in the city for the Fourth of July Fireworks. Signs and Designs gave quote of $228 for all the signs. Pro-type quote is for $254 for 14 signs and then $108 for 5 additional signs. These fireworks parking signs are to be used on Stockholm Road on the 4th of July to help control the flow of traffic. Also asking that we make Larson, Bogardus, Washington Blvd and Prospect be one way to help with traffic for the evening. ERS would like to close Summer St from Stockholm to Strong so there isn’t traffic merging to use one street. This allows for traffic to go in one way and out another. ERS will put signs on Eastview and Roselawn to help with traffic. Motion made by Alderman Geiken to approve purchase of signs from Signs and Designs and seconded by Alderman Evans. Roll Call: ayes – Alderman Cox, Evans, Geiken, Hoedebecke, Pacey, and Withers. No Vote – Wilson. Six ayes, one nay, motion carried.

CITY PROPERTY – ALDERMAN EVANS:

No committee meeting. Building is up and looking good. Concrete has been placed. The doors are in and electrical is next up to be worked on once the concrete is fully cured. Mayor Ingold mentioned that Bob Carleton has been bringing in milling and spreading them in the parking lot before the electronics recycling pick up to help make it smoother for people coming in for the event. Mayor Ingold mentioned that one of the slides in the park is cracked. He put some tape and duct tape on it, but it didn’t last long so they reached out to the company about the slide; it is still under warranty, so a new slide is being shipped to the city. When doing the budget, Mayor Ingold would like to consider asking for additional funds to help replace some equipment that needs to be replaced/painted and updated. Arbor Day celebration was held out at the park on 4/30. A tree was planted in honor/memory of Dr. Richard Foellner.

LICENSE, PERMIT, ZONING & INSURANCE:

Discuss and Approve Additional C and E Liquor Licenses – Mayor Ingold mentioned that there have been several places asking for beer/wine licenses. This may be in regards to the building of the Sports Complex in Rantoul. One person has approached the mayor requesting an additional license be made available. That person did not attend the meeting to discuss their request with the council. At this time there are 8 C and 3 E licenses in use.

Discuss and Approve Update of Existing Zoning Maps with Farnsworth Group/Bruce Harris. Mike Friend discussed Zoning Maps and ordinances. One option is to get all the maps together and bring them in and let the alderman and Mayor Ingold review them, review in AutoCAD, then convert to pdf format for different sectors of the community. Also discussed that after updating the maps, work with the Harris Company who manages the Ford County GIS system – maps could then be converted and updated in the Ford County GIS site. You could then check and see what the zoning is for a property you are interested in and see what is there for water, sewage, streets, etc. Paxton zoning could then be placed on the county site. Preliminary meeting was held with Mayor Ingold and Former Alderman Satterlee and they put together an estimate. To update maps in CAD would cost approximately $6000. To interact with GIS system through Harris it would be an approximate cost of $3240 in addition to the initial estimate of $6000 making the cost $9240.00. Comptroller Jensen asked what happens if the county stopped using the GIS maps. Mr. Friend stated that should the county stop using GIS systems then the format layers would be able to be retrieved from the county. Alderman Pacey stated that he could not imagine that the county would stop using this system as it is something that is used statewide. Alderman Pacey motioned to allow Mayor Ingold to sign the contract with Harris/Farnsworth Group and Alderman Geiken seconded the motion. Roll Call: ayes – Alderman Cox, Evans, Geiken, Hoedebecke, Pacey, Wilson, and Withers. Seven ayes, motion carried.

Mayor Ingold asked if changes to zoning were made around residential/business properties, would those be updated in the GIS system. Attorney Marc Miller stated that if changes were needed then they could be updated once appropriate notices were given. Alderman Pacey stated that it would need to be decided how families would need to be notified if their property was going to be re-zoned and then they would need an opportunity to voice their concerns. Mayor Ingold stated that he believes that there are 2-3 pages of homes that may need to be rezoned. These notices will be sent out and reviewed so that families can be made aware of how they might be impacted by the change. Alderman Evans mentioned that there is a building on main street that is being used as a storage facility. He stated that there are city ordinances addressing this and he would like to see the city move forward on addressing this issue. Mayor Ingold sent out a memo seeing if there is a way to set a fine for this issue. Mayor Ingold said that he would give additional notice to that business. Citizen Alan Meyer was present and stated that there are some apartments going up on main street in some of the retail businesses on the first floor and he thought that this was a violation of a city ordinance. He suggested that this can cause multiple issues from both zoning ordinances as well as from safety standards. He is asking that this be looked into and addressed by possibly sending out something to the downtown businesses. Perhaps a reminder of what is acceptable practice by retail businesses would be appropriate for the council to send out. Mr. Meyer state that the Paxton Chamber has received feedback regarding buildings that are not being maintained and it is causing a negative impact to the community.

COMMUNITY:

Discuss and Approve 4th of July Celebration. – No meeting held. Alderman Evans made a motion to approve the 4th of July Celebration and to donate up to $10,000 toward fireworks. Alderman Geiken seconded the motion. Roll Call: ayes – Alderman Cox, Evans, Geiken, Hoedebecke, Pacey, Wilson, and Withers. Seven ayes, motion carried.

Alan Meyer, Chamber of Commerce President stated that on Saturday September 18th will be the Swine and Dine Event. Hoping this year that we will have Michael Ray providing the main act with an up and rising star, Lily Rose as the opening act. A bounce house, car show, bags tournament is being planned with attendance estimates with 6,000 -7,000 people coming to our community. Our hotels are already booked for this event. Mr. Meyer asked that possibly the city would consider a donation for this event.

Mayor Ingold and Tammy Jensen briefly mentioned that the Governor is expected to allow the bridge transition phase of the Illinois COVID plan to start at the end of this week.

ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT – ALDERMAN GEIKEN:

Discuss and Approve Recommendations from Committee Meeting. Economic meeting held in April. Alderman Geiken has been doing more research about how to work the website to create a good logo for the city to use with its potential Sports Complex ads. Alderman Geiken asked to table an advertising suggestion until next month when more information has been received.

Consideration of Authorizations for Reimbursement of Redevelopers pursuant to Redevelopment Agreements with Paxton Hotel Group, LLC – Mayor Ingold reviewed that a check was given in the amount of $39,028.76 as part of the tif agreement. It was suggested that we include items on the agenda on a yearly rotation so that we ensure tif agreements are met accordingly. Alderman Evans motioned to authorize payment of tif agreement to the Paxton Hotel Group and Alderman Cox seconded the motion. Roll Call: ayes – Alderman Cox, Evans, Geiken, Hoedebecke, Pacey, Wilson, and Withers. Seven ayes, motion carried.

LONG TERM PLANNING – ALDERMAN COX

Alderman Cox stated there was nothing on the agenda and no meeting was held.

OTHER BUSINESS:

Mayor Ingold spoke about re-appointments of Tom Plackett, Alaina Kief, and Judy Ondercho back on the Library Board. Alderman Wilson motioned to renew the appointment of Tom Plackett, Alaina Kief, and Judy Ondercho to the library board and the motion was seconded by Alderman Withers. Voice vote. All approved.

At 8:11pm 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 Withers. Roll Call: ayes – Alderman Cox, Evans, Geiken, Hoedebecke, Pacey, Wilson, and Withers. Seven ayes, motion carried.

Regular Session resumed at 8:45pm.

Alderman Wilson made a motion to grant a 3.5% increase effective 5/1/21 for all city employees who are not a part of the collective bargaining unit excluding Bob Carleton as well as tying the deductible to the HSA for all employees. Alderman Hoedebecke seconded the motion. Roll Call: ayes – Alderman Cox, Evans, Geiken, Hoedebecke, Pacey, Wilson, and Withers. Seven ayes, motion carried.

Motion made by Alderman Wilson and seconded by Alderman Hoedebecke to hire 2 ICE students and pay them minimum wage. Roll Call: ayes – Alderman Cox, Evans, Geiken, Hoedebecke, Wilson and Withers. Alderman Pacey abstained. Six ayes, one abstains, motion carried.

Alderman Withers made the motion to hire to fill vacancy in the street department. Motion seconded by Alderman Wilson. Roll Call: ayes – Alderman Cox, Evans, Geiken, Hoedebecke, Pacey, Wilson, and Withers. Seven ayes, motion carried.

Motion made to adjourn tonight’s regular meeting of the Mayor and City Council by Alderman Wilson, seconded by Alderman Withers. Roll Call: ayes – Alderman Cox, Evans, Geiken, Hoedebecke, Pacey, Wilson, and Withers. Seven ayes, motion carried. Meeting adjourned at 8:52pm.

https://www.cityofpaxton.com/DocumentCenter/View/459/05-11-2021-City-Council-Meeting-Minutes-PDF