City of Bushnell Council met Sept. 4.
Here is the minutes provided by the Council:
Mayor Wilt called the meeting to order.
The Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag was given.
Roll Call
Ald. Donna Coates - PAld. Jim Miller - PMayor Robin Wilt - PPublic Works Director Justin Griffith - P
Ald. Chuck Howell – P Ald. Christina Steelman - PCity Clerk Tashina Bradford - PPolice Chief Joe Fosdyck - P
Ald. Mike Howell – P Ald. Bruce Lorton – PTreasurer Dan Cortelyou - PStreet Superintendent David Raymond - P
Ald. David Norton –A Ald. Brent Glisan – PCity Attorney Nicole Humbert - P
Mayor Wilt called the meeting to order.
The Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag was given.
Roll Call
Ald. Glisan made a motion to approve the consent agenda, which include the following items;
1. Approval of Minutes from August 20, 2018
2. Approval of July 2018 Financial Report
3. Pay Bills
4. IMEG invoice approval for $2681.30 (Due to IMEG invoice system malfunction)
5. Homecoming Parade Approval
It was seconded by Ald. Miller. A roll call vote was taken and the results of that vote are as follows:
Ald. Coates “aye” Ald. Miller“aye”
Ald. C. Howell “aye” Ald. Steelman“aye “
Ald. M. Howell “aye” Ald. Lorton“aye”
Ald. Norton Absent Ald. Glisan “aye”
Where upon Mayor Wilt declared the motion carried.
Ald. Norton arrived 5:35pm
Residency Study
1. Mayor Wilt advised council that she had received a letter from Jennifer Wellman, a student at University of Illinois Springfield, requesting information on municipality employee residency and its impact on the community for her doctorate. Mayor Wilt invited the council members to read the letter and asked for their approval to respond to Wellman’s request.
Ald. Glisan made a motion to approve the Residency Study Response from Mayor Wilt. Ald. Steelman seconded the motion and a roll call vote was as follows:
Ald. Coates “aye” Ald. Miller“aye”
Ald. C. Howell “aye” Ald. Steelman“aye “
Ald. M. Howell “aye” Ald. Lorton“aye”
Ald. Norton “aye” Ald. Glisan “aye”
Whereas Mayor Wilt declared the motion approved.
Treasurers Report
1. Treasurer Cortelyou met with WIRC concerning the grant for Vaughan & Bushnell and the Davis Street project. He will have updates as the process starts moving.
2. The Amended budget will be up for approval at our next Council Meeting September 17th, 2018.
Ad Hoc (Mayor’s Report)
1. Mayor Wilt expressed her gratitude for being able to lead the Pledge of Allegiance at the elementary school with the new principal.
2. Mayor Wilt expressed that she felt that the Fall Festival went well and thanked everyone thattt worked on getting the city ready for the events.
3. Mayor Wilt attended the Mayor Meeting with mayors from surrounding areas. At the meeting the County ESDA Director was in attendance speaking about a new Nixle program that will replace Code Red. The new program will be able to push out Amber Alerts (missing children), Silver Alerts (missing Senior citizens) as well as weather. The new program will also give the city the ability to send out information such as boil orders and road closures. If we do want to take advantage of the new program, it will roll out May of 2019.
4. Mayor Wilt pointed out that not a lot of people from the targeted area for the Housing Rehabilitation have come forward. She invited M. Howell and Norton to knock on doors in their ward to get the word out to people.
5. Mayor Wilt pointed out that grass is not to be blown into the streets while mowing. She asked that if any of the persons in the room see someone doing it to educate them and ask them blow the grass into their yard and not the street. The grass clogs the street sweeper as well as the storm drains, causing unnecessary stress on our storm systems.
Personnel/Finance/Budget
1. Meeting was held August 30th, the committee is looking into contracts the city has with various companies. The committee is looking to bid out for better prices. Many of these contracts aren’t up until 2019 or 2020, so they are getting a head start.
Public Works – Street/Sewer/Alley
1. Discussion concerning the city putting the zipper machine up for bid, there was a suggestion made by Ald. Glisan to have a minimum bid, while Ald. Steelman pointed out that the machine doesn’t work for our needs and we should consider all reasonable bids.
2. Public Works Director Griffith will have an update on the phone lines at our next council meeting.
Police Chief Fosdyck pointed out that the police department phone line had been down since Saturday and wasn’t fixed until mid-afternoon on Tuesday.
Police/Liquor/ESDA
1. Police Activity Report was submitted for August.
2. Next Police/Liquor meeting September 11th at 4pm at the complex.
3. ESDA Director Rench advised that Chief Fosdyck has the MedReturn box anchored and a press release will go out tomorrow to kick off the use of the box. The box will be open Monday – Friday 7am to 4pm.
4. Rench advised that there will be a test of the siren at the Recreation and Cultural Center next Tuesday at 10 am.
Parks/Recreation
1. Meeting will be held tomorrow, September 5th at 3:30pm at City Hall to discuss Christmas plans.
Real Estate
1. Meeting will be held Thursday, September 6th at 3:30pm at City Hall to discuss rental, landlords and tenant responsibilities. City Attorney Humbert has the information on the Davis/Bacon Act.
Economic Development
1. Meeting was held August 30th at City Hall where the topic of “Being a Business Friendly Community” was discussed. This was an open discussion on what it means to be business friendly.
2. Next meeting will be November 29th on the topic of “Empty Useable Space” at 2pm at City Hall.
MAEDCO
1. MAEDCO Executive Director Pierce, advised the council that MAEDCO is in the process of transitioning to a new building so the phones and internet may be cutting out and asked everyone to please be patient as the transition completes.
2. Pierce advised that MAEDCO is working on an apprentice program with Work Force to help those in the program learn trade skills.
3. There is a good interest level for September’s Boot Camp, so we will see the results of that.
4. Pierce is working on having multiple pop-ups for the job rodeos through September and October.
Engineering Report
1. Megan Crook with IMEG discussed the Safe Routes to School. Crook advised that there is a grant application that could fund anywhere from $25,000 to $200,000 towards the project. The grant application is lengthy and will take some time to fill out. All applications are due by November 19th and the announcement of the winners will be in March of 2019. This project is geared towards K-8 schools, but with the high school being connected it will benefit from the safe routes as well. Crook also advised that the grant would require letters from the school as well as the community and suggested a liaison between the school and the city. Ald. Glisan spoke up and advised that he would like to be the liaison.
Attorney’s Report
1. Attorney Humbert advised that she looked into and spoke with the County Tax Assessor and there are no taxing body changes and there are no effects to the city. She would suggest approval for Jerry Winget to consolidate his properties at 499 Front Street.
Ald. Miller made a motion to approve the consolidation of Jerry Winget petition of consolidation at 499 Front Street. Ald. Lorton seconded the motion and a roll call vote was as follows:
Ald. Coates “aye” Ald. Miller“aye”
Ald. C. Howell “aye” Ald. Steelman“aye “
Ald. M. Howell “aye” Ald. Lorton“aye”
Ald. Norton “aye” Ald. Glisan “aye”
Whereas Mayor Wilt declared the motion approved.
Ald. Lorton made a motion to go into executive session for e) Pending or probable litigation, pursuant to Sec2 © (11) of the Open Meetings Act. Ald. Norton seconded the motion and a roll call vote was as follows:
Ald. Coates “aye” Ald. Miller“aye”
Ald. C. Howell “aye” Ald. Steelman“aye “
Ald. M. Howell “aya” Ald. Lorton“aye”
Ald. Norton “aye” Ald. Glisan “aye”
Whereas Mayor Wilt declared the motion approved.
Executive Session Entered 6:04pm
Ald. Lorton made a motion to go into regular session. Ald. Norton seconded the motion and a roll call vote was as follows:
Ald. Coates “aye” Ald. Miller“aye”
Ald. C. Howell “aye” Ald. Steelman“aye “
Ald. M. Howell “aya” Ald. Lorton“aye”
Ald. Norton “aye” Ald. Glisan “aye”
Whereas Mayor Wilt declared the motion approved.
Entered back to regular session at 6:32pm
Ald. Miller made motion to adjourn.
Ald. Steelman seconded motion.
Meeting was adjourned
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