City of Macomb Committee of the Whole met May 22.
Here are the minutes provided by the committee:
The Committee of the Whole, of the Macomb City Council, met in the City Council Chambers on Monday, May 22, 2023 at 5:15 p.m. located in City Hall at 232 East Jackson Street, Macomb, IL.
Mayor Pro-Tem Wynn called the meeting to order and roll call was taken, Deputy City Clerk Jennifer Cerven called the roll and the following were present: Aldermen Justin Schuch, John Vigezzi, Byron Shabazz, Dave Dorsett, Ashley Katz, Don Wynn, and Dennis Moon.
In addition to Mayor Pro-Tem, Deputy City Clerk, and Aldermen, City Attorney Lisa Scalf, and City Administrator Scott Coker were present, the following were also in attendance; CDC John Bannon, M&DDD Savannah Ballard, PW Director Alice Ohrtmann, Interim Police Chief Jeff Hamer, Fire Chief Dan Meyer, and Business Office Director Melissa Worley. Mayor Inman was absent.
Public Comment. None
The first item on the agenda for discussion was Quarterly Reports from City Attorney, Community Development, Marketing & Downtown Development, Fire, Police, Business Office, and Public Works Department.
City Attorney Lisa Scalf presented her report;
Attorney Scalf stated ordinance violations based on first quarter dates were comparable to the prior year’s collections, with April of last year, the first month for tracking. She stated moving forward, she would have a prior year of months for the quarter to see comparison.
Within the quarter she provided a list of Training and Continuing Legal Education completed, resolutions and ordinances prepared, Committee meetings attended, and Strategic Planning meeting. She serves as Liaison to Teen Court Board, there were a of couple of subpoena responses with the Police Department that were abnormal, those were handled in cooperation with the Interim Police Chief, Fire and Police commission, and Township Meetings. There were six FOIA requests this quarter as well as a PAC Review from a request in February, 2022, and two new PAC Reviews from the FOIA requests currently still pending with the Attorney General’s office.
She stated having new members to Council, she prepared the next section in which indicated her primary office functions, this, not typically in her report; she felt it important that the new members have better understanding of what her office does.
Water Lien Collections:
Total Balance $14,399.12
Total Collected $10,029.06
A list of water lien collections that her office has been working on for a year now. She reported her office has collected around 70% of those balances that had been referred up. This was a really good number considering it is an in and out fund and, if not collected, remaining water users would pay those bills. She also included a section concerning a list of liens that were recorded. Liens are filed when people do not pay. Out of a hundred and twenty one, five accounts were deemed uncollectable. This could be for several reasons; property may have been sold before it was sent to her office, so they are unable to record the lien, a property could have tax sales, or have been sold for a tax deed, which would make it impossible for her office to collect on those accounts.
She included a new Matters Work Section. With her work, she is unable to discuss a lot publicly, and felt it was important to give a breadth of things that are done within her office, as well as the number of files, and matters that they open. The total new files created last fiscal year was 1363, there’s a lot housed within an existing file, she hopes this gives everyone a good idea of what her, and her office staff provide.
Alderman Vigezzi asked if FOIA requests were up.
City Attorney Scalf stated they were steady.
Alderman Wynn asked for an explanation of where the parking tickets come from with there being no parking meters.
City Attorney Scalf explained tickets come from; parking in a no parking zone, parking in striped yellow, parking in handicapped, or parking opposite of traffic flow, these tickets typically issued by the Community Resource Officer.
There was no further discussion.
Business Office Director Melissa Worley presented her report;
Director Worley explained this was her first quarterly report. She has been working on a template to divide out into sections, like the City Attorney, showing responsibilities that flow through the Business Office. She stated items that were not listed, but would provide moving forward into the future; miscellaneous receivables, and cash receiving.
She stated the budget section, cash summary report contains actual numbers filed, on a similar report with projections during the budget process, listing the actual numbers within closing of FY 2022-2023, numbers with General Revenue, and expenses ending the fiscal year with a recap of tax revenue for the FY 2022-2023, along with past years. She gave a snapshot of metrics for the utility billing that was completed.
She stated on accounts payable; she was working on RFP (Request for proposal) for procurement credit cards, also listed, check disbursements, and top vendors that were paid through accounts payable. Her office was preparing reports and sending confirmation letters for the Auditors, scheduled to come in July. She was currently working on updating a Fixed Asset application, and streamlining the process with the accounts payable for automatic flow into fixed assets.
She stated workers comp and general liability for the quarter, and listed the balance of the claims. She stated if it says open, it meant that particular claim was still open and could have charges still pending. There has been a total of nine health insurance claims that have hit our Stop Loss, giving us a refund of $138,000.00. We have onboarded thirteen new employees in the fourth quarter, full-time employee count was now at one hundred and thirteen, and twenty-two part-time employees.
She stated they were currently working on training, tracking, and compliance. She stated she has listed categories to focus implementing and tracking to make sure they were compliant within each area of the city. In the future, she plans to provide a budget summary. She stated at the end of this quarter, she will provide the first quarter to compare what has been budgeted and the activity.
There was no further discussion.
Public Works Director Alice Ohrtmann presented her report;
She stated forty-nine and half hours were devoted to snow this year, as opposed to over thirteen hundred last. More operational hours allowed work on street repairs, storm sewer maintenance, general maintenance, and forestry, all projects that normally would not have been completed during those hours.
She stated water and wastewater did not have many capital projects, but maintenance and training were completed. Flow maps for water and wastewater were listed on the bottom of the report giving an idea of the change in usage based on the time of year.
She stated capital improvements projects were winding down on water main projects, Johnson and Dudley Streets, and phase three that took place over in the University area, were down to finishing seeding, landscaping, and a few punch list items. No other projects were planned for this year. They are currently waiting to hear on a $1.5 million CDAP Grant this year. Water main projects would be determined pending the grant.
She stated the Downtown Revitalization was complete, other than a few punch list items. They are currently waiting for IDOT to set the final walk through.
She stated they were currently waiting to hear if we will get the funding for the Burlington Bridge Replacement Project. The County does an annual inspection of the bridge, and it is showing signs of wear.
She stated Adams Street ITEP project bid date was pushed back to August 5th 2023. They were unable to complete acquisitions for the right-of-way easements. She was going to try to get a fast approval on the project. Overall construction time is eighty days. She stated Johnson Street would go out for bid in June, there were some right-of way acquisition hold ups. There were three contracts for the 2023 roadway improvements. First bid opening is May 25,2023 for the various side streets. The plan was to till, reprofile, and chip seal for better sub base. The second phase project would be to go back through to seal with micro surface over top. The final contract would be mill and overlay. This would include East Pierce Street, Memorial, Madelyn, and Bobby Ave. City Hall parking lot is scheduled for mill and overlay, and cape seal in the more damaged areas.
She stated the Sewer Lining project was approved last week and will start when bonds are acquired. She stated the Burgess Lift Station Replacement was budgeted for $300,000.00, bids came in at $571,000.00.
She highlighted recent storm events, the Street Department spent two hundred and thirty-four hours on storm events, forty-five tandem loads, twenty, two-ton loads, and nine one- ton loads of tree brush and waste that came down during the storms.
There was no further discussion.
Fire Chief Dan Meyer presented his report;
He stated there were eight hundred and three calls for service, five hundred and seventy-nine EMS, and eighteen fire.
He stated a loss of $6,900.00 for the quarter and responded six times to Mutual Aid with other departments in the county for assistance on structure fires.
He stated on Training and Education for the quarter they had completed one thousand eight hundred and forty-four hours, training categories included; Hazmat, SCBA rope operations, Hazmat refresher training, bloodborne pathogens, SCBA consumption test, CPR recertification, and competency for EMS skills.
He stated Lieutenants Hotz, and Strohecker had completed ICS 300/400 courses, Firefighters Snelson and Taylor completed confined space training, and Probationary Firefighter Matt Atkinson completed his ninth month evaluation with all probationary requirements, he will be off of probation in one month.
He stated for the quarter they completed fifty-four inspections in the city, three of those being at WIU, and eleven with fraternity and sororities, those were completed with INSP Rental Inspector Billie McMillan, State Farm had requested an inspection with their Fire Marshall at Thompson Hall after a fire had broken out in the building. The Fire Department was able to assist in helping.
He stated under Fire Prevention for the quarter they visited seven schools, and businesses, three station visits, and installed seven car seats. In February, they partnered with the Illinois Fire and Safety Alliance, and the State Fire Marshal to install smoke alarms for residents in need within the city, they installed seventy-six in three months, in seventeen different residents’ homes.
Under other actives they completed, advanced gear inspection, and a voluntary OSHA on-site consultation, with only two minor violations corrections.
He participated in Annual WIU DUI Drill.
There was no further discussion.
Interim Police Chief Jeff Hamer presented his report;
He stated this quarter was full of staffing changes and transitions from the Police Department. The month of February brought promotions to Sergeant Goc and Shoudel, and Lieutenants Tedrow and Lipcamon, along with departures; May, Chief Jones, Officer Dorich, Probationary Officer Zobrist, and Schlomer. Promotions were needed with the departure of May and Jones. After his promotion to Interim Chief, he brought Tom Duvall up to the Acting Operations Commander, and was pleased to report the Police Supervisors were living up to the high expectations that have been set for them.
Macomb experienced two homicides, one was a domestic situation, and the other involved a shooting that left ten wounded, and one deceased.
Department Operations continue to handle FOIA requests, thirty-three for this quarter. MPD Personnel had three hundred hours reviewing body cam and in-car camera footage as part of FOIA and court request.
MPD is looking to hire two to three new officers from the current list. They have begun the initial hiring eligibility for this quarter, and hope to have another merge list established in July. Testing and hiring efforts will hopefully translate to eager and qualified officers, with the hopes of being 25 officers strong by the end of the year.
Alderman Vigezzi asked if the department has considered looking into expanding or hiring more Community Service Officers.
Interim Chief Hamer stated that it was on their radar, and have enternained the idea of hiring a part-time Social Worker.
There was no further discussion.
CDC John Bannon presented his report;
He stated the revenue for the department during the quarter was $25,000.00, renter rental registration fees $3,800.00, Permit fees $5,000(equating to a little over $3 million in construction)
They currently have three thousand eight hundred and seventeen units registered, all annual rental registrations were completed with rental inspections, and Planning and Zoning ongoing.
With Housing Grants, they completed the demolition project with the Strong Communities Program within Illinois Housing Development Authority for twenty-six structures. They were in the process of disbursing the funds from the residential façade grant program, they have thirteen projects completed with twenty- five left.
He reported awards of $1/2 million for Home Accessibility and Repair Program grant, and $550,000.00 Housing Rehabilitation Community Development Block Grant. Contact WIRC for questions regarding eligibility. He stated they were awarded a Thriving Communities Program Technical Assistance Award for multi-use path planning.
He explained training for staff, on hoarding, rental registration, and case writing documentation. They held their annual Community Development Goal Setting Workshop.
He stated in terms of initiatives, they were in the process of signing the Vacant Building Registration Program that was awarded to Millberg, and volunteers from WIU ROTC Program helped with the fence at Pierce Street Park.
The city has submitted the cost estimate request to the Census Bureau, for the special census, and they expect to have an answer by July.
They were currently working on collaborations with GIS, and participating in a Brownfield Coalition with Prairie Hills as the lead applicant. This helps provide free environmental assessments for local business.
Alderman Vigezzi asked if a large number of people have started to apply for the Home Accessibility Repair Program.
CDC Bannon stated yes, several people on the list.
There was no further discussion
M&DDD Savannah Ballard presented her report;
She administered one press release and facilitated the final planning for the Park N Cruise event that would be on next quarters report.
On the city website during her first week there were impressions of twenty-four thousand and a click rate of one thousand.
Facebook for the Downtown had reached fifty-seven hundred, with one hundred and thirty-eight visits, and two overall new likes.
She stated the cities website had a reached twenty-four hundred visits of three hundred and forty-five, and three new likes.
Miscellaneous items; she was able to do website training, gather photos for the Bill Thorpe Memorial Park, and gather photos on the fencing project to post on social media.
She’s continuing to distribute the new homeowner baskets for new residents in the City of Macomb. There was no further discussion.
There being no further business to come before the Council, Alderman Vigezzi moved, seconded by Alderman Dorsett to adjourn the meeting, all Aldermen voting “Aye” by voice vote, and no “Nay” votes, Mayor Pro-Tem Wynn declared the motion carried and they adjourned the meeting at 5:48 p.m.
https://cityofmacomb.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/05-22-2023.pdf
Alerts Sign-up