Peoria Standard

Trenton City Council met May 8.

Here is the minutes provided by the Council:

Call Meeting to Order:

The regular meeting of the Trenton City Council was called to order by Mayor Kyle Jones on Monday, May 8, 2017 at 7:00 p.m. at City Hall.

Roll Call:

Hooker, Mohme, Woods, Zurliene, Sims All Present

Also present were City Clerk Karen Buzzard, City Administrator Doug Brimm, Attorney Tim Palen, Superintendent of Public Works Kurt Wehrle, Mike Conley, Officer Anjeles Mora, Mark Brown, Sam Wheezy, Christa Schott and 3 observers.

Swearing in of Mayor, City Clerk, and Aldermen:

Mayor Kyle Jones swore in City Clerk Karen Buzzard. City Clerk Buzzard then swore in Mayor Kyle Jones and Aldermen Andrew Sims, Brent Woods, and Lori Zurliene.

Proclamations/Recognitions/Presentations

Public Input:

Christa Schott read a statement regarding here sewer line. Mayor Jones informed her that due to the fact that she has retained an attorney all of our communication will be through him. Ms. Schott stated that she spoke to her attorney three weeks ago and he had not received anything from the City and informed her to move on. She stated that she no longer has an attorney. Attorney Palen informed Ms. Schott that is was at least two weeks ago that he responded to her attorney and that if she no longer has retained an attorney we will need to have that in writing from him. That will allow us to proceed with her directly.

Mr. Brown was just in attendance to see if any decisions have been made regarding police staffing. Mayor Jones stated that we are still working on the budget.

Mr. Wheezy stated that he got a ticket for driving with a suspended license. He wanted to know why our police don’t give warnings first.

Comments & Announcements – Mayor:

Mayor Jones congratulated the newly elected officials. He is excited to continue to work with this group. His vision for the next four years is to continue to lower property taxes. He will also eliminate the vehicle stickers and dog/cat tags. This will result in less revenue, but that can be absorbed into the budget elsewhere. The focus on economic development will continue.

With the recent storms there were only two residents that were negatively affected. One had a structural issue and the other is still under investigation. The public works department went through 150-200 gallons of gas to run the pumps over this recent rainy period. Mayor Jones applauded the public works department on their efforts. The pumps are only a band-aid. One solution to the problem would be to purchase a camera system to video our lines and find areas of infiltration. This can be used in the sanitary and storm sewers and can be paid with sewer funds and capital improvement funds. Our new wastewater treatment plant will not address this problem, it will help, but it too is not the solution. Mayor Jones wanted to emphasize that fact to the public. We have done a lot of work already on our storm sewers. That was evident when the area in front of the post office/Community Bank did not flood, as well as the four way stop. That work has paid off, but there is much more that needs to be done. Superintendent of Public Works Kurt Wehrle stated that there has to be a ditch or storm sewer tied into the sanitary sewer based on the influx of water at the wastewater treatment plant during heavy rains. He stated that there are probably several sump pumps/drain tiles tied into the sanitary sewer too because even today there is extra water coming into the plant and we haven’t had rain since Thursday.

Comments & Announcements- Aldermen:

Alderman Hooker stated that the ditch by the water tower has grass that is two feet high. Mr. Wehrle will get that taken care of.

Comments & Announcements – City Staff

Consent Agenda:

Alderman Hooker made a motion to Approve the Consent Agenda as read. Second Alderman Zurliene, all yes, motion carried. The Consent Agenda included the minutes of the April 24, 2017 Regular Council Meeting, the Bills for April 2017, the Payrolls for April 2017, and the Treasurer’s Report for March 2017.

Unfinished Business:

Alderman Hooker made a motion to Approve Ordinance #1667 Amending Section 1-2-117 of The City of Trenton Revised Code of Ordinances. Second Alderman Woods, all yes, motion carried.

New Business:

Mayor Jones opened a discussion about purchase of a pipeline inspection camera system. He touched on the subject earlier in the meeting, but stated that if a pump were to go down, rest assured we will have a room full of angry residents. Alderman Woods asked if we camera our lines and discover problems, yet don’t have the money to fix the problem right away what kind of liability do we have. Attorney Palen said that we expect to find problems and as long as we put together a plan of action and lay out how we will fix the problems we are fine. Superintendent Wehrle has researched a couple of purchase options and suggests a unit from Midwest Vac Products, LLC. out of Mascoutah. They have a unit complete with trailer, camera, computer, updated software and training for $89,551.00. This is a used unit. Mr. Brimm stated that we have used VisuSewer and the City of Breese for camera services in the past. He reached out to each to get pricing for them to camera our 16 miles of line. For the City of Breese to just do a one-time pass the rough estimate would be $48,240.00. For VisuSewer to do a one-time pass with some minor jetting and root cutting would run $242,880. Superintendent Wehrle pointed out that if the City were to hire this out the other companies would come in, video and leave. If we owned our own equipment we could work on our schedule and video at our pace. We could take the time to sit and wait to see if a sump pump discharges into a sanitary line. Mayor Jones stated that this video could be uploaded into our GIS system. Much of our sewer system has never been videoed. If the Council decides to purchase equipment it would be funded 1⁄2 by the sewer fund and the other half by either the Infrastructure or Capital Improvement funds. That would be up to the Council.

The discussion on the property at 216 N Adams will be tabled for tonight.

Mr. Brimm met with the Newells tonight. They are the current owners of Pizza Market. They are planning a $160,000 upgrade to the facility and would like TIF assistance. Mr. Brimm will have a proposed agreement for review at our next meeting and if the Council agrees, then approval will be in June.

Mayor Jones informed the Council that just over $83,000 of General Fund surplus was transferred into the Capital Improvement Fund. With looking at the fiscal year end numbers, the water fund ran a deficit of $90,000 and very few projects were completed. We will have to raise rates this year. The driving force for the deficit is that households are consuming less water. The loans currently being paid in the water fund were based on old consumptions and with higher efficient appliances and people watching their consumptions, we cannot break even. Overall we had another good year financially.

Mr. Brimm gave kudos to Officer Joellenbeck and Superintendent Wehrle for rescuing a dog from the roof of a house today.

Alderman Hooker asked about the status of the properties on 3rd street. Mr. Brimm said that one property owner has very slowly been working on his, and that legal action will be taken on the other.

Mayor Jones informed the Council that a vehicle has been purchased to replace the wrecked police car. At least one and possibly two more will be budgeted into this next fiscal year.

A special meeting may be called and Mayor Jones asked when everyone would be available. It was decided next Monday at 7:00 pm would be good.

Closed Session:

Alderman Hooker made a motion to enter into closed session citing 5 ILCS 120/2(c)(1) Appointment, Employment, Compensation, Discipline, Performance or Dismissal of Specific Employees of the Public Body and 5 ILCS 120/2(c)(5) Purchase or Lease on Real Property for the Use of the Public Body. Second Alderman Woods, all yes, motion carried. The Council entered closed session at 8:09 p.m.

The Council re-entered the regular meeting at 9:28 p.m. Roll Call: Hooker, Mohme, Sims, Woods, Zurliene. All present.

Announcements

Adjournment:

Alderman Woods made a motion to adjourn. Second Alderman Hooker, all yes, motion carried. Meeting adjourned at 9:29 p.m.

http://trentonil.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/2017-05-08minutes.pdf