Peoria Standard

Batavia City Council met Jan. 7.

Here is the minutes provided by the council:

1. MEETING CALLED TO ORDER

The meeting was called to order by Mayor Schielke at 7:30 p.m.

2. INVOCATION followed by PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE

Mayor Schielke offered a brief invocation. Ald. Callahan led the Pledge of Allegiance.

3. ROLL CALL

13 of 14 aldermen were present.

Aldermen (by ward): Michael O’Brien (1), Scott Salvati (1), Martin Callahan (2), Alan Wolff (2), Elliot Meitzler (3), Anthony Malay (4), Susan Stark (4), Mark Uher (5), Lucy Thelin Atac (5), Nicholas Cerone (6), Michael Russotto (6), Drew McFadden (7) and David Brown (7) were present. Dan Chanzit (3) was absent.

Also present were BATV and members of the press, public and the following:

City Attorney Roman Seckel

City Clerk Ellen Posledni

City Administrator Laura Newman

Fire Chief Randy Deicke

Deputy Police Chief Glenn Autenreith

4. REMINDER: Please speak into the microphone for BATV recording

5. ITEMS REMOVED/ADDED/CHANGED

None

6. CONSENT AGENDA

Ald. Atac read the Consent Agenda as follows:

Approvals:

A. December 28, 2018 Payroll $831,689.75

B. Accounts Payable Check Register $3,488,384.28

C. City Council Minutes for December 17, 2018

Motion by Ald. Atac, seconded by Ald. Stark, to approve the Consent Agenda as presented. Motion carried 13 yea/ 0 nay/ 1 absent.

7. APPOINTMENT: Paid-on-call Recruits Matthew Jordan and Trevor Olsen (RD 1/2/2019) CS

Chief Deicke introduced two new recruits. POC Jordan is a basic operations firefighter and EMT. POC Olsen is certified in hazardous materials and firefighting through Waubonsee Community College. Mayor Schielke administered the oath of office to both men.

8. MATTERS FROM THE PUBLIC: (For Items NOT on the Agenda)

None.

9. PRESENTATION: Ronald McDonald House (Gianna Jensen)

Ms. Jensen is a student at Rotolo Middle School who was inspired to begin collecting pop tabs to support Ronald McDonald House after her fourth grade teacher needed the organization’s services. Ronald McDonald House provides housing for families while a loved one receives medical care. Ms. Jensen wants to expand her pop tab drive citywide and place collection boxes at City Hall, the Batavia Fire Departments and the Batavia Public Library.

Mayor Schielke noted this is an honorable idea and that he supports this cause. He commended Ms. Jensen for her good work. Ald. Wolff suggested that Ms. Jensen also get in touch with Craig Foltos, as he runs a large fundraiser every year to support Ronald McDonald House.

10. CHAMBER OF COMMERCE

Chamber President and CEO Holly Deitchman announced several upcoming Chamber events:

January 9, 7:30 am: BC2 morning networking event at the Comfort Inn and Suites in Geneva cutting for the new owner of El Taco Grande Networking-It at My Place Hotels to benefit Lazarus House

January 10, 4 pm: Ribbon- January 16, 5:30 pm: January 17, 8 am: Kicks off a new year of presentations with Valley Industrial Assn. This year’s theme is Marketing. The event is Marketing Strategy.

January 24, 6 pm: Inspire Awards at Abbey Farms. The event includes Citizen of the Year, OLE (for businesses that have invested in Batavia), and Spirit of Batavia awards.

Ms. Deitchman introduced Matthew Perkins from Business to Business Logistics, which is located in the Campana Building. The company is 8 years old, but new to Batavia. It joined the Chamber a year ago and moved into Campana a couple of months ago. Their business focuses on getting freight from point to point. It is growing and adding staff, and they are now hiring. Mayor Schielke welcomed Mr. Perkins and his company to Batavia and wished them years of success here.

11. RESOLUTION 19-007-R: Extending the Intergovernmental Agreement for Fire Protection

Chief Deicke introduced the item relating to an IGA with Batavia Township and Countryside Fire District. The current IGA is expiring, and this would provide a 3-month extension until the organizations can work out a longer-term IGA.

Mayor Schielke encouraged support for the item, noting the 63-year relationship the city has had with these entities. He noted that they have never missed a payment.

Ald. Wolff asked if the Council can get a map of the Fire Protection District. Chief Deicke said yes.

Mayor Schielke explained the meaning behind unincorporated addresses, which are based on their location in relation to the intersection of State and Madison in Chicago (how far west and how far north or south).

Motion by Ald. Wolff, seconded by Ald. Meitzler, to approve the resolution as presented. Motion carried 13 yea/ 0 nay/ 1 absent.

12. ADMINISTRATOR’S REPORT

Administrator Newman noted this is the last week for Christmas tree pickup without a sticker.

The Illinois Municipal League offers members, including Batavia, to access to a grant finder database, which will allow staff to search among 10,000+ grants to help fund upcoming projects, including those in line with the city’s Strategic Plan.

Administrator Newman shared considered news from Community and Economic Development: • Staff is reviewing resubmitted plans for the Nagle Industrial Building.

• Kickoff meetings are being scheduled to discuss the Strategic Plan initiatives.

• Staff has learned that industrial properties at 1300 and 1350 S. River Street (former

Amcor building) have been sold to a St. Charles-based company called SD Wheels. The sale has been pending for several months. Additional site building and improvements are planned for the location.

• Suncast will be leasing 143,000 square feet of the 101-121 Raddant building.

• Tomorrow, staff will be attending a national commercial real estate forecast conference in Chicago, and the city will have a booth at the conference.

• Staff has received the environmental indemnification agreement and the second amended RDA from Shodeen and plans to meet with company representatives on Wednesday.

New signage at the dam has sparked much discussion in the community. It is large but it is what is recommended by the IEPA and required for insurance. Information about the dam signage project is available on the city’s website.

13. COMMITTEE REPORTS

Ald. Brown noted tomorrow night’s COW will begin at 7 pm, and several Community Development items are on the agenda. Plan Commission is scheduled for Wednesday at 7 pm, and Historic Preservation will meet January 14 at 5:30 pm.

Ald. Wolff said surplus property and towing contracts will be on tomorrow’s COW agenda.

Ald. O’Brien said tomorrow night’s COW will also include Task Orders 10 and 11 with Engineering Enterprises for rehabilitation work at Water Plants 1 and 2.

14. OTHER BUSINESS

None.

15. MAYOR’S REPORT

Mayor Schielke took a few minutes to pay tribute to Mayor Tom Weisner, the former mayor of Aurora who recently passed away. Mayor Weisner and Mayor Schielke were born six weeks apart in Batavia, and their parents were friends. He lived on the northwestern corner of South Lincoln and Main Street for many years, and served as an altar boy for Monsignor Donovan at Holy Cross Church. He moved to Aurora, where his wife Marilyn was from, and she was elected as a Democrat on the Kane County Board in the 1970s, which was quite newsworthy at the time. Phil Elfstrom was chair of the Kane County Board at the time, and Marilyn helped organize the Tri-City Ambulance Service. The Weisners spent five years in the Peace Corps, and then Tom was hired by the City of Aurora, where he worked for about 20 years.

He went on to serve three terms as mayor, and deserves much credit for the revitalization of the Paramount Theatre and for creating RiverEdge Park, which would eventually be named after him. Mayor Weisner also arranged for one of Batavia’s antique fire trucks to be displayed at the Aurora Regional Fire Museum. Mayor Weisner also served on the Illinois Tollway Authority and was instrumental in straightening out the toll at Farnsworth and I-88 as well as erecting a stoplight at Raddant and Butterfield. He also navigated a messy political situation with residents of the Savannah subdivision who wanted to claim Batavia citizenship, and he smoothed out the situation with the Aurora Outlet Mall paying property taxes to the Batavia School District, which was not popular among some in Aurora.

Mayor Schielke noted that Mayor Weisner never forgot where he came from. He added that he was considered an expert among mayors on regional waterways, and that knowledge was highly valuable. The mayor noted his sadness at Mayor Weisner’s passing, and said Mayor Weisner was always a friend to our city.

Mayor Schielke then discussed an upcoming event at the Batavia Public Library commemorating the 150th anniversary of the visit to Batavia by Samuel Clemens, better known as Mark Twain. The University of Southern California inherited Twain’s letter file from his estate, and within the files was a letter dated January 29, 1869, written from Batavia when Twain came to deliver his Innocence Abroad speech. The night before his arrival he had been in Marshall, MI, where he delivered the same speech. The day after he was here, he delivered the speech in Freeport, IL, and the Beacon News reported on it.

Twain arrived in Batavia by train from Marshall, MI, a trip that would have been easy to do per Steve Lusted, a railroad history buff and former Deputy Fire Chief in Batavia. Twain wrote the January 29 letter to his future wife, calling Batavia dirty and dingy, noting he did not have any joy without looking at her picture. The snow was covered with ash.

The lecture was likely delivered at the Congregational Church, the Revere House on Rt. 31 or the Kluber building on South Shumway, which was a movie theater at one time. Twain was well received in Batavia, and he wrote about how things had turned around and ended well for him in Batavia.

The Batavia Public Library honors Mark Twain with a statue of him sitting on a bench outside the front doors. At the next City Council meeting, a Proclamation will be read honoring Twain’s visit to the city.

16. ADJOURNMENT

Motion to adjourn by Ald. Brown, seconded by Ald. Salvati to adjourn the meeting. Motion carried by voice vote.

The City Council meeting adjourned at 8:12 pm.

http://www.cityofbatavia.net/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Minutes/_01072019-1316