Peoria Standard

City of Canton City Council met Jan. 5.

Here is the minutes provided by the council:

A regular meeting of the Council meeting was held at 6:30 pm via zoom webinar. 

STAFF IN ATTENDANCE 

Mayor Kent McDowell, Attorney Chris Jump, City Clerk Diana Pavley Rock, Treasurer Crystal Wilkinson, Utility Director Joe Carruthers, Street Superintendent Ron Robinson, Beka Schulz-CLA,, City Engineer Keith Plavec, System Maintenance Director Dash Wilson, Public Safety Director Richard Fairburn 

OTHERS IN ATTENDANCE: 

Missy Towery, Rudy Hadsell with Mid Century Communications, Cole McDaniel with Spoon River Partnership for Economic Development, Michael Stuart, Andy Frost, Kenny Dobbs and Tom Ware all representing JB Hawks 

MEDIA IN ATTENDANCE: WBYS Radio, Fulton Democrat 

VIDEO SERVICES BY ZOOM 

PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE OPENED THE MEETING 

INVOCATION - Mayor Kent McDowell 

PUBLIC PARTICIPATION – Michael Stuart with Excel Gaming is a business development manager. The company is a terminal operator and is currently partnered with 9 Canton businesses for their gaming needs. They are at the meeting tonight to talk about the JB Hawks Canton location. JB Hawks parent company is Ware Brands. The president of Ware Brands-Tom Ware and C.0.0, Andy Frost and Vice President-Kenny Dobbs also attended the meeting virtually. The background of JB Haws was discussed along with an opportunity to expand their current business model to include a private gaming area inside their location. Currently JB Hawks has 31 stores, of which 7 locations has a private gaming area inside their locations. These are located in Pekin, Pontiac, Decatur, Tilton, Galesburg, Jacksonville and Charleston. 

The current location of JB Hawks is 730 South 5th Avenue. It is anticipated that the business would have 6 gaming machines if approved. The estimated revenue would be comparable to the revenue with the City of Jacksonville- which was $43,000.00 in tax revenue. 

ADDITIONS OR CORRECTIONS TO THE AGENDA 

Alderman West requested to table the item under the Legal and Ordinance agenda pertaining to the ADA policies and procedures until the next meeting. 

CONSENT AGENDA 

APPROVAL OF THE COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES HELD DECEMBER 15, 2020 AND THE CLERICAL COMMITTEE MEETING MINUTES HELD DECEMBER 14, 2020 

PUBLIC WORKS REPORT 

POLICE REPORT 

FIRE REPORT 

COMPTROLLER'S REPORT 

Motion and second were made by Aldermen Hale/Mayhew to approve the consent agenda and place it on file. 

The motion carried. 

COMMITTEE REPORTS: 

FINANCE ALDERWOMAN ANDRA CHAMBERLIN 

TREASURER'S REPORT 

Treasurer Wilkinson reported that the City is holding steady with the revenues for sales tax. The City received $14,678.00 during the month of November for cannabis tax revenue. 

The prison recently paid approximately $200,000.00 on their water bill, leaving approximately $280,000.00 in arrears. The prison is typically two months behind with their water bills being received by the City. 

Motion and second were made by Alderman Chamberlin/Nelson to approve the treasurer's report. 

The motion carried. 

DISBURSEMENT REPORT 

Motion and second were made by Alderman West/Hale to approve the disbursement report. 

The motion carried. 

BILL LIST 

Motion and second were made by Alderwoman Chamberlin/Nelson to approve the bill list. 

The motion carried. 

DISCUSS, CONSIDER AND VOTE ON A RESOLUTION APPROVING A PROPOSAL FOR MID CENTURY COMMUNICATION FOR LOCAL TELEPHONE SERVICES. 

The proposed agreement would replace the current Call One plan that is currently in place. 

Treasurer Wilkinson and Carol Kohler has been reviewing the current agreement and working with Mid Century for several weeks. The City has experienced some problems with Call One in both increased pricing and poor services. Call One is out of Chicago, where Mid Century is a local business that would help keep business local. 

Some discussion took place regarding the length of the proposed contract with Mid Century. Missy Towery stated that the proposed agreement would be for 5 years. 

Alderwoman Hale asked what type of services is currently being provided by Call One that Mid Century would not be able to accommodate. Missy Towery with Mid Century Communication explained that any location that the City has phone services that does not have existing internet their phones would not work. The City is estimating $1600.00-$1700.00 per month in savings in the proposed agreement with Mid Century Communication. Along with the cost savings, the City would receive better customer service. The City is currently having issues at the City building with not only Call One, But ATT and Heart Technologies. The City would be able to just deal with Mid Century if the agreement is approved. 

Alderman Mayhew questioned having a five-year agreement. Missy Towery stated that after re thinking she doesn't think Mid Century does contracts for the hosted phone system. Rudy Hadsell from Mid Century said he didn't' think there is a contract for those. Missy said she thinks she has the ability with the hosted phone system to be able to negotiate the contract terms. The cost would not change over the length of the contract. 

Mayor McDowell said that based on the figures provided a three-year contract would save $51,000.00 and a five-year contract would save the tax payers $85,000.00. 

The current system at the City is aging and the City does not want to renew with Call One due to the problems encountered. Treasurer Wilkinson said she believes the City would receive better customer service with a local company. 

Rudy Hadsell explained that he did look at the existing internet services and they should be adequate with the services being proposed by Mid Century. 

Alderman Fritz said that he agrees with the idea of saving money, but feels like the proposal is being rushed through too fast. Alderman Fritz said he is concerned because the council does not have anything in writing other than the financials. Typically a proposal or draft agreement is provided that can be reviewed, but one has not been provided. There are still a lot of unknowns and questions that have not been properly answered, and with this being a major change of equipment, the City lacks the information to make an educated decision. 

Treasurer Wilkinson explained that the money would come out of each department's telecom funds-which are budgeted expenses. The equipment is not budgeted, so the City would need to find the funds to cover that, 

Attorney Jump said he would like to see the specifics with a contract. 

Alderwoman Chamberlin recommended tabling this item until the next council meeting 

LEGAL AND ORDINANCE ALDERMAN CRAIG WEST, CHAIRMAN 

NEGOTIATIONS, GRIEVANCE & PERSONNEL ALDERMAN JUSTIN NELSON, CHAIRMAN 

COMMUNITY & INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT 

ALDERMAN JOHN LOVELL, CHAIRMAN 

Alderman Fritz asked about the property at 5th Avenue and Chestnut Street that has a pending sale sign, and thought a contract was to be signed the end of October 2020. Alderman Fritz said he would like an update on this property. SRPED Economic Director Cole McDaniel said the new closing date in January 21, 2021. 

The property on North Main Street (the old Casey's location) is under contract and has been sold to a well-known business. 

Cole explained that his goal in 2020 was to sit back and listen, understand the residents, citizens council members and elected officials so he could better understand everyone's needs. Every community is very different, and he wanted to better understand the community. During 2020 Cole said he spent a considerable amount of time on grant opportunities. There were $358,800.00 confirmed awarded grants in 2020 to local businesses. A much higher number of grants were applied for, but some were deemed ineligible through the guidelines rolled out from the state and federal government. Cole thanked Treasurer Wilkinson, Attorney Jump, the Mayor and everyone that was involved the grant process. Cole is currently working with Treasurer Wilkinson in wrapping up the final disbursements to the business owners. 

There was some previous discussion about a meat locker plant. The owners have closed on the building and they would like to be opened by June 2021. The owners are currently working on final plans. The initial business plan included 6 new employees. 

A meeting regarding downtown revitalization took place with various business leaders. This will be a big focus in 2021. 

The movie theater is allowing private showings- and information is available on their facebook page. 

Cole further explained that he has applied for a couple of grants through the partnership and has received a couple specifically for economic development. Website services, economic development marketing will be a focus. 

Hotel Motel Tax Revenues are down considerably due to the pandemic. Hopefully during 2021 people will be able to get out and travel and we will see an increase in the hotel motel tax revenues. Further information will be brought back to council in a written report. 

PUBLIC WORKS, WATER & SEWER ALDERWOMAN ANGELA LINGENFELTER, CHAIRMAN 

Congratulations are being extended to the public works department during the recent snow/ice storm. Everyone did a great job with the streets and garbage. 

PUBLIC SAFETY AND TRAFFIC ALDERWOMAN ANGELA HALE, CHAIRMAN 

STREETS AND GARBAGE ALDERMAN JEFF FRITZ, CHAIRMAN 

DISCUSS, CONSIDER AND VOTE ON A RESOLUTION A PRELIMINARY ENGINEERING AGREEMENT -RESOLUTION #5291 

The Cass Street bridge needs to be replaced. Rebuild Illinois bond funds were reallocated by the state and the City of Canton is going to receive a portion of the funds. The City has received $323,017.00 and should be receiving an additional $161,508.00 in the spring. The funding formula is based on the same formula as the MFT- which is population based. Once the 2020 census figures are released these numbers will be adjusted for every community. One of the qualifying projects is the reconstruction of existing bridges. 

The proposed agreement is an agreement with Maurer Stutz to complete the preliminary engineering. The construction of the bridge would be from the rebuild Illinois bond funds. 

Motion and second were made by Aldermen Fritz/Nelson to approve the preliminary engineering agreement with Maurer Stutz. 

The motion carried. 

DISCUSS, CONSIDER AND VOTE ON A RESOLUTION FOR IMPROVEMENT UNDER THE ILLINOIS HIGHWAY CODE-RESOLUTION #5292 

The amount of $45,000.00 is appropriated for the improvement 

Motion and second were made by Alderman Fritz/Hale to approve the resolution for improvement under the Illinois Highway Code. 

The motion carried. 

DISCUSS, CONSIDER AND VOTE ON A RESOLUTION APPROVING A REQUEST FOR EXPENDITURE AUTHORIZATION OF MOTOR FUEL TAX FUNDS FOR THE CASS PLACE BRIDGE REPLACEMENT (STRUCTURE NO 029-4186 AND SECTION NO 20-00108-00-BR-RESOLUTION #5293 

This request gives permission from IDOT to spend/authorize the funds. 

Motion and second were made by Aldermen Fritz/Nelson to approve the resolution approving a request for expenditure/authorization of motor fuel tax funds for the Cass Place Bridge Replacement. It is anticipated that it will not go out for bid until this fall or next spring. 

The motion carried. 

LAKE, BUILDINGS AND GROUNDS ALDERMAN QUIN MAYHEW, CHAIRMAN 

MAYOR COMMUNICATION 

Mayor McDowell sadly announced the passing of retired city employee Ray Mckinney. 

Mayor McDowell congratulated City Clerk Diana Pavley Rock for obtaining her Master's Certification from the International Institute of Municipal Clerks. Only 10% of Clerks obtain this level of designation. 

OLD BUSINESS 

NEW BUSINESS 

ADJOURNMENT 

MOTION and second were made by Aldermen Nelson/Lingenfelter to adjourn into executive session for 50LCS 120/2 C2 and C11. 

The motion carried 

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