CITY OF KANKAKEE
CITY COUNCIL MEETING
JANUARY 20, 2009
7:00 P.M.
MAYOR GREEN: I’d
like to call the meeting to order, please.
I’d like to ask Reverend Jess Gathing if he’d come up and open our
meeting with a prayer.
REVEREND GATHING: Good
evening all. If everybody will be please
stand. Dear Heavenly Father, we come
tonight. We just want to say thank You
Father. Thank you for this memorable
occasion of the January 20, dear Heavenly Father. Dear Heavenly Father, we thank You for our
Mayor, our City Council and our City leaders, Dear Heavenly Father. Thank You, Father, for the little children
that are here tonight from Mark Twain, Dear Heavenly Father. Dear Heavenly Father, we ask that you keep
Your loving arms around each and every one that’s here tonight under the sounds
of my voice, Dear Heavenly Father. And,
we pray that the City Council and our City leaders, Dear Heavenly Father, that
You, under their instructions, that do the things that need to be done, Dear
Heavenly Father. And, this we ask in
Your son Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.
MAYOR GREEN: Okay. Now, I’d like to ask the Pre-K students from
Mark Twain to come up and lead us in the Pledge. Come on up here. Come on guys.
Come on up here. There you
go.
GREG MERRILL: If
I may preface this real quick. This is indistinguishable
and indistinguishable classes.
They don’t have school at the same time K through 3 does. They’re not in school to do the Pledge and
these guys learned the Pledge, not only for this, right now, but for President
Obama whose inauguration was this afternoon.
MAYOR GREEN: Okay,
go ahead.
PRE K- STUDENTS FROM MARK
TWAIN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL AND ALL: Pledge of Allegiance
MAYOR GREEN: Good
job. We can start now. The Journal reporter’s here. If I can, roll call.
CLERK DUMAS:
PRESENT: Brown; Hunter; Epstein; Provost;
Baron; Williams; Ciaccio; Swanson;
Linneman;
Jones; Schwade; Cox (11)
ABSENT: Hearn;
Diersen; Coleman (3)
MAYOR GREEN: Department
Heads.
CLERK DUMAS:
PRESENT: Kinkade; Young; Dear; Spice; Bohlen; Power;
Simms; Tyson; Shaw; Nolan; Gordon (11)
ABSENT: Leshen;
Bertrand (2)
MAYOR GREEN: Thank
you. You have the minutes of the January
5, 2009, meeting. I need a motion to
approve.
ALDERMAN HUNTER: I
so move.
MAYOR GREEN: Motion
by Alderman Hunter. Is there a second?
ALDERMAN BROWN: Second.
MAYOR GREEN: Second
by Alderman Brown. All in favor,
AYE. Opposed, same sign.
MOTION TO APPROVE CITY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES OF
JANUARY 5, 2009
MAYOR GREEN: Motion
carries. Ah, the Chair has no
Petitions. Are there any Petitions from
the Floor? Hearing none, we’ll move into
Communications. We have a request from
the Garden of Prayer and I need a motion to accept that.
ALDERMAN HUNTER: I
so move.
ALDERMAN BROWN: Second.
MAYOR GREEN: Motion
by Alderman Hunter, seconded by Alderman Brown.
All in favor, AYE. Opposed, same
sign.
GARDEN OF PRAYER YOUTH CENTER IS REQUESTING
PERMISSION TO HOST A TAG DAY ON SATURDAY, JULY 18,
2009, WITH A RAIN DATE OF SATURDAY, JULY 25, 2009
MAYOR GREEN: Motion
carries. Ah, next is just an item for
your information. That’s the Public
Hearing regarding the City of Kankakee’s 2009-2010 Action Plan and Consolidated
Plan for CDA. Now, I’d like to ask Jess
Gathing if you’d come up. You wanted to
make a quick presentation.
JESS GATHING: To
Mayor Green and to, ah, the City Council members, a little over a year ago,
Kankakee Track Club put in a bid with USA Track and Field for the use of Olivet
Nazarene University. Due to a scheduling
conflict with Olivet for our June date, we had to move our track meet to
Kankakee High School which turned out to be a, ah, more of a blessing than
anything else. With the help of the
Mayor and a lot of people, we were able to work real, real hard to pull off
this big meet–this three-day meet which happened to bring in over one weekend,
our receipts–gate receipts–were close to 12,000 people that visited Kankakee in
the three days. On Friday, there was
3,700. On Saturday, there was 4,800 and
then again on Sunday there was 4,700 people that.......that slipped into
Kankakee that weekend to be a part of the USA Track and Field Junior Olympics
for kids for the.........of the ages of six to eighteen years of age. And, again, this could not have been done
without the help of our City, people in our City. Our major sponsors for this meet were
National City Bank, the City of Kankakee, Aqua Water, Bradley, Bourbonnais, ah,
well one of.....somebody from Bradley-Bourbonnais was a big, big sponsor and,
ah, and a lot of you that are sitting here in the room tonight were
sponsors. USA Track and Field just
finaled out their year for 2008. It was
done ah, it was done December 27. And,
ah, before then we had sent out........we had put out two letters to the Voice
of the People and a lot of you have probably read those letters to where we
thanked all the countless people for their help. Ah, because we could not have, ah, we could
not have use of Olivet Nazarene University, some things had to be done at
Kankakee High School. In order to host a
big meet you have to have two long-jump runaways. And, ah, we had hoped to have had that done
at Kankakee High School, but things happened and we couldn’t do it and our
group, we sat down with City engineers, with Public Works, with the Park
District and, and people alike, and we came up with a little Yankee ingenuity
to where we erected a, ah, long-jump pit on the south end of the football track
giving us two long-jump pits. And,
again, I say it took the Park District, it took Public Works, ah, Dave Tyson
and others in order to get this done.
And, so, tonight we’re here and we just want to say thank you to the
countless people that helped us. And, we
have little plaques. Some of the
plaques........as........if you were a sponsor and you got it in on time, ah,
there is a picture of your sign that was on the fence. And, Joe, if you’d just go ahead and the name’s
on the front. We have Stevie
Hunter, we have Carl Brown. Give them
the whole envelope, JoAnne Schwade, Chris Bohlen, Mayor Green. Out in the audience I think we have Dave
Tyson. We have Dick Simms. We have Bert Dear. We have Aqua Water with Sherree in the
back. We have Larry Nolan with his
business. We have one for Bill, but, ah,
I forgot to bring it tonight. We could
not have done this without Kankakee...........without the help of our City
officials in Kankakee. I am the
Executive Treasurer for USA Track and Field of Illinois. And, as you guys know, Illinois, or Chicago’s,
in the running for the 2016 Olympics.
The Junior Olympics, or the Olympics, the running events of the Olympics
come under USA Track and Field. As a
member of USA Track and Field, in hopes that the 2016 happens in this area, if
we have the facilities, our area can reap the benefits of athletes coming to
town and whatnot. We’ve gone to the
Mayor and we’ve asked the Mayor help us and help Kankakee High School in the
renovation of their track and supposedly there’s said monies available to do
this. And, and, like I said, this brings
in people to, ah, to our community. And,
this is something that we want to continue to do. We also had a bid out this year to, ah, to
bring back the Olympics to the City of Kankakee and, ah, we might be able to do
it if the Kankakee track is done and, if not, we’ll go for future years of
having it done. But, with the thanks of
the Mayor and all of you people who.....who donated, gave us........and became
sponsors, we’re most grateful and we’re most thankful for........for your help
in bringing and showcasing our City for a weekend. Ah, USA Track and Field of Illinois,
everybody is still talking about what we did here in Kankakee. And, we could not have done that.......Joe’s
here tonight.......our Vice-President, Murray Cleaves, if you’ll please
stand. The volunteers that we had to do
this and in the time that we had to do it, we could not have done it without
your help and without your sponsorship.
And, with the plaques of your.........of your pictures of either your
flag or your banner or graciously.......my daughter was the poster girl for USA
Track and Field this year. I think,
Chris, you have one and a few others have the poster girl’s picture. And, Jessica’s six years old and she’s very
happy about being the poster girl for USA Track and Field. And, again, we’d just like to say thank you
and further years, when we’re........when this is going to come to Kankakee, we’re
looking for your help. And, we just want
to say thank you. Thank you.
MAYOR GREEN: Thank
you. Ah, now I’d like to ask Jim Spice
if he’d come up. We have a presentation
of our financial report for the year ended April 30, 2008.
JAMES SPICE: Okay,
Mr. Mayor, ladies and gentlemen of the Council, I’m pleased on behalf of the
administration to present a review of the City’s financial information for the
fiscal year ended April 30, 2008. The
material that I’m going to be going over tonight, was lifted from the
Comprehensive Annual Financial Report that was distributed to members of the
Council in the past several weeks. The
CAFR report includes sections for the City of Kankakee’s basic financial
statements, required supplementary information, a statistical section and a
section devoted to the single audit, which is the Federal grants
reporting. Since the financial
presentation is designed only as an overview of the current fiscal year’s
activities resulting changes and currently known facts, I would refer you to
the full report if you have any questions or need additional information. Just so everybody knows, a copy of this full report
is on file in the Clerk’s office and is available for viewing and the full
report is also on the City’s website.
So, if you go on the City’s website, you can download the full
report. What I’d like to do at this time
is introduce Steve Schmidt from the audit firm of Payne, Groskreutz and
Schmidt. I’ll use that name. I think the name’s changed since then. And, M. J. Abraham. We know him affectionately as Abe, and, ah, I
don’t know if they’d like to say a word or so, but they said they’re deferring
to me, I guess.
STEVE SCHMIDT: We’re
going to defer.
JAMES SPICE: Everybody
wants me to shorten this thing and I’ve got........I’m done. We’ll get that short. Anyway, on your desks tonight are some pieces
of information from the audit firm and, ah, those........that information is
provided so that, ah, you can understand the basis that the financial
information was reviewed by the audit firm and also they go into any findings
they had, or internal control. And, I’m
pleased to announce that there were no findings that, ah, that needed to be
reported upon and that’s just their confirmation of that fact. I did give a
handout to the Council and, ah, so that you’d have that
information. If I can just get this
thing to start moving. The first
statement that I’d like to look at is the Statement of Net Assets. That comes from the Government-Wide
Statements. It’s known as the
Government-Wide Statements because it does take a consolidation of all the
statements of the City of Kankakee. It
excludes information for the fiduciary funds which are the Police and Fire
Pension Funds. This statement accounts
for all the things of value that the City owned at the balance sheet date which
was April 30, 2008. And, everything that
it owed at that point in time.
Including.............it also provides information on the City’s capital
assets and their long-term liabilities.
This statement is prepared using the accrual basis of accounting and
economic resources measurement focus.
Ah, this also included information on the component units. If you look in the far right column, the
component units are the City’s library and its.......the Special Service Area
One which is the downtown Service Area.
Although the reason that they’re reported separately, is because we don’t
have.......we’re not the board for those units, yet we do have controlling
factor because we levy their taxes for them.
We have to act as the conduit for them to have property taxes. This table reports that for the City of Kankakee
in total, assets exceeded liabilities for the total primary government by $42.8
million–as of April 30. Ah, you notice
that it’s divided into governmental activities which are all the City
activities, then the business-type activities which is basically the Utility
and then it totals those, so consolidates those. I can tell you that compared to last year,
the government total net assets, governmental activities total net assets
increased $1.1 million or 7%. And, ah,
to the total of $15.9 million at the end of the year. Ah, what this report also tells us that a
number of the assets are restricted for various purposes, like capital
projects, debt service, economic development and street maintenance. As you notice, the governmental activities
has an unrestricted negative net asset balance of $33.6 million. Some of the highlights for the year, cash
decreased by $4.5 million. If you look
at cash up here. Ah, because the City
expended bond proceeds for capital projects.
The receivables from other governments increased $2.4 million as
receivables related to the sales tax receipts and the related incentives that
finally returned to more normal amounts after the City adjusted for a
substantial sales tax adjustment for an amended return in the prior fiscal
year. This also includes special
assessments for the Indian Meadows Subdivision as a new category. I must have my finger..........is something
wrong there? Ah, special assessments is
a new line item and that’s related to the Indian Meadows. It’s in here somewhere. Deferred special assessments and special
assessments are up above. Actually,
right there. So, both of those two items
related to the Indian Meadows project.
Ah, non-depreciable assets increased $4.4 million as construction
continued on the old library building which will serve as the.......which is
serving, I should say, as the City Administration Building. That was $3.7 million and construction of the
Indian Meadows Subdivision infrastructure which was another $2.3 million. Depreciable assets increased $3.4
million. That’s with the Marcotte Road
project, Court Street lighting, Varney Road, Merchant Street parking
projects. Accounts payable increased
$2.9 million. Most of that increase
related to the liability for the sales tax incentives and we’ll be talking
about those a couple times tonight.
Unearned revenue decreased $3.7 million as grant revenue was recognized
upon the completion of various grant-related projects which include City Hall
and the lighting projects. And, long-term
liabilities increased $7.5 million as the City issued $6.8 million in bonds to
finance public infrastructure improvements.
That was the main change there.
And, ah, that was divided–$2.6 million financed general City
infrastructure improvements, $4.2 million went to finance Exit 308–TIF 8–infrastructure
improvements. And, then the City
expended $3.2 million to retire existing debt and the City issued the $3.4
million in installment notes for the Indian Meadows Subdivision infrastructure
improvement and that was with the bank note.
The City’s investment in capital assets includes land, construction in
progress, building improvements, land improvements and equipment, vehicles,
leasehold improvements, infrastructure like roads, sidewalks, curbs, gutters, bridges. The City’s total investment in capital assets
for governmental activities increased by $7.4 million to the $10.3 million
which is right in here at the fiscal year end.
As I mentioned, the business-type activities were for the
utilities. That includes the, ah,
Kankakee sewer utility, the solid waste utility and also the electric utility
and the electric utilities for transmission and distribution and, ah,
generation of electric. Total assets
for net........for the business-type activities actually decreased $600,000 and
that’s right here. The $26.8 million is
$600,000 less than last year. And,
liabilities decreased $200,000 as a result of operation transactions. And, then there were a couple other major
shifts in assets and liabilities. The utility
cash increased by $800,000, but restricted cash had a corresponding decrease of
$600,000 and that’s basically related to grant.....or expenditures of
capital. Internal balances decreased
$400,000 as the City governmental activities, finance deficits related to the
solid waste collection operations.
Non-depreciable assets increased $500,000, basically in the area of
construction and progress as work continues on the hydro plant generators. And, also, on construction of the Indian
Meadows force main and pump station.
Depreciable assets decreased $900,000 and that primarily reflected
normal annual depreciation. And, then
the City’s investment in the utilities joint venture decreased $.5
million. That reflected the Utility’s
share of the $800,000 loss realized by KRMA, which is the sewer treatment
facility. Long-term liabilities during
more than one year decreased $400,000 as the Utility continued to amortize
existing debt, and, ah, restriction of net assets for debt service decreased
$600,000 also, as the Utility continued to amortize its debt. Component units. I’ll mention those just briefly. I already said that’s the Library and the
Special Service Area downtown. And, that
presents theirs. The one component unit,
the Library, comprises over 87% of the total assets for the component
units. The increase in the component
units’ net assets was about $500.000 for the year and that’s primarily from the
City’s contributions toward the downtown infrastructure improvements to the
Special Service Area One. Next statement
that we’re going to look at is the Statement of Activities. And, this basically tells you some of
the.........where the revenue came from and expenditures went. This report’s kind of a complicated
report. It starts off with the expenses
by various subcategories in the first column and, ah, as you see, the general
government had about $6 million in expenses.
That was based......what a lot of that is, is your insurances–liability
and health insurance– and, ah, your public safety, $17 million.......$13
million.........whatever it is. Yeah, I
don’t have that in front of me. And, ah,
Public Works, $2.5 million. Highways and
streets, ah, Community Development. Big
number there is economic development. $20 million of that is related to the
economic incentives that the City pays out on sales taxes. The balance of that is generally related to
the TIF funds. And, the major part of
the economic development last year for the TIF funds actually occurred at the
Exit 308 TIF 8 area and that basically related to, you know, extending and
improving, ah, sorry, I can’t think of the name of the road there, right in
front of the project. Ah,
RiverStone. Thank you. I knew it was River something. Okay, to the RiverStone project there and
then also improvements to Seedorf Road...... not Seedorf Road, I’m sorry. Marcotte Road as it went north and south and
eventually ended up down at River Road.
Half of that was in the TIF and half of it was a City project. But, that’s where some of those expenditures
are and then you have your interest and fiscal charges. Ah, this report also shows–breaks out the
revenues for programs as opposed to operations and the main areas of programs
are your charges for services in the general governmental area. The operating costs, operating grants
rather. I don’t know how much.........I’m
going to not go in too much detail on those.
I have a lot of detail. I can
make this presentation go forever, but I think I’m gonna’ skip that
tonight. The next part of that report is,
ah, basically, it takes the prior sheet and subtracts the
expense..........subtracts whatever program revenue there is from the
expenses. And, gives you a balance
by.......oops, sorry........ gives you a balance for your governmental
activities in the various areas and then down below here, it takes all your
non-program revenues which include property taxes, income taxes, use taxes,
replacement taxes, sales taxes, utility taxes, intergovernmental which is your
grants and some other areas like that, investment income and, ah, a category
called other and then from the primary government which was basically–that’s
the money that the City gave to the Special Service Area One. So, this........these two pages of that
report go together and even though they’re presented on two pages, it’s one
report. Again, I could go into a lot of
detail on that, but I’m going to skip that.
One of the things I would like to point out is that sales tax–total
gross sales tax of $26.6 million. We’ll
look at the balance sheet now. The first
statement I presented to you was the statement of net assets. That’s the consolidated statement. This one is more by governmental fund. I skipped a lot of pages here. Okay.
This is more a current focus. It
takes current inflows and out flows and the thing that I’d point out is our
current fund balance for the general fund is $3 million. Another thing that I’d....... another fund
that’s reported........the two major funds for the City are the general fund
this year and the capital projects fund.
Capital projects fund had, ah, total fund balance of $5 million. That’s where all the bonded money goes and is
accounted for. As the projects are done,
then that goes into your asset sheets.
But, the expenditure shows........show up on these governmental
reports. And, then you have all kinds of
other funds. I direct you to the last
couple pages of the handout that I gave you and that shows those funds. We can buzz along to those so that the
audience can see those. Overall, the
City has 33 funds. Several of the funds
that it has, though, are minor funds and they’re non-major they call them. And, they’re reported in the back area of the
audit. That includes the band fund, the
park fund, IMRF, three Special Service Areas, the Community Development Agency,
Senior Aides, our various TIF Districts of which there are eight, the Motor
Fuel Tax Fund and several debt service funds.
So, that’s all the various funds that are found in the audit statement
there. The next thing I’d like to point
out is where the money comes from and where it goes. This little chart helps to understand
that. Property taxes make up almost half
of the budget. Now, this is.......this
is net of the sales tax incentives. So,
if I threw sales tax incentives in there, that would make up almost half of the
total City budget. But, I thought, since
we give most of that back out, I’d net what the sales tax is, what the City
realizes. Sales tax then represent–about
net– represent about 17% of the revenue budget.
There’s some money from investment income. About 2%.
Charges for services, that includes a myriad of things. I’m trying to think of some of the
charges. Franchise fees, indistinguishable police reports are
several areas like that and then grants makes up....made up about 28% this
year, of our total revenue. Then the
composition of the expenses for governmental activities. General government being about 17%, public
safety 37%, Public Works about 7%, our highways and streets 19%, community
development 5%, economic development being about 9% and again, that’s all net
of the sales tax incentives. So, that’s
how the money comes in, where it goes out.
Ah, this report here summarizes all of the revenues from the various
areas into the first, for the governmental funds. Then it shows your expenditures and then it
actually shows changes in fund balance for the year. I will point out the general fund had a
negative $130,000 change in fund balance this year. We had planned as we started out the year in
the budget process to increase the general fund balance by a $.25 million. As the year progressed we had two
factors. One was the improvements that
were made at the Police Department. The
Police Department had to relocate. We
had hoped to charge those expenses against the bonds that we had issued, but we
were told that those are unauthorized expenses from the bond fund, so we had to
absorb those in the general fund. And,
the other thing was the consultant that we hired to help us find some grant
money and the Council made a conscientious effort to expend those funds,
knowing that it could result in a deficit balance. So, we did end up, again, with a deficit
balance of $130,000, but I continue to encourage the Council, and I think the
Council’s been behind me on that, to increase the fund balance year by year by
about $.25 million with a goal of having two to three months in reserve at any
given time. And, given what the current
economic situation is, too, national economy, it’s always good to have some
money in reserve for those hard times.
Again, I could go over several things, but I think I’m going to
highlight the sales taxes since that makes up such a great part of the budget
and show where we started. In 2002, we
were grossing, annually, about $4.5 million.
The year before it was even less.
We paid that year $1.5 million in incentives. And, that’s grown to where we are today of
total gross of about $26 million and incentives of $20 million leaving us about
$6 million in net sales tax that we have to do the various things the City
accomplishes. One of the other things I’d
like to kind of point out on the schedule of revenues and comparison to budget
is, ah, we did do away with one significant revenue source last year. The Council chose to eliminate the COPS fee
and, ah, that’s shown here. You don’t
see anything for Fiscal 2008 compared to a $458,000 raise the year before. So, we’ve tried to find ways to ease the
burden on the residents. The Council has
tried to find ways to ease the residents by giving back in certain areas and,
ah, the vehicle license several years ago being the first step that was
made. And, then this past year,
eliminating the COPS fee. Our
expenditures, again I’ll point out that the largest expenditures in the general
government are your insurances. And,
they’re right there in the middle. $1.6 million each for liability and for
group insurance or health insurance program.
Public safety making up a large part of the budget that we talked about
earlier. Public safety being our Police
and Fire Departments. Those are
listed. And, if you notice on each of
these pages on the handout, they.......ah, they’re all numbered. They tie to the actual page that’s........that
this was taken from in the Comprehensive Annual Financial Report, so if you
want to go back and look at that, there are several highlights that, again, I
wanted to go through. Several more
things than what I said, but I think I’m going to leave the presentation there
and be done. Thank you for your time and
attention. I’m available any time that
anybody has any questions. Aldermen, you’re
always welcome to stop in my office and I’ll take time and explain anything
where you might have questions and that would be the same for the public. Thank you.
MAYOR GREEN: Hey,
Jim, you just going to leave us hidden?
Speak out of the night up here, right?
Abe or Steve do you want to make any comments?
STEVE SCHMIDT: I’ll
say something briefly. I don’t know if
you ever realized the comprehensive annual financial statement that you receive
prior to the meeting tonight, it’s the 11th year that you’ve been
awarded this Certificate of Excellence.
There is literally no other municipality in our area or indistinguishable
in our area that even indistinguishable.
It’s a very comprehensive document.
It has a lot of historical information for the City. And, if you’re really bored one night, you
ought to sit and read it and it’ll either solve your insomnia problem or you’ll
learn more about the City of Kankakee.
And, I think it would probably be the latter. I have with me tonight indistinguishable
Abraham and I’m really proud..........most of you may have heard already, that
effective the first of this year, he is now a partner of the firm and he is an
excellent addition. He’s also a driving
force indistinguishable So, ah, I’m very excited to have him as a
partner and look forward to working with the City.
MAYOR GREEN: Thank
you. I’d like to make.................I
want to make two comments and we’ve discussed this at Budget Committee. You know, Jim went through it, of course,
last year we did do away with the COPS fee.
There were a couple other issues, too, that helped move us into a
deficit position of $130,000. That was
the increased cost of fuel last year which skyrocketed during the year and had
an adverse effect on us and the secondary factor which a lot of people in this
community want to ignore was the increased cost for the landfill. That’s been a tremendous cost to us. So, there’s some challenges as we move into
the future. There’s always challenges to
find additional sources of revenue. That’s
probably the most difficult thing that any municipality or unit of government
has to face. But, we certainly will do
that. So, I thank Jim Spice and Abe and
Steve for making this presentation. I
think it’s something we can be extremely proud of that this is the 11th
year that we have put out such a comprehensive report. And, no one else in Kankakee County does
that. And, ah, of course, as Jim said,
it’s on our Web site and it’s there for access for everyone. So, thank you very much. Standing Committees, and we’re going to add
one more and that will be the Code Committee because they had a public meeting
about a week ago and we had said that we would have the Ordinance here tonight to
put it on its First Reading and I’ll get around to Nina on that in just a
second. But, Public Safety, Alderman.
ALDERMAN HUNTER: Real
briefly, ah, ladies and gentlemen, in the, ah, one, two, three, fourth
paragraph down, we need to accept the acceptance letter of regarding the
Homeland Security Grant so I move that we authorize the City match of $16,000
for this particular grant.
ALDERMAN SCHWADE: I
second it.
MAYOR GREEN: Motion
by Alderman Hunter, seconded by Alderman Schwade to accept the Homeland
Security Grant with a City match of $16,000.
Questions? Alderman Williams.
ALDERMAN WILLIAMS: On
the next one, I’ve got a correction to make.
MAYOR GREEN: Okay. Roll call.
CLERK DUMAS:
AYE: Brown; Hunter; Epstein; Baron; Williams;
Ciaccio; Swanson; Linneman; Jones; Schwade; Cox (11)
ABSENT: Hearn; Diersen; Coleman (3)
MOTION TO ACCEPT THE HOMELAND SECURITY GRANT
ALDERMAN HUNTER: I
thought Alderman Williams was probably gonna’ make reference to the indistinguishable
seconded by Alderman Swanson. Alderman
Williams. Just one other comment. Went
over the crime stats for indistinguishable year. Overall crime is down 8% from last year. The issue regarding the radios was indistinguishable
approve and referred to approve.......referred to Budget Committee for
their consideration. Chairman Baron’ll
speak to that. The rest of the stuff is indistinguishable.
MAYOR GREEN: Thank
you. License and Franchise.
ALDERMAN SWANSON:
Information’s in the packet.
MAYOR GREEN: Thank
you. Alderman Baron. Budget.
ALDERMAN BARON: I’ll
just talk about the ones where we’re asking for action. The first, ah, action we’re asking for is the
purchase of 12 new radios for the Fire Department at the cost, per unit cost,
of $1,870. We replace these on a regular
annual basis. This is a little bit lower
than expected. The per unit cost. So, and, this is already a budgeted item. This is not a new expenditure. So, we’re asking for Council approval to
purchase 12 portable radios for the Fire Department from the lowest bidder,
Barbeck Communications.
ALDERMAN HUNTER: Second
that, Your Honor.
MAYOR GREEN: Motion
by Alderman Baron, second by Alderman Hunter to authorize the purchase of 12
radios for the Fire Department. Roll
call.
CLERK DUMAS:
AYE: Brown; Hunter; Epstein; Baron; Williams;
Ciaccio; Swanson; Linneman; Jones; Schwade; Cox (11)
ABSENT: Hearn; Diersen; Coleman (3)
MOTION TO APPROVE PURCHASE OF TWELVE PORTABLE RADIOS
FOR
THE FIRE DEPARTMENT FROM BARBECK COMMUNICATIONS
MAYOR GREEN: Motion
carries.
ALDERMAN BARON: I
lied. Just a brief comment on one item
that we’re not asking for action tonight and that is the proposed development
on the east side of town south of the former site of Johnnies..........Uncle
Johnnies Restaurant. An Indiana concern
is proposing a 48-unit affordable rental housing project. There.........the Budget Committee, ah,
voiced its approval of the project. We’re
not asking for anything from the Council tonight, but read through the
item.........if you weren’t there, read through the minutes. It’s pending.
The proposal is pending.
MAYOR GREEN: It’s
pending approval from IHDA.
ALDERMAN BARON: You’ll
hear more about that later I would imagine.
Ah, it’d be funded with tax credits, just like the Neighborhood Partners
apartment projects. It’ll be
funded...........the proposal is, it will be funded with tax credits. Ah, third item is spending $1,000 from
Community Promotions to support Kankakee County Soldiers Basketball team and,
ah, Barry Bradford, the point guard and owner.
It’s $1,000 from the Community Promotions line item. I would move that we approve the expenditure
of that.
ALDERMAN HUNTER: Second
that, Your Honor.
MAYOR GREEN: Motion
by Alderman Baron, seconded by Alderman Hunter to approve an expenditure of
$1,000 from Community Promotions for the Kankakee County Soldiers Basketball
Team. Questions? Roll call.
CLERK DUMAS:
AYE: Brown; Hunter; Epstein; Baron; Williams;
Ciaccio; Swanson; Linneman; Jones; Schwade; Cox (11)
ABSENT: Hearn; Diersen; Coleman (3)
MOTION TO APPROVE AN EXPENDITURE OF $1,000 FROM
COMMUNITY
PROMOTIONS FOR THE KANKAKEE COUNTY SOLDIERS BASKETBALL
TEAM
MAYOR GREEN: Motion
carries.
ALDERMAN BARON: We’re
asking to receive and place on file the annual budget for the calendar year
ending 12/31/07 for the Foreign Fire Insurance Fund, also known as the 2% Fund
which is money that comes to the City for a brief moment and is passed along to
the Fire Department. This is money
that........from the sale of non-Illinois-based insurance firms for the sale of
their product in the State of Illinois.
People with time on their hands are able to determine how much money is
allocated to each municipality. Our
budget this year is $37,755.00. That’s
allocated to the City and is moved right along to the Fire Department, the
expenditure by the Fire Department is outlined on the budget which is attached
to the minutes. Most of the money is
spent for firefighting equipment.
$29,700.00 of the $37,000 is spent for firefighting equipment by the
fire fighters. This will be the last
year we get to do this in that now, it’s going to be allocated directly to the
Fire Department. So, I would move that
we receive and place on file the Budget and Accountant’s Financial Report.
ALDERMAN HUNTER: Second.
MAYOR GREEN: Motion
by Alderman Baron, seconded by Alderman Hunter to place this report on
file. All in favor, AYE. Opposed, same sign.
MOTION TO PLACE FIREMEN’S 2% FUND BUDGET AND REPORT ON
FILE
MAYOR GREEN: Motion
carries.
ALDERMAN BARON: Finally,
we’re recommending that the City Council spend $800 to the Coalition for
Qualified Plan Status, which of course is the statewide organization that is
advocating and qualifying our City pension.......our City Fire and Police
Pension Funds as a qualified organization with the Internal Revenue
Service. They’re.....the Internal
Revenue Service has apparently raised that as an issue. We want to make sure that they continue to be
qualified and we found that there is strength in numbers, so this is a
statewide organization that Mr. Spice has brought to us. $400 per pension fund
is being assessed by this Coalition for Qualified Plan Status. So, if there are questions about that. If not, I would move that we approve the expenditure
of $800 for the purpose.
ALDERMAN HUNTER: Second.
MAYOR GREEN: Motion
by Alderman Baron, seconded by Alderman Hunter to approve joining the Coalition
to audit both of those funds. Any
questions? Roll call.
CLERK DUMAS:
AYE: Brown; Hunter; Epstein; Baron; Williams;
Ciaccio; Swanson; Linneman; Jones; Schwade; Cox (11)
ABSENT: Hearn; Diersen Coleman (3)
MOTION TO APPROVE JOINING THE COALITION FOR QUALIFIED
PLAN
STATUS TO AUDIT FIRE AND POLICE PENSION FUNDS
MAYOR GREEN: Motion
carries.
ALDERMAN BARON: That’s
all. Thank you.
MAYOR GREEN: Thank
you. Alderman Epstein.
ALDERMAN EPSTEIN: Last
Thursday, our originally scheduled Planning and Code Committee met. One of the topics that we discussed was the
vacant.....the Ordinance to Regulate Vacant Buildings. We had an excellent turnout of realtors and a
representative from the local banking industry.
The comments of the Ordinance were very favorable. We made a few changes, basically
administrative changes, and we clarified some terminology. You have a letter from Mike O’Brien of
HomeStar Bank who spoke in favor of the Ordinance and Alderman Hunter asked him
to put his comments in writing so we could share them with all of the
Aldermen. So, at this time, I would like
to make a motion that we put the Ordinance on its First Reading because those
of you who received it tonight have not had a chance to look at some of the
clarifications that we made and I would entertain a motion......a second to the motion.
ALDERMAN HUNTER: Second
it, Your Honor.
MAYOR GREEN: Motion
by Alderman Epstein, seconded by Alderman Hunter to put this Ordinance on its
First Reading only. Questions? I have one comment. I thought it was a good meeting. There were a lot of comments from.... not
only from Mr. O’Brien and members of the Chamber, but also the landlords who
were there and the realtors. There were
a lot of constructive comments made at that meeting and now this Ordinance will
be public and they will all have that opportunity to look at it again, and,
hopefully, if they have any difficulty with the way it’s proposed, they will
contact one of the Aldermen so we can make any necessary changes. Alderman Schwade.
ALDERMAN SCHWADE: Yes,
I also heard a lot of positive comments about it. We had a meeting, ah, a neighborhood meeting
with about 50 people and since then, we mentioned this and a lot of them are
very much in favor of preserving the neighborhoods and stopping the
deterioration.
MAYOR GREEN: Any
other questions or comments? Roll call.
CLERK DUMAS:
AYE: Brown; Hunter; Epstein; Baron; Williams;
Ciaccio; Swanson; Linneman; Jones; Schwade (You forgot me.); Cox (11)
ABSENT: Hearn; Diersen; Coleman (3)
FIRST READING
ORDINANCE TO REGULATE VACANT BUILDINGS
MAYOR GREEN: Motion
carries. Richard, we’ve got the
Municipal Utility on there and I’m not sure why.
RICHARD SIMMS: You were going
to hold off your presentation..............
MAYOR GREEN: Yeah,
that’s right. Okay. We’re done with Standing Committees. We will move into Report of Officers.
ALDERMAN WILLIAMS: Move
to approve the Report of Officers, place the money into the proper account and
pay the bills in the amount of $354,795.46.
ALDERMAN CIACCIO: Second.
MAYOR GREEN: Motion
by Alderman Williams, seconded by Alderman Ciaccio to accept the Report of
Officers, place the money in the proper accounts, pay the bills in the amount
of $354,795.46. Any questions? Roll call.
CLERK DUMAS:
AYE: Brown; Hunter; Epstein; Baron; Williams;
Ciaccio; Swanson; Linneman; Jones; Schwade; Cox (11)
ABSENT: Hearn; Diersen; Coleman (3)
REPORT OF OFFICERS APPROVAL OF BILLS - $354,795.46
MAYOR GREEN: Motion
carries. There is no Unfinished Business.
Then we’ll move into New Business.
We’ve got the first item is an Ordinance declaring surplus property from
the Collection Department and authorizing the sale thereof.
ALDERMAN HUNTER: Move
to Suspend the Rules that would interfere with consideration of passage of this
Ordinance at this time.
ALDERMAN BROWN: Second.
MAYOR GREEN: Motion
by Alderman Hunter, seconded by Alderman Brown to Suspend the Rules that would
interfere with the passage of this Ordinance.
Roll call.
CLERK DUMAS:
AYE: Brown; Hunter; Epstein; Baron; Williams;
Ciaccio; Swanson; Linneman; Jones; Schwade; Cox (11)
ABSENT: Hearn; Diersen; Coleman (3)
MAYOR GREEN: Motion
carries. Is there a motion to put this
Ordinance on its Final Passage and Pass?
ALDERMAN HUNTER: I so move, Mayor Green.
ALDERMAN BROWN: Second.
MAYOR GREEN: Motion
by Alderman Hunter, seconded by Alderman Brown to place this Ordinance on its
Final Passage and Pass. Roll call.
CLERK DUMAS:
AYE: Brown; Hunter; Epstein; Baron; Williams;
Ciaccio; Swanson; Linneman; Jones; Schwade; Cox (11)
ABSENT: Hearn; Diersen; Coleman (3)
ORDINANCE DECLARING CERTAIN PROPERTY SURPLUS OF THE
CITY
OF KANKAKEE – COLLECTION DEPARTMENT – AND AUTHORIZING
THE SALE THEREOF
MAYOR GREEN: Motion
carries. Next, is the Recommendation to Accept
the Proposal from Kankakee Valley Construction for the 2009 MFT Maintenance
Program for Group 2, Premix Patching Material–Cold Mix. Is there a motion?
ALDERMAN HUNTER: Motion
to approve.
ALDERMAN BARON: Second.
MAYOR GREEN: Motion
by Alderman Hunter, seconded by Alderman Baron to accept the recommendation to
accept the bid from Kankakee Valley Construction. Any questions? Roll call.
CLERK DUMAS:
AYE: Brown; Hunter; Epstein; Baron; Williams;
Ciaccio; Swanson; Linneman; Jones; Schwade; Cox (11)
ABSENT: Hearn; Diersen; Coleman (3)
RECOMMENDATION TO ACCEPT THE PROPOSAL FROM KANKAKEE
VALLEY CONSTRUCTION FOR THE 2009 MFT STREET
MAINTENANCE
PROGRAM, SECTION 09-00000-00-GM, GROUP 2, FOR PREMIX
PATCHING
MATERIAL – COLD MIX
MAYOR GREEN: Motion
carries. Next is the recommendation to
go out for........it’s to deal with the proposal to furnish the Public Safety
Building. As you well know, when we
started this project, this will be the same type of building as the
Administration Building. It’s a green
building. The furnishings will be the
same. We’re ready now to go out to bid
for those furnishings. Not bidding,
excuse me. We’re going out for
the........we’re going to order them.
They will be with the local vendor here which is McGrath-Whalen, I
believe, and it will not exceed $275,000.00.
ALDERMAN HUNTER: Okay,
so that’s your request for the motion?
MAYOR GREEN: Yes.
ALDERMAN HUNTER: Not
to exceed what?
MAYOR GREEN: $275,000.00.
ALDERMAN HUNTER: I
so move.
MAYOR GREEN: Is
there a second?
ALDERMAN SWANSON: Second.
MAYOR GREEN: Motion
by Alderman Hunter, seconded by Alderman Swanson. Questions?
Roll call.
CLERK DUMAS:
AYE: Brown; Hunter; Epstein; Williams; Ciaccio;
Swanson; Linneman; Jones; Schwade; Cox (10)
ABSTAIN: Baron (I have to abstain.) (1)
ABSENT: Hearn; Diersen; Coleman (3)
PROPOSAL TO FURNISH PUBLIC SAFETY BUILDING
MAYOR GREEN: Motion
carries. Next, is.......you have an
Ordinance in front of you that I want to transfer the liquor license which was
formerly held by Johnnies on East Court Street to Bull’s Pit Barbeque over on
West Station Street. That’s license
#14. And, I would appreciate it if you’d
Suspend the Rules that would interfere with the passage of this Ordinance.
ALDERMAN WILLIAMS: I
move to Suspend the Rules that would interfere with the passage of the
Ordinance.
MAYOR GREEN: Motion
by Alderman Williams to Suspend the Rules that would interfere with the passage
of this Ordinance. Is there a second?
ALDERMAN CIACCIO: Second.
MAYOR GREEN: Second
by Alderman Ciaccio. Roll call.
CLERK DUMAS:
AYE: Brown; Hunter; Epstein; Baron; Williams;
Ciaccio; Swanson; Linneman; Jones; Schwade; Cox (11)
ABSENT: Hearn; Diersen; Coleman (3)
MAYOR GREEN: Motion
carries. Is there a motion to put this
Ordinance on its Final Passage and Pass.
ALDERMAN WILLIAMS: I
so move.
ALDERMAN CIACCIO: Second.
MAYOR GREEN: Motion
by Alderman Williams, seconded by Alderman Ciaccio to place this Ordinance on
its Final Passage and Pass. Alderman
Jones.
ALDERMAN JONES:
I have a question. Is this too close to the Salvation Army
church and a homeless shelter that’s right across the alley?
MAYOR GREEN: No,
this is on West Station. This would be
the corner of West Avenue and Station Street.
ALDERMAN JONES:
Oh, I thought it was the
one on Station.
MAYOR GREEN: No,
that way. The other way.
ALDERMAN JONES:
Okay. Okay.
MAYOR GREEN: Yes.
ALDERMAN JONES:
Okay. Okay.
MAYOR GREEN: Roll
call.
ALDERMAN JONES:
I’ve never indistinguishable
of this one.
CLERK DUMAS:
AYE: Brown; Hunter; Epstein; Baron; Williams;
Ciaccio; Swanson; Linneman; Jones; Schwade; Cox (11)
ABSENT: Hearn; Diersen; Coleman (3)
TRANSFER OF LIQUOR LICENSE #14 TO BULL’S PIT BARBECUE
MAYOR GREEN: Motion
carries. Next, is the.......under
Motions and Resolutions, is to accept the Highway Permit and Resolution for
Walgreens at their project at the corner of Court and Washington Avenue.
ALDERMAN WILLIAMS: Mayor
Green, I move to accept the Highway Permit and Resolution for the Walgreens
project.
MAYOR GREEN: Is
there a second?
ALDERMAN CIACCIO: Second.
MAYOR GREEN: Motion
by Alderman Williams, seconded by Alderman Ciaccio. Roll call.
CLERK DUMAS:
AYE: Brown;
Hunter; Epstein; Baron; Williams; Ciaccio; Swanson; Linneman; Jones; Schwade;
Cox (11)
ABSENT:
Hearn; Diersen; Coleman (3)
RECOMMENDATION TO ACCEPT THE HIGHWAY PERMIT AND
RESOLUTION
FOR THE WALGREENS PROJECT AT THE SOUTHWEST QUADRANT OF
ROUTES 17 AND 45/52 – TEI JOB NO. E08025
MAYOR GREEN: Motion
carries. Are there any comments from the
Aldermen tonight? Or questions? Hearing none, we do not need an Executive
Session. I’ll entertain a motion to
adjourn.
ALDERMAN SWANSON: So
moved.
ALDERMAN SCHWADE: Second.
MAYOR GREEN: Motion
by Alderman Swanson, seconded by Alderman Schwade. All in favor, AYE. Opposed, same sign.
MOTION TO ADJOURN CITY COUNCIL MEETING
MAYOR GREEN: Motion
carries.
8:00 P.M.