Council - Regular Meeting

Where are you? This [snorts] is Joe. Okay, we're getting ready here. All right.

Good evening. I'd like to welcome everyone to the East Debuke City Council meeting. It is Monday, February 2nd. I ask that you please turn your cell phones off during the meeting and please be quiet during discussions. Please stand for the pledge of allegiance. I pledge algiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. [snorts]

26-0201 called to order. Bergmeer here. Dagenheart here. Flur here. Meyer. Roby here. Taylor here. Mayor Digman here. Attorney H

here. 26-0202 staff reports, city manager report. Mayor, um you'll see some more progress on the um new station, the emergency services building. The steel is up uh in the alley area, and you can kind of envision uh what it's going to be like when there's the bell hanging up in the top. And um uh we're making progress there. inside the existing fire station. Um the door has been put in the back and we're close. I think they're ready to basically ready to hang the new overhead door. When that happens, we'll be able to put the ambulance in there and have the option of moving um police potentially in there. uh if that works out and then we would so probably at the next meeting we will surplus the building that the police department's in now. Um and then when we have an idea of when that's going to be available to us to sell um we'll put up for sale based on that. Um other than that I think we weathered the cold weather pretty well in terms of [laughter] knocking on wood. Um, so that's what I would have. Thank you. I don't have anything this evening. We'll move on to the alderperson report. Bergmire,

nothing to report. Thank you, Deenheart. I got one. John, John Bonnet out on Route 35 complaining about when they ran the line through there, they screwed up his driveway. He's not happy about it. Want me to bring it up meeting tonight? Okay. Well, we've um had the engineers over with him um multiple times going through it and um and repairing um what what his issues were. So, he's got another issue. We'll take another look at it. Okay. Well, said I'd bring it up. That's all I have. Mayor, thank you. Flu.

Yeah. [clears throat and cough] What was the final uh u money amount on that parking lot down there? I would have to look it up. I can get it for you. But uh it would I think the budget was like 182 is what comes to my mind. But I I would have to look it up what the number is. Not more than that though.

Uh for the No, the um parking lot itself um was on its budget. Um we did the uh storm sewer below in rather than the concrete on the top. Um the other costs in there um weren't what the weren't directly related to the parking lot. The um culvert issue um opening that up is another issue for the city and that was just a a good time to be able to open that up. and what we didn't know that we could have that as accessible as it is until we got in for the parking lot and opened it up. But why?

I'm just curious, you know. Um, another thing is uh [clears throat and cough] how we going to be uh uh um for the streets down in the flats, you know, I've lived down there 20ome years and there's only been one street repaired. That's disordal. Mhm. I think it's time that we uh put some money, you know, start repairing them roads down there, you know. I mean, if we can repair parking lot up here, you know, it's time to start going on down flats.

So, I think the um the street going into uh my names are jumping out of my head, but going to Midtown um has received work. the um and and like I say, I we will be doing streets as we go through. Um when we do the ditch um that'll be the time that we would do the third street. It wouldn't make any sense to do it right now because it's going to be it's going to have to be torn up as part of that. And really the biggest investment in infrastructure that the city has on the books is the um third street ditch. and that's what we're trying to um acrew money for. So I don't think there I we there hasn't been any ignoring of the flats. Um and each time that we've done street projects um the projects have been bought brought and put in front of the board, the council um to decide what the priorities were. Um and so the priorities have been set by this council for the streets that have been done. Well, I think it's about time, you know. So, [snorts]

I mean, when when it comes up, you know, the next go around, you know, just make sure that you Yeah, I think what our budget's going to be coming up here shortly, right? So, I think uh we can start putting money away. You know, if we can find money for bonuses, we sure, you know, sure should be able to find money for the streets on the flats. You know, that's just my opinion. What do you think, Digger?

Well, I I so I think that the um like I say, the the list of streets was brought forward by the public works director and myself and brought to the council and and everybody had a chance to bring up streets at that point um to put on the calendar. um we have done significant street work um and I don't think that um that the flats has been shorted and that as we've gone but we have budgets that go towards streets and and um those aren't the same funds that went toward the parking lot. So those are really two different things. And as for the um bonuses, well the you know we did costbenefit analysis on those things too.

Yeah. Yeah, I just think the next time that we we sit down and and we talk about what streets to to look do, you just be a little more vocal at that point and advocate for your, you know, for the flats. Well, you know, all right, that's all I have. Okay, thank you,

Roby. Yeah, just to play off of Tim here, I know that we've had some engineering done for down in the flats before budget. Could we get a total cost of what like the third street ditch is going to have what that's going to cost to be done? I know we have to reroute a lot of stuff that comes off of Fruit Hill and stuff like that. Can we [clears throat] get like total costs on that? So we could kind of look at I know if if he's like me, I get complaints about those streets down there. That's why I've been very vocal about the flats. So could before budget time, could we get some cost?

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. cuz I think um the goal on the the ditch I think that's the biggest priority we we have cuz that's both it's crumbling and it's the most um offensive to the eye I think of the but if we get some cost then we could look at budget time on what maybe we could do to start the process at least that way it wouldn't cost us um $10 million all at once or whatever it's going to be

that's so we've that's what it it's probably um and I'm getting numbers um and what we're looking at now is I asked them to break it into into two two phases maybe three phases before it's done. Um, one would involve widening the ditch uh to increase its capacity and so that we wouldn't pour the new wall in the same place that the existing wall is, but but it would be poured a few feet further in. And by increasing the capacity that way, we would kind of hit two birds with one stone on on the new wall that needs to be there. and the capacity the capacity is being blunted by the um conduit in there the the pipe and so um the first phase would be to do that. The second phase and and set it up so that you could move that culvert uh in the future and then the second phase um would be moving the culvert. Um, of course we could fix just about everything on capacity except the railroad bridge, which is always a choke point, but beyond that and and the moving the culvert is both an expense in itself, but also the whole um the the culvert then has to hit the river on the other side of the of the dam essentially, the floodgates. um so that it doesn't have to cross over because the crossover is what's creating the damning down there now. So those would be the two major phases of it and those would the other thing that has to happen during that is a new bridge um on Monomony which the new bridge itself would be probably more expensive than

any of the road projects that we've done so far and so you know that bridge has to be replaced in the next couple of years too. Have we looked at have we had anybody come in to give us a price on something like that? Yeah, that's part of the estimate on the estimate. Part of the estimate because um it has to go in it would have to be taken out if you're going to widen the the ditch, too. So, um but yeah, we're talking about, you know, $2.5 million probably in a first phase and and um I don't know what for the second phase. It'll be a lot more than the parking lot up here. [laughter]

Be a lot. I think all those numbers were already put together for the the one grant application, right? That uh uh that we didn't get. Yeah, we had to submit. So like a lot of those numbers, Jean, are already but they're in our back pocket. So I'll have them in front of me and I just like something in front of me when we go to do budget time so we can look at

and because we didn't get that money, we we paired back what we're our goals are with this. And like I said, broke it into phases. Um, so yeah, I can get you that as we're as we get it. We're just kind of going back and forth with the engineer right now to try to nail that down. And then another question. Can we start planning on when we're going to have someone look at the sidewalk here on Montgomery? because we had talked about having that sidewalk lifted, but we were afraid of water being back behind the sidewalk. We kind of [clears throat] start making plans on when we can look at stuff like that.

Yeah. And probably Travis is free when we do it. [laughter] Um, probably the most cost-effective way would be to to raise it up and and try and try it because I think a lot of those inlets are going to need repairing. They're in bad shape. Oh, the Yeah. Yeah, you're right. The inlets would be another, you know, another issue. But as far as the sidewalk itself, um it's probably more cost effective just to raise to to level it and, you know, kind of hope for the best as opposed to engineering a sidewalk. But

the only thing is if we don't if we raise it and there's water that inundates it, we don't have any guarantee on the thing. Yeah. So, are we spending good money after bad? Well, I'm just saying the cost of the the cost of leveling is so much lower than the cost of of the new sidewalk that we keep we'll talk about it, but but it's a it's I'm not I'm not saying we shouldn't engineer it and we shouldn't look at the inundation. That's a that's a separate issue in my mind. But the leveling um you could study the leveling.

I'm not worried about the leveling. And I'm worried about the water inundation along those inlets there because they're in really bad shape. I mean, some of them are that high. They don't have any curb left on them. There's no metal left in the curbing, nothing. And I think that might be causing some of the problems. So, that's all I have. Thank you, Taylor. Nothing tonight. Thank you. City Attorney Hess, nothing to report. Mayor, thank you. Police Chief Kabasic.

Good evening. Uh I just wanted to inform you guys that I received an email through uh the Jodavis County Sheriff's Office, Lieutenant Rabb, and they are going to um run an enforcement grant starting Friday uh Saturday ending Sunday night for Super Bowl weekend. So again, you will see a um influx of deputies in town. Um so please uh don't drink and drive, wear your seat belts, stay off the phones um especially uh during that that time uh due to the step up enforcement on the sheriff's office side. So just figured I'd give everybody a heads up before uh the Super Bowl weekend. If you drink, don't drive, get a ride, please. Thank you. to reinforce we are we're not part of that grant.

We are not. [cough] We're not. Um is the I they uh the grant I forget what it's called asked uh if I would be interested in enrolling in the grant and I responded politely with thanks but no thanks. The sheriff's office already partakes in that grant and uh they send enough of their guys here to partake in that grant. So I didn't think that we needed to do that as well. So I politely declined. So but that's all I have. Thank you. Thank you. Public works director Van Astrin. No. Thank you. Fire chief.

The only thing I got is please let Pam know tonight so she can let me know tomorrow if you're going to be. Okay. And I'm recommending all of us members from the board be there at that fireman's benefit. All right. So, uh, Chief, just to clarify, are you saying I don't have to bring my take my wife out for Valentine's Day? A free meal. [laughter] All right, moving forward. 26-0203 speakers from the floor. George, [snorts] just got a question. [clears throat]

George Murphy, I'm working with a businessman and I'm business. I'm wondering did you adapt the new building codes yet, the 2024 national codes? Uh, we have not taken any action on that. No. Okay, perfect. Thanks. 26-0204 consent agenda. So move. I'll second. Roll call. Bergmmyer. I Dagenheart. Hi. Flur. Hi. Meyer.

Roby. Hi.

Taylor. Hi. 26-0118 discussion and possible action to amend changes to ordinance number 26-0118 and amendment to ordinance 10-3-1 general parking prohibitions and restrictions and ordinance 10-3-10 seasonal sweeping as set forth. So, this is all on the uh third page of that or the second page of the of the actual ordinance. The the only change tonight is what we discussed uh basically last at the last meeting. And so, the only change that we're discussing tonight is what's in red um in uh under G and under um PN1 of E. So, um, the first one, um, wasn't discussed last week, but, uh, well, it was kind of discussed as part of the other of it, but we just decided that, um, vehicles making deliveries is a little easier to understand and covers what we intend to cover than the freight vehicles. And so, um, we decided to put that in there. And then um the other change is the one that um the chair of the committee brought up um that wasn't in here properly last meeting and I said we would put it in here this meeting and that is trailers or commercially licensed vehicles um as defined by the state and requiring that insurance. So um it's just clarifying language under G.

Any questions or discussion? No. Bob and I discussed it earlier this week and we're all good to go. It's just something we had all agreed on so people understand. We had all agreed on in our ordinance committee that this would be put in. Bob and I had talked about it and then he just forgot to put it in. Okay. So, I wanted to make sure it got in there. Sure. Uh, if no further discussion, can we have a motion? I'll make a motion to approve the amendment to the um parking regulations. Have a motion in a second. Roll call. Dagenheart. Flur. Hi. Meer. [clears throat] Roby. Hi. Taylor. Hi.

Bird Meyer.

Hi. On the new business 26-0205, discussion and possible action to approve furniture contract included within the emergency services building budget in the city of East Debuke. Okay. So, this um this is part of the budget, part of the the plan as we um uh as it was approved by the council and um I think we actually went through I brought out the the carpet, wall coverings and all that stuff that we've gone through before. Um so, you can see what um that all looked like. Um this is basically what was contemplated from the start. Um the tables, the folding tables for instance in the conference room are the ones that are designed to fit in the room that we're um we'll have them stored in. Uh the chairs are the stacking chairs. Nothing here is um goes out of its way to you know isn't isn't nothing fancy. But um we did go for instance on those conference chairs um one step up above the cheap ones that would fall apart. And um these are good quality um chairs. I um according to everything we've gotten and um don't look at the pictures on the front of each of these sections because those are not what we're after. Um it's the pictures behind it. And so this is just uh the furniture throughout the building um and um approving the contract to purchase those.

I have a question. I was going to say let's say I was discussion and questions. Is this the only bid we got got for furniture? Um yes, in that this was what was recommended by the architect and the contractor. Um they're really this is the company that does this around in [clears throat] there's other around here, but there's other furniture office furniture places in Debuke, too. So yeah. Um

I just think we should do more than one estimate. Just my personal opinion. Okay. Well, we um the problem is that these folks have to recommend the furniture that goes into the place. And so you're really it's the same as kind of the other contractors that the general contractor brings in. I don't have specs for um for instance the tables that go into the conference room, but if we don't get the tables that fit, you know, the the conference room storage room was designed around these tables because they had to do that at the time that they were designing the building. And so, um that's how it's gone. I know that we've discussed this furniture in the past. Um, and

I didn't know anything was going to be designed around a certain thing. I just think we should have more than one one bid. Yeah. Um, but that's not just up to me. So, let's vote on it. I make a motion to accept. Well, we still had we're still in discussions and questions. Is there any further discussion or questions? If not, we have a motion from Randy. Second. [clears throat] All right. Roll call. Flur. Hi. Roby.

Nay. Taylor. Hi. Bergmmyer. Hi. Tagenheart.

Hi. Moving forward 26- 0206 discussion and possible action to approve ordinance number 26-0206 an ordinance abating the tax hereto for levied for the year 2025 to pay debt service on 3,970,000 general obligation BL bonds alternate revenue source series 2025 in the city of East Debuke. So if you [clears throat] read this as clear as mud, but um what this is is um what we always intended, which is that we won't raise the tax levy to pay the the bonds. We'll build that into our budget with the revenue that the city has. Um, that's that's been our intent, but we have to pass this to prevent the county from adding to our tax levy for the bond repay for the bond repayment um because we'll take that out of our budget. So, it's a technical um thing to to make sure that we are doing this the way that we intended to do it, which is not to have a property tax increase for it.

Any questions, discussion? So, [clears throat] this comes from our bond council. This is a regular ordinance. This comes from our bond council. before they drafted it. Um,

so is this going to be something we will have to amend, [clears throat] excuse me, later on down the road if we end up like next year or the next year raising taxes? Well, it just wouldn't automat this. If we didn't pass this, it would there would be an automatic tax increase. Okay. Um, so it's not saying you couldn't do a tax increase in the future. Um, but it's saying we don't intend to do that at this point as to whether you have to do this every year. I'm I'm not sure the answer to that question.

Yeah, that's why I was wondering if it was an ordinance or and I can't think of the other name of the other word that we Yeah, resolution. That was my question. Is an ordinance necessary or do we just do a resolution?

Yeah. So, I I'm not sure the answer to that, but um it's got to be done. Either way, we want to make sure we don't do Yeah, [laughter] Jean. I think it needs to be an ordinance because we're actually physically sending it to the county in this in this respect. I think is is what they're I think is what they're thinking. I'm not 100% sure. So, it does relate to to tax year 25. So, this is probably something that we'll have to do as a matter of course limited to that tax year. Yeah. Each year. So, it looks looks to me like Yeah. It would be an annual thing. That's because resolutions are good for a year. Yeah. That's why I was wondering what

Yeah, but Pen's right. I think that that's probably why that's why they would do it as an ordinance to Okay. be something we could forward on to the county. Okay. Any further questions or discussion? If not, we need a motion to approve. I'll make a motion to approve it. I'll second. Second. Roll call. Roby. I Taylor, Bergmire. Hi, Denhart. Hi,

Flor. I [clears throat] All right, moving forward. 26-0207 executive session Personnel Matters and 5 ILCS 120/2C2 collective negotiating matters. Need a motion. Move. Second. Roll call. Taylor. Hi. Bergmmyer. Hi. Deenheart. Hi. Fuller. Hi. Roby. Hi.

All right. We'll be going into executive session. I can transfer you in. Just hold on a second. I just need to make sure somebody goes is in the room there to accept your call. This happens.

26-0208 discussion and possible action on matters discussed in executive session. There is no action. So we will move forward. 26-0209. Need a motion to adjurnn. I have a second for a point of information first. Yep. Absolutely. So, where's yours? We've got uh map tubes for sale at city hall. Large, medium, and small. 50 cents a piece. We got a couple hundred of them. Please stop by and pick them up for crafts, arts, or gerbles. post office wants to buy these. Okay.

They're pretty handy to mail something. They don't have anything like this. Okay. All right. We're going to move forward. 26-0209. Motion to adjurnn. I'll second. Roll call. Dagenheart. I. Flur. I. Meer. Roby. I. Taylor. Hi. Bergmmyer. Hi. Okay. We are adjourned. See you later,

Got an idea where to go with him, Steve?

Oh, sure. Stand up.