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OFFICIAL MINUTES
OF THE WEST PEORIA CITY
COUNCIL
AUGUST 11, 2009
AT 7:00 P.M.
WEST PEORIA CITY HALL
2506 W. ROHMANN AVENUE WEST
PEORIA IL
A regular meeting of the
City Council of West Peoria, Illinois was held at the West
Peoria City Hall on August 11, 2009.
1.
CALL TO ORDER
Meeting was called to
order at 7:00 p.m. by Mayor Dillon
2. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE
The Pledge of
Allegiance was led by Boy Scout Danny Kerns.
3. ROLL CALL
The following members
were present: Mayor Dillon, Alderman Dohm, Alderman Dwyer,
Alderman
Ganson, Alderman
Mathewson, Alderman Meismer, Alderman O’Neill, Alderwoman
Thomas,
Alderman Venzon, City
Administrator Carlson, Attorney Connor, Economic Developer
Pratt, City
Clerk Stephens. Also
present: Township Supervisor DeSutter, Plan Commission Jason
Barth,
Barb and Dan Kerns
with three children.
4.
ADDITIONS TO OR DELETIONS FROM AGENDA
None
5. APPROVAL OF MINUTES
Minutes from the July
28, 2009 City Council Meeting was made by Alderman Dohm and
seconded
by Alderwoman Thomas.
No Corrections:
ROLL CALL VOTE
Ayes – 8 Dohm, Thomas, Dwyer, Ganson, Mathewson, Meismer,
O’Neill,
Venzon
Nays – 0
Absent – 0
Motion Carried
6. COMMUNITY POLICE
REPORT
Deputy Chris Watkins
reported on the number of unlocked vehicles that are being
burglarized in West
Peoria in the last 10
days are on top of the hill. There are no suspects. We have
had reports on garage
break- ins. The County
is stepping up the Bike Patrol in West Peoria to two nights
a week. A
pedestrian was hit in
a hit and run accident on the corner of Heading Avenue and
Waverly Avenue.
He was not seriously
hurt. We know it was a grey/silver VW Jetta. If you see a
car that matches this
description write down
the License Plate number and the location. Call me and I
will handle the
investigation.
The Night Out
against Crime is August 22 from 4:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. at
the Franciscan Park
There will be:
Canine Demonstration
Bicycle Rodeo
Illinois Cycle employee to
repair bikes
Kids ID
SWAT Bear Cat
Mayor Dillon
said that Haddad’s donated all the hot dogs and buns for the
Night Out Against Crime
and asked
the Aldermen if they will help with the hot dogs and chips
that will be given out. A letter
was sent to
all local businesses in West Peoria asking for a donation to
help buy the six bicycles that
will be
given way by raffle.
7. MAYOR’S REPORT
Mayor Dillon said
that he put a letter in the entire Alderman’s mail box
inviting them to the “MAIN
EVENT” Kick Off.
This is the Illinois American $3.2 Million Water Main
Replacement Program in
the Peoria Area
and they chose to do the Kick Off in West Peoria.
This event will
take place at 10:00 a.m. Wednesday August 26, 2009 at
Fairway Drive and Sterling
Avenue (by
Madison Golf Course).
Mayor Dillon said
that he attended a Illinois Community Coalition Meeting last
night, this will be a
Monthly group, it
involves mainly under age drinking. This began at Bradley
University after some
Of the accidents,
the people involved in this Coalition are mainly from Law
Enforcement, Bradley,
The Business Community
and me because of the political side and the bars on
Farmington Road. The
meetings are
quite lengthy and interesting. They are still in the
planning stages, the group has been
working together
on this for over a year. This is a great group and they are
trying to do some programs
in the future for
the High Schools in the area.
Illinois American
signed the Agreement now it is in the hands of the Illinois
Commerce Commission to
take of the Water
District in the Stever District
Mayor Dillon said
that in the last two weeks the Gravel Pit below the hill
does a lot of recycling
because of the I
74 Project and working 24 hours a day they were hauling into
the gravel pit 24/7
(this was to be a
two week time frame). Some of the residents on Rhodora St.
were upset with the truck
traffic. There
was a guard put on the gate, slowed the trucks down, they
did everything they could do
except stop the
trucks. They are an approved site for IDOT to dump. The
County was notified, the
State Police was
notified. There was no problem with the State Police, but
West Peoria found out after
the fact; after
residents started to complain. The residents thought we knew
about this and that we
didn’t bother to
tell them. I asked to the owner of the Gravel Pit that if
this happens again let us know
so we can warn
the neighbors about the truck traffic at night.
Mayor Dillon said that
he will be attending the monthly EDC Meeting tomorrow.
Alderman Dohm asked
the Mayor if the Illinois Water Company is going to take
over.
Mayor Dillon said the
Illinois American is going to take over; they will dissolve
the Stever Water
District and Illinois
American Water Company is going to hook up at the end of
Market Street. They
will put in a pressure
reducing valve and approximate 800 feet of new 8 inch water
main.
Alderman Dohm asked if
they are eventually going to eliminate the well.
Mayor Dillon said the
well will be tapped. Then each individual house will have a
meter vault put in
front of their
home. The idea is that over the next five years that they
will replace almost all the water
mains down
there. There could be some cost to the property owners;
this is yet to be determined.
They estimated t
until is all approved and they put it out to bid again they
won’t
know exactly what
the total cost is. Illinois American will put up in the
neighbor $140,000 and the rest
will be paid by the
home owners and this is where the City agreed to do a
Special Service Area similar
like we do the
sidewalks to assure this would get done and over a period of
time pay the City back on
their taxes.
8.
PUBLIC COMMENT
1. Township
Supervisor DeSutter reminded everyone about the Boy Scouts
Ice Cream Social held on
August 20th
at the West Peoria Fire Station from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00p.m.
Donation is $2.50 for Ice
Cream, Cake
and a Drink. You can buy tickets tonight or at the door.
2.
Barb Kerns from the Bailey Group - Woodridge Building Barb
Kerns gave her synopsis of the
Woodridge Building and TIF Agreement from 2004 thru 2009.
Barb Kerns is requesting that they
will be
retro-active reimbursed from 2005 to 2008
Mayor Dillon said that
questions to Barb Kerns can be asked when we come to Item
10.
Bailey Group
Redevelopment Agreement on this agenda.
9. MOTION TO
APPROVE THE BID FROM CJL LANDSCAPING, INC FOR THE WELCOME
WALL LANDSCAPE IN
THE AMOUNT OF $13,191.25 (LINE ITEM 0 1-11-517
MAINTENANCE
SERVICE GROUNDS)
was made by Alderman Mathewson and seconded by
Alderman Ganson
Discussion: Economic
Developer Pratt received 2 Landscaping Bids for the Welcome
Wall and
Submitted them to the
City Council. CJL Landscaping came in with the lowest bid.
ROLL CALL VOTE -
Ayes – 8
Mathewson, Ganson, Dohm, Dwyer, Meismer, O’Neill, Thomas,
Venzon
Nay- 0
Absent –
0 Motion Carried.
10. BAILEY
REDEVELOPMENT AGREEMENT
Alderman Mathewson said
that he has three motions to make.
A MOTION TO
APPROVE THE FIRST MOTION TO AMEND THE TIF AGREEMENT
WITH THE
BAILEY GROUP TO MAKE THE FIRST PAYMENT RETRO-ACTIVE FROM
THE TAX
YEAR 2005 IN THE AMOUNT OF$4,053.99
was made by Alderman Mathewson and
seconded by
Alderman Dohm.
Discussion
Alderman Mathewson said according our TIF Attorney to make
this retro-active we have
to amend the TIF
Agreement.
Alderman
Mathewson said that tonight the Council will vote to amend
the Agreement that was signed
by both
parties. Our TIF Attorney said that if this happens and they
will write a new amendment then it
has to come
back to Council for another vote by Ordinance. If it doesn’t
get voted tonight then it drops
at this
point. The Bailey Group has asked the Council to vote on
each year separately.
The first
motion which is for the motion I just made is for 2005 tax
year in the amount of $4,053.99.
The second
motion is for the 2006 tax year in the amount of $4,372.54.
The third
motion is for the 2007 tax year in the amount of $4,477.54.
The numbers
are different than the ones that Barb Kerns had, these are
the numbers we received from
our TIF
Attorney from Thomas Jacobs. Tonight’s vote is just to amend
the Agreement and the first
motion was
just to amend it for the first tax year.
If you have
any questions we will call on Economic Developer Gene Pratt.
Mayor
Dillon explained that the forms were sent back to the City
and they only had 2007, because
they
normally go back one year and that is when Dan and Barb
Kerns were notified. The Kerns called
and said
they thought this was going to be retro-active.
City
Administrative Carlson said if the Kerns had signed the
agreement in 2008 when it was prepared,
they would
have been paid then, but they did not sign it until 2009.
Alderman
Dohm asked that the actual Ordinance we have in place
specifics just one year?
Alderman
Mathewson said that specific that it starts this year when
both parties have signed the
Agreement.
The City actually signed in 2008 and the Kern’s waited until
2009 to sign the Agreement.
so that
starts the actual time.
Gene Pratt
agreed.
Alderman
Dohm asked so what we are doing is retro-activating three
years.
Alderman
Mathewson: Yes this is what they are asking for.
Alderman
Dohm: Will we have to rewrite our Ordinance or amend it?
Alderman
Mathewson: We will amend the Ordinance.
Alderman
Dwyer asked what does the amendment do? My concern is the
precedence we are setting.
City
Administrator Carlson: This will never happen again, because
we couldn’t have an agreement up
front the
TIF was not in place when they purchased the building.
Alderman Dohm
asked if the City has any applicants at this point for TIF
Funding.
City
Administrator Carlson: yes
Alderman Dohm:
Will they have the same opportunity to do the same thing.
City
Administrator Carlson: No.
Resident Sharon
McBride spoke on behalf of the Bailey Group and asked that
the Council be
favorable.
I feel that the Bailey Group remodeled the Woodridge
Building in good faith and respect
what they
have done for West Peoria I hope you honor their request.
Alderman Meismer said that this comes down to one question,
which I asked a week ago and was
not given the
same answer. About a year ago someone met with Jim, Gene,
John, Rocky and Mical
to discuss
the TIF Agreement the Agreement would be retro-active is
this true? Did you promise that
the Agreement
would be retro-active?
City
Administrator said there was never a promise. First of all
we don’t have the authority to make
that kind of promise.
Alderman
Dohm: I thought this was taken care of three months ago, a
done deal.
City
Administrator Carlson said that this was approved by the
Council in November of 2008. We
talked to
the Kerns not long after this. We did not hear from them
over the holidays. I called Dan
in
February, 2009 and said that we were prepared to pay. We
didn’t hear anything back until
March 17,
2009. In April the Kerns were told that if they didn’t sign
the Agreement, it would be
withdrawn.
Mayor
Dillon explained that the City Council had voted on the
Agreement and gave this to Dan and
Barb Kerns
to sign and they wanted it changed after the fact with their
memorandum which was too
late
without rescinding it and starting over.
City
Administrator said that in their memorandum there is no
mention of retro-activity.
Mayor
Dillon said about a month ago the City was notified by
Thomas N. Jacobs that the paper work
was done
and the City had some paper work to be done and the Council
would be voting on the 2007
amount. We
tried to notify them, but they were out of town. We met with
them when they got back.
This is the
reason for the 2007 Agreement it was ready to come to
council by Thomas N. Jacobs. Dan
and Barb
Kerns wanted the 2005 and 2006 added to it.
Mayor
Dillon asked if everyone understands the first motion is for
the 2005 TIF Agreement.
ROLL CALL
VOTE Ayes 3 Dohm, Dwyer, Thomas
Nays 5
Mathewson, Ganson, Meismer, O’Neill, Venzon
Absent – 0
Motion Denied
MOTION
TO APPROVE TO AMEND THE TIF AGREEMENT WITH THE BAILEY
GROUP TO
MAKE PAYMENT FOR THE 2006 TAX YEAR IN THE AMOUNT OF
$4,372.54 was
made by Alderman Mathewson and seconded by Alderman Dohm.
No
Discussion
ROLL CALL
VOTE Ayes 3 Dohm, Dwyer, Thomas
Nays 5
Mathewson, Ganson, Meismer, O’Neill, Venzon
Absent
– 0 Motion Denied
MOTION TO
APPROVE TO AMEND THE TIF AGREEMENT WITH THE BAILEY
GROUP TO
MAKE PAYMENT FOR THE 2007 TAX YEAR IN THE AMOUNT OF
$4,477.54
(Line
Item 15-00-503 Commercial Renovation Program)
was made by Alderman
Mathewson and
seconded by
Alderman Dohm.
No Discussion.
ROLL CALL VOTE
Ayes 5 Mathewson, Dohm, Dwyer, O’Neill, Thomas
Nays 3 Ganson,
Meismer, Venzon
Absent –
0 Motion Carried
11. MOTION TO
APPROVE FINAL PAYMENT TO STARK EXCAVATION PRESENTED BY
HERMANN &
ASSOCIATES LLC IN THE AMOUNT OF $2,175.00 FOR MARKET STREET
IMPROVEMENT
(LINE ITEM 01-41-860)
was made by Alderman
Venzon and seconded by Alderman Ganson
ROLL CALL
VOTE Ayes – 7 Venzon, Ganson, Dwyer, Mathewson, Meismer,
O’Neill, Thomas,
Abstain – 1 Dohm
Absent –
0 Motion Carried
12. DISCUSSION ONLY
United Disciples
Christian Church
City
Administrator Carlson advised the Council that the closing
between the City of West Peoria and
The United
Disciples Christian Church will be closing no later than
August 24, 2009.
Mayor said the
Joint Building Committee met and will meet again very soon.
The minutes are posted
on the Web
Site. The topic of the Building Committee was how we are
going to finance the renovation
of the church. We
have asked our CPA, Eric Jones and Rich Firebaugh for their
advice so we can
move forward.
13.
COMMITTEE REPORTS
FINANCE COMMITTEE
The Finance Committee met
August 4th. The Committee worked on the Welcome
Wall, went over
some of our goals and
discussed the Church. We have two more business looking into
the TIF,
they will be coming up to
the Committee very soon. We went over all the bills. Our
next meeting will be September 1st at 5:30 p.m.
at City Hall.
LAND USE COMMITTEE
The Land Use Committee has
not met since the last City Council Meeting. Our next
meeting is
August 19th, at
6:30 at City Hall.
PUBLIC SAFETY
COMMITTEE
The Public Safety Committee has not met since the last City
Council Meeting. Our next meeting is
August 19th
at 5:30 at City Hall.
TRANSPORTATION
COMMITTEE
The
Transportation Committee has met since the last City Council
Meeting. Our next meeting is
August 13th
at 6:30 at City Hall.
14.
PUBLIC COMMENT
Barb Kerns asked if the
motion for 2007 that passed tonight is retro-active or do I
have to go back
and have it amended.
Alderman Mathewson said yes
an Ordinance has to be passed in order to amend the
agreement.
15. ADJOURNMENT
Motion to adjourn this
meeting was made by Alderman O’Neill and seconded by
Alderman
Ganson. Motion
carried unanimously by voice. Meeting adjourned at 7:42.
_______________________________
Carole Stephens
City Clerk |
