OFFICIAL MINUTES OF THE CITY COUNCIL

 OF THE CITY OF WEST PEORIA, ILLINOIS

 TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER  25^TH , 2007 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 September 25^th , 2007.

1.  CALL TO ORDER

Meeting was called to order at 7:02 p.m.

2.  PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE

The Pledge of Allegiance was led by Mayor Dillon

3.  ROLL CALL

Alderman Dohm, Alderman Ganson, Alderman Mathewson, Alderman Meismer, Alderwoman Thomas, Alderman Venzon. Also present: Mayor James Dillon, City Administrator John Carlson, City Treasurer Jennifer Main, City Clerk Carole Stephens and City Attorney William Connor.  Alderman Dwyer and Alderman Roberts were absent.

 4. ADDITIONS OR DELETIONS  FROM AGENDA

None

5. APPROVAL OF MINUTES from the September 11^th, 2007 City Council Meeting was made by Alderman Dohm and seconded by Alderman Thomas

ROLL CALL

6. COMMUNITY POLICE REPORT

Officer Chris Watkins reminded everyone to keep your home and car locked up at all times.

Residents have the option of contacting the Sheriff’s Office or  Officer Watkins if you are going  on vacation so they will drive by your home more frequently. To report anything that may look suspicious call 672-6011 for non emergencies or for emergencies call 911.  Know your directions if you would see someone doing something suspicious and make sure you know the direction that they are going in, it makes the apprehending of the suspect a lot quicker.  The Bicycle Patrol is still active until Halloween.  We have not had an issue with the Curfew. The  curfew hours are: 10:00 p.m. on week days and Friday and Saturday it 11:00 p .m. for 16 years and under.

7.  MAYOR’S REPORT

Mayor Dillon reported on the West Peoria Family Day on September 16^th.  The Family Day was very well attended. There were two of the Peoria County Canine Dogs putting on a demonstration. The Fire Department built a two room house,  one with a sprinkler and one  without a sprinkler. The firemen were in their full gear and showed the residents what a fireman would wear into a fire. The firemen then lit both of the houses at the same time. Both of the houses had a smoke detector.  Instantly the smoke detectors went off, and within 5 seconds the sprinkler system went off and put the fire out that was lit next to a reclining chair. After they put the fire out in the second house, they took off the glass front for everyone to see what damage the fire did with out the sprinkler. Last week Representative Aaron Schock  attended the WPRA Meeting, it was well attended.  Rep. Aaron Schock talked on what was going on in Springfield and spent a great amount of time answering questions.  The WPRA said in the near future they are trying to get  more and more interesting people to come and speak at their meetings.

On October 1^st, The Burn Ordinance takes effect.  All burning will be illegal, except if they are having a wiener roast in their yard, you need to call the Sheriff’s Department and if it is actually a fire,  the Fire Department will respond and put it out  and decide whether a ticket will be issued. There is no reason to burn, everyone has yard waste pickup. Mayor Dillon welcomed Jeff Regan as a new resident to West Peoria, Jeff has worked for Waste Management for many years, we are very happy to have Jeff live in the City of West Peoria.  A question was asked to Officer Watkins.  If we see a fire should we call 911 or  the non – emergency number?  Officer Watkins said that if this is a non supervised fire, definitely call 911, if it is supervised, call the non-emergency number most of the time these are not emergencies . 

8. CITY TREASURER’S REPORT

City Treasurer Jennifer Main distributed the 2007 May, June, July and August Financial Reports.

Alderman Mathewson made the motion to approve the Financial Reports for May, June, July and August, seconded by Alderman Meismer.

Discussion.  City Administrator Carlson announced: The Budget is in balance.

ROLL CALL

9. APPROVAL OF RESOLUTION NO. 2007-04  ADOPTION OF PERSONNEL MANUAL  made by Alderman Mathewson and seconded by Alderman Meismer

 Discussion: Throw away your old ones, as not to confuse you and work from your new one.  City Administrator John Carlson said that he will have a staff meeting to go over the changes.

ROLL CALL

10. APPROVAL OF PURCHASE OF LEAF VACUUM FOR STREET DEPARTMENT IN THE AMOUNT OF $15,100 FROM ODB was made by Alderman Venzon and seconded by Alderman Ganson.

Discussion:  Alderman Venzon reported that we had approved a Leaf Vacuum a couple of meetings ago. When Henry went to order the Leaf Vacuum they tacked on quite a bit of money for different things. The price that Henry was quoted was supposed to be the full delivery price, then he found out it wasn’t. Henry decided not to do business with that firm.  This  was his seconded choice, which is basically the same thing,  it is just a different company, this is actually what the other price should have been. This is the reason it is on the agenda again.

ROLL CALL

11. APPROVAL OF PAYMENT TO C&G CONCRETE CONSTRUCTION IN THE AMOUNT OF $2,993.77 was made by Alderman Venzon and seconded by Alderman  Ganson.

Discussion: This is the over and above on the sidewalk program, adjusting out the driveways. It is common every time we have to bring the driveways up to level with the sidewalks.

ROLL CALL

12. APPROVAL OF BID TO TAZEWELL COUNTY ASPHALT TO SEAL COAT ALLEYS IN THE AMOUNT OF $13,494.00 was made by Alderman Venzon and seconded by Alderman Ganson.

Discussion:  Council had approved  S.A. Cullinan to seal coat streets and alleys. These are streets and alleys that Cullinan could not do because their equipment would not fit down our alleys. Tazewell County Asphalt has the equipment to finish the smaller alleys, and it still falls below the total price that Cullinan would have done. We will be saving money and since we went to a different contractor we had to bring it to council for approval.

ROLL CALL

13.DISCUSSION  ON PROPOSED GARAGE BUILDING

Mayor Dillon had City Administrator pass out drawings to all the council members. Mayor Dillon  and Henry Strube met with Mr. Venovich.  We measured everything and he will put together a drawing with some specs so that we can put them out for Design Build for quotes or bids, however it is worded. Mr. Venovich was coming to the meeting this evening with some more details, but got sick. Mayor Dillon said that basically he just wanted to run the council to see if it fits into their idea of what the city garage would be size-wise. In the front is the office, men and women rest rooms,  13’x23’ conference room. The conference room could be used for Residents or Neighborhood Associations.  There will be 3 overhead doors 16’ x 16’ with trench drains and a wash bay.  In this size span we are talking, the bids coming in would be cheaper to use steel.  We are making this building a little bit bigger depth wise so Henry can fit the trucks in with the plows and everything on them, the reason for the bigger doors is in the future we can fit  larger equipment. Alderman Dohm asked if is possible to vary on the sizes when the quotes come in so we don’t have to have custom built trusses?  Alderman Mathewson asked if there will  be storage above the conference room?   There will be additional storage space behind the  rest rooms. It was suggested that it wouldn’t be expensive if we structure the ceiling over the conference room for additional storage for future use.

14. PUBLIC COMMENT

Resident Doris Muller of  2114  Dakota Street addressed the council with a long standing issue. It involves a former employee of the City of West Peoria, Lindsey Neal Zoning Officer. She reported that Lindsey Neal caused her to get a survey that was not necessary at the cost of $675.00. She has been denied reimbursement. Mrs. Muller then read correspondence trying to explain the situation.  Mr. Bill Turner is the actual owner of the property that Mrs. Muller has been trying to buy for many years. She then stated that the property that she is trying to buy needs to be unbundled.  She stated that she wrote a letter and handed it to City Administrator Carlson, where it was referred to Atty. Bill Connor. Mrs. Muller stated that she received a letter from  Atty. Connor saying there was no need for the property to be surveyed.  Mrs. Muller then stated that she put together a letter sent to the City of West Peoria asking for a reimbursement of $675.00.  The City Administrator then forwarded the letter to City Attorney along with the minutes from the Plan Commission Meeting she attended.  Mr. Connor’s  review of those minutes reveals that the Commission voted to approve recommending the subdivision to City Council contingent on Mr. Turner acquiring a plat of the property.  It was further stated in the letter that no one had required her to acquire anything, the requirement was for  Mr. Turner who  was not asked to have the property surveyed he was just asked to provide a plat. Since the lots were already platted when the original subdivision was laid out  he could have simply copied the plat on file with the Court House.  It is possible that this is what the  land surveyor did.  My (Atty. Connor) guess is that the plat was requested  because Mr. Turner stated there were -quote- lots, and the commission neither knew or suspected they didn’t need to approve previously platted lots  being sold in tact. It is the City’s position that it need not contribute to the cost of land survey.  Perhaps if you or Mr. Turner had obtained legal counsel initially there would have not been any misunderstanding.

Mrs.  Muller mentioned that Mr. Turner and herself attended a Plan Commission Meeting on  July 18^th 2006.  Our case was presented, neither Mr. Turner or myself have not  received a copy of the minutes from that meeting, nor were we notified of the decision of the board. Mrs. Muller  stated that she went to City Hall to ask about the decision of the Plan Commission. She thought that Officer Neal was not versed enough for this procedure and failed to used the correct terminology. She said that Officer Neal assured her of the council’s favorable decision. Also, he informed me of the matter to go before the City Council and said that the property would have to be surveyed prior to going to the Council.  We did not ask for a plat Mr. Turner presented a copy of the plat.  I enclosed a copy  with this letter  to the attorney at the City desk  on two occasions, one we started this process and at a later date. Neither John Carlson or Lindsey Neal  accepted to make copies of the material and both agreed that the property would have to be surveyed. They always used the word survey. (this is only a quote from Mrs. Muller.)  On one of the trips to City Hall a name of a surveyor and telephone number was given to Mr. Turner.  It was written on  scrap  paper by a West Peoria Office Support Staff. It is not reasonable to think that we misunderstood what we were told.  I do not think Officer Neal  was well versed in this procedure to get this work accomplished or the  proper  terminology to guide us. I asked Alderman Hazel Thomas to follow up on this.  I received a final letter from Alderman Thomas stating there will not be a reimbursement. 

Atty. Connor:  There is a memo of the summary of this.  Basically it was brought into the City at that time, Mrs. Muller brought me some documents, when I looked them I could tell  very little about the situation.   But as she has done tonight, she consistently used the phrase of  unbundled or split off or words along those lines. So I thought maybe there is a subdivision going on here with that terminology  and of course only the land lord knows what is going on.  We had no idea  what the  deal is with the owner.  When I looked at the documents that she brought they did not answer my questions which was, what is being split off? Of what?   As I dug a little deeper I looked at the actual subdivision plat that is on file with the County and has been for a number of years.  It came clear  to me  that what she was buying and later confirmed it was two of five lots.  They were already platted and divided,  there really wasn’t any need to do anything further.  I don’t know how the Zoning Officer could have figured that out with what she brought him and what she told him, if she told him anything close to what she said tonight. People come to us with our commissions and our approvals they have to let us know what they are doing.  You really couldn’t tell that with what was brought in and I don’t know what she said to the Planning Commission but it sure looks like they didn’t know or suspected that there was no need for it. But they couldn’t tell from what  was presented to them.

At the July Planning Meeting.  Mr. Turner came and wanted to sub-divide, as he presented it, his property so that he could sell off different lots. Is that how he presented it?  Mrs. Muller answered, No, it wasn’t a sub-division.  Mayor said that it was worded that way, because he did want to divide his property.  The Planning  Commission  said that if  he wanted to divide his property and sell off his lots then he would have to abide by the Sub-division Ordinance. Up until that time 2114 Dakota has it’s own Tax I D Number.  Alderman Dohm asked if there is five Tax ID Numbers now.   There is just one, if so, it has to be divided.  The best advice would have been for you or Mr. Turner to consult legal council. It is the property owners responsibility to find your survey stakes and be aware of your property line.  It is not the City’s liability to pay someone  to come out and survey that property.   Atty. Connor said, you don’t need a survey, just get a hold of the Township Assessor, fill out a form and he will split the I.D. Numbers. You don’t need a survey, the land is already divided.  You are buying two of the five lots, as shown on a aerial map.

Township Supervisor Bob DeSutter, told Mrs. Muller to get in touch with Dave Ryan at the Peoria County Courthouse

Mayor Dillon thanked Mrs. Muller for presenting it and told her that the Council will take in under consideration and we will send you a letter and let you know.

Bob DeSutter reminded everyone that the Cub Scouts will be selling popcorn at the South Side Bank this Saturday from 9 a.m. till noon.

15.  DISCUSSION ONLY

a) Lighting District  - Mayor Dillon introduced John Walker, President of the Lighting District.  Mayor Dillon ask for the Council’s Approval or Input.  We will have to have an Agreement drawn up for the City of West Peoria to take over the Lighting District. The Lighting District is almost out of funds.  We will need Attorney Connor to do the legal end of this.  The three people who are representing the Lighting District, who have done a great job, would  continue with an Intergovernmental Agreement working together with the City.  John Walker explained that the Lighting District is a Self Tax Levying Body since 1936. This all transpired this year with the CILCO problem. Our rates more than doubled. At the rate they are doubling, we could no longer be viable  fiscally  and the Lighting District by State Law can only increase our tax levy by five percent per year.  Five percent won’t do anything if you are over a hundred and ten percent increase.  We talked with Senator Koehler and Mayor Dillon and basically the best situation for the Lighting District Committee is to go under the umbrella of the City of West Peoria. The City can do our tax levy and we can keep the street lights going.  The only other way is to increase more than five percent is by a General Referendum.  And we couldn’t have one for two years.  The Board will do everything we do now, the only difference will be the City will incorporate our taxes.  We talked with a Company that does Retro Fit on lighting fixtures and they also represent  Townships, States and Cities, between the city and the governmental body and the Lighting /Power Company.  Thru the newspaper article  it happened to hit the front page, this gentlemen contacted me from Massachusetts. This is basically what he does for a living. He explained that there are a lot of different ways that we can go ahead and incorporate a retro fit on our lighting fixtures.

We have approximately 240 lights in West Peoria, half that are energy conscious, we could make all the lighting energy conscious. He could be our representative for CILCO, we could take over the lights from CILCO and do our own administration or at least have him negotiate for us a better rate. We just got the quote for his fee.  It is up to the Council.

We don’t know as yet if we are going to get a rebate from CILCO.  We also have been pursuing the old pole lights from “74” that CILCO took down, we ended up getting a Public Safety Grant and we purchased the poles for Sterling Avenue. 

 b)  TARGET AREA:  CRIME AND CODE VIOLATIONS

Mical McFarland  passed around hand outs on the Target Areas to pursue a cleaner, safer and more attractive  area in West Peoria. This project involves the community police officer, the code enforcement officer, and a representative from the  Neighborhood Watch Beginning in October, we will focus on Alice Avenue between Western and Waverly Avenues. Later on we will focus on the area around Arthur, Cedar and /or Bergan Avenues.  In the future we may want to comb all the areas in town. We will send out letters to all the residents that are in the neighborhood we are going to visit.

16.  COMMITTEE REPORTS

   A. FINANCE COMMITTEE – ALDERMAN MATHEWSON - CHAIR

 Mayor Dillon commented on our Seal Coating for next year and put something in the contract.  Henry cleaned the streets, and put the NO PARKING  signs up. The contractor did not show up because they were bogged down somewhere, the contractor decided to work on Saturday. Most of the streets that were to be sealed coated had garage sales going. Mayor tried to explain to the residents that the seal coating had been planned  and that the seal coating will happen. We will tow all cars that are parked where the signs read NO PARKING.  We need something to back Henry up whenever seal coating comes up it take precedence over garage sales.

17. PUBLIC COMMENT

None

18. ADJOURNMENT

Motion to adjourn this meeting was made by Alderman Meismer and seconded by Alderman Ganson.  Motion carried unanimously by voice. Meeting adjourned at 8:06 p.m.

West Peoria City Hall · 2506 W Rohmann Ave · West Peoria, IL 61604 · 309-674-1993
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