Macon Reporter

City of Maroa City Council met Aug. 26.

Here is the minutes provided by the council:

Meeting called to order by Clerk Edwards at 6:30 pin. Roll call taken by Clerk Edwards. Alderwoman

Estep, Alderman Grider, West, Jackson, Wilkey, Administrator Ted Agee and Mayor Meador are present. Clerk Edwards and Treasurer Modro-Peters are present. Alderwoman Bogle is absent.

Clerk Edwards leads the meeting in the Pledge of Allegiance.

Previous Meeting Minutes Clerk Edwards presents the meeting minutes, both open and closed, to the council. Mayor Meador asks if everyone had a chance to look at the minutes. Jackson makes a motion to accept the July 22, 2019 meeting minutes, seconded by West. All council members present vote aye, motion carried.

Clerk Edwards asks for a motion to accept the closed meeting minutes. Grider makes a motion to accept the closed meeting ininutes for July 22, 2019, seconded by Estep. All council members present yote aye, motion carried.

Police Report Chief Gaddy is present. Chief Gaddy presents his monthly report to the council and updated ordinance violations list. Clerk Edwards asks if a certain violator was to be turned into collections and Chief Gaddy states that yes that is correct, it was not paid so it stands. Mayor Meador reads a letter from Everett Hite, he would like to thank the police department for checking on him.

Attorney Report Attorney Jankowicz is present.

Attorney Jankowicz discusses the status of the old Coastal building. Has done some work on the building but there is still more to be done.

Attorney Jankowicz discusses the trailer park, letter have been sent and still waiting for the receipts to be returned or that the letters were not picked up.

Attorney Jankowicz discusses the Tombaugh property, the property is titled in Sue Junkert, Paul Tombaugh and Sean Tombaugh. The moment that Paul Tombaugh passed away, his ownership interest in the property terminated. The remaining interest of the son and Sue Junkert will be notified of a demolition suit to be filed. The bank has no liability for the demo but must be notified. Attorney spoke to Ms. Junkert this afternoon and said that the bank spoke to a city representative and confirmed that there were insurance proceeds to pay off the bank and pay for the demolition fees. The city does have a portion of proceeds but not enough to pay for the fees of the demolition. Sue Junkert and Sean Tombaugh would be responsible for the fees that are not covered.

Estep asks Attorney Jankowicz what the owner of coastal wants to do with the property, it was to be put back in service but not sure what that business would be. The cost to bring it up to code is high but if they want to do that then it would be good for the city.

Engineer's Report Ron Legner, Engineer is present.

Administrator Report Ted Agee, Administrator is present, and he presents and discusses his report.

Agee discusses EPA loan forgiveness programs that may be available to get things done for the water department. Some will require engineer, and some do not. Agee asks the council to give consent for the engineer to start the process to apply for monies. Grants cannot be written until this is done. Engineering costs could be around $30,000. Legner states that it will be water meter replacement for the whole city, repaint and blast the water tower, mixer in the tower to help maintain the chemical balance. Meador asks why we need a mixer now if we don't currently have one, Hoffinan states that it is going to be required in the upcoming time and so we get it now and have installed while we are doing work. It will help keep the sediment from building up on the sidewalls. Generator for the water plant, VFD for the pumps. If we can get this loan forgiveness is up to 65%. Legner states that could get approved at the end of January and it would be for the next fiscal year but not sure of how much they will offer to forgive until that time. Meador asks what is the price tag the city is looking at with all the work to be done? Agee states that we are not sure on pricing until we get all of this worked up. Meador states that we could spend $30,000 for something that we may not even get, Agee states that is the bad part, you may spend it and not get approved for the forgiveness then you would have to take out a bond to get the work done. The projects all need to be done; this is not a wish list. Agee names off all the projects that need to be done for the waterworks. Legner states that one the project plan is approved you have time to get it done.

Wilkey asks why we must have this done in 4 days, Agee states that we are looking for approval so that we can get started and get it submitted by January 1 so that if there are monies left, we may qualify for them. If there is no money left, then we are already in line for the next award.

Council consents to have the matter discussed in a committee meeting and then bring back to the council for full vote. Hoffman states that he would like to have committee meeting every two weeks.

Agee discusses the MFT budget. Wilkey makes a motion to accept Resolution 2019/08/26-Ri, seconded by West. All council members present vote aye, motion carried.

Agee discusses the façade grant for Maroa Auto Sales. Wilkey makes a motion to accept Ordinance 2019/08/26-3, seconded by Grider. All council member present vote aye, motion passed.

Alderwoman Bogle arrives at 7:01 pm.

Agee discusses the sidewalk projects. Bids are in and Doak Backhoe was the lowest bid. Estep makes a motion to accept Ordinance 2019/08/26-4, not to exceed $40,000, seconded by Grider. All council members present vote aye, motion carried.

Agee discusses the demolition of the old water plant building. Price to demo is $16,200. That gets it down to the floor, John Leach is going to do some masonry work to preserve that old sign on the front. Would like to get it tore down and would qualify for infrastructure funds. Wilkey makes a motion to allow demolition of the old water plant building for estimate of $16,200 from Doak Backhoe and pay from infrastructure fund, seconded by West. All council members present vote aye, motion carried.

Agee discusses changing the Newsletter to electronic format and only mail to the ones who would like to have it mailed. Edwards still has the list of those who wanted it mailed. Agee states that many are put into the trash. Edwards states that the newsletter could be done monthly, there would be no charge for the advertising and everyone in town could advertise, no deadline to submit and electronic coupons. Wilkey said he is not opposed, Edwards says that there will be copies available at anytime for pick up and if they are not on the list that they may be added at any time. Edwards states that this will start in January 2020. Council gives consent.

Agee discusses the request for Zoning of the parcel for Pryde Construction and the City. The Ordinance needs to be corrected to I1, light industrial. Meador opened up the floor to Toni Stoutenborough states that she is representing the Zoning Board and that they are the facts finders and they did not have all of the facts. They did not have any of the petitions or any of the permits. Agee said that he explained that there are no permits for this rezoning. Meador states that the agenda is posted 48 hours in advance and if you have questions, ask at that time instead of waiting until the day of the meeting to ask for the information needed. Agee states that he sent out an explanation of what was going on and it was emailed to all the Zoning Board members with the information that they needed. Lee Peters states that he was at the Zoning meeting and not a single person was there with the application of the variance. Mr. Peters states that he called Mr. Wilkey and he stated that they planned on building an asphalt plant, he spoke with Diane Edwards at the window and she said they were planning on building a plant, but it was not brought up at the meeting, Meador states that it has been discussed in open session that they would like to do that eventually but at this time they are not ready to do that. Lane Fredrickson states that he was at the meeting and that Pryde Construction has not been there to represent themselves to ask for this, Cara Pryde introduced herself, Meador states that she was at prior meetings but unable to attend the Zoning meeting due to some personal issues. Wilkey asks Stoutenborough what the Zoning recommendation was, she states it was to approve. Bogle makes a motion to accept Ordinance 2019/08/26-4 as amended, seconded by Estep. All council members present vote aye, motion carried.

Agee discusses the Variance request by Pryde Construction, LLC. Zoning Board recommends approval of the request. Cara Pryde discusses what the living quarters plan is at the site. West makes a motion to accept Ordinance 2019/08/26-2, seconded by Grider. All council members present vote aye, motion carried.

Agee discusses the electricity on Main Street. Hoffman states that he is going to try and go the cheaper route so it will depend on what Ameren says on Thursday.

Zoning/Public Works Mike Hoffman, Superintendent, is present.

Old Business Clerk Edwards discusses the Liberty Festival date, if changes, we stand the chance of not having Vendors since they plan to be here the weekend before. Meador asked if anyone had an opinion. Council gives consent to have the Festival on June 27, 2019 and the Family night will be on June 26, 2019. Edwards states that she will book Angie for the fireworks.

Clerk Edwards discusses the IML cost and requests an increase for expenses. Currently at $881 without tax on the room added. Council gives consent to $1,200 with receipts. Clerk Edwards thanks the council.

New Business Clerk Edwards presents the council with the 2020 meeting dates. Edwards makes note of the two Tuesday dates that are because of having the early meeting, the attorney is not available on Monday but is available on Tuesday, so there are two meetings that will be on third Tuesday. Edwards says that it was suggested to have two meeting a month, council does not want that. Wilkey makes a motion to accept the 2020 meeting dates, seconded by Jackson. All council members present vote aye, motion carried.

West discusses the leaf pickup program. Have the option to purchase a used leaf vac from City of Clinton for $5,000. Wilkey makes a motion to purchase leaf vac from the City of Clinton/Street Department with Ted Agee, Administrator, to sign the intergovernmental agreement, for purchase price of $5,000, seconded by Grider. All council members present vote aye, motion carried.

Citizen Comments Karen Fredrickson discusses the projects that the Maroa United Methodist Youth Group would like to do, and some community service projects they would also like to do. Council gives consent for these projects and they will let us know if they need any assistance from the City.

Lane Fredrickson discusses a LED sign at the church. It is being donated and would like to know what they need to do, council consents to waive the sign permit fee. Lane states that they will be willing to post things happening in the city as well as church happenings.

Richard Young asks for clarification on the trailer park, the owners of the trailers are getting a notice or who, Jankowicz states that the letters went to the registered owners or taxpayer. They will only go to those who are in violation, not everyone in the park will get a notice.

Richard Young states that the city guys did a great job on getting the Tombaugh property cleaned up.

Committee reports

Bills Clerk Edwards presents the bills to the council. Mayor Meador asks if everyone has looked at the bills, West asks why there is another bill for air conditioning at City Hall, Hoffman states we have a lot of air conditioners. Agee states that there have been three different ones to go out. Estep makes a motion to pay the bills with the additions, seconded by West. All council members present vote aye, motion carried.

Closed Session Wilkey makes a motion to move to closed session for 5 LCS 120/2 c(1) appointinent, employment, compensation, discipline, performance or dismissal of specific employees of public body, seconded by West. All council members present vote aye, meeting moved to closed session at 8:23 pm.

Return to open session at 8:35 pm.

Adjourn Mayor Meador asks if there is a motion to adjourn, Jackson makes a motion to adjourn at 8:35 pm, seconded by Wilkey. All council members present vote aye, motion carried. Meeting adjourned at 8:35 pm.

https://maroaillinois.gov/file/655/8.26.2019%20Meeting%20Minutes.pdf