FINANCE AND ADMINISTRATION
MINUTES
Monday, September 25, 2006
Minutes of a regular meeting of the Finance and Administration Committee of the City of O’Fallon, held in the Mayor’s Conference Room, City Hall, 255 S. Lincoln, O’Fallon, Illinois on September 25, 2006. CALL TO ORDER: Time: 5:30 p.m.
ROLL CALL: MEMBERS _Medford - X____ _Reckamp - X ____
_West - X ____ _Drolet - X____
_Grogan - X____
STAFF LIAISON: Dean Rich, Pam Funk, Walter Denton, Alderman Albrecht Alderman Schmidt . ______________________________________________________________________.
Approval of the minutes from August 28, 2006 _______________________
Item 1 Savannah Hills Special Service Area (SSA)
Savannah Hills has submitted a SSA for council approval. As a background – over two years ago the area along Old Collinsville Road was just beginning to interest developers. H & L Builders and their developer were talking with St. Clair County and Caseyville Water about a development to be called Savannah Hills. O’Fallon was not yet Home Rule, we did not have our 1 ½ mile control ordinance in place and we did not have an annexation path to the property in question. In order to get the developer to sign a pre-annexation agreement, the council agreed to establish a Special Service Area for the development to cover the sot of infrastructure. This SSA is different than the business SSA’s the City has approved. Under this SSA, the City
acts as a conduit for the developer to get to the tax free bond market. The SSA has a $6,000 annual fee to hire a CPA firm and the bond holder will become the lien holder. This SSA does not and shall never constitute indebtedness to the City. The City cannot be sued or liened. Discussions centered on why we were doing this SSA – we have already approved it in the pre-annexation agreement, what are the liabilities – none anyone can think of. Alderman Drolet asked to be counted as abstains until he could look at the pre-annexation agreement and think about the whole concept. Alderman Medford moved to take the agreement to council, second Grogan, 4 ayes, 1 abstains.
Item 2 Prompt Bill Payment
This is an amendment to the water payment ordinance which was signed in August, 1957. Lots of things have changed in the past 49 years including automated billing. With our current system we have a variety of options and this ordinance will allow a streamlining of the current billing process and allow the City to send out one bill rather than several. In addition, it gives the City the ability to place all bills on the same level and be able to refuse water to someone who refuses to pay another council authorized City bill. Without this ability our only recourse is to place a lien on the property and proceed through the court system. Alderman Drolet wanted to know what would keep the City from cutting off people’s water if they could not pay. Director of
Finance assured the committee that the City never turns off anyone’s water if the resident has a hardship and is willing to work with the City on a payment plan. This is directed at those who refuse to pay and will not work with City. This has averaged 10 or less per year. Alderman Reckamp moved to approve the amendment, second Grogan, all ayes.
Item 3 Business Registration Amendment
The original business registration was approved in 1999 and required all businesses to register annually in the month of April. Over the past 7 years the number of businesses has grown to over 700 and with the food and liquor licenses the total number is approaching 900. This is a tremendous workload for the Clerks office in one 30 day period. This amends the current ordinance and changes the original language to read annually on the anniversary date the business started in O’Fallon. This will spread the workload to approximately 75 per month on the average versus 900 in one month. Motion approved Medford, Second Grogan, all ayes.
ADJOURNMENT: 6:05 p.m._________ PREPARED BY: ___Dean Rich _
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