City Council

Meeting date:

Monday, January 5, 2015

O’FALLON CITY COUNCIL

MINUTES OF THE REGULAR COUNCIL MEETING

January 5, 2015

The regular meeting was called to order at 7:00 p.m. by Mayor Graham who led the Council in “The Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag.”

Philip Goodwin, City Clerk, called the roll: Gene McCoskey, present; Richie Meile, present; Ed True, present; Jerry Albrecht, excused; Jerry Mouser, present; Kevin Hagarty, present; John Drolet, present; Herb Roach, present; Michael Bennett, present; Courtney Cardona, present; Jim Hursey, present; Ray Holden, present; David Cozad, present; Harlan Gerrish, present. A quorum was declared present.

APPROVAL OF MINUTES: Mayor Graham asked for approval of the minutes. Motion was made by J. Mouser and seconded by E. True to approve the minutes of December 15, 2014. All ayes. Motion carried.

PUBLIC HEARING – Mayor Graham opened the hearing at 7:02 p.m. for the annexation agreement with Larry and Elizabeth Fulford for approximately 6.85 acres located at 1117 Old Vincennes Trail, 04-28.0-200-044 and asked for public input. Mayor Graham called again time for public input. Larry Fulford spoke up and said he was dividing the property and will use one lot for his personal residence. Mayor Graham called for the third time for input and closed the public hearing at 7:03 p.m.

RESIDENTS: Mayor Graham invited any resident who wished to speak to come forward.

Ron Zelms stepped to the podium. He spoke of his concern of the lack of transparency between the City and the Council in regards to the letter that was sent out in the water bills. He said the letter stated that public meetings would be held before the City made a decision. He also was concerned about the agenda item in that the Council was considering the deletion of “sell” in the proposed resolution, however Dale Funk had said in an earlier meeting that the Council should leave themselves open for all options.

Michael Lampe stepped to the podium. He spoke of transparency in the process. The timeline and the date of the short list has not been announced or posted on the website. He also asked when the short list would be announced.

Rachelle Jones stepped to podium. She explained that she is on a tight budget and is dismayed that the letter she received in her bill had inaccurate information. She had collected signatures for the petitions and had many questions that remain unanswered about the sale of the water system. She also voiced her concern that the City published a one-sided letter on the website regarding the sale of the water using tax payer dollars.

Kristi Vetri stepped to the podium. She stated that the Council is elected to make good decisions regarding the City. She stated she dropped off the citizen’s petitions this morning to place the public question on the ballot regarding the sale or lease of the municipal-owned water and wastewater systems. She mentioned that the issue was considered under both Morton and her administration and neither one of them could see a cost savings, so they did not pursue it. She stated her concern was the City planned to pursue the sale or lease because of budgetary problems and that is not good management.

Mike Cook stepped to the podium. He asked several questions of the Mayor and Council, and the Mayor asked him if he could submit them for consideration. He asked why the resolution on the agenda had removed the word “sell” as it was discussed in-depth at the last Council meeting. He also asked when the actual language that will appear on the ballot will be disclosed. He asked about the time table of receiving and reviewing the RFP’s would be disclosed. He asked if there was a public meeting schedule yet. He also asked if the Council had made a decision on how they were going to use the money received from the sale or lease. He also believes that the information on the website gives a slanted one-sided view of the sale.

Mayor Graham replied that he hopes we will have some information in the next three weeks. We do not have final bids yet. The Council plans to have public meetings for discussion. He stated all three hundred plus pages of the document will be placed on the website, as we receive it. He said we do not have a budget problem. This is about moving forward. It is about not raising taxes. Currently, our rates have increased more than Illinois American. We have an obligation to protect our schools. Property tax is a system that is used to fund projects like street repair and street lights, but they are not on your tax bill. We want what is best for the total tax-paying base. We are trying to do the right thing. If it is not the best thing for the City, we will not do it. We have not made a decision at this point. All transparency will be out there, as soon as we get it.

REPORTS:

Clerk’s Report: Motion by J. Mouser and seconded by E. True to approve the request from Lifelong Music in O’Fallon Schools to conduct a raffle on January 30, 2015 for cash at the KC Hall at 402 E. Hwy 50. All ayes. Motion carried.

Mayor Graham said he has vetoed the resolution that was passed at the last meeting regarding the public question. He is asking that the Council remove the word “sell”, as we have new information which we consider the sale is not in the best interest of the City. We will discuss this in Executive Session. The Council has the right to overrule him. We do not have all the details to make a decision yet. One of the options of a lease is the City ends up owning the asset, and we would still have control. However, no decision has been made yet.

Mayor’s Report: Mayor Graham called Chief Van Hook forward for the swearing-in of the two new police officers. He said we have the best police force.

Chief Van Hook introduced the members of the Police Commission, Russ Thoman, Rick Reckamp and Horace Humphries. Daniel Hesselbacher is a former Millstadt police officer and O’Fallon police dispatcher and Joseph Wagner is retired military.

RESOLUTIONS: Motion by J. Mouser and seconded by E. True to pass Resolution Item 1 – a Resolution authorizing the Mayor to sign an annexation agreement with Larry and Elizabeth Fulford for 1117 Old Vincennes Trail. All ayes. Motion carried.

Motion by J. Mouser and seconded by E. True to pass Resolution Item 2 – a Resolution approving and accepting a subdivision of land to be known as the “Estates at Old Vincennes Trail. All ayes. Motion carried.

Mayor Graham announced that Item 3 will be acted on after Executive Session.

ORDINANCES:

1^st Reading –

Motion by J. Mouser and seconded by E. True to consider Item 4 on 1^st Reading, an Ordinance amending Ord. 3319, Development Manual, Chapter 155, Appendix A, Ord. 3471 and 3665, Planned Uses, Chapter 158, Section 119; Ord. 623, 3587 and 3786, Signs authorized without a permit.

ROLL CALL: McCoskey, aye; Meile, aye; True, aye; Mouser, aye; Hagarty, aye; Drolet, aye; Roach, aye; Bennett, aye; Cardona, aye; Hursey, aye; Holden, aye; Cozad, aye; Gerrish, aye. Ayes - 13; Nos – 0. All ayes. Motion carried.

2nd Readings –

Note: An Ordinance amending Chapter 111, Section 111.99 remains on hold.

STANDING COMMITTEES –

Community Development: J. Albrecht stated the committee will meet next Monday at 6:00 p.m. at the Public Safety building.

Public Works: R. Meile announced that they will meet January 26th at the Public Safety Building at 7:00 p.m.

Public Safety: K. Hagarty said they will meet at 5:00 p.m. next Monday at the Public Safety Building.

Finance/Administration: Motion by M. Bennett and seconded by H. Gerrish to approve Warrant #316 in the amount of $1,744,937.39.

Parks and Environment: E. True said they will meet January 12th at 5:30 p.m.

EXECUTIVE SESSION: Mayor Graham announced the Council would go into closed session to discuss the purchase, lease or sale of real estate; and setting of a price for sale or lease of property owned by the public body.

Motion by J. Mouser and seconded by M. Bennett to go into closed session.

The Council went into closed session at 7:45 p.m. and returned at 9:13 p.m.

Mayor Graham rescinded his earlier veto of the resolution that was passed on December 15^th regarding the placement of a Public Question on the ballot.

Motion by M. Bennett and seconded by J. Mouser to reconsider the Resolution authorizing the submission of a Public Question on the ballot for the April 7, 2015 Consolidated Election regarding whether the City should lease or sale the City’s water and sewer system.

Motion by M. Bennett and seconded by J. Hursey to amend the question to state “Shall the City of O’Fallon consider only a lease and not the sale of the municipally-owned water and wastewater systems and related assets”?

Motion by M. Bennett and seconded by J. Hursey to pass the resolution to authorize the Public Question to read “Shall the City of O’Fallon consider only a lease and not the sale of the municipally-owned water and wastewater systems and related assets”.

ADJOURNMENT: Motion by M. Bennett and seconded by G. McCoskey to adjourn. All ayes. Motion carried.

The meeting was adjourned at 9:17 p.m.

Submitted by,

__________________________

Philip A. Goodwin

City Clerk

Minutes recorded by

Maryanne Fair, Deputy City Clerk

Proper notice having been duly given

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