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Harrisburg City Council Meeting
The Harrisburg City Council met on October 6, 2011 at 6:00 PM in the Council Room of City Hall Harrisburg, Illinois. Mayor Eric Gregg presided over the meeting with Commissioners Ron Crank, Bart Schiff, Ron Fearheiley and John McPeek answering roll call. Mayor Gregg recognized Pastor Dan Masters from the First Church of God who led the group in prayer and the Pledge of Allegiance. Congratulations were extended to the Harrisburg Junior High Baseball team that won the State Championship today. Commissioner McPeek made a motion, seconded by Commissioner Schiff, to approve the following items under Consent Agenda:
By roll call vote, all voted yes. Motion carried. Mayor Gregg stated the Industrial Subdivision Lot 7 would be covered in Executive Session. Commissioner McPeek moved to approve Ordinance #1600 – An Ordinance Vacating Platted Street as requested by Gabe Angelly and discussed in previous Council meetings. Commissioner Schiff seconded. By roll call vote, all voted yes. Motion carried. Jim Brown of Brown & Roberts addressed Council regarding five parcels for annexation purposes that are completely surrounded. He stated the next move would be to have legal council begin the paperwork for annexation. Brown stated he will have at the next meeting costs for sewer installation at other parcels. Commissioner McPeek moved to instruct Attorney Todd Bittle to proceed with the necessary paperwork to annex the five parcels identified by Brown & Roberts as being completely surrounded by City limits. Commissioner Fearheiley seconded. By roll call vote, all voted yes. Motion carried. (Note: The properties are identified as East of Brook Lane, Old National Bank Property, Marshall Street #1, #2, and #3.) Bob Vancil of Incremental Strategies addressed Council noting the TIF 1 had resulted in a sales tax increase from 2000 to 2010 and the largest share of the City’s income was from sales tax. He noted the “Greystone” (Industrial Subdivision 2 Lot 11 building) was in the TIF district and could benefit from that. Vancil stated the goals for TIF 2 would be to continue to increase the commercial base and focus on trying to make housing more competitive to draw people thereby increasing the population which would, in turn, increase the tax base. TIF 2 would be along the new highway but he is having difficulty getting the correct information from the County. Any workings for TIF 2 would be inclusive of all taxing bodies. Mayor Gregg noted that TIF money has all been spent on infrastructure which benefits everyone. Lu Walker of Walker and Associates addressed Council stating City workers would begin interior demolition on Monday of the Lot 11 building. She would have floor plans available at the next meeting along with a progress report. Bob Vancil presented a resolution to allow for payments out of TIF funds for the upgrades to the Lot 11 building. Commissioner MePeek moved to approve Resolution 11-1006A 2011 Greystone Amendment To The Tax Increment Financing Redevelopment Plan and District for Harrisburg, Illinois. Commissioner Crank seconded. By roll call vote, all voted yes. Motion carried. Craig Gocker of Premcor Refining Group addressed Council asking to have his request to sign a groundwater ordinance and a Highway Authority Agreement reviewed by Engineer Jim Brown and Attorney Todd Bittle concerning property located at Poplar and Skaggs. Previous remediation has been done and these two documents are needed to complete the process. The Highway Agreement identifies the property owner as the responsible party for any soil removal and disposal required by work performed on Skaggs Street. Brown stated he must be given permission by Council to review and his only concern was for the future of Harrisburg. Commissioner Ron Fearheiley moved to have Jim Brown and Todd Bittle review all documents and bring their recommendation back to Council. Commissioner Crank seconded. By roll call vote, all voted yes. Motion carried. Jim Brown asked Council to consider the June 9 review letter from IEPA regarding the sewer plant. He noted several items needed attention that would be costly repairs. The trickling filter was over 50 years old and other units were installed in 1969. He stated there needs to be a plan for addressing the concerns. Commissioner Fearheiley moved to instruct Jim Brown to develop a cost estimate of the EPA concerns. Commissioner Schiff seconded. By roll call vote, all voted yes. Motion carried. Jim Brown wanted to discuss a possible change order for a drain to tie into the new pumping station which could be performed along with the current toe drain project. He explained the grating would need to be installed in order to get an earlier start on pumping for west Harrisburg. He would ask the contractor for an estimate and present it at the next meeting. Fire Chief Bill Summers presented a mobile home permit stating the requestor had met all requirements. He recommended the permit be allowed. Commissioner McPeek moved to allow a Mobile Home Permit for Linda Jean Hart at 1200A East Sloan Street. Commissioner Schiff seconded. By roll call vote, all voted yes. Motion carried. Abbey Reeves presented a resolution for a CDAP Housing Rehabilitation Grant that was the subject of a Public Hearing held prior to Council meeting. Commissioner McPeek moved to approve Resolution 11-1006B. Commissioner Fearheiley seconded. By roll call vote, all voted yes. Motion carried. Treasurer Charles Will addressed Council with a proposal from Energy Systems Group out of Evansville to perform an Energy and Infrastructure Analysis for the City. The assessment is at no charge. Following the analysis, the company will make recommendations, give an estimate of the costs and benefits and possibly enter into a contract for improvement changes or repairs. The company guarantees savings results by writing a check for any difference of projected and actual costs. Commissioner Fearheiley wanted to verify there would be no charge to the City for the analysis and no obligation beyond the analysis. Treasurer Will confirmed that statement. Commissioner Crank announced Flu and Pneumonia shots would be available at City Hall on October 18 from 1:00 to 3:30. Sign up sheets are available in the City Clerk’s office. Commissioner Fearheiley stated the reason to annex certain properties is because the City is trying to provide people with fire and police protection and good streets. He stated the City should look at providing water and sewer but that is not necessarily a given. Commissioner Fearheiley questioned whether or not the City has a credit card. Treasurer Will stated there is not an active credit card. The previous credit card was issued by Old National which no longer issues credit cards. Will stated the City needed a credit card to facilitate efficient payment of bills. He stated that last year the City bought 8 million dollars on credit. He stated a credit card would be used only with pre-approval. It may be needed to court new businesses. The credit cards will be in Will’s possession. Commissioner Fearheiley inquired about the credit limit. Treasurer Will stated he had originally suggested $30,000.00 but the bank had suggested $50,000.00. After discussion, Commissioner Crank moved to apply for a City credit card with a $5,000.00 limit. Commissioner Fearheiley seconded. By roll call vote, all voted yes. Motion carried. Commissioner McPeek reminded everyone about the Fall Cleanup from October 17 to November 4 and the limitations of the Cleanup. Commissioner McPeek moved to allow a banner request from SIC for their Heritage Festival to be hung from October 31 through November 7. Commissioner Crank seconded. By roll call vote, all voted yes. Motion carried. Mayor Gregg stated the Man-Tra-Con projects would begin Tuesday, October 11 at 8:00 am and there was approximately $800,000.00 that would be spent in Harrisburg and asked Council to refer to the letter in their packets. Jim Brown stated there may be some encroachment issues on the north end of Pankey Branch. The cleaning of the area would not be a problem but getting the 3 to 1 slope may be a problem. Superintendent Rick Brown had suggested some trees may have to be hand cut and then hauled off for burning. Because of liability, the City should not allow anyone to come on City property and cut up any of the wood. All property owners have agreed to allow workers on their property to perform the work. Mayor Gregg stated the City will ask union halls to provide heavy equipment operators and some legal work may be required. Gary & Wayne’s Tree Service may have to be engaged for some big trees. Mayor Gregg stated he had already covered some of the TIF expenditures but wanted to state that he was willing to layout on the table where any money has been spent. Mayor Gregg stated the letter in the packet from Blue Cross/Blue Shield was a cover letter and the entire packet was available. The insurance issue was still being worked on for the contracts. Mayor Gregg welcomed Taco Bell that is under construction as well as the Veteran’s building near Walmart. Mayor Gregg announced that Rt. 34 at the railroad crossing in Raleigh would be closed October 18 and 19 for repairs. Mayor Gregg invited everyone to the Ribbon Cutting for the Harrisburg/Eldorado bike path on Friday, October 14 at 4:00 pm. Citizen Cynthia Cummins addressed Council regarding a dog barking problem that had been going on for four years. Some discussion was held regarding what the penalties were and Commissioner Schiff offered to look at the ordinance and rewrite it to include incremental fines. Citizen Jonathon Gericke questioned if the corporate credit card would carry the same fraudulent protection as an individual card. Treasurer Will stated it would. Citizen Terry Maynard asked when the new pumping station would be operable. Jim Brown answered it would probably be in January. Commissioner McPeek moved to enter into Executive Session for the purpose of discussing Sale of Property. Commissioner Crank seconded. By roll call vote, all voted yes. Motion carried. Adjourned 7:20 pm Reconvened 7:43 pm Mayor Eric Gregg presided over the reconvened meeting with Commissioners Ron Crank, Bart Schiff, Ron Fearheiley and John McPeek answering roll call. There was no action to be taken. Treasurer Will asked for a clarification on the credit card. He understood there would be a $5,000.00 limit but questioned the name(s) for the card(s). Treasurer Will suggested that multiple cards were needed in case more than one person needed a card for travel purposes. Commissioner Fearheiley moved to have three credit cards with the names of Mayor Gregg, Treasurer Will and Commissioner Crank. Mayor Gregg seconded. By roll call vote, all voted yes. Motion carried. Commissioner Schiff moved to adjourn the meeting. Commissioner McPeek seconded. By roll call vote, all voted yes. Motion carried. Adjourned: 7:47 pm |
