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Minutes COW 2-15-2010Committee of the Whole February 15, 2010 . 7:00 p.m. A meeting of the Village of Lemont Committee of the Whole was held on Monday February 15, 2010 in the Board Room of the Village Hall at 418 Main Street in Lemont, Illinois. CALL TO ORDER Mayor Reaves called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m. and acknowledged that the following were present: Trustees Ron Stapleton, Debbie Blatzer, Jeanette Virgillio, Paul Chialdikas, Cliff Miklos and Rick Sniegowski were present. Also present were Village staff members Ben Wehmeier, Dan Fielding, Ralph Pukula, James. Brown, Ben Wehmeier, Chief Kevin Shaughnessy, George Schafer, Ed Buettner, Mark LaChappell and Village Attorneys Dan Blondin and Jeff Stein. DISCUSSION ITEMS Discussion of Transfer of Property- Illinois Tollway to Village Staff has met with representatives from the Tollway regarding a small piece of excess property form the I- 355 project at the NE corner of the property adjacent to the Township open space. After talking to the Board and Village Attorney, staff has eliminated a clause stating that the tollway could take the property back, established a timeline for repayment in the event the Village sells the property, and required that only utilities that were recorded maintained their rights. Mr. Blondin stated that the agreement says the Village cannot convey the property for 10 years but could still develop the property and convey it later. The Board did not have an issue with the request. Discussion of Intergovernmental Agreement with Cook County Forest Preserve District Re ag riling Ownership of Water & Sewer Lines Staff has been working with the Cook County Forest Preserve District to complete the project and transfer the utilities to the Village. The agreement includes the execution of a bill of sale for the infrastructure as well as provisions for waiving of tap on fees for the County. It has been past practice for the Village to waive tap-on fees for governmental bodies. As part of the agreement the Forest Preserve District waives all entitlement to recapture. The item would be up for formal approval at a future meeting. Amendment to Liquor Ordinance An inquiry has been received from Montefiore regarding a series of Thursday night concerts over the summer. Service of alcoholic beverages at these events does not fall under the class of liquor license they currently hold. Mr. Blondin suggested a special event license provision to be added to the Ordinance to allow the Mayor as Liquor Commissioner to issue a special event license for such events. The Board was receptive to this suggestion and the ordinance would be up for approval at a future Board Meeting. Discussion of Arm_~Corps Request -Right of Entry for I&M Canal Barrier Construction Village staff has been approached by representatives from the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers about their efforts in the Asian Carp Mitigation Project in the area. The Army Corp will be initiating two projects in the area, one of which directly affects the Village. They are requesting right of entry to construct a permanent dam/barrier in the I&M Canal near Ceco Road to prevent against Asian carp migration during times of flooding. Because this portion of the canal is owned by the State and leased to the Village, the Village has right of permit for the project. Trustee Virgilio asked if they could use the sediment from the proposed dredging project in the downtown for their fill. Mr. Wehmeier stated that the Army Corp did not seem receptive to anything extra since they are on a bit of time crunch. Staff would be contacting the Army Corp again on this request. The Village Board did not have an issue with the request. Financial Conditions Presentation/Budget Status Mr. Wehmeier and Mr. Schafer gave a presentation on the Village's financial conditions over the last 5 years, and projecting the trends forward. As part of this review, the current budget season was reviewed as well. The first part of the presentation dealt primarily with the health of the general fund. Because of declining sales tax revenues, development related revenue and state shared income tax revenues, the Village has been experiencing a draw down in fund balance in the general fund. Administration has been working with each department on rightsizing the expenditures to meet these new revenue projections. These measures over the 18 months include a reduction in force through lay-offs, natural attrition and hiring freezes. In addition, no capital equipment would be authorized out of the general fund. There were also discussions on the Village's health insurance costs, increasing employee contributions and examining other alternatives to bring this cost down. There was also discussion on the current budget and how the expenditures need to be right sized with the conservative projections of revenue. For the future budget, hiring freezes would continue to be in effect and furlough days would be looked into. Staff also made a couple recommendations on revenue producing methods to close the budget gap. A survey showed the Village is below on business licenses and liquor license fees. The Village is also looking into establishing bonding fees for the Police Department. The Board seemed receptive to raising-these fees to be more competitive with surrounding communities, as well as to cover administrative costs. Staff said that financial conditions would be discussed more often in the near future, as some of the policies need to be updated. In addition, as funds continue to be scarce, priorities need to be developed for capital projects and other expenditures. Staff also showed the costs of all special events in town, to include the direct costs of the event as well as overtime and regular staff time devoted to the events. After much discussion, the majority of the Board was in favor of keeping most of the events but reducing them as much as possible. The second part of the presentation looked at some of the project related funds, fund balance in these funds, and the projects going forward for this budget year and beyond. The MFT fund has shown a declining fund balance, but will continue to be cash in/cash out only. Staff recommended using a portion of the funds for eligible general fund operating expenditures such as salt and street lighting. The Road Improvement Fund has also taken a slight hit in fund balance due to overruns in a couple projects and bond payments. A bond will be falling off in the near future in this fund, and the policy will continue to be cash in/cash out for projects. The Downtown TIF is showing a healthy fund balance and is performing well. The TIF facade grant program will be reinstated, marketing funds for matching grant proceeds will be used, and the Talcott Street construction will be taken out of TIF as well in the coming year. Staff will need to establish priorities by creating a master capital plan for the remaining years of the TIF, which is set to expire in 2015. Other planned capital projects include Talcott Street Reconstruction (TIF funded), Main Street Resurfacing (TIF and federal funds), Warner Storm Sewer (Illinois Capital Bill), Warner Water Main replacement (W&S funded), Metra Lot Resurfacing (Metra Fund), I&M Cana} Landscaping (development donation), State Street Water Main Replacement (CDBG funds and W&S), McCarthy/Derby/Archer Phase I local match, Walker/McCarthy Engineering (Road Improvement Fund), Sypglass Resurfacing (Road Improvement), 2nd Street, 3rd Street, Walter, Steepleview resurfacing (MFT). The third part of the presentation dealt with the water and sewer fund. Mr. Wehmeier explained some of the issues the Village has been having with the MWRD and EPA regarding the Village's sewer system. The Village has been meeting with MWRD and IEPA on combined sewer overflows. The Village has been cited with a number of CSO violations from the EPA. In addition, the MWRD has received Sanitary Sewer Overflows (SSO) and has had discussion with the Village due to Village's high flow rate. The Village will be required to work with MWRD to develop a long term control plan to decrease flows to be in compliance. The long-term control plan could be a substantial amount of money, and this would be just to investigate the problems at hand. The capital improvements to the system if flaws are discovered would be even more. As a result, staff is recommending an increase to the flat rate sewer fee. The fee has been at $7.50 per household since 2004 and staff is recommending an increase of $5 per month additional to pay for the ongoing costs as mandated by the EPA. The increase will assist in the engineering fees and the rest would be put into fund balance for future improvements related to the study. In addition to the sewer rate, staff is recommending a take all landscape program through Waste Management for an additional $2 per household. The program would reduce the dumping of landscape 'into ravines, detention basins and storm sewers. In addition, staff will be bringing a grease trap ordinance to the Board at a future meeting. The program would require restaurant owners to have their grease trap cleaned to prevent against the waste entering the sewer system. The presentation was intended to be a financial conditions presentation and provide preparation for the upcoming budget. The full budget presentation will be made during the March Committee of the Whole Meeting. UNIFINISHED BUSINESS Mr. Brown briefly discussed the Tiedt annexation. It was discovered that the parcels being discussed are part of a recapture agreement with Aero Landings and Rolling Meadows. Staff needs to further investigate if this agreement still pertains to these parcels if they are annexed. More information would be available at a future meeting. ADJOURNMENT Mayor Reaves adjourned the meeting at 10:10 PM