Village of Cambridge Committee of the Whole met September 18.
Here is the minutes provided by the Committee:
Call to Order: 6:00 pm Meeting Adjourned 8:00 p.m.
а) Attendance
Present
President Margie Martin X Present
Member Jason Beam Χ Present
Member Dick Burns Χ Present
Member Jason Gustafson Χ Present Via Phone
Member Logan Hamilton Χ Present
Member Amanda Johnson X Present
Member Mike Wignall Χ Present
Admin Dwaine Van Meenen Χ Present
Admin Assist Virginia Reed Χ Absent & Excused
Community Attorney Stacey Carey X Absent & Excused
Village Clerk Paula Pool X Absent & Excused
Village Attorney Bill Cleaver Χ Absent & Excused
Audience Lisa Hammer Χ
Public Comments - Limited To 5 Minutes Per Person
There were no public comments offered.
I. Parks
a) Status of College Square Park Pavilion Project
Jason Beam had a resident phone him with their displeasure of where the pavilion would be located at and was most concerned for parking for senior citizens. Jason explained why the location was chosen and the fact that we are going to use the baseball diamond for slightly older kids in the future and the new location will allow for that. However Jason said he would bring it up for discussion at the next committee of the whole meeting. Amanda said she too was approached by a person about the location but after explaining them the reasons why that they were fine with the decision. Jason Gustafson said we could designate a handicap parking along East Street to help out with parking for the handicap. Everyone agreed that this was a good idea. Dick Burns also said he liked the new location better because it improved the view of the park. Jason B. noted someone had painted white lines in the grass in the park where the original site was located but at this time we have no idea of who did and the reason why. Jason B. reports that the Henry County Fair Board is willing to remove the old wooden bleachers at Hand Park. If they can do this fairly soon it will allow us to pour cement yet this fall for the new aluminum bleachers that are planned to be purchased next spring prior to the start of the baseball season. There are plans that the Ridgewood girl’s softball team will play four games there next year. Dwaine will negotiate with BSN and any other vendors for the purchase of the bleachers. Bleachers will be shipped unassembled so they will need to be assembled after they get here.
b) Request for Night of the Homeless - CSP The Cambridge LEV, JKB and FCA groups have requested the use of College Square Park the night of October 7, 2017 for an event to raise awareness and raise funds which will be donated to the Christian Care Center in Rock Island, Il. Committee has no problem with this request.
II. Water/Sewer
a) Dwaine said we received the final Tonka pilot water study report and it is being forwarded to the ILEPA for their review and approval. Results were favorable. Tonka test equipment is still located in Cambridge awaiting the IEPA review.
b) Results test at 10 homes that have copper and lead water lines running into their homes were tested for lead/copper in their drinking water. All 10 tested favorably that there was no lead in the drinking water supply.
II. Streets And Alleys
a) Update on Tree Committee Grant and Status of Project- Logan indicated that a check for approximately $3,000 was being mailed to cover purchase of 27 or 28 trees. Steve's Nursery of Geneseo will be supplying the trees for us. A variety of 21 trees will be planted on the boulevard with the remaining 7 or 8 trees being planted around town at sights to be determined. The 7 or 8 trees will be Red Oak and will be 1” in diameter and be 8' tall. The cost of the trees will be on average $100 to $130 per tree. They still need to set up planting date and coordinate that with the Cambridge FFA chapter as they will assist with this project.
b) Set Trick or Treat Hours- Recommendation will be to set October 31 from the hours of 5:00 pm to 8:00 pm as trick or treat hours in Cambridge.
c) Review vacating alleys-Dwaine made the committee aware of a request to close an alley off of Depot Street running South and West. The cost to vacate an alley is being determined by our attorney. After that has been determined the person requesting this will be asked to go to all of her neighbors letting them know what she requested and also let them know what the cost will be to do this. After that a public hearing will be set with the planning committee about vacating this alley.
IV. Economic Development
a)Review of Henry County Economic Funding-
Dwaine says that he will be seeking an approval of funding ordinance that will be a 3 year agreement to support the Henry County Economic Director Position. The annual cost will be based on our population which right now is at 2,160. Jason B. asked if all of the communities had to commit to this and if you could back out once the agreement is signed and the answer it is a 3 year commitment and no you cannot back out of it. There has been much gained in Henry County between the various communities having city and village administrators recently and I am happy to report that both Kewanee ($13,000) and Geneseo ($6,500) will be contributing to this position as wellsomething that has never happened in the past.
b) Review Status of Enterprise Zone Application Henry County Enterprise Zone application was not accepted. There were 13 applicants. Henry County was number 8 ahead of the Quad Cities and Deere as they were number 9. DECO only awarded 6 applicants EZs in this round out of the 13 applicants. We will have to now wait until the next round of applications before we can apply again. The top EZ applicant scored 284 points out of 420 points. Henry County score was 237 points.
d) Update on business opportunities - Dwaine updated that Edwards Ready Mix was beginning construction of their new plant in the Commercial Subdivision and so was Phoenix Ballistics. Great to see this happen. There are 20 businesses that have signed up to be sponsors for this year's program. That is an increase of 2 businesses over last year's participants.
V. Finance
a) Review Preliminary Bills List. Preliminary bills were reviewed with no comments.
b Review of August Financial Statement. Intergovernmental income is up year to date $12K, We are doing a good job collecting receivables as our late fees and administrative income revenue is below targeted budget amounts. Revenue year to date is running 94% of budget. Expense wise we are over in spending for various storm drainage projects by $6K. Overall expenses are below budget by $16Kytd. Cash flow still remains positive ytd by $165,081.
c) Review donation requests- Two requests are going to be considered but further information is being sought before the requests will be considered for funding.
d) Review quotations for Surveillance cameras. Quotes have been received from ET Communications, TriCity Electric and Global Wireless. Logan Hamilton did not feel the bids were comparable at this time and he asked Dwaine to go back and get with the companies and have them bid the same specs. After comparable quotes are received they will be considered for awarding. Jason B. wants to have the capability to add a camera to cover future evidence room surveillance. Dwaine will go back to the vendors involved to seek new quotes.
e) Review from AZavar Government Solutions-Dwaine explained that AZavar is basically an auditing company that will come and review the revenue we receive from companies such as Ameren, Mediacom, and telecommunication companies to make sure we are receiving the appropriate amount of taxes from what they collect from residents. For example they would review the resident portal from Ameren and verify that they have all of our residents address in their file to reimburse for various taxes they collect. There is a 3 year contract with this and our cost is zero but they will split 60% Village and 40% for Azavar on any additional revenue they find that we are presently not receiving. Committee agrees to review this further but since we have nothing to lose we should possibly consider it. Dwaine will do further review on it before going forward.
Χ. Personnel
a) Update on Employee Handbook- All trustees were given a revised copy of our employee handbook to review. Our insurance company reviewed our present handbook and has made some recommendations for revision.
b) Planning for succession- Jason Gustafson wanted everyone to have a copy of the ICMA copy of a guide to the recruitment of a Chief Administrative Officer. Trustees were asked to do a survey and have it handed in to the Personnel committee by October 14, 2017 for their compiling of the survey information.
Note- the Committee of the Whole is for discussion and no action on any items will be taken at this meeting.
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