Rock Island Today

City of Colona City Council met Aug. 26.

Here is the minutes provided by the council:

CALL TO ORDER: 6:30 p.m.

ROLL CALL:

Mayor Lack, Attorney Wright, Aldermen Hillman Feliksiak, Swemline, Holman, Shady-Dahl, Jones, King, Tapscott, Clerk Winegar answered present.

STAFF PRESENT:

C. Lenth M. Winters M. Swemline

Public Works Director Office Manager Police Chief

PUBLIC COMMENTS:

► Sarah Alexander, Director of Colona Public Library, addressed the council on the 2020 census. She informed the council that she has attended multiple seminars on the census and a lot of emphasis being placed on getting a complete count. She provided two hand-outs to the council. The first was a list of 50 ways census data are used and the second was a pamphlet the library designed to inform residents of Colona the importance of responding to the census. She further stated that this year the census responses will be digital and she realizes a number of Colona residents do not have computers. The library has 13 computers available for public use and she and her staff will be there to assist logging residents into the census site so they can enter their information. The federal government will be distributing $675B plus in federal and state funds based on the census data received. For each resident who fails to respond to the census $1,800 is lost to the city for a total of $18,000 per person until the next census. It is not just the city losing money but also the school, the fire department, and the library. She further informed the council that there is no complete count committee formed in our area. Ms. Alexander said she could not do this alone and any assistance she receives will be greatly appreciated. We as a community need to assist the hard to reach residents getting their information submitted.

MAYOR'S REPORT: None

APPROVAL OF MINUTES:

► Alderman Feliksiak made a motion to approve the minutes of the August 12,

2019, council meeting changing the second to the last sentence on page one to read: "Aldermen Hillman and Holman were absent". Alderman Swemline seconded. Roll call: Aldermen Hillman, Feliksiak, Swemline, Shady-Dahl, Jones, King, Tapscott voted yes. Aldermen Holman voted present. Motion passed with 7 affirmative votes, 1 present which goes with the majority.

CONSENT AGENDA: 

Alderman Shady-Dahl made the motion to approve consent agenda items:

1. Payment of bills for the period August 13-26, 2019 

2. Payment of manual bills for the period August 13-26, 2019

3. Payroll for the period August 11-25, 2019 

Alderman Swemline seconded. Roll call: Aldermen Swemline, Holman, Shady-Dahl, Jones, King, Tapscott, Hillman, Feliksiak voted yes. Motion passed with 8 affirmative votes.

COMMITTEE REPORTS: 

Public Safety Committee: (Alderman King, chair; Aldermen Shady-Dahl, Tapscott members; M. Swemline, L. La Mantia, staff). A copy of the minutes is available at City Hall and on the City's website.

1. Alderman King said discussion about building maintenance at the police department falls in line with the item under old business. 

2. Alderman King made the motion to approve paying the shelter attendant $12.50/per hour in the absence of a Cşo. Alderman Holman seconded. Roll call: Aldermen Holman, Shady-Dahl, Jones, King, Tapscott, Hillman, Feliksiak, Swemline voted yes. Motion passed with 8 affirmative votes. 

3. Alderman King made the motion to approve the purchase of stop sticks for the squad cars NTE $5k using DUI funds. Alderman Holman seconded. Roll call: Aldermen Shady-Dahl, Jones, King, Tapscott, Feliksiak, Swemline, Holman voted yes. Alderman Hillman voted no. Motion passed with 7 affirmative votes, 1 no.

Finance/Admin Committee: (Alderman Holman, chair; Aldermen Swemline, Hillman, members, J. Legare, M. Winters, staff). A copy of the minutes is available at City Hall and on the City's website.

CLERKS REPORT: 

Clerk Winegar noted that a couple of the code books were gone from City Hall. She requested the books be returned.

OLD BUSINESS:

> Alderman King began the discussion by saying he thought this issue would be on the agenda for the last council meeting. He then stated the police department is in need of repairs, specifically a door needs to be fixed and there are windows leaking. He then said that Chris Lenth will see the door is fixed this week. Alderman King thought when we briefly discussed this issue a couple of meetings ago, it was basically agreed that we needed to look into getting Bi-State to draw up plans for a new facility which would house both City Hall and the PD under one roof. Alderman King thought the location the City would use was the current PD site. Mayor Lack stated he had contacted Bi-State about this after the discussion and they informed him that under the new capital bill there are funds available for municipal facilities. Bi-State had no specifics on how much, when, and how these funds would be available. Alderman King said combining both departments in one building will provide a cost savings to the City. Both buildings have maintenance issues that could run into hundreds of thousands of dollars. Maybe the best answer is to bulldoze the police department and build a brand-new energy efficient building. Donna Chance asked if doing this would cause an increase in taxes for the residents. The Mayor replied that the City is in the very early stages of planning and the state will have funds available so there is no way to answer whether or how it would impact the taxes of the residents. The Mayor said Bi-State is more than willing to help the City any way they can and there is no charge for their services; however, right now they have no idea how or when to apply for the state funds. The Mayor will contact Bi-State again.

NEW BUSINESS:

> Alderman Holman made the motion to approve the Food Panty use of the Activity Center for the City-wide yard sales September 6" and 7". Alderman Shady-Dahl seconded. There was a question on what they were going to use the activity center for, to which the reply was to sell some of the clothing that had been donated to them with the proceeds going to the food pantry. No residents will be holding yard sales there. Roll call: Jones, King, Tapscott, Hillman, Feliksiak, Swemline, Holman, Shady-Dahl voted yes. Motion passed with 8 affirmative votes.

ADJOURN: 

Alderman Swemline made a motion to adjourn. Alderman King seconded. A voice vote of all ayes was received. Meeting adjourned at 7:10 p.m.

Adjournment:

https://www.colonail.com/vertical/sites/%7BFC142F78-E9D2-49AE-8B50-7910B5B74E0C%7D/uploads/08.26.19_cc_minutes.pdf