City of Aledo City Council met Oct. 2.
Here are the minutes provided by the council:
The City Council of the City of Aledo met in Regular Session in the Council Chambers at the Aledo City Hall building on October 02, 2023. MAYOR HAGLOCH called the meeting to order at 6:45 P.M. The roll was called, whereupon the following answered present:
Aldermen NOEL BUSH, BARRY COOPER, DENNIS DIXON, JAY DOHERTY, MARK FRIESE, CARMEN RUH, LINDA SARABASA, and ANDREW WEEKS. Mayor CHRISTOPHER HAGLOCH.
Also present was TREVOR FISK, Interim Chief of Police, JUSTIN BLASER, Director of Public Works & Utilities, and JAROD DALE, City Clerk.
The media was represented by Jim Taylor, WRMJ.
COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE
Public Comment: No Public Comment.
Communication & Correspondence: No Report.
Requests & Petitions: Special Event / Street Closure: Aledo Fall Fest, Aledo Main Street to be held October 14, 2023, 10:00 AM – 3:00 PM.
Public Works Activity Report:
• Streets: Daily checks, tasks, JULIE’s, and work orders continue. Shop clean up, equipment maintenance, mowing, watering, dirt and seeding at the VFW lots, trimmed trees, cleaned up stumps.
• Gas: Daily checks, tasks, JULIE’s, inspections and finals continue. Grain drying has begun. Start installing anodes, clean shop and border station, tour facility with city staff.
• Water: Daily checks, tasks, JULIE’s and work orders continue. Clean and mow properties for facility tours, repair valve at NW 9th Ave, inspect water and sewer removal at South College Ave, inspect new service at 19th Ave.
• Cemetery: Multiple funerals occurred. Weed eat and mowing.
• DPW: Sponsler Manor Third Addition preliminary survey was started last week. We were able to find a majority of property pins around the west side of the lake, and set boundary stakes where we could along the east side. We are currently evaluating the grading plans and putting together an itemized checklist list of work (in order) to get to our final goal of development. One item we need to get done sooner than later is clearing the east shoreline, so that will be our starting point.
IDOT has performed final review and comment for the SE 8th Avenue Multi Purpose Pathway Project. Hutchison has sent final plans to existing utility providers for review and comment. Comments are due back in two weeks. Once comments are returned, they will complete final design and prepare for the letting. IDOT confirmed last week that the project will be on the January 2024 bid letting. Construction will start in May, with a 50 working day construction schedule.
The SE 2nd Avenue Reconstruction Project is in final design. Before that is completed, we would like to hold a public meeting in mid-October. We will most likely need a larger venue than the fire station. Possibly the auditorium at the high school. We can present paper maps along with a power point presentation. That would give us a chance to hear comments and make any adjustments prior to completing final design. Final Plans will be available for committee review by end of December, and bid in January. Noah and DPW’s next step are to figure out the construction schedule and phasing.
The Safe Routes to School Project at SE 6th Street is currently in Phase I design. Once phase I design is complete, IDOT will review with comments and submit back to us for changes. That will lead to the Phase II design, which will be completed in early 2024. This project will be on the April 26th, 2024 bid letting, with a late June construction start date.
The Safe Routes to School grant application @ SW 6th Street was submitted on 10/2.
Aledo Police Department Activity Report: CHIEF Fisk reported on September 26, 2023 the Mercer County Law Enforcement held a meeting at the Mercer County Annex and discussed the following topics:
• PSIMS (police records management system)
• MUNNICES (municipal court system for Mercer County)
• AXON Body Camera and in-squad camera system
• Training
• Pre-trial Release
On September 28, 2023 the Aledo Fire Protection District hosted a meeting concerning a request for proposal of Ambulance Services beginning in January 2024. They advised they received no responses to the RFP. Discussion surrounded location of other ambulance services and the cost associated with them. Conclusion for now indicated the need to negotiate with Genesis for continued services until other funding sources and/or ambulance services could be secured.
Officer Pieper has agreed to return to full-time status. Tentatively looking the beginning of November as an official start date.
Administrative Report: ADMINISTRATOR Chausse reported on an overview of highlights of what the Administrator (and others) have worked on since the last council meeting:
• Met with CivicPlus concerning renewal of services.
• Visited the E-Cycle site and visited with the adult and student volunteers.
• Worked on the Solid Waste and Recycling RFP and released it for bids.
• Accompanied the 4 new council members on tour of the gas and water facilities.
• Toured the public works garage with 3 council members.
• Spoke with attorney concerning staffing as well as on the NV path.
• Had Wednesday weekly meeting with the department heads.
• Met with Lindsey Dunn and Tachelle McDonald on Christmas decorations.
• Attended meeting with Lindsey Dunn discussing Main Street items.
• Met with Cindy Parchert, Finance Director for budget discussion.
• Worked on wages and salaries for PW employees.
• Met with Denise Bulat with the Bi-State Regional Commission to discuss. updating the city’s comprehensive plan which was last done in 2001.
• Reached out to Casey’s – Closing has been extended, they have reached out to the buyer, requested that buyer reach out to city with their plans for the building.
• Explored training options with CivicPlus on editing the website.
• Spoke with a concerned citizen concerning door to door salespeople concerning solar panels (not registered with city for a peddler’s license)
• Met with Jamie Hopkins, our insurance consultant, for a health insurance update.
• Had phone call with Ald. Bush to discuss Personnel / Finance Committee Mtg.
• Met with Rusty Ruggles to coordinate the homecoming parade route.
• Attended Fire Protection District Trustee Mtg. concerning Ambulance service.
• Met with Lindsey Dunn to go over the Aledo Community Profile with Bi-State.
• Met with Platinum Services (IT) to go over their renewal.
CITY CLERK Dale reported Ron Ragan, UGM noted to the City in September that our August 2023 invoice was incredibly low-priced gas! Ron also reminded us that in September, of the higher priced ($7.55/dth) blended Summer 2022/Summer 2023 hedge which protected the City against $8.55/dth gas for SEP 2022. Then prices fall back
$1.90/dth lower for October ‘23 then another $1.32/dth lower for the balance of winter.
CITY CLERK reported the invitation for proposals related to the residential solid waste materials & recyclables collection is still out and those proposals will be due by October 6, 2023. Once those are received, City staff will then need to review and have a committee meeting to discuss. We hope to have an anticipated contract award by the City Council on November 6, 2023.
CITY CLERK reported a renewal proposal has been received by our IT services, Platinum Information Services out of Hampton, Il. The City Administrator and City Clerk met with Platinum on Friday and will bring this forward to City Council at the 10/16 meeting.
Mayor’s Report: MAYOR Hagloch highlighted the Aledo Fire Protection District meeting last week related to the Ambulance Service. MAYOR noted Senator Neil Anderson and Representative Dan Swanson were also in-attendance. MAYOR to meet with Ted Rogalski, Administrator with Genesis of Aledo on Friday.
Committee Report: ALD. Friese reported a Joint Finance & Personnel Committee meeting was held on September 25. The Committee discussed a potential review of the Hotel / Motel Room Renting Tax with the City Administrator to first hold a conversation with the owners of Blue Spruce Lodge. The Committee also reviewed the retirement incentive resolution and the renewal for CivicPlus. Both items were recommended to move forward to the City Council for formal action.
REGULAR COUNCIL SESSION
Following the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag,
CONSENT AGENDA
Motion was made by ALDERMAN SARABASA and seconded by ALDERMAN FRIESE to approve the following consent agenda items:
• Approval of Minutes of the Regular Meeting of September 18, 2023.
• Approval of Finance: Invoice Listing – AP17.
• Approval of a Special Event / Street Closure: Aledo Fall Fest, Aledo Main Street to be held October 14, 2023 between the hours of 10:00 AM – 3:00 PM, with a street closure at the 100 block of East Main Street.
A Roll Call vote was recorded as follows:
YES: Bush, Cooper, Dixon, Doherty, Friese, Ruh, Sarabasa, and Weeks. NO: None. Motion carried. 8 yeas, 0 nays.
PUBLIC COMMENT: No Report.
ACTION ITEMS:
RESOLUTION NO. 24R, SERIES OF 2023; A RESOLUTION TO ADOPT AN EARLY RETIREMENT INCENTIVE FOR EMPLOYEES NOT COVERED BY A BARGAINING UNIT:
The City Administrator provided a brief summary of this incentive, as follows:
• The employee must have accumulated 20 or more years of full-time employment for the city at the time of their retirement.
• The employee must reach the eligible age for retirement with IMRF: 55 years of age for Tier 1 IMRF 62 years of age for Tier 2 IMRF
• Submit a non-revocable retirement notice at least 1 but not more than 5 years in advance of their retirement date.
• The employee will receive a 6% per year increase in their wage or salary.
• There is a provision about employees that change from full to part time work and those that might have a “life changing “event and how those scenarios are handled.
Motion was made by ALD. DOHERTY and seconded by ALD. RUH to approve Resolution No. 24, Series of 2023; A Resolution to Adopt an Early Retirement Incentive for Employees not covered by a Bargaining Unit. A Roll call vote was recorded as follows:
YEAS: Dixon, Doherty, Friese, Ruh, and Bush. NAYS: Cooper, Sarabasa, Weeks, and Hagloch. Motion carried. 5 yeas, 4 nays.
RESOLUTION NO. 25R, SERIES OF 2023; APPROVING AN AGREEMENT WITH CIVICPLUS FOR WEBSITE HOSTING SERVICES IN THE AMOUNT OF $13,690.80:
Motion was made by ALD. SARABASA and seconded by ALD. RUH to approve Resolution No. 25R, Series of 2023; Approving an Agreement with CivicPlus for Website Hosting Services in the amount of $13,690.80 effective the next renewal date of November 10, 2023 and a 5% increase in November, 2024. A Roll call vote was recorded as follows:
YEAS: Dixon, Friese, Ruh, Sarabasa, Weeks, Bush, Cooper, and Doherty. NAYS: None. Motion carried. 8 yeas, 0 nays.
OLD BUSINESS: No Report.
NEW BUSINESS: No Report.
ADJOURNMENT: There being no further business, motion was made by ALDERMAN COOPER and seconded by ALDERMAN DIXON that the meeting be adjourned. A Unanimous voice vote followed in agreement. Meeting was adjourned at 7:06 P.M.
https://www.aledoil.gov/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Minutes/_10022023-380
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