Rock Island Today

City of Aledo City Council met Feb. 5.

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 February 05, 2024. MAYOR HAGLOCH called the meeting to order at 6:37 P.M. The roll was called, whereupon the following answered present:

Aldermen NOEL BUSH, BARRY COOPER, JAY DOHERTY, MARK FRIESE, CARMEN RUH, LINDA SARABASA, and ANDREW WEEKS. Mayor CHRISTOPHER HAGLOCH. Alderman DENNIS DIXON was excused.

Also present was MICHAEL CHAUSSE, City Administrator, 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

The meeting was opened in prayer by Father John Theiryoung, Saint Mary Magdalene Parish of Mercer County.

Public Comment: No Public Comment.

Communication & Correspondence: No Report.

Requests & Petitions: Jason Roeder, Mercer County Athletic Booster’s, appeared before the Committee of the Whole to request City Sponsorship for the Bear Country Wrestling Tournament. The tournament is to be held Saturday, March 16th. A request was heard in the amount of $1,500.00 to cover the costs of event trophies featuring City of Aledo on the nameplate.

Public Works Activity Report:

• Streets: Daily checks, tasks, JULIE’s, and work orders continue. Majority of work consisted of street and parking lot cleanup from the snow events.

• Gas: Daily checks, tasks, JULIE’s, inspections and finals continue. Asist the street division with snow removal, read meters, inventory, troubleshoot odorizer malfunctions at the border station, research new meter reading equipment, work on multiple meters and heads.

• Water: Daily checks, tasks, JULIE’s and work orders continue. Assist the street division with snow removal, multiple sewer investigations, repair RO rupture disk and install new SCADA & alarm dialer system at the WTP.

• Cemetery: Three (3) funeral occurred. Assisted the street division with snow removal.

• DPW: The SE 8th Avenue Bike Path bid opening was held January 19th. Seven bids were submitted. The low bidder was Fischer Excavating, Inc. of Freeport, IL in the amount of $483,905.00. CIP budget is $506,230.00. We should be seeing contracts within the week and will have a preconstruction meeting in mid-February. Tentative start date is May 1, with a completion date August 1. The Community Improvement’s Project bid opening is scheduled for February 13th, here at City Hall. As of January 26th, there are ten contractors on the plan holder list. Hutchison Engineering has submitted the final plan sets for the SE 2nd Ave Project. Staff will review in the next week. Continue working with Alley Outback on the building demolition, review the 2024 Rhubarb layout and 2024 Antique Days layout due to the Community Improvement Project schedule.

Aledo Police Department Activity Report: CHIEF Fisk reported on January 18th, Lt. Baker and Inv. Kenney provided a tour of the police department for a group of students from the Special Education class at the Mercer County Jr. High School. The students were driven there and chaperoned by our City Administrator who also arranged the visit. The students and officers enjoyed their time together. Before departing, the students were provided a special challenge coin to remember their visit by.

It was reported, Squad No. 13, the Chevrolet Tahoe that was damaged in a crash a few weeks ago has been repaired and is back in service. The police department appreciates the hard work and quick turn around by Brad’s Collision Service.

The AXON body cameras and fleet cameras have been delivered. The initial training will begin on February 26th with installation following after that.

CHIEF reported the departments test phase with TLO / Trans Union is complete. This program was found to be extremely helpful in recent investigations and incidents. We have signed an agreement for 12 months allowing 150 transactions per month. The cost is $120.00 per month. This program is used specifically for law enforcement purposes to locate information not readily available by other means.

The department continues to be one officer short due to an on-duty injury. All officers are assisting in coverage during his absence. At this time, PD does not know a timeline for the officer to return to duty.

CHIEF Fisk provided a display of the new Aledo Police Department uniforms to the City Council.

Administrative Report: ADMINISTRATOR Chausse reported on an overview of highlights of what the Administrator (and others) have worked on since the last council meeting:

• Helped coordinate garbage cart delivery with LRS. There were some minor hiccups such as people getting carts that weren’t supposed to or not getting a cart. The automated pick up is not being implemented till spring (May 1 or later) because LRS is waiting for the truck to be delivered. Residents are supposed to use the new carts as of February 1.

• Attended the Grene Energy Meeting at the Fire station.

• Attended the Bi-State monthly City Administrators and Managers Meeting at Davenport.

• Coordinated a field trip to PD and FD for the JH Life Skills class.

• Held a Department Head meeting to discuss various items.

• Met with four different phone service providers concerning city phone system replacement. A recommended replacement in on the agenda for approval.

• Attended two zoom meetings with the Illinois Broadband Equity Access and Deployment (BEAD) organization to discuss challenges to the upcoming release of the BEAD map showing broadband internet access.

• Spoke at length with a former Aledo PD Officer about coming back to work for the city.

• Met with Mercer County School Superintendent Scott Petrie to discuss an Aledo officer serving as an SRO – School Resource Officer at either the High School or Apollo Elementary (City Clerk and Chief also present).

• Meet with representatives of the Robert Half group concerning the position of Financial Director.

• Met with Jim Taylor – WRMJ (Chief included) to discuss City of Aledo policy (lack of one dealing with non-city employees) concerning press releases from the police department. Chief and I are working to develop a policy concerning what types of situations are appropriate in releasing news on arrests and other situations. WQAD Channel 8 is sending a seasoned reporter to give us some guidance. The policy will be vetted by City Attorney.

• Met with some local establishments that serve or sell alcohol to discuss the rash of high-quality fake ID’s that are appearing in the area. Trying to set up a meeting with those business owners and PD to discuss the issue.

• Coordinated the AIA agreement for the Aquatic Center with architects and our attorney.

• Met with Jeff Sedam at Mercer Market to go over the State of Illinois Grocery Initiative Grant.

• Worked with Kayde Gerber – Utility Billing Clerk and City Attorney to possibly restructure late fees and penalties for city utilities. (Joint Gas & Water/Sewer Committee meeting requested)

• Talked with local businesses concerning two potential TIF agreements. (TIF committee meeting requested)

• The cost estimate for the SE 2nd Ave project was delivered to us on February 1. The estimate is lower than first projections but is still significantly over budget. Staff is studying the cost estimate. (Property Committee meeting requested)

Mayor’s Report: MAYOR Hagloch reported on the new trash pick-up contract by LRS and the new waste receptacles delivered recently. Those new receptacles were delivered the week of January 28th for those residents who do not currently have one. It was also noted the new automatic truck for LRS will begin around May 1st.

Committee Report: A Public Property, Streets & Sidewalks Committee to be held on February 12th at 6:00 o’clock p.m. in the City Council Chambers. The Committee to review the SE 2nd Avenue Reconstruction project, a discussion of a traffic light at SE 3rd Street & SE 6th Avenue, and the yard-waste site.

A Gas and Water & Sewer Committee meeting to be held on Monday, February 26th at 6:00 o’clock p.m. in the City Council Chambers.

A Tax Increment Financing (TIF) Committee meeting to be held on Monday, February 26th at 6:15 o’clock p.m. in the City Council Chambers.

REGULAR COUNCIL SESSION

Following the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag,

CONSENT AGENDA

Motion was made by ALDERMAN FRIESE and seconded by ALDERMAN RUH to approve the following consent agenda items:

• Approval of Minutes of the Regular Meeting of January 16, 2024. • Approval of Finance: Invoice Listing – AP02.

• Approval of the Hiring of Andrew Davis as an Aledo Police Department Part-time Police Officer effective February 6, 2024.

• Approval of City Sponsorship – Mercer County Athletic Boosters Bear Country Wrestling Tournament in the amount of $1,500.00.

A Roll Call vote was recorded as follows:

YES: Bush, Cooper, Doherty, Friese, Ruh, Sarabasa, and Weeks. NO: None. Motion carried. 7 yeas, 0 nays.

PUBLIC COMMENT: No Report.

ACTION ITEMS:

RESOLUTION NO. 05R, SERIES OF 2024; APPROVING QUOTE FOR PURCHASE AND INSTALLATION OF IP PHONE SYSTEM FROM TRI-CITY ELECTRIC COMPANY:

Motion was made by ALDERMAN WEEKS and seconded by ALDERMAN BUSH to approve Resolution No. 05R, Series of 2024; Approving Quote for Purchase and Installation of IP Phone System from Tri-City Electric Company at a cost not to exceed $16,500.00. A Roll Call vote was recorded as follows:

YES: Cooper, Doherty, Friese, Ruh, Sarabasa, Weeks, and Bush.

NO: None. Motion carried. 7 yeas, 0 nays.

(Clerks Note: Initial upfront portion of contract will be covered by a transfer to the CIP from the operations budget for line item 17-5-711-624.01 for the installation of internet based phone system for City Hall, Aledo Police Department, and Public Works Building.)

RESOLUTION NO. 06R, SERIES OF 2024; APPROVING OPERATION AND MAINTENANCE SERVICE AGREEMENT AND CERTIFIED WATER SYSTEM OPERATOR CONTRACT FOR OPERATION OF WATER AND SEWER SYSTEMS:

Motion was made by ALDERMAN SARABASA and seconded by ALDERMAN WEEKS to approve Resolution No. 06R, Series of 2024; Approving Operation and Maintenance Service Agreement and Certified Water System Operator Contract for Operation of Water and Sewer Systems and to retain ION Environmental Solutions, and its employee, Chad McCleary, who holds an EPA Class A certificate. A Roll Call vote was recorded as follows:

YES: Doherty, Friese, Ruh, Sarabasa, Weeks, Bush, and Cooper.

NO: None. Motion carried. 7 yeas, 0 nays.

(Clerks Note: Term of contract – March 1, 2024 and shall end February 28, 2025. A payment of $6,900.00 will be due at the beginning of each month.)

OLD BUSINESS: ALD. Ruh inquired on the status of a potential ordinance imposing a hotel and motel room renting tax within the city limits of Aledo. ADMINISTRATOR Chausse reported he would like to hold off on that discussion until a new discussion can be held with Council related to a different type of tax. No further discussion followed at this time.

ADMINISTRATOR Chausse reported contact was made with the new owner of the former Casey’s building located at 303 SW 3rd Street, Aledo, and have not heard back from the owner yet on plans for the site.

NEW BUSINESS: No Report.

ADJOURNMENT: There being no further business, motion was made by ALDERMAN RUH and seconded by ALDERMAN WEEKS that the meeting be adjourned. A Unanimous voice vote followed in agreement. Meeting was adjourned at 6:52 P.M.

https://www.aledoil.gov/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Minutes/_02052024-393