City of Tuscola City Council met Aug. 13.
Here is the minutes provided by the board:
Mayor Kleiss opened a public hearing regarding the FY21 appropriations at 7:17 pm. The hearing was scheduled in order to take comments and questions on the FY 21 appropriations ordinance before passing at the council meeting.
Treasurer Long noted the appropriations are maximum spending limits set for the city. There were no comments or questions. Mayor Kleiss closed the hearing at 7:19 pm.
The regular meeting of the City Council was called to order with Day, Hoey, Morris, Rund, Shoemaker, Slaughter, Truitt, Waldrop, and Mayor Kleiss in attendance. Mayor Kleiss led the Pledge of Allegiance.
Public Comment - None
Consent Agenda
Mayor Kleiss went over the items on the consent agenda for July 13, 2020:
1. The minutes of the June 22, 2020 meeting
2. Payment of bills totaling $153,449.92
3. Fundraising request for Tuscola Kiwanis Kids Day Collection on October 30-31, 2020
4. Closure of Lake Shore Drive for an Ironhorse KOA block party July 25, 2020
5. Erin Ross request to use Wimple Park for a wedding reception and tent August 15, 2020
Day moved to approve the items on the consent agenda. Morris seconded. VOTE YEA *Day, Hoey, Morris, Rund, Shoemaker, Slaughter, Truitt, Waldrop. Day moved to approve the consent agenda for July 13, 2020. Shoemaker seconded. VOTE YEA* Day, Hoey, Morris, Rund, Shoemaker, Slaughter, Truitt, Waldrop.
Mayor - No Report
City Clerk - No Report
City Treasurer Treasurer Long reported Eddie Boutilier and Red Barn Veterinary Services are delinquent on their TIF loans.
City Attorney - Nothing
City Administrator
Administrator Hoel reported our solid waste contract with Advanced Disposal expires at the end of the month. Hoel has discussed this with Advanced Disposal and they plan to extend the current contract until a new contract can be drawn up.
Ordinances
Truitt moved to approve ordinance 2020-0-6, an ordinance making appropriations for corporate purposes for the City of Tuscola for the fiscal year beginning May 1, 2020 and ending April 30, 2021. Waldrop seconded. VOTE YEA* Day, Hoey, Morris, Rund, Shoemaker, Slaughter, Truitt, Waldrop
Contracts and Agreements
Hoey moved to accept the proposal submitted by Earl Walker Company for the annual oil and chip. The approved award amount is $49,055.40. Rund seconded. Administrator Hoel reported this proposal came in just under the engineer's estimate. VOTE YEA* Day, Hoey, Morris, Rund, Shoemaker, Slaughter, Truitt, Waldrop
Treasurer Long stated the next three agreements are all related to the automatic meter reading system:
(a) The receiving antenna on top of the water tower has had several outages, been in service for many years, and is outdated. Midwest Meter will replace the receiver at a cost of $7000. Waldrop moved to approve the agreement with Midwest Meter to replace the receiver at a cost of $7000. Shoemaker seconded, VOTE YEA* Day, Hoey, Morris, Rund, Shoemaker, Slaughter, Truitt, Waldrop.
(b) The software that collects readings will be upgraded to move to the cloud. Our current software will not be supported after this year, Long stated, and this is a: good time to make the upgrade. Day moved to approve the software upgrade to the cloud as proposed by Midwest Meter at a cost of $10,000. Hoey seconded. VOTE YEA* Day, Hoey, Morris, Rund, Shoemaker, Slaughter,
Truitt, Waldrop,
(c) Civic Systems will program changes to the input and output from the accounting software to the meter reading software at a cost of $1800. Truitt moved to approve the agreement in the amount of $1800, with Civic Systems for accounting system software updates. Morris seconded. VOTE YEA* Day,
Hoey, Morris, Rund, Shoemaker, Slaughter, Truitt, Waldrop.
Administrator Hoel discussed the bids received for the Ervin Park upgrades, breaking down the components and bids. Hoel noted the city crews will do a lot of the demo, disposal, and flat concrete work associated with these projects. Hoel went on to say we are working with a $656,000 budget for the park improvements -72 of this will come from the state grant. The bids for the base items came in at $727,578.40, so we are looking at an $80,000 difference. When the project was first bid, it came in at $1.1 million, Hoel added, so we have been successful with our plan to get the bids closer to our target. The biggest change to our original proposal was the addition of fencing amounting to $58,000. Hoel stated in order to do the things awarded in the grant we'll need the $737,578.40. The one item of discretion is the new lighting at the south tennis courts (~$50K) which was not in the original grant. This was added because it made sense to upgrade the lights while the contractor was on site and the other improvements were being made. If council is uncomfortable with the $737K+ amount, this is something that could be eliminated. In summation, we can go over budget by about $30K if the south court lighting is eliminated, or go over by $80K if we go with the bids submitted. Hoey asked if Hoel and Treasurer Long were comfortable with the expenditure. Hoel answered they discussed this today and they are comfortable. Now is not a good time to be spending money but this expense is coming from reserve funds and we are not borrowing to complete the project. The project will not be done any cheaper and we are getting a big grant to do this. Treasurer Long added she does not see a problem with our current cash flow. Shoemaker asked if there were recommendations for Barton Electric and where they were from. Hoel answered the contractor recommended them as a company that does a lot of sports field lighting. Hoel believes they are out of East Saint Louis. The timeline for completion is May 2021. Rund asked about the difference in asphalt. Some are at 3" and some 3.5", Hoel stated the change to 3 was made because our crews are doing the work and they can tear out all the old asphalt and put in new sub grade. Mayor Kleiss added he thinks we would be wise to go ahead and do the project. Administrator Hoel pointed out the expenses for the dog park will likely be paid by a private donor. If this is the case, we will handle by change order.
Hoey moved to authorize Administrator Hoel sign the notice of award and execute the contract with Barton Electric in the amount of $442,232.00, for the lighting poles and fixtures for the Ervin Park upgrades. Shoemaker seconded. VOTE YEA* Day, Hoey, Morris, Rund, Shoemaker, Slaughter, Truitt, Waldrop.
Truitt moved to approve the $42,800, bid from Barton Electric for the electrical components on the Ervin Park project. Waldrop seconded. VOTE YEA* Day, Hoey, Morris, Rund, Shoemaker, Slaughter, Truitt, Waldrop.
Day moved to approve the $58,271.40, bid submitted by Main Street Fencing for the fencing component of the Ervin Park project. Morris seconded. VOTE YEA* Day, Hoey, Morris, Rund, Shoemaker, Slaughter, Truitt, Waldrop.
Hoey moved to approve the bid from Neco Asphalt in the amount of $149,305, for the asphalt portion of the Ervin Park project. Rund seconded. VOTE YEA* Day, Hoey, Morris, Rund, Shoemaker, Slaughter, Truitt, Waldrop.
Rund moved to approve the bid submitted by All Weather Courts in the amount of $44,970, for court surfacing and striping on the Ervin Park project. Shoemaker seconded. VOTE YEA* Day, Hoey, Morris, Rund, Shoemaker, Slaughter, Truitt, Waldrop.
Other
At the request of Mayor Kleiss, Rund moved and Waldrop seconded council go into Executive Session to discuss possible land acquisition and personnel. The time was 7:52 pm. VOTE YEA* Day, Hoey, Morris Rund, Shoemaker, Slaughter, Truitt, Waldrop. The meeting was called back to order at 8:24 pm with Day, Hoey, Morris, Rund, Shoemaker, Slaughter, Truitt, Waldrop, and Mayor Kleiss present.
Rund moved to approve the appointment of Justin Smith as water/sewer operator @ $24.81 per hour, Shoemaker seconded. VOTE YEA* Day, Hoey, Morris, Rund, Shoemaker, Slaughter, Truitt, Waldrop.
Mayor Kleiss opened discussion on making the Court/Pinzon north/south intersection a stop intersection instead of a yield. Kleiss noted there are no other stop intersections on the north/south roads. Kleiss and several council members felt the intersection is not obstructed and vision is not impaired. Foreman Cruzan reminded council they voted against a stop intersection there several years ago. Mayor Kleiss encouraged council to go by the intersection in the next two weeks. We will also check with Chief Hastings to get his opinion.
Administrator Hoel discussed returning to normal billing procedures for water/sewer. He and Treasurer Long recommend bills due August 10 be the start of resuming normal billing. We would do shut offs on August 20; late fees one month later; past due accounts (20-25) would be contacted individually and arrangements made for them to catch up. Treasurer Long pointed out there is a very small group of customers who have not made any payments since the late penalties and shut offs were discontinued in March. Most have paid their bills as usual. Truitt moved to begin resuming normal utility billing penalties and shut off procedures as presented with the bills going out later this month and due August 10. Shoemaker seconded. VOTE YEA* Day, Hoey, Morris, Rund, Shoemaker, Slaughter, Truitt, Waldrop.
Hoey moved to allow Cast Iron Pub to keep the tent on the Community Building lot through the month of August. The fees will be paid by Cast Iron Pub. Morris seconded. VOTE YEA* Day, Hoey, Morris, Rund, Shoemaker, Slaughter, Truitt, Waldrop.
Waldrop moved to approve the FY 21 corrected wage and salary schedule as presented. The wages have not changed but an increase to part time police was made this past October and not reported on the original schedule. Truitt seconded. VOTE YEA* Day, Hoey, Morris, Rund, Shoemaker, Slaughter, Truitt, Waldrop.
The motion to adjourn was made by Shoemaker and seconded by Morris. VOTE YEA* Day, - Hoev, Morris Rund, Shoemaker, Slaughter, Truitt, Waldrop.
The motion to adjourn was made by Shoemaker and seconded by Morris. VOTE YEA* Day, - Hoev, Morris Rund, Shoemaker, Slaughter, Truitt, Waldrop.
https://tuscola.org/file/833/minutes-7-13-20.pdf
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