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HomeMy WebLinkAbout11/27/1990 COW minutes MINUTES COMMIITEE OF THE WHOLE NOVEMBER 27, 1990 I. ROLL CALL The meeting was called to order at 7:30 p m Present at the meeting were: Mayor Gerald L. Farley; Trustees Ralph Arthur, Mark Busse, Leo Floros and George Van Geem (at 7:50 p m ) and former Trustee Theodore Wattenberg Absent from the meeting was: Trustee Timothy Corcoran Also present at the meeting were. Village Manager John Fulton D~xon, Assistant V~llage Manager John Burg, Finance D~rector David Jepson, Public Works Director Herb Weeks, Deputy Public Works Director Glen Andler, Assistant Finance Director Carol Widmer, Catherine Morley and R~chard Bodner of RJN and Associates, three members of the press and 26 persons in the aud, ence. II. MINUTES The Minutes of the Committee of the Whole meeting of November 13, 1990 were accepted and filed. III CITIZENS TO BE HEARD George Watanabe, 607 Prospect Manor, asked when the next meeting w~th the residents of the area will be held concerning the results of the Engineenng Study regarding flooding. Mayor Farley said th~s meeting will be held as soon as possible. IV. CONSIDERATION OF RECYCLING OF PLASTICS .&ND TIN Ken Westlake, Chairman of the Recychng Commission, made a presentation on behalf of the Commission recommending that the Village expand the Recycling Program to include plastics and tm m January. Mayor Farley noted that the Village, most likely, can get a better price for the recychng of materials ff we wa~t until we negotmte the new contract w~th BFI which w~ll end in July. Trustee Arthur agreed w~th Mayor Farley, saying that $52,000 ~s quite a bit of money to spend for the balance of the year. He suggested two sets of bids, one bid with just the garbage cost and one b~d w~th the garbage and recyclables Former Trustee Wattenberg indicated he favors delaying the implementation of this program until we bid out the contract. Trustee Busse said he also prefers to wait until the contract is bid out. However, he would like to see the Recycling Program expanded even further than the plastics and t~n recommended by the Recycling Commission He asked that the Recycling Commission look into this possibility. Trustee Floros supported the Village Manager's recommendation to delay the expansion of the Recycling Program until the contract is bid out. V. STORMWATER USER CHARGE Village Manager D~xon introduced the discussion on the Stormwater User Charge F~nance D~rector David Jepson said that a User Charge requires those receivxng the service and directly benefitting from it to pay for it. He said the Village wanted to make this an equitable charge, and RJN Associates was authorized to perform a Study to this end. Catherine Morley, of RJN and Associates, then gave a lengthy presentation concerning the Stormwater User Charge Study. She noted that a Stormwater User Charge is used in over 70 communities in the United States. She said this is the most dependable and equitable way to proceed. There have been very few Court cases on these User Charges, only five, and all have been ruled in favor of the utilities. Ms. Morley said RJN recommends the impervious area method for calculation of the User Charge based on a common smgle-famdy charge. Trustee Floros asked if it is legal to send a bill to churches and schools Ms. Morley said yes, it is a User Charge, similar to the sanitary sewer charge we now have ~n place. Trustee Floros asked if schools and churches are presently charged for sanitary sewer. Finance Director Dave Jepson said yes Mr. Jepson said that according to our attorney, Jim Stucko, the Village has the authority, under Home Rule powers, to bill any school or church for a User Charge. Mr. Jepson noted that all monies derived from this fee would be used for the stormwater system Trustee Floros said it would be hard to convince someone with a small home that they should pay as much as someone with a larger home. Ms Morley said there is not much difference in the s~ze of impervious surface. She noted that 80% of the properties studied were within 550 square feet of each other. Mr. Jepson said that ~t is not uncommon to have a flat charge as suggested by RJN Trustee Van Geem asked why the Finance Commission has not studied this issue yet Mr. Jepson said the Village just received this report. He noted that even if the Committee could give the go-ahead tomght, the earliest the Village could implement the Program is July 1, 1991. Trustee Van Geem said that $2 00 or $3.00 per single-family sounds reasonable but voters just voted against a Referendum for the Public Safety Facility for approximately $ 80 a month which would have benefitted all members of the community much more clearly than stormwater sewer projects. He asked how much the Village is going to commit to without a Referendum He said that the Property Tax has been shown to be a fair and equitable way of apportlomng costs. He challenged whether this User Fee is equitable He felt that everyone will think they are being cheated by a User Fee. He said he would rather stick with the proven method, the Property Tax. At least a Property Tax could be written off on Federal Income Taxes. Mr. Jepson said that properties with detention would have to pay a much greater charge for this stormwater project if the Property Tax were used. He said Property Tax is efficient but not necessarily eqmtable in this case. Trustee Van Geem was concerned because he felt this policy would be going against previous policy ~n which the Village has not been taxing schools and churches Trustee Van Geem then took exception to the comments that the Stormwater User Fee would be simple and flexible because he felt these two terms are conflicting Ms. Morley indicated that flexable means that a system should be easy to calculate for a new property. Trustee Van Geem smd he did not feel the sewer repairs would help him because he does not flood He smd he lives near Weller Creek and if water gets into the Creek faster, he could argue it could actually hurt him. He asked how you convince people who do not flood at this point that the project will benefit them Ms Morley said that everyone is contributing to the water in the system so, therefore, everyone benefits Trustee Van Geem said he supports the concept of stormwater sewer repmrs because of his sense of social responsibility but he said he does not agree it benefits him or others like him. Trustee Van Geem asked ~f this is a permanent source of funding He smd this could scare some taxpayers away. Mr. Jepson said yes it would be permanent He said there are phases for construction until the year 2000 with Bond Issues of 20 years. He said that after that point, repairs would be on-going He said we know there ~s a need, and this is one financing option Former Trustee Wattenberg said he did not see any of his neighbors in the audience. He does not feel there is such a pressing need for these repairs He questioned going along with the User Fee at this time. Trustee Busse asked why we have this problem now. Ms. Morley said that growth, intensity of development and lack of Infrastructure keeping pace with this growth is the cause. Ms Morley then explained the detention credit as requested by Trustee Busse. -3- Trustee Busse then asked about roof-top detention. Ms. Morley said roof-top detention provides no significant capacity or effect on flooding problems Trustee Busse asked if multi-farmly dwellings pay less. Ms. Morley said the User Charge recommended would be based on impervious surface Thus, the higher a building goes, the less it costs per umt because there is the same impervious surface. Trustee Busse asked if this User Fee has created any hardships on non-residential properties elsewhere. Ms. Morley said no because actually the Property Tax would be much higher Trustee Busse asked about the Appeals process and who would do it. Mr. Jepson said that Engineering would handle the appeals. Trustee Busse said he prefers this approach to the Property Tax He said the flooding problem is something that will not go away and something must be done. Trustee Arthur agrees that this is a problem that will not go away. He said the Village has been promising to do something for quite sometime. He said he is very much in favor of this User Fee He said he will push to get something done Mayor Farley then opened the floor to comments by residents. A resident at 17 South Wa-Pella said he had no basement flooding the first eight years he lived m town. He has lived here for 13 years. He said there is more water now because of the Northwest Highway improvement. He said the Village made a big mistake going to a Referendum on the Public Safety Facility. He asked the Village Board not to do the same on this project because something needs to be done right away. He encouraged the Board to move ahead A resident at 20 South Wa-Pella said he is also very much in favor of the User Charge. He said he has been hying here for 20 years and has had water in his basement every year. He said he voted no on the Public Safety Facility because nothing has been done to solve his flooding problems. He agreed that homeowners in the flood-prone areas are very much paranoid about water in their basement Peter Lannon, of 1409 Dogwood, said that even in 1987, his house dxd not flood However, he is in favor of some land of a fee to help allevxate the flooding problems. He did note though that the Village should be very careful about setting up a permanent utility. He warned that it would take on a life of its own with more employees. He was concerned that the Village would have to go through the ICC regarding the rates. He said overall it is a good program but he did not feel the Village should have a separate Utility Board. Mr. Jepson said the Village would not have a separate Utility Board. He called this a utility because it would be very similar to the water or sewer utility which we currently operate through the Village. He noted this would be established as a utlhty for accounting purposes only. Mr. Lannon was satisfied vath this explanation and he was no longer concerned Mr. Lannon said his heart goes out to the people with flooding problems and urged the Village to move forward. -4- A resident at 909 South See-Gwun said he has had flooding since 1962 He said the time to do something is now. Mayor Farley said he would like to solve the flooding problems without a Referendum He suggested Saturday meetings after receiving the Finance Commission report to determine how we may best proceed Trustee Floros said he has no problem to allocate funds for the flooding conditions w~thout a Referendum He suggested that the Village move ahead right now with the design for Central and Wa-Pella He said we should await the report from the Finance Commission in the meantime He said that once we receive the results from the study that is being performed by Stanley Consultants in the Prospect High School area, the Village should then go ahead as soon as possible with the North Main and Prospect Manor design. Trustee Van Geem said he felt there is a valid reason to hold back and to study this proposal. He said this proposal envisions spending $22 million but this will only give a 25-year flood protection. He said he does not favor a Referendum However, he recommends a Commission which would be a blend of Englneenng and Finance with residents of the Village to study the projects and make recommendations on which should be implemented. Trustee Arthur does not agree with setting up a Commission to second guess our Engineering Consultant. He said that we have to move forward now and he agrees with Trustee Floros' recommendations A resident at 907 See-Gwun said that he was flooded tuace and lost $20,000 each time which was not covered by insurance. He feels there has been procrastination. He said the Village does not need another committee. He said the Village spent a lot of money on a consultant. He said it is time to get off the dime now and move forward. Trustee Busse said he sympathizes with the victims of flooding He agrees that the property values go down. He suggested that the Village proceed without a Referendum. He said the Village should incorporate the credit for detention He is not in favor of another Commission. Trustee Floros made a Motion to recommend acceptance of the Village Manager's recommendations to go ahead with the Central/Wa-Pella design and to wait until the Village receives the results from Stanley Consultants concerning the Prospect Manor/North Main area and to proceed as soon as possible w~th the design in these areas upon receipt of that report The consensus of the Committee was to proceed as suggested by Trustee Floros. Trustee Floros agreed w~th Trustee Van Geem that there should be another Commission related to this matter. -5- Mayor Farley said he has been reluctant in the past to imtiate a Commission because he does not want to pit neighbor against neighbor ~n deciding the priorities for stormwater projects. He noted that any project is ultimately the Board's decision Mayor Farley indicated that there will be a meeting immediately prior to the Coffee with Council at 9.00 a m, on December 8, to dtscuss this matter further. Manager Dixon smd he would also like to d~scuss the Finance Commission recommendation on the Stormwater Sewer Charge Mr. Dixon noted that copies of the Stormwater User Study will be on file at the Library. VI. SIX-MONTH BUDGET REVIEW Village Manager Dixon introduced the discussion of the Six-Month Budget review He said Revenues are down but Expenditures are down even more. He also noted that overtime costs are down. Fxnance Director David Jepson then presented his Report on the Six-Month Budget Review. Trustee Van Geem asked if the Vdlage is at the approprmte level of Self- Insurance. Mr. Jepson smd that our broker is looking for attractively priced additional insurance. Mr. Jepson then outhned the deductibles which we carry for the various types of insurance. On General Llab~hty, the Vdlage has a $1 milhon deductible with which Mr. Jepson is not comfortable However, he is still looking into alternate coverage at an affordable rate. Mr. Dixon indicated that he is not concerned with the $1 rmllion deductible because any such large claim would take two to three years before payout would be made. With regard to Medical Insurance, Trustee Van Geem said he would not be embarrassed to ask the employees to contribute more considering the great increase in cost for medical care. Mr. Dixon said that Public Works did increase its contribution in a recent contract. He said that he will be discussing an additional contribution with the Police and Fire Departments. VII MANAGER'S REPORT 1. Mr. Dixon reported that 49 letters have been sent to developers asking if they have interest in the triangle area He said we will be ready for the January 5 meeting 2. The Manager said the Village was visited by the Department of Energy camera crew to take film of the Village's recycling program. -6- III. ANY OTHER BUSINESS Trustee Busse asked for a cost benefit analysis of the proposed redevelopment in the triangle area outlining the best and worst case scenarios Mayor Farley indicated that this was the last meeting to be attended by former Trustee Theodore Wattenberg Mayor Farley praised former Trustee Wattenberg for his many years of excellent service to the community. He presented h~m with a plaque and thanked him Trustees Van Geem, Floros, Busse and Arthur also praised former Trustee Wattenberg in a personal tribute. Vdlage Manager D~xon also praised former Trustee Wattenberg and thanked him for h~s help IX. ADJOURNMENT The meeting adjourned at 11:25 p.m Respectfully submitted, JOHN P. BURG Assistant Vdlage Manager JPB/rcw -7-