Harrisburg City Council met Feb. 21.
Here is the minutes provided by the council:
The Harrisburg City Council met on February 21, 2019 at 6:00 pm in the Council Room, City Hall, Harrisburg, Illinois.
Mayor John McPeek presided over the meeting with Commissioners Natalie Miller, Richard Harper and Mike Weirauch answering roll call. Commissioner Beth Montfort was absent.
Assistant Pastor Daniel Kinsey from the Dorrisville Social Brethren Church led the group in prayer and the Pledge of Allegiance.
Commissioner Harper made a motion to approve the following items under the Consent Agenda:
1. Minutes of the Regular Meeting of February 7, 2019.
2. Bill from Brown & Roberts for sidewalk at Rt. 45 and Sloan to Bike Path in the amount of $1,158.24 to be taken out of the Sidewalk line item.
3. Bill from Brown & Roberts for Mill Street extension in the amount of $24,540.19 to be taken out of Capital Improvement.
4. Bill from CAID Group for the Brownfields Grant submission in the amount of $2,500.00 to be taken out of TIF.
5. Bill from Brown & Roberts to E. T. Simonds for the final pay for St. Mary’s Drive in the amount of $15,204.62 to be taken out of MFT. 6. Harrisburg Lake:
Lease renewal:
Carl James Moore and Julie Endicott - First Addition, Block 1, Lot 5 Commissioner Weirauch seconded. By roll call vote, all voted yes. Motion carried.
Matt Tosh from Brown & Roberts stated three bids for the 2014 Watermain Rehabilitation project had been opened on February 13. Bryant Construction was the low bidder with $2,336,680.00. Also bidding were Wiggs Excavating and Mott Excavating. He stated the bids were all under the estimates and referred to the Post Bid Analysis which now estimates the project to be $2,821,781.00. He stated part of the funding was an IEPA Revolving Loan program that could have a forgiveness of up to $1.5 million and it appeared those funds were still available. He stated it took about 45 days after bids were submitted for a loan agreement to be secured. Commissioner Harper moved to award a bid of $2,336,680.00 to Bryant Construction for the 2014 Watermain Rehabilitation - Phase 1. Commissioner Miller seconded. By roll call vote, all voted yes. Motion carried.
Tosh stated the original project cost was around $2 million when an Engineering Agreement was entered into with Brown & Roberts. He explained that EPA requires that a “not to exceed” amount be in the agreement. He continued that the project had been increased up to the $3.3 million and the forgiveness had been increased from $500,000.00 to the current $1.5 million, so an amendment to the Agreement was needed. Commissioner Harper moved to approve Resolution 19-0221 a Resolution to Execute Amendment 1 to Agreement with Brown & Roberts. Commissioner Weirauch seconded. By roll call vote, all voted yes. Motion carried.
Mike Roberts from Brown & Roberts was informed the McKinley Street flooding issue decision was to be tabled.
Attorney Todd Bittle stated he wanted to also table the Frontier Agreement and the Southeastern Illinois Electric Cooperative agreement.
Commissioner Miller stated there was some confusion at the last meeting when there was an attempt to hire a Police Officer because apparently the hiring freeze was for everyone but she thought it was only for 318. She moved to remove the hiring freeze for the Police Department only so steps could be taken to replace a retiring Officer. Mayor McPeek seconded. By roll call vote, Commissioners Harper and Weirauch voted no. Commissioner Miller and Mayor McPeek voted yes. Motion did not pass.
Commissioner Miller reminded everyone about the Spring Clean Up that will be from March 11 through March 25. She noted the hours and items not accepted. She stated it would be advertised in the Register.
Mayor McPeek stated that because Commissioner Montfort was not in attendance the SIC Memo of Understanding would be tabled.
Commissioner Harper reminded Council that at the last meeting he had asked for a letter to be sent to the County addressing the issue of their expired mitigation plan that had caused the City to lose out on a loan. He noted a copy of the letter was in the packets. He explained the project had started with the acquisition of Smugglers property with the intention of building a retention pond to help with flood control. The denied application was for a $3.5 million loan from IEPA with a 75% loan forgiveness which meant that a $3.5 million project would have cost the City only $875,000.00. He stated the letter was sent to make sure the mitigation plan did get filed with the State so the City could have access the funds in the next fiscal year. Clerk Wofford noted the letter was sent to the County Board and each individual member.
Commissioner Harper stated he wanted to discuss something that might explain some of the things that the fiscal year was winding down on. He noted he was the Commissioner who made the motion on the hiring freeze and he had made it for all of General Fund. He pointed out all the monthly financial reports that all Commissioners receive. He distributed copies of just the General Fund. He asked Council to look at the very last page which showed $493,502.30 had been spent to date from the General Fund in excess of the amount of money taken in for the General Fund to date, which was 3⁄4 of the way through the year. He continued that the expenses should be 75% to date, as well as revenue should be 75% to date but revenue is only 70.33%, which is approximately 5% down or $220,000.00. He stated some revenues are received early in the year and some revenues are received later so this is just an idea on how to look at the budget to date.
Commissioner Harper wanted to point out some troubling lines. He stated the Mobile Home fee had been abated for the year, which meant a loss of $30,000.00 in revenue. He went to the Capital Outlay line and wanted Council to remember his report given at the start of the fiscal year that outlined revenues for the last six years. His report indicated that revenues are were going down and there were no new revenue sources. He continued that at that same meeting there was a motion passed to purchase a Police vehicle and a Police truck which were not in the budget. He continued that at that about same time Council had purchased an emergency vehicle for the Fire Department and deferred the payment out of that fiscal year into the next fiscal year. Commissioner Harper stated that, in terms of public safety, Council had bought a lot of equipment for Public
Safety. He continued that was also why that line item was already $42,000.00 over budget on the third day of the fiscal year.
He followed along on the report and stated Public Affairs was doing good; Police and Fire Board was also good; Clerk/Treasurer was a little over; Safety Equipment had not been expended yet; Police and Fire were running about 74% and noted that Interim Chief Riden was doing excellent with the overtime and Street/Alley was 75%. He stated the expenditures were running about right with 75% but revenues were behind. He stated that was the reason for looking at any new expenses and looking closely at cutting down possibly at least three employees in the General Fund.
Commissioner Miller stated she had thought the buyout was to be for 318 and she would never have agreed to it if she had known it meant not replacing a public safety officer.
Commissioner Harper concluded this recent information is where the finances stand and also why the $170,000.00 project was tabled. He stated the project would fall under General Fund, not drainage. He continued that in order to do that project it would need the support of every one of the Council members who were only here for two more months. He stated he did not believe it would be fair to a new Council to commit $170,000.00 out of their budget and this Council should let a new Council to agree to that project.
Commissioner Harper moved to adjourn. Commissioner Weirauch seconded. By roll call vote, all voted yes. Motion carried.
Adjourned: 6:19 pm.
https://docs.wixstatic.com/ugd/3acc7b_66360e4726be4977a68368456f9ad85e.pdf
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