SYCAMORE CITY COUNCIL REGULAR MEETING MINUTES OF November 06, 2017 ROLL CALL Mayor Curt Lang called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m. and City Clerk Mary Kalk called the roll. Those Alderpersons present were: Pete Paulsen, Virginia Sherrod, David Stouffer, Chuck Stowe, Alan Bauer, Steve Braser, Nancy Copple, and Rick Kramer. INVOCATION Father Paul Lipinski St. Mary s Catholic Church gave the invocation. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE Led by North School Students Joey Rosenow, Ellie Ferguson, Mikala Heine and Caden O'Donnell. APPROVAL OF AGENDA Alderperson Kramer moved to approve the agenda and Alderperson Copple seconded the motion. VOICE VOTE Mayor Lang called for a voice vote to approve the motion. All Alderpersons voted aye. Motion carried 8-0. APPOINTMENTS - None AUDIENCE TO VISITORS - None CONSENT AGENDA A. Approval of the Minutes for the Regular City Council Meeting of October 16, 2017. B. Payment of the Bills for November 6, 2017 in the amount of $609,808.25 C. Annual Report on the Financial Condition of the Police and Fire Pension Funds. Alderperson Bauer moved to approve the Consent Agenda and Alderperson Stowe seconded the motion. Mayor Lang called for a roll call vote to approve the motion. Alderpersons Paulsen, Sherrod, Stouffer, Stowe, Bauer, Braser, Copple, and Kramer, voted aye. Motion carried 8-0. PRESENTATION OF PETITIONS, COMMUNICATIONS, AND BILLS. Mayor Lang thanked Police, Fire, Public Works, and the Pumpkin Festival Committee for a successful and smooth festival. A. Recognition of Mary Bauer on the Occasion of her 100 th Birthday. Alderman Al Bauer introduced his mom, Mary Bauer, and his family. Mayor Lang presented a Certificate of Honor and read a proclamation. B. Recognition of Al Wolfenberger on the Occasion of his 100 th Birthday. Al and his family was introduced and Mayor Lang presented a Certificate of Honor and read a proclamation. Mayor Lang offered both of them best wishes for continued good health, happiness, and an overflowing abundance of love and joy. C. A Presentation by Northern Illinois University Recognizing the City of Sycamore and the Sycamore Chamber of Commerce for Huskie Pride in the Sycamore Community. Saul Jensen, NIU Vice President for Enrollment. Management, Marketing, and Communications, in conjunction with NIU President Freeman(not present), Christine Wang, Speaker of the NIU Student Senate, Jennifer Groce, NIU Community Affairs, members of the ROTC program, and Huskie Dog, Mission, presented a Certificate of Appreciation to Mayor Curt Lang and Rose Treml, Executive Director of Sycamore Chamber for promoting Red and Black Fridays for Huskie Pride. REPORT OF OFFICERS
City Manager Brian Gregory said Happy Birthday to Mary Bauer and Al Wolfenberger. He thanked everyone for a successful Pumpkin Festival. He said the parking lot signs in Lot #1 and #3 have been refaced. He thanked Morningstar Media for their help with the design to help with the incremental branding of Sycamore. November 13 th will be a public hearing for rezoning at 503 East State Street (the former Marathon Gas Station). This will be repurposed to commercial business asking to rezone from C-1, Neighborhood Business District to C-2, Central Business District, and there will also be a workshop on some concept plans for R-4, Rural Residential plans. He said property taxes and work-comp and liability insurance renewals will be discussed at the next City Council meeting on November 20 th. Police Chief Jim Winters said that Pumpkin Festival went smooth and thanked Steve Cook, the Police Event Coordinator and all the volunteers from other communities that provide officers help with traffic control. He also expressed condolences to the family of Rockford Officer Jaimie Cox, who was killed the day before, and extended condolences to the Rockford Police Department. He said it is a sobering reminder of just how dangerous it is for our officers that are out on the streets. Fire Chief Pete Polarek said that with October being Fire Prevention Month, the educators saw about 3000 Pre- Kindergarten to Fifth grade kids last month, so that was a successful season. Fire Station #1 will hold a Pancake Breakfast for the Fire Preservation Company on Saturday, November 11 th from 8 a.m. 11 a.m. He said that last week, the Consumer Product Safety Commission recalled Kidde Fire Extinguishers with the plastic handles. He asked that everyone, please, check theirs at home. Residents are welcome to call the firehouse if they have any questions. Director of Public Works Fred Busse not in attendance Treasurer/Asst. to the City Manager Adam Orton said the Annual Report for the Fire and Police Pension Funds is required by the State to be considered by the Council each year before the property tax levy is decided. He said both had a good year overall. The report is included in the background for details. Building & Engineering Director John Sauter reported that they have issued 43 Single Family Resident permits up to the end of October and had issued 46 at the same time last year. Although, that is behind last year, they have just received four new submittals, so he feels they will end up where they were last year. He reported that work is progressing nicely at the Jail expansion. He anticipates that they will be doing final inspections beginning in the New Year. City Engineer Mark Bushnell said the Crack Sealing program is complete. They were able to complete all streets plus two more. They had the on-site 5-year review of the Community Rating System; the program that we voluntarily participate in for flood insurance. It results in an average annual savings of $274.00 for each of our 44 policy holders. He said the update on Route 23 is that, according to IDOT employees, the contractors will be placing recessed pavement markings, such as reflectors, electricians are adjusting pedestrian push-buttons and modifying some of the control boxes, and crews will start pavement striping as early as Thursday, working from the North to the South. REPORTS OF STANDING COMMITTEES Finance no report Public Safety Pete Paulsen - no report Public Works Chuck Stowe no report PUBLIC HEARING - None ORDINANCES - A. Ordinance No. 2017.13 An Ordinance Providing for the Issuance of Not to Exceed $3,550,000 General Obligation Refunding Bonds, Series 2017, of the City of Sycamore, DeKalb County, Illinois, for the Purpose of Refunding Certain Outstanding Bonds of said City, Providing for the Levy and Collection of a Direct Annual Tax Sufficient to Pay the Principal and Interest on Said Bonds, and Authorizing the Sale of Said Bonds to the Purchaser Thereof. First and Second Reading. City Manager Brian Gregory said that this Ordinance approves the issuance of refunding bonds to replace the remaining 2007 General Obligation and 2009 Build America Bonds which have built-in call features (with the 2009 series callable in January 2018).
City staff have worked with Eric Anderson of Piper Jaffray to review options for refunding to take advantage of favorable rates and smooth the debt service without impacting other City operations while working toward a cost neutral option. Levy Year Series 2007 Series 2007 To Be Refunded Series 2009 In order to meet these goals without taking on additional costs at the time of the refunding, staff proposed injecting equity from the fund balances of the 2003, 2007, 2009 and 2012 Bond funds totaling approximately $115,000. We will keep the debt within a 10 year repayment schedule. A new fund, Fund 38 will be established as the "2017 Refunding Bond Fund" and transfers from the General Fund and Capital Assistance Fund will be redirected to the new fund for debt service payments. The FY2018 budget will be amended in the spring and will reflect these changes. The bonds will be offered as a private placement meaning that financial institutions will bid on the bonds to serve as tax-exempt investments within their respective portfolios, which minimizes the cost of issuance. Eric Anderson from Piper Jaffrey said the write up and explanation was great and that we will receive bids this Wednesday November 8 th. They will be communicated to the Treasurer and City Manager for recommendation. Mayor Lang asked about the City s rating. Series 2009 To Be Refunded Series 2012 Series 2017 Refunding Bonds Total Debt Service Change from Current 2017 $ 198,700 $ (198,700) $ 361,850 $ (361,850) $ 261,000 $ 323,698 $ 584,698 $ (236,852) 2018 196,050 (196,050) 353,859 (353,859) 259,250 326,962 586,212 (222,947) 2019 78,187 (78,187) 495,593 (495,593) 262,350 326,088 588,438 (247,692) 2020 - - 556,330 (556,330) 265,150 325,095 590,245 (231,235) 2021 - - 564,482 (564,482) 262,650 328,985 591,635 (235,497) 2022 - - 920,403 (920,403) - 592,640 592,640 (327,763) 2023 - - 408,829 (408,829) - 584,950 584,950 176,121 2024 - - - - - 407,142 407,142 407,142 2025 - - - - - 403,213 403,213 403,213 2026 - - - - - 399,165 399,165 399,165 Totals $ 472,937 $ (472,937) $ 3,661,345 $ (3,661,345) $ 1,310,400 $ 4,017,938 $ 5,328,338 $ (116,344) Contributed from City Sources 115,000 Change in Total Debt Service $ (1,344) Eric Anderson said that the City has a very solid rating in the AA category. Although we are in Illinois, the demographics and the debt profile (meaning all the debt is retired within 10 years) are all very attractive propositions for purchasers of the bonds. Brian Gregory said that when we talk about the title of the ordinance and what we are pledging to our taxing authority, we have the ability or the capacity. He said, as we get ready for the budget every year, we have a series of abatements of that debt, so we are saying in this title that we have that capacity, then we abate it. So the bond buyers are looking at how much capacity we have and the fiscal prudence that we exercise each year when we abate those. So, on that schedule, we have the ability to retire those bonds using transfers that stay within the $600,000 annual debt, without taking on additional liability to the property tax payers. Alderperson Braser moved to waive First Reading on Ordinance 2017.13 and Alderperson Kramer seconded the motion. VOICE VOTE Mayor Lang called for a voice vote to approve the motion. All Alderpersons voted aye. Motion carried 8-0. Alderperson Bauer moved to approve Ordinance 2017.13 and Alderperson Kramer seconded the motion. Mayor Lang called for a roll call vote to approve the motion. Alderpersons, Paulsen, Sherrod, Stouffer, Stowe, Bauer, Braser, Copple, and Kramer voted Aye. Motion carried 8-0.
RESOLUTIONS A. Resolution No. 731 A Resolution Authorizing Disposal of Certain City Property. City Manager Brian Gregory said per the City s Purchasing Manual and Accounting Guidelines, anything over $50 value that needs to be disposed of, via trade in or public auction, is made through a resolution to make a formal record of the disposal, trade, or sale. Resolution 731 acknowledges and authorizes the disposal of the following property: Trade-Ins: 2008 and 2012 Chevy Impalas were traded in to DeKalb-Sycamore Chevrolet with credit used toward the purchase of a 2016 Chevy Impala. The City was given $7,500 credit for the 2012 Chevy Impala which has a CLEAN NADA trade in value of $7,450. Another local car dealer offered $3,900. The City was given $6,500 credit for the 2008 Chevy Impala which has a CLEAN NADA trade in value of $5,287. Another local car dealer offered $5,000. The trade in credit was used to purchase the 2016 Chevy Impala. The emergency lighting from the traded in squad cars will be re-purposed to the new squad car. Sale of Forfeited Vehicle: A 2003 Dodge Ram 2500 Quad Cab ST 2WD pick-up truck was awarded to the Police Department under Article 36 of State Statute when the driver was arrested for DUI after having his driving privileges revoked for DUI. The Department is preparing to sell the vehicle utilizing the on-line auction site GovDeals.com which is used by various law enforcement agencies in Illinois. A 12.5% administrative fee is charged which will be the responsibility of the buyer and no listing fees are charged. The pick-up truck has a NADA ROUGH trade in value of $4,275 although it is in very poor condition. Proceeds from the sale of the truck will be allocated towards the purchase of new printers used with electronic ticketing in the squad cars. The current printers are over 8 years old and cost approximately $1,000 for parts and installation. Alderperson Stowe moved to approve Resolution 731 and Alderperson Braser seconded the motion. Mayor Lang called for a roll call vote to approve the motion. Alderpersons, Paulsen, Sherrod, Stouffer, Stowe, Bauer, Braser, Copple, and Kramer voted Aye. Motion carried 8-0. CONSIDERATIONS A. Consideration of a Request by Lance Klinger to Add an Additional Class VG Liquor License. City Manager Brian Gregory gave a background of the Council establishing a new class VG liquor license which resulted in moving the four class B license holders that were operating as video gaming cafes to the new license and put a cap on the number of licenses at four. Consistent with class B licenses, Council can approve additional licenses by a 3/4ths vote of the corporate authorities. Since that action, there have been a total of six parties, that have expressed interest in obtaining a class VG license, so the Liquor Commissioner asked for additional discussion to determine the Council s thoughts on adding Class VG licenses beyond those created as part of Ordinance 2017.06. Lance Klinger, who owns Ski s and Sophie s Place and currently possesses two class B liquor licenses, has submitted a request to create an additional class VG license. He pointed out, though, that when the license is created, it s done so blindly. It s the question of, do we want, as a Council or as the City, additional licenses. From there, how the license is distributed, is up to the Liquor Commissioner. Based on the discussion from the last meeting, he outlined three options for consideration: 1.) Create additional license(s) with a 3/4ths majority vote. The Liquor Commissioner would determine the distribution of the license(s). 2.) Deny the request if it fails to receive 3/4ths majority vote of the Corporate Authorities. This would signal to all of these interested parties and any others that may come forward the Council s intentions to not add more Class VG licenses.
3.) Choose not to create additional Class VG licenses at this time, but instruct staff to bring back a consideration for review in the future. This review could take place in November of 2019, as was previously suggested in the past meeting. Alderperson Copple said, personally, she loves Ski s and knows Lance, who does so much for and is invested in the Sycamore community. The only concern she had, from many people in her ward, is that they didn t want another video gaming establishment. She said she is torn because maybe Sophie s would be a gentle addition to Sycamore. Alderperson Kramer said that since Lance Klinger is already an established business and he said he would be behind that 100%. City Attorney Keith Foster reminded the Council that this is not the question of a license for Lance, but a question of licenses in general. Do we want more licenses? Then, it would be up to the Liquor Commissioner to determine how to parcel out those licenses. Alderperson Kramer confirmed that if they did approve additional licenses that it still had to go before the Council for final approval. City Attorney Keith Foster said this is a consideration to find out whether we want to bring back an ordinance. So we would bring back the ordinance, and that s when the Council would vote on whether to make additional licenses or not. People would apply for those additional licenses, if it were positive, and then, it would be up to the Liquor Commissioner to decide who gets them. Alderperson Stouffer stated that the Council couldn t even guarantee that Lance would get one of the licenses if they voted to create more of them. City Attorney Keith Foster concurred. Alderperson Bauer said that everything about Lance is true. He has known him a long time and is a good guy and does a lot of fundraising. But, since this is about how many licenses we want, in general, he just doesn t think this is a good look for the City to have too many of these. He said he doesn t know what the right number is; 5 licenses or 8 or 10? Where is the right number? When you have too many, it s not a good look and we have worked hard to maintain a good look. We don t want to spoil the good work that has been done and have a look that is not conducive to a family-friendly community. Alderperson Braser said he is for this 110%. He thinks it should be equal and the better business man survives. We don t have restrictions on tattoo parlors, churches, title-cash places, or spas. He said that maybe we restrict video gaming parlors with signage to keep it family-friendly. He said we have done a good job so far keeping the signage professional compared to other communities that have lots of banners hanging everywhere. He said this is something that wasn t out there 10 years ago and it s a good revenue boost for the city, especially as Chief Winters has said there have been no issues in the past with these establishments. Alderperson Paulsen said he wouldn t mind expanding the number of licenses. He said you can buy lottery tickets all over town. This is a chance to win more money and it s for entertainment value. Alderperson Sherrod said she liked the idea of Lance already being an established business, but although, she can t say she has been to any of the video gaming café s, she hasn t heard of any issues, either. Alderperson Stowe said he likes the option of holding off for a couple of years to see where this leads. He said he hates to see too many, but, he doesn t know what the right number is. Alderperson Braser said that s why we have to let the people decide for themselves. Alderperson Stowe responded that, that is all well and good if you are coming from Braser s end of the spectrum, but from his end of the spectrum, he likes to regulate things like this.
Alderperson Braser asked Alderperson Stowe, when he says things like this what does that mean? Alderperson Stowe said it means things where it s gambling or liquor. That is the general idea. He asked, are we going to open every liquor operation? Why do we have a limit on the number of bars? He said, you won t like that look at all. It s the same thing. Liquor is an established industry where it s regulated. Gambling is an established industry where it s regulated. We should continue that. You wouldn t like that look at all and just let everything go the way it wants to go a Pottersville. Alderperson Stouffer said he agrees that Lance is a quality guy and runs a quality place. Speaking specifically to the video gaming licenses and the revenue it can bring in. He reviewed the gaming website and for 2017, he noticed that it s pretty consistent where it tops out around the same revenue each month, regardless of the number of machines in town, it s just split up. He doesn t know if it would bring in more revenue, but it would definitely bring a piece of the pie to whomever received the additional video gaming license. So he would like to revisit this in the future. City Manager Brian Gregory said that 2 years was just a term. He said a different term could be selected, but that is up to the Council s discretion. This is unique because in the past, there have been additional license requests where there has only been one person asking for a license. In this case, there have been multiple people come forward and he and the Mayor have even met with other users who have asked to expand liquor stores to add a service so they can add video gaming machines. He is looking for direction. Alderperson Copple asked how many can a person apply for? City Manager Brian Gregory each business applies for a license. Alderperson Al Bauer said that we have talked about the revenues and how the business owners make a lot of money, but this money is coming from somewhere. Whether this person is flush with money and can donate to these machines each week or if this person is affliction for gambling, might be gambling money they don t necessarily have, not his judgement to make, but he said there could be situations where this money is coming from somewhere and they may or may not be able to afford it. It s not our judgement but it s not as pretty as we make it. Tax revenue is great, business owners are making money, but the money is coming from somewhere. That s the other side. Alderperson Braser said he understands Mr. Bauer s point but it comes back to the point that we are not here to legislate morality. Alderperson Bauer responded that we do all the time. Alderperson Braser said, but we are not here to do that. Alderperson Bauer asked, do you propose we pull all the speed limits out? Alderperson Braser said that s not morality. Alderperson Bauer said, it is if I go 100 miles per hour. Alderperson Braser said, then you get a ticket and that would be bad on your budget. Alderperson Bauer said, and that would be a pretty horrible situation if I hurt somebody. He said, we do legislate morality and we do it all the time, and we do it at all levels of government. Mayor Lang thanked everyone and said, if we expand, how many do we expand to, and how does he decide and if it s A, B, C, or D. He said that personally he would prefer option 3, to wait a little while and see how things go. He is not comfortable making a decision just a month after we made the ordinance. He said we really have 11 bars and the 4 video gaming cafes, plus the clubs and bowling alley that people can go to if they want.
Alderperson Stowe moved to create three additional VG licenses and Alderperson Bauer seconded the motion. Mayor Lang called for a roll call vote to approve the motion. Alderpersons, Paulsen, Sherrod, Braser, Copple, and Kramer voted Aye. Alderpersons Stouffer, Stowe, and Bauer voted Nay. Motion Failed 5-3. Alderperson Stowe moved to revisit adding more class VG licenses in November 2018 and Alderperson Stouffer seconded the motion. Mayor Lang called for a roll call vote to approve the motion. Alderpersons, Paulsen, Sherrod, Stouffer, Stowe, Bauer, and Copple, voted Aye. Alderpersons Braser and Kramer voted Nay. Motion carried 6-2 OTHER NEW BUSINESS ADJOURNMENT Alderperson Stowe moved to adjourn the meeting at 8:10 p.m. and Alderperson Paulsen seconded the motion. VOICE VOTE Mayor Lang called for a voice vote to approve the motion. All Alderpersons voted aye Motion carried 8-0. Approve: Mayor Curt Lang Attest: City Clerk Mary Kalk