City Council meetings

January 6, 2003

The citizens Ambulance Ad Hoc Committee held a meeting December 30 to discuss the ambulance staffing shortage. Chairman Bill Koos briefed the committee on the current budget for the ambulance squad and provided a scenario of costs to provide a minimum paid staff.

Some committee members thought that the newly hired police officer could serve as a daytime personnel for the ambulance squad since he is already an EMT-1. However, City Administrator Trent Smith said that the officer could not assume a role as an EMT while he is on duty as an policeman since their would be a conflict in duties in which he would have to remain at the scene of an accident as a police officer and would not be able to leave with the ambulance.

It was felt that most people in Minonk are not aware of the gravity of the ambulance shortage. Suggestions for recruiting volunteers included doing door-to-door canvasing, have local ministers approach members of their congregation, and starting a program in high school whereas seniors could enter into a program to learn about becoming an EMT.

A minimum cost analysis was presented that would incorporate a fulltime paid staff with the current volunteer staff. The committee emphasized that the figures are used as a starting point for better understanding the staffing requirements and in no way is intended to be an endorsement, for or against, a paid fulltime EMT staff. The totals are:

Minumum paid staff of 2 Intermediates - $69,888.00 per year
Minimum paid staff of 2 Basics - $49,920.00 per year
Volunteers: 2 Intermediates - $9,240.00 per year
Volunteers: 1 Basic - $2,640.00 per year
Total per year - $131,688.00 per year

The committee will meet again on January 27 at City Hall at 7:00 p.m.

The Minonk City Council ammended an ordinance that sets the speed limit at 20 mph for streets near Fieldcrest High School and Fieldcrest South Grade School. The ammendment removes the speed limit from 4th and 6th streets between Locust and Maple. This action required six fewer signs to be put up which saved the city $780.00.

Alderman Dean Barth questioned the need for a speed limit stating that the school area should instead be patroled by the police to enforce speed limits. Mayor Spencer said that the area will be patrolled by the police whether or not there is a speed limit ordinance in effect. The council approved the ammendment with councilman Barth and Bill Koos voting no.

Other news

Alderman Dean Barth raised a question as to how many junk cars are allowed to be stored along the street. Barth said that Lindley's Garage along Oak Street has over 15 cars and asked the council if there shouldn't be some kind of limit. Mayor Mark Spencer said he will check to determine if there is an ordinance specifying a limit on junk cars stored on a business lot. If not, the council can then decide if they want to make an ordinance specifying a limit.

Alderman Ron Redenius said that he has received reports on junk cars and wanted to know what procedure should be taken for their removal. Mayor Spencer told him to report the matter to either Police Chief Butler or City Administrator Trent Smith.

Finally, Alderman Barth has received a complaint about an offensive sign on a garage at the corner of Eighth and Chestnut and asked what can be done to remove it. Mayor Spencer said the city would look into it.

January 20, 2003

At its normal Monday night meeting the Minonk City Council learned from City Administrator Trent Smith that there was a discrepancy in the cost of the summer storm sewer project to the tune of $18,152. The discrepancy is the result of what the city contracted to pay versus what they actually paid Colclasure Excavating for installation of the storm sewer over the old IC right-of-way east of Chestnut Street.

An agreement to tie in the Chestnut Street drains with the storm sewer in lieu of paving the downtown parking lot was to cost an additional $7,995. Instead, the actual costs billed were $18,200, which is $10,205 more than agreed to.

A second discrepancy occured when the plans for laying gravel replacement were 994 feet greater than the specs which resulted in an additional cost of $7,952. Smith said that these discrepancies were the result of oversights by the Farnsworth Group engineers who were paid by the city to monitor the project. Smith said that Farnsworth should reimburse the city for the $18,152 overage. He said that Steve Meyers of the Farnsworth Group is looking into the problem.

In other news, the council tabled a motion until February 3 to approve a new ordinance that handles inoperable vehicles. City Administrator Trent Smith said that the ordinance needed to be streamlined so as to facilitate the resolution of disputes over inoperable vehicles. Alderman Dean Barth said that he talked to Mike Gerdes about the vehicles parked outside his auto repair shop and that Gerdes immediately took care of the problem. Barth said that the council needs to talk to people more to resolve problems. Mayor Mark Spencer said he wants the ordinance to be fair to owners of auto repair shops that have cars in various states of repair yet be strong enough to handle the obvious infractions.

The council approved a motion by Alderman Dean Barth to reject the bids for construction of the proposed Westside Park pavilion. Before any action was taken, Alderman Bill Koos wanted to see the bid results before taking a vote. The lowest bid was $101,000 by Tjaden Construction of Minonk which was $20,000 over the expected bid of the Westside Park Adhoc Committee.

Alderman Barth said that the specs have been modified to leave off a finished ceiling in order to get a lower bid. Barth said that new bid specs will be sent out in the first week of February. Committee member Dave Uphoff said that the city is going to have to find some way to build the pavilion since an awful lot of people from all over the country have donated money and are watching us to see what happens next.

Ron Fortman discussed the terms of his lease with the city on his building in the old Kent Lumber Building at the corner of Oak and Sixth. Originally, Fortman told the city that he wanted to terminate this lease with the city on the property. Fortman, who has a motorcycle parts business in the building, said that the lease on the building expires in 2005 at which time he has no control over the future of his business. He did not want to invest any more money in a building that he may not be able to keep after the lease expires. Strangely, Fortman owns the building but not the land on which it sets. The city owns that land and is leasing the land to Fortman.

After much discussion, Alderman Stalter asked Fortman if he wanted to disband his business to which Fortman replied that he did not but felt that it wasn't economically feasible to continue investing in the building. In response to a question by Alderman Bill Koos, Fortman said that he wasn't being pressured by the council but instead was being pressured by the terms of the lease. Both Koos and Stalter indicated that they do not want to discourage Fortman's business venture and suggested that he discuss alternative plans with the city. Mayor Spencer told Fortman to meet with him next week and they will discuss another approach to keeping his business intact either at its present site or at a new site.

Members of the Minonk City Council met members of the Nutrition Meals, the Food Pantry and the Millenium committee to discuss the possibility of utilizing the former Wigwam Restaurant at the south end of the city for use by the Food Pantry and the Nutrition Meals. No action was taken as the result of that meeting.

Public Works Supervisor Charlie McGuire told the council that Layne-Western has had problems in getting the well drilling rig to the Westside Park to begin drilling Well #4. The original plans called for the well drilling to be completed by February 13 after drilling for 25 days.

February 3, 2003

The Minonk City Council decided not to update its Inoperable Vehicle Ordinance that is intended to eliminate abandoned vehicles from the city streets. Alderman Bill Koos said that he feels that the current ordinance is effective. Koos said that just because the city lost a case in court over an abandoned vehicles doesn't mean that the city has to improve the ordinance. He said that sometimes you are going to lose a case.

City Administrator Trent Smith said that the city lost the case due a technicality. Police Chief Bill Butler said that the city lost the case because they didn't allow the plaintiff to pay a fine at city hall based on the advice of the city attorney. Mayor Spencer said that the city lost the case because it didn't do what it was supposed to do. Butler said that he feels the current ordinance is fine. He said that when a ticket is written for an junk vehicle on the street, the owner usually removes the car even though the fine msy not be paid.

The council decided not to adopt the new ordinance.

In other news, the city has learned that the "Members Initiative" grant money from the state has been frozen. One half of the $25,000 sanitary replacement grant. The $30,000 grant for the sanitary storm sewer has been frozen. Mayor Mark Spencer said that if the grant money doesn't come through that the council will have to come with the money from some other source.

Alderman Bill Koos said that the Adhoc Ambulance Committee will try a public relations blitz to try to get volunteers for the ambulance squad. Koos said that this the last ditch effort to attempt to get more ambulance volunteers. If volunteers are not recruited, a paid staff will have to be hired.

Mayor Spencer said that he met with Ron Fortman regarding the building at Oak and Sixth where he operates a motorcycle parts business. Spencer said that a package for relocating his business will be presented to the Economic Development Committee.

Alderman Dean Barth wanted the council to provide night lighting for the flag that flies in Suttons Park.

Barth said that he has received 2 complaints about the noise from the all night well drilling at the Westside Park. Mayor Spencer said that drilling is done 24 hours a day in order to hasten the completion of the drilling and reduce the cost of the drilling.

The Ambulance Staffing Committee decided to keep the Minonk ambulance squad staffed with volunteers. At a meeting Monday night, the committee felt that it was too expensive for a paid staff of $40,000 a year.

The committee recommended stepping up efforts to recruit volunteers. A long range plan is to educate high school students and train them to become EMT's. Posters and billboards will be displayed throughout the committee to raise public awareness of the volunteer shortage. It also was proposed that elementary students come up with a slogan for recruiting volunteers.

City Administrator Trent Smith said that three new people are currently taking courses to become basic EMTs and are able to go along on ambulance runs for training. He said the course takes 3 months before they can qualify to be a basic EMT.

The committee has their next meeting on February 24.

February 17, 2003

The Minonk City Council signed an agreement with the Millenium Committee that allows the committee to use the funds from a $305,000 DNR grant to develop a recreational park at the north end of the city. Neil Finlen of the Farnsworth Group gave a presentation to the council outlining the time frame for developing the park. Finlen said that the committee will be responsible for the development and maintenance of the park and that the city will be indemnified against any liability from use of the property.

Council member Dean Barth who voted against the agreement stated that he felt that the people of Minonk should be involved in the decision to develop the park. Barth said that the public has not been kept informed of the committee's plans and have no knowledge of what funds the committee has for developing the complex. He asked how the community could afford the estimated $300,000 annual maintenance for a proposed community center.

Finlen replied that the $300,000 maintenance is not relevant to the current project but was an estimate for a fully developed community center that includes a pool and gymnasium. He said that a final decision has not been made yet on what type of building will be built and when it will be built.

Barth said that the City Administrator is not being paid to administer a project for the Millenium Committee. Finlen replied that the project will be monitored by Farnsworth and should not require a lot of the City Administrator's time.

Doug Melton of the Farnsworth Group told the Minonk City Council that the drilling of Well #4 is progressing smoothly. He indicated that the drilling of the well should be completed by the end of this week. The well casing has been installed to a depth of 1453 feet. The drilling will continue to a depth of 2000 feet. No casing is required at these depths since they will be drilling through limestone and other hard rock material that has little chance of collapsing. The St. Peter Aquifer is in the sandstone at the bottom of the well.

Melton said that another crew will come in after the drilling is completed to develop the well, do a well test, install the pump and tie everything into the existing lines and pressure test the well. When completed all that will show is a small hydrant. The City will complete the final landscaping in the Spring.

The city approved a request by Layne Western, the well drillers, for a 45 day extension for completion of the well. The city also approved a change order for a different valve that will give a $240 credit to the city.

Council member Dean Barth asked Melton if placing the new well only 300 feet from the older well instead of the stipulated 400 feet poses a problem for the city. Melton replied that it shouldn't be a problem. He said that the extra drawdown from having the well 100 feet closer to the older well would amount to only .4 of a foot after pumping for 16 hours.

In other news, the council approved a motion to grant a 5 year contract to Med-I-Claim for processing and collecting the ambulance bills sent out by the city. The new contract increases the rate from $15 to $18 per claim. City Administrator Trent Smith said that Med-I-Claim has collected $68,000 this past year. The amount collected for the previous year before Med-I-Claim started processing the claims was $45,000. Smith said that they are doing a great job.

Councilman Dean Barth said that the Public Works Committee will meet with Clayton Township personnel to try to resolve the water runoff problem west of the I-39 overpass. Farmers west of the area are complaining about excessive runoff after heavy rains. Some are complaining that the retention pond at the Caroline Development is contributing to the problem. However, City Administrator Trent Smith said that the state controlled the development of the pond and said that it does not pose a problem.

March 3, 2003

In other news, the council voted to extend the Med-I-Claims to three years rather than 5 years as previously approved by the council. Med-I-Claims said that they will not sign a contract beyond three years. The new contract will be at the rate of $18.00 per claim.

A law enforcement mutual aid agreement was tabled by the council after discussion. The agreement was proposed by the Illinois Chiefs of Police, the Illinois Sheriff's Association and the Illinois Terrorism Task Force to create a statewide mutual aid system. The agreement stated that if the city assisted another municipality in the State of Illinois that has also signed the agreement, the city will not be compensated for their time and must cover their own liabilities. Alderman Bill Koos asked if this agreement would cover ambulance service as well. City Administrator Trent Smith said it would not. Koos made a motion to table the agreement until more answers can be provided regarding the agreement. The council approved the motion.

Alderman Koos said that the money for completing the Maple Street sewer project has been withdrawn by the state and the city will need to budget for the $55,000 needed to complete the project this year.

City Administrator Trent Smith said that the drilling of Well # has been completed and is 2023 feet deep. He said that a pump test will be done on March 4 and the results given to Farnsworth engineers who will then order the appropriate pump. It will be two weeks before the pump can be delivered and installed. As soon as that is done, the city will then level and seed the ground.

Mayor Mark Spencer said that there will be a Meet the Candidates Night on March 19 at 7:00 p.m. at City Hall. Spencer also said that there will be a meeting of the Millenium Committee on March 20 at City Hall to discuss plans for the recreational park to be developed at the north edge of town this year.

Alderman Koos said that the Fieldcrest Elementary South students will undertake a project to develop a slogan for solicting volunteers for the ambulance squad. The Ambulance Committee will select the best slogan and turn them over to the high school art class where posters can then be made for public display. Koos said that the slogans will emphasize not just the need for volunteers for the ambulance squad but for other volunteer activities including the fire department and the Fourth of July celebration.

Alderman Dean Barth said that the opening of bids for construction of the Westside Park Pavilion will delayed until March 24 at 3:00 p.m. Barth said that the architect who is advertising the bids had an illness in the family and could not make the February 25 deadline. Barth said that if the bids are too high at the opening, that the committee will be ready to seek another course of action to get the pavilion built. He emphasized that with the city council's help the pavilion will be built this summer one way or another.