Illinois Valley Times

City of LaSalle City Council met July 8

Here are the minutes provided by the council:

PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE

ROLL CALL

Present – Mayor Grove, Aldermen Bacidore, Reynolds, Lavieri, Jeppson, Herndon, Crane

Absent – Alderman Thompson, Alderman Ptak

Others Present: Deputy Clerk Brent Bader, Economic Development Director Curt Bedei, City Building Inspector Andy Bacidore, Director of Public Works Kevin Fay, Fire Chief Jerry Janick, City Attorney James McPhedran, City Engineer Brian Brown, Police Chief Mike Smudzinski, City Treasurer Virginia Kochanowski

A quorum was present.

COMMENTS

Mary Hale asked about the yard waste site and if it could be organized a little better. She said it was not organized well and it felt like an obstacle course driving through it.

Brianne Hicks asked for an update on the issues with the alderman’s email. She also asked if there was a chance for the public to receive the city council packet prior to each meeting. She asked for an update on Matthiessen Park and if there would be any trees added and any cleanup to occur. She mentioned her suggestion again in regard to the yard waste burn pile being turned into potentially compost, which would be better for residents and the environment. She also asked if there would be an update on paint work that needed to be done in front of curbs by hydrants.

Dawn Hicks asked if the two requested designated parking spaces for Hegeler Carus mentioned were the two handicapped spots that have been put in. She also pointed out that the handicap ramp at City Hall has been blocked. She also stated that the building permit at the Maytag building was not always visible. 

Deana Hicks did express her concerns with the air monitor that always seems to go off at night and how the numbers seem to be higher than the library. She also requested receiving the council packet prior to meeting to review the large purchases. Mrs. Hicks also expressed her concerns with the frequency of Police hires and if there was a cost associated with someone being hired and with having to outfit an officer.

Mayor Grove and Mrs. Hicks had a discussion about why more hires may be necessary, not just in the Police Department but in all occupations. Mayor Grove did mention that the City does have in their Union Contract that if an officer does leave after training, that officer would be help accountable and have to prorate back the money that was expended out. She also asked about Home Rule and if that why the city doesn’t open bids. Mayor Grove mentioned that the city does open bids to the public to review and all would be aware of the bids that came back. It was mentioned that the lettings are posted in the paper when they occur.

Mayor Grove commented about the request for council packet. He stated that any resident is asked to contact their alderman if they have any questions or concerns within the packet. They are invited to review the packet with their alderman.

Angel Farmer thanked everyone for the work that was done to the Rotary Park that resolved the safety concern with the wall. She did mention that she questioned Mayor awhile back in regard to the safety concerns at Rotary Park and her concerns never received a response. Farmer used the remainder of her time to hold a moment of silence for her sister and anyone else that was lost too soon.

APPROVAL OF MINUTES

Moved by Alderman Reynolds and seconded by Alderman Herndon to approve the Minutes of the Regular City Council meeting held June 24, 2024. Each and every alderman has a copy.

Voice vote, all ayes. Motion carried.

DISCUSSION AND POTENTIAL ACTION ON THE FOLLOWING PETITIONS:

Moved by Alderman Crane and seconded by Alderman Bacidore to send the request from Hegeler Carus Foundation for two designated parking spaces for the Hegeler Carus Mansion.

Economic Development Director Curt Bedei mentioned that the Hegeler Carus Foundation is requesting specific spaces for Hegeler Carus Mansion parking only.

Alderman Reynolds mentioned that they do have a designated handicap parking sign, but it is on the ground and not a sign. He mentioned that they have been having parking issues at the mansion because people are ignoring that sign.

Voice vote, all ayes. Motion carried.

Moved by Alderman Herndon and seconded by Alderman Crane to approve the revised request from Kyle Foley of Knights of Columbus Calvert Council 792 to hold Tag Day Collections on Friday, September 13th, Saturday, September 14th, and Sunday, September 15th at the intersection of 11th and Bucklin Streets.

Voice vote, all ayes. Motion carried.

Moved by Alderman Jeppson and seconded by Alderman Reynolds to approve the request for a 2024 Raffle License from The Perfectly Flawed Foundation.

Voice vote, all ayes. Motion carried.

Moved by Alderman Herndon and seconded by Alderman Reynolds to approve the request from LIV Wellness, 525 1st St., for a Special Event Permit to allow the use of City-owned property in the parking lot across from the business as well as the street closure on First Street from Gooding to Wright street and an increase in allowed decibel readings for a Summer Block Party on Saturday, July 27, 2024 from 9am to 3pm.

Representative from LIV Wellness was present at meeting and discussed how they were hoping to use the green space on 1st St. as well for their event. She mentioned that they do include all surrounding businesses during this event also.

ROLL CALL

AYES: Aldermen Bacidore, Reynolds, Lavieri, Jeppson, Herndon, Crane

NAYS: NONE Absent: Alderman Thompson, Ptak Abstain: NONE

MOTION CARRIED: 6-0

REPORTS OF CITY OFFICERS

Moved by Alderman Herndon and seconded by Alderman Reynolds to accept, approve and place on file the Monthly Police Income report for June 2024 showing total fees collected of $8,190.53.

Voice vote, all ayes. Motion carried.

Moved by Alderman Lavieri and seconded by Alderman Herndon to accept, approve, and place on file the Treasurer’s Report for June 2024 showing total cash balances in La Salle State Bank of $9,501,350.14 and in Hometown National Bank of $8,040,508.12. Each and every alderman has a copy.

Voice vote, all ayes. Motion carried.

BIDS

Moved by Alderman Lavieri and seconded by Alderman Jeppson to approve the bid award to Cruz Concrete, Inc. of $112,760.00 for the National Fitness Campaign Concrete Slab and Sidewalk & Decorative Sidewalk Installation Program. 

ROLL CALL

AYES: Aldermen Reynolds, Lavieri, Jeppson, Herndon, Crane, Bacidore

NAYS: NONE Absent: Alderman Thompson, Ptak Abstain: NONE

MOTION CARRIED: 6-0

APPOINTMENTS/RESIGNATIONS

Moved by Alderman Herndon and seconded by Alderman Reynolds to accept the hire three candidates for the position of Patrolman from the Patrolman Eligibility list per the recommendation of the Police and Fire Commissioners for the City of LaSalle.

Voice vote, all ayes. Motion carried.

Police Chief mentioned that he planned on sending two to the academy next month along with staying ahead of the game in case of a couple potential retirements possibly soon. Alderman Herndon wanted to point out that the City did have one officer that just resigned, after working one month only, just last month which would be a position that recently just opened up too.

ROLL CALL

AYES: Aldermen Lavieri, Jeppson, Herndon, Crane, Bacidore, Reynolds

NAYS: NONE Absent: Alderman Thompson, Ptak Abstain: NONE

MOTION CARRIED: 6-0

STANDING COMMITTEES

Moved by Alderman Lavieri and seconded by Alderman Herndon to accept the recommendation of the Finance Committe regarding the purchase of a New Elgin Pelican NP Street Sweeper at a cost of $323,830.90 from Standard Equipment.

ROLL CALL

AYES: Aldermen Jeppson, Herndon, Crane, Bacidore, Reynolds, Lavieri

NAYS: NONE Absent: Alderman Thompson, Ptak Abstain: NONE

MOTION CARRIED: 6-0

Alderman Crane wanted to discuss with public and council members that he did his own investigation in regard to the old street sweeper life span. The Carus Chemical cleanup did not affect the lifespan. These machines have approximated 10-year life span when the city’s sweeper lasted 18 years. Crane did mention that the city would get a similar price on replacement costs as the city is getting for trade in cost. Alderman Crane did ask for a donation from Carus Chemical or any other LaSalle business that would like to donate to the cost of such a machine. 

Moved by Alderman Lavieri and seconded by Alderman Reynolds to approve and accept the recommendation of the Finance Committee regarding the purchase of two power transfer switch control panels to replace existing ones at a cost of $9,960 from Cummins Sales and Service and a cost of $5,926 to install from JB contracting.

ROLL CALL

AYES: Aldermen Herndon, Crane, Bacidore, Reynolds, Lavieri, Jeppson

NAYS: NONE Absent: Alderman Thompson, Ptak Abstain: NONE

MOTION CARRIED: 6-0

OLD BUSINESS

Moved by Alderman Reynolds and seconded by Alderman Crane to approve authorization of Pay Estimate #2 for Universal Asphalt & Excavating totaling $237,509.87 for work completed to date on 2024 Road Improvements – MFT project.

Alderman Crane asked if this project was now complete. City Engineer Brown mentioned that there were a few more small items that will need to be complete to finalize this project.

City Engineer Brown also mentioned that the state bids for the Richard Hallet/8th St. Project will go out August 2nd. He mentioned that Advanced, Universal, and some other smaller companies will be able to bid on this too. This project would be all IDOT controlled so he is uncertain as to when this may start.

ROLL CALL

AYES: Aldermen Crane, Bacidore, Reynolds, Lavieri, Jeppson, Herndon

NAYS: NONE Absent: Alderman Thompson, Ptak Abstain: NONE

MOTION CARRIED: 6-0

Alderman Jeppson mentioned that the public can also follow the library air monitor to the air quality app that they may currently follow for the Rotary Park air monitor.

Jeppson mentioned that there may have been a 11-day outage on IQ Air’s end in June sometime. Bader mentioned that he has been in contact with IQ Air extensively and they have not found any inconsistencies in their data.

Alderman Jeppson mentioned that along with Rotary Park and the library air monitor, he believes that Illinois EPA also monitors Illinois Cement closely. Jeppson suggested that personal air monitors that can be purchased for home and residents can then compare data from their own and the city’s air monitors that are located around La Salle.

Bader informed the council and public that there is a lock placed on the box for power to the air monitor and a lock on the individual switch itself to avoid any tampering.

Mayor Grove and Alderman Jeppson appreciates Bader’s effort into contacting IQ air and his correspondences back and forth with this company. Alderman Jeppson  mentioned that the residential air monitors are relatively cheap but the high-end air monitors can range can be a couple $1,000, but there are many out there.

Mayor Grove issued Deana Hicks first warning for interrupting during Alderman Jeppson’s discussion of air monitors.

Deputy Clerk Brent Bader mentioned that he has been in contact with all city officials in regard to the city email concerns. There were 3 or 4 emails that had issues under the La Salle.il.gov email. Bader believes that all emails are properly going to everyone’s accounts. He asked for anyone that may have concerns in the future and he will contact the website provider.

NEW BUSINESS

Moved by Alderman Crane and seconded by Alderman Lavieri to accept and approve the Letter of Support for a Rebuild Downtowns & Main Streets Capital Grant for

Downtown Storm Sewer Modernization project.

Bedei mentioned that this is for a grant through the DCO and will be due in the next couple weeks. He said that this grant will focus on anything downtown and primarily on improvements to infrastructure, roadways, sidewalks, or sewer systems. Bedei had discussed this grant opportunity with City Engineer Brown and they both decided that updating the sewer system on First Street would be the most viable and eligible project to go forward with.

ROLL CALL

AYES: Aldermen Bacidore, Reynolds, Lavieri, Jeppson, Herndon, Crane

NAYS: NONE Absent: Alderman Thompson, Ptak Abstain: NONE

MOTION CARRIED: 6-0

Brown mentioned that if the city is lucky enough to get this grant, it will also help out with the city’s combined sewer overflows that would allow the city to separate the sewers on First Street from hopefully Joliet to the east side of First Street, with potential to extend up to Second Street. This would help with any other issues during a dry period of First Street.

Brown mentioned that there is no storm sewer in that area, and all are combined.

Brown plans on utilizing the old exit point into the canal with just stormwater. He would like to restore this line and use it as a discharge point.

Mayor Grove asked if Director Of Public Works Fay could combine the two piles at the yard waste site into one pile. Mayor Grove also asked Chief Smudzinski to check on the time of the yard waster closing today. It should have been closed at 2:30pm but it sounded as though it may have been open past 3pm today. 

DISCUSSION AND POTENTIAL ACTION ON THE FOLLOWING ADDITIONAL

ORDINANCES/RESOLUTIONS:

Moved by Alderman Reynolds and seconded by Alderman Herndon to accept, approve, and place on file an ordinance amending Chapter 33 of the City of LaSalle Code of Ordinance – Lateral Police Hires.

ROLL CALL

AYES: Aldermen Reynolds, Lavieri, Jeppson, Herndon, Crane, Bacidore

NAYS: NONE Absent: Alderman Thompson, Ptak Abstain: NONE

MOTION CARRIED: 6-0

APPROVAL OF BILLS

Moved by Alderman Lavieri and seconded by Alderman Crane to accept, pay, and file the bills from June 24, 2024: Total Submitted: $1,039,751.96 (Total Payroll $247,688.15, Bills to be Paid $675,842.01, Total Bills Paid $116,221.80). Each and every alderman has a copy.

ROLL CALL

AYES: Aldermen Lavieri, Jeppson, Herndon, Crane, Bacidore, Reynolds

NAYS: NONE Absent: Alderman Thompson, Ptak Abstain: NONE

MOTION CARRIED: 6-0

Bedei mentioned that the building permit on the Maytag Building was up about a month ago. Mayor Grove did question if the building permit was visible the last few years. Brown questions if it was potentially on a window that was once pulled out at one time and then not visible. Building Inspector Andy Bacidore stated that there was a building permit always on file for this property. He did also mention that everything is logged online and not having to use the stickers as much anymore.

Moved by Alderman Reynolds and seconded by Alderman Crane to adjourn the meeting.

Voice vote, all ayes. Motion is carried.

ADJOURNED

https://www.lasalle-il.gov/sites/default/files/agendas-minutes/2024-08/7-8-24_0.pdf