City of Lexington City Council met May 24.
Here is the minutes provided by the council:
The regular meeting of the Lexington City Council was called to order at 7:00 P. M. by Mayor Spencer Johansen in the City Council Chambers at City Hall.
Mayor Johansen led the council in the Pledge of Allegiance.
Roll call was taken to find the following physically present: Mayor Johansen, Alderman Stover, Alderman Franklin, Alderman Little, Alderman Richard and Alderwoman Wilson. Members of the staff and public present were: Kenneth Sours, Violet Wright, Chuck Wright and Chief Belvary.
It was moved by Alderman Franklin and seconded by Alderman Stover to approve the minutes of the May 10, 2021 regular City Council meeting. Motion carried unanimously.
It was moved by Alderman Stover and seconded by Alderwoman Wilson to approve the Treasurer’s Report and paying of the bills in the amount of $26,353.44. Motion carried unanimously.
Public Input: Chuck Wright has some issues with the park next to his property.
The first is, there is a mostly dead mulberry tree along the fence line between his property and Meadow Ridge park. He has been asking the city for a little assistance getting the tree to drop for some time so he can repair that fence, and he would like the city to set a timeline to get this
to be completed. He has done what he can but he does not have a big enough saw to finish the job. Once the tree is gone, he will repair and replace the white fencing.
He has two other sections of fencing that are also in need of repair due to a young child who hit the fence while riding a mini bike in the park. That child’s father has agreed to pay for those repairs, and he has all the materials needed on site. The mini bike incident brings another issue to the forefront. If the city is going to allow motor vehicles to be operated in the park, he is going to consider the city responsible for any future damage that may occur to his fence.
Lastly, regarding the park, he would like to see the city place a trash receptacle near the basketball court. They are constantly picking up trash from that area that blows onto his property. He feels that if the kids had somewhere convenient to put their trash they would do so. He felt this would also help the city employee when he mows.
Mayor Johansen replied that trash cans had been purchased and the city was in the process of taking down the mulberry tree.
Consideration/Vote Ordinance 2021-7: Approving A Development Agreement Between the City of Lexington, L&T, LLC, and Terry Bittner
This is the Post Office property and a formality so we can move forward with the sale of the property. Mayor Johansen met with Terry Bittner on Friday and he is ready to have the contractor come up. If this is approved tonight we can set a closing date and move forward to get a quick claim deed.
Motion was made by Alderwoman Wilson and seconded by Alderman Franklin to approve Ordinance 2021-7: Approving a Development Agreement Between the City of Lexington, L&T, LLC, and Terry Bittner. Motion carried unanimously.
Discussion/Vote Ordinance 2021-8: Approving and Ratifying a Development Agreement Between the City of Lexington and Coffee Hound Company
This is the same formality as the one for the Post Office. Mayor Johansen is not up to date on the status of Brandt’s office but they are moving fast on it. As soon as Brandts vacate their office, Coffee Hound can start their reconstruction of that building. It was noted that the amount was changed from the original of $70,000 to $75,000 to include the purchase of the back lot.
Motion was made by Alderman Franklin and seconded Alderwoman Wilson to approve Ordinance 2021-8: Approving and Ratifying a Development Agreement between the City of Lexington and Coffee Hound Company. Motion carried unanimously.
Discussion/Vote Resolution 2021-3: Approving Amendment to Development Agreement with Coffee Hound
This is an agreement to rezone the Coffee Hound property located at 610 W. Main Street from M-1 Manufacturing District to B-2 Highway Business District zoning.
Motion was made by Alderman Richard and seconded by Alderman Franklin to approve Resolution 2021-3: Approving Amendment to Development Agreement with Coffee Hound. Motion carried unanimously.
Discussion/Vote on Proposals on 301 E. Wall Street
Alderman Franklin led this discussion. This is the Lockenvitz property. They received two bids on the property with Jim Groth bidding $1,550. Mayor Johansen believes that one of his kids will eventually build on that lot.
The comment was made that the legal fees were more than what the final bid was. Jim has agreed to tear the house down and the lot will be cleaned up.
The city also paid the property taxes for this parcel and this will cover part of that expense and we do not need to pay the expense for having the house torn down.
After much discussion it was decided to accept the bid and not add any other charges such as legal fees, closing costs or reimbursement for property taxes.
Motion was made by Alderman Franklin and seconded by Alderman Little to approve the bid of $1,550 for 301 E. Wall Street from James Groth. Motion carried unanimously.
Discussion/Vote on Budget 21/22
Alderman Stover led this discussion. He explained that this is a planning tool to prepare for the appropriation that is passed in June. There were not a lot of changes from the last worksheet.
The main thing he was trying to do was move money from the General Fund to Motor Fuel and vice versa to make that money more useful. They were not able to move the dump truck to Motor Fuel.
We have money in Road & Bridge. The money in there is essentially a catch all and emergency fund which we have never had in the past.
All street repairs have been moved to Motor Fuel. We have gotten Rebuild Illinois funds this year. We received $90,000 for this.
He moved the wind revenue up to the General Fund and will use this for the Main Street Project next year.
We are expecting four more payments from Rebuild Illinois, three of those at $22,000 each this year and this money needs to be spent by 2025. This will be used to fund a large portion of a project from the General Fund.
We do not have a backup for Star so he has added an additional part time admin position. She has three weeks vacation and feels we need a backup for when she is gone.
Motor Fuel will cover new sidewalks and free up General Fund revenue.
It was noted that there is a 2% raise figured in for employees.
There is nothing in the budget for TIF grants. There isn’t any new money coming in. The only cash flow we have is what is coming back from loans. Those need to go back toward the loan payments of the water and sewer but after we get the loan repayment we could get grant money.
Mayor Johansen commented that we are seeing $4,000 a month in sale’s tax revenue coming from Casey’s. Property taxes will start coming in next year. He feels we survived COVID very well.
Alderman Stover felt that our forecast last year was pretty conservative and actual revenues came in ahead in almost every account.
Motion was made by Alderman Franklin and seconded by Alderwoman Wilson to approve Budget 21/22. Motion carried unanimously.
New Business:
Discussion/Vote Election of Mayor Pro Tem for one Year
Mayor Johansen talked about this at the last meeting in his Mayor’s Report. Rather than do it every time he is not here, although he is not anticipating being gone for a lot of meetings. He feels it would be good to have someone designated to step in when he is not here. He tries to include as many people as he can in discussions.
Motion was made by Alderwoman Wilson and seconded by Alderman Stover to elect Alderman Franklin Mayor Pro Tem for one year. Motion carried with four yes and Alderman Franklin voting present.
Committee Reports:
Mayors Report: Mayor Johansen reported on the following items:
He wanted to make some comments on the Motor Fuel situation. Motor Fuel is a trickle down effect. Starting at the top we do not get funds until it trickles down and nearly 50% is used up and then it is paid out according to population at 18.27%. What we have found, as an example, we priced 2 blocks of asphalt on Pine Street. The bid came in from McLean County Asphalt at $49,000. We had planned on using money out of the General Fund with the shortfall out of Motor Fuel. By the time we got through we were up to over $90,000 out of Motor Fuel. IDOT is making us put ADA crosswalks in. McLean County was going to put 1 ½ inches of asphalt down and the state requires 2 inches. We did get money this year that we didn’t expect to get. It is not only us, the small towns around struggle with this. Anything over $25,000 has to be put out on bids.
Alderman Stover commented that we will spend as much as we can out of Motor Fuel. We can be reimbursed for the use of the dump truck but we can not buy the truck. We can take salaries and things out that are tied to specific street projects but cannot take whole salaries out.
Mayor Johansen thinks we will need to pass an amendment to the Motor Fuel resolution that we passed at the last meeting in order to get everything done. We will need to pay closer attention to how we spend the Motor Fuel money. There is a Mayor's Association meeting Wednesday night and he wants to address this with the rest of them. He would like to somewhere at the state level, see them raise that $25,000 up to $50,000. That we can do work up to $50,000 without putting it out for bids. Somehow that needs to be structured based on the population of the community rather than across the board. The Rebuild Illinois money must be used by 2025.
Alderman Stover thinks that with the Road and Bridge Fund and the General Fund we have about what we have been spending to resurface the streets.
Mayor Johansen commented that in the future we will need to resurface Main Street and the need for a future plan of where we want to be in 10 years. Maybe we need to start putting some money aside for future Motor Fuel to resurface Main Street.
One of the things that hurt us is when the sewer went in. We allowed money to patch the roads then but we did not allow for the settling. That is what has hurt a lot of the streets, the settling over the years. Now we need to go back and fix those.
Post Office and Coffee Hound are ready to go as soon as we get a closing on them. We will not have a PIN for probably another year.
June 1st is the deadline for proposals for the building next to the Shake Shack and the property next to the Park. There are buyers interested in both properties. He will have Star make copies of the bids and email to everyone to look over.
He has put a post on social media regarding the open alderman seat. He put June 1st as the deadline to submit letters of interest. What he would like to do, is once he gets those, he will send them all to the council members to review.
He will also be working on committee assignments. He may combine a few of the committees and one committee will handle closed session review.
Alderwoman Wilson commented that she would not mind taking on insurance. She did not want to do building.
The outcome of all the property is going to be good. We are bringing new businesses to town. By this time next year Main Street will have a whole new look.
Police: Alderman Richard commented that he had gotten some information concerning the golf carts. It covered yearly inspections, no lights, young children, etc. He asked everyone to read through it and it will be on the agenda at the next meeting.
Building/Insurance Alderman Franklin commented that there were the Real Estate closings coming up to get done.
Leake is done with his part of the quonset hut and the materials to finish have arrived.
Finance /TIF Alderman Stover commented that he will have some TIF to review closer to the appropriation.
Water/Sewer/Sanitation None
Street/Alley: None
There being no further business, motion was made by Alderman Franklin to adjourn at 7:58 P.M. Motion carried by unanimous voice vote.
https://www.lexingtonillinois.org/images/Minutes_May_24_2021.pdf
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