City of Lexington City Council met July 26
Here are 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, Alderman Mattingly and Alderwoman Wilson. Members of the staff and public present were: Violet Wright and Chief Belvery.
It was moved by Alderwoman Wilson and seconded by Alderman Franklin to approve the minutes of the June 28, 2021 regular and closed session City Council meetings. 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 $65,076.64. Motion carried unanimously.
Public Input: None
Old Business:
DISCUSSION GOLF CART UPDATE
Alderman Richard commented that as of yet no one had gotten back to him. He would get with Chief Belvery and work out what they would like to change in the ordinance for the next meeting.
Mayor Johansen would like for them to get the amendments to him so he can forward to the attorney to amend the ordinance.
It was noted that the State of Illinois ordinance does not mention windshields. Alderman Richard will contact the printer to get a quote before the next meeting.
DISCUSSION/VOTE - DEVELOPMENT AGREEMENT ANALYTICAL BREWERY
Alderman Stover explained that this agreement works the same as a loan agreement.
They are eager to get started and have had contractors come and look at the building. Once this is approved they can get started.
The timeline has been moved back from the original expectations to give them a little more time to complete their project.
Motion was made by Alderman Stover and seconded by Alderman Mattingly to approve the Development Agreement for Analytical Brewery. Motion carried unanimously.
DISCUSSION/VOTE - ORDINANCE 2021-9: APPROVING A DEVELOPMENT AGREEMENT BETWEEN THE CITY OF LEXINGTON AND ANALYTICAL BREWING
Motion was made by Alderman Franklin and seconded by Alderman Stover to approve Ordinance 2021-9: Approving a Development Agreement Between the City of Lexington and Analytical Brewing. Motion carried unanimously.
New Business:
DISCUSSION ONLY CHEEVER’S EXCHANGE
The Cheevers would like to exchange the Salt Shed for property behind where the new Post Office is going to be located. Terry Bitner is interested in purchasing that property for expansion. We ran the publication in the paper and the attorney said we did not use the proper legal description therefore we needed to run it again.
John Cheever originally contacted us about the switch and since his death it is now in a family trust. We are treating this transfer of property as a wash with each transferee taking care of their own fees. We will sell the property to Terry Bitner.
There is a triangle piece of property there and the question was asked if that would be part of the purchase. Mayor Johansen wants to wait and look at that at the time of Terry Bitner’s purchase. He is hoping to be able to use his parking lot for the businesses across the street.
DISCUSSION/VOTE - SECURITY CAMERA UPGRADE CITY BUILDINGS
As of now there is one camera that no one is able to rewire and now there is a need for cameras at the quonset hut. So we will have coverage for the City Hall and the quonset hut. Our current system will support eight cameras. The bids include two additional cameras plus an upgrade. The one bid was lower because he is using the existing wiring. The upgrade not only will keep an eye on our property but will check on suspect vehicles going up and down the street.
There were two bids: One from Brick Technology Group in the amount of $7,866.56 which has our current phone system and one from Absolute Security in the amount of $10,959.97.
Chief Belevry liked the fact that Brick Technology solved a security issue that he has in allowing McLean County Dispatch and Sheriff's Department access to our external cameras.
Absolute Security is out of Pontiac and does a lot of the schools.
Motion was made by Alderwoman Wilson and seconded by Alderman Mattingly to approve the Security Camera Upgrade City Buildings by Brick Technology in the amount of $7,866.56. Motion carried unanimously.
DISCUSSION/VOTE - SOFTWARE UPGRADE
Alderman Franklin and Star have been working on this. The building permit system and inspections are not very well documented. With this new program we will be able to do four wheelers and golf carts as well.
Motion was made by Alderman Franklin and seconded by Alderman Richard to approve the Software Upgrade module to Harris Municipal Software, Inc. Motion carried unanimously.
DISCUSSION/VOTE - MAIN STREET CLOSING FOR BOB CLARK FUNDRAISER
Mayor Johansen, Star, Bill Elias and Chief Belvery met with Connie Stanfield who has done an excellent job organizing the fundraiser for Bob Clark. She has contacted all the businesses that will be affected by the street closing.
We need to come up with a form that people can fill out to request that the street be closed and make sure they have their proof of insurance on it and then bring it before the council. Alderwoman Wilson has agreed to make a form for closing of the streets.
Motion was made by Alderman Mattingly and seconded by Alderwoman Wilson to approve closing Main Street for the Bob Clark Fundraiser on August 14, 2021. Motion carried unanimously.
DISCUSSION/VOTE - TIF REQUEST
Alderman Stover led the discussion on the TIF request from Dave and Ruth Ann Kinsella on the property at 507 W. Main Street. They are wanting to do some tuckpointing on their building. The bids are $6,500 and $8,200. Following our policy of paying out 50% of the expense that would put us at $3,200 or $4,100. He thinks somewhere between $3,500 and $4,000 would be an appropriate amount to go with to be paid out at the completion of the project.
Mayor Johansen commented that it will clean the building up and that we have been in talks with them about the parking lot to the east of the building.
Motion was made by Alderman Stover and seconded by Alderman Franklin to approve the TIF request by Dave and Ruth Ann Kinsella for 507 W. Main Street up to $4,000 to be paid out upon completion, when receipts are presented, and pending an agreement with the City of Lexington to use their parking lot. Motion carried unanimously.
DISCUSSION/VOTE - CARNIVAL CONTRACT
Mayor Johansen had sent out a timeline of how the discussion with the carnival contract has gone and the attorney’s response. He has heard from the owner of the carnival that he was turning it over to his attorney. Our attorney recommended that we try to have another date this year but they did not have anything open. He asked him about extending the contract to next year and the reply was it cost him this year and there was no interest in extending the contract.
Discussion centered around how much to pay the carnival for this year against their $5,000 statement.
Motion was made by Alderman Franklin and seconded by Alderman Richard to have the attorney write the carnival a letter stating that they are not interested in paying them anything for the year 2021. Motion carried unanimously.
Committee Reports:
Mayor’s Report: Mayor Johansen reported on the following items:
The governor finally put in the money for the American Rescue Plan and Alderman Franklin, Star and he released the application process. We are entitled to $275,422.97. We submitted the documentation this morning and it appears everything is on course. We should get half of that by August and the remainder in the spring.
There are stipulations on how we spend that money, so he would suggest the Finance Committee meet soon and discuss how we want to allocate those funds. There will be an audit at some point to see how we spent the funds.
He is working with the Fire Department. Hopefully the Coffee Hound, engineers and Ameren can work out a solution with everyone.
They opened the bids on Pine Street last week. He is suggesting that the Street Committee schedule a meeting to meet with Bill Elias to go over the bids. We are not able to vote on the bids until the next meeting. There were three bids ranging from $93,000 to $119,000. Bill has been back and forth with IDOT to see if we want to reject the bids because the Farnsworth estimate was $79,000. From what we understand we can reject all bids if they are over what we anticipated.
The audit took place last week and went well. They complimented Star and the mayor saying we are one of the most progressive cities that they do.
There is a new water fountain in the City Park.
We will be installing a bike rack and repair station in Patton Park this week.
BP is still moving forward with their expansion project and still wants to put in eight diesel lanes and truck parking. Phase two will be a hotel and another possible fast food restaurant. They are in the process of buying land from Evan Leake and want him to annex it into the city.
He has had a couple of new business proposals and he will have more on that at the next meeting.
The Brandt office is about to be completed and the target date for moving is the second week in August. If that is the case, The Coffee Hound can get started and hopefully be open by this fall.
There is a Planning Commission hearing on August 9th at 6:00 p. m. for the rezoning of the old Brandt property where Coffee Hound will go and the Post Office will go.
There are two local applications for part time help for Star. We will be doing interviews the first week in August.
He wanted to thank Jim Mattingly for cleaning up Memory Lane. He went out with his own equipment and material and repainted the Welcome Sign and cleaned up some brush around some of the other signs.
Police: Alderman Richard reported that there are no applicants interested in the police position.
Building/Insurance Alderman Franklin commented that he is going to get a letter to our current insurance carriers for a 90 day quote.
Finance /TIF None
Water/Sewer/Sanitation Alderwoman Wilson reported that Billy Dubois is going to start getting bids to paint the inside of the Water Tower.
Street/Alley: None
Mayor Johansen wanted to add that the part time person that was hired did not show up for work for several days and did not let anyone know until he was called to see where he was. After he texted that he would not be in because he had had a rough weekend and the next day was his birthday. Mayor Johansen texted him that it was time for them to part ways. We rely on our part time workers.
He feels it is important that next year when we do the budget we look at hiring another full time employee and get him enrolled in the classes for sewer and water. When we tried to find help we only had two applicants.
There being no further business, motion was made by Alderman Franklin to adjourn at 7:51 P.M. Motion carried by unanimous voice vote.
https://www.lexingtonillinois.org/images/_Minutes_July_26_2021.pdf
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