| VILLAGE OF CONSTANTINE
Regular Meeting Minutes
January 7, 2008
President Weiss called the Regular January 7, 2008 meeting of the Constantine Village Council to order at 7:30PM at the Village Hall.
Present at Roll Call: Trustees Brewer, Chiddister, Harder, Mathers and Witek, and President Weiss. Also present: Manager Honeysett, Treasurer Strawser, Rental Inspector Lammott and Clerk Strawser. Absent: Trustee Brown. The pledge of allegiance followed Roll Call.
Motion by Chiddister, seconded by Witek, to approve the agenda as presented. Motion passed by affirmation 6 – 0. (Trustee Brown absent.)
Trustee Brown entered at 7:32PM.
Motion by Chiddister, Seconded by Mathers, to approve the Regular 12-17-07 Minutes as amended. Motion passed by Roll Call 6 – 0; 1 abstention. (Trustee Witek abstained saying he had not attended the whole meeting.) Page 1, Paragraph 9 - Correction: …President Weiss said that since the public hearing notice had been published, the Council must hold the public hearing and asked for a motion. Change to: ….the Council could hold the public hearing or hold it on another day and asked for a motion. Page 1, Paragraph 9 – Insert as last line: When President Weiss questioned Council's position on holding the hearing this evening vs. postponing, Trustee Chiddister supported moving forward with the hearing, citing that no additional facts would be brought forward in the event the Council chose to defer the hearing .
Page 2 Paragraph 1 - Insert as a 2 nd and 3 rd sentences : Tony Sokol and Jim Stuck, representing Fibre Converters, said the tax abatement on equipment was necessary to remain competitive. Trustee Chiddister questioned the confidence level of maintaining jobs with this IFT, having cited previous incidents in other unrelated IFT's where jobs were lost and not retained. Also, Trustee Chiddister questioned whether this equipment would provide any additional loading to the village's wastewater conveyance system. Though no new jobs would be created, they expected to maintain job levels. The adhesives used in the paper conversion process should have no effect on the Village water or sewer as they are water-based and highly diluted. Trustee Brown asked if the date given for installation of the new equipment was correct. Mr. Stuck said it was incorrect, saying it should be installed by August 2008. Page 3 Paragraph 2, Last sentence - Trustee Chiddister said it might be worthwhile to look into the current 50-20 cost split. --Change to -- …the current 50-30-20 split. Page 3, Paragraph 3, 2 nd Sentence – Insert: Trustee Chiddister said that he had lobbied for RFP's in the past but since Manager Honeysett was inexperienced, it made sense to retain Norman and Paulson to maintain some level of budget continuity.
There was no one seeking audience participation.
Rick Strawser, of Norman & Paulsen, led the Council through a quick overview of the annual audit report. He said that specific fund shortfalls are “in the ballpark” of the previous year and several specific funds continue to benefit from the Dell Lawsuit money and there is a net increase in physical assets. When asked about Net Assets Component Unit/Liabilities, he said the DDA has been “running in the red” for the last 3-4 years. He said to expect a letter from the State regarding the Village’s $16,340 budget shortfall, but that “one manager had create the budget and one manager had to live with it”, and that prompts have been put in place to remind the Manager of the need to amend the budget to reflect activity. He said that, considering the financial climate, the Village General Fund is “low, but realistic for today”.
Manager Honeysett reported that the new office furniture is expected in February.
President Weiss polled the Council and audience on the Manager Honeysett’s question of reverting to the Christmas angels or staying with the Christmas decorations lease arrangement. Trustees said that the majority of citizens they talked to preferred the angels, and cost savings need to be weighed against residents’ preferences. Diana Lammott will look into options and costs and report back at the next regular meeting.
Manager Honeysett explained his formula for estimating the cost of a standby replacement sewer pump and cited Three Rivers WWTP Director Jim Rozeboom’s assertion that such a pump was unnecessary. Trustee Chiddister, referring to an email sent to the Manager on the subject, said that Ken Herceg (Herceg & Associates) recommends “this and more,” “some $110,000 in parts purchases” in his Water System Reliability Study. Leonard Moyer asked if the Village might save money by purchasing the pumps without the motors since the motors outlast the pumps. Manager Honeysett said he would look into it. Treasurer Strawser suggested purchasing the pump now could save against future inflation and asked what the Village was charged for use of the portable pump. Manager Honeysett said Three Rivers did not charge for this year’s use.
Manager Honeysett referred to his memo on the sewer bonds. Trustee Chiddister said that with roughly half a million dollars in the Sewer Fund, any opportunity to pay down the bonds is good, but he said there are other uses to consider including: the Herceg Study costs, water infiltration issues, the Herceg Study preventative maintenance list of approximately $110,000, and conversion of the old WWTP. Trustee Witek said that Manager Beavers had budgeted to buy down at least part of the bonds and that he thought it a legal and ethical action. Trustee Brown said it was good to know we can begin paying them down without penalty in April, and cited the other active bond issues. Trustee Chiddister said that while that was true, if the money were used to pay down the bonds, the anticipated costs would necessitate securing new loans at higher interest rates, thereby costing the Village more
Motion by Chiddister, Seconded by Brown, to accept and file the Audit Report for the year ended March 31, 2007. Motion passed by Roll Call 6 – 1. Voting YES: Brewer, Chiddister, Harder, Mathers and Witek, and President Weiss. Voting NO: Witek. (Trustee Witek said he thought he had made it plain earlier that he was going to have further discussion with the auditor and had anticipated follow-up discussion at the next regular meeting.)
Motion by Brewer, Seconded by Chiddister, to adopt the 2008 Council meeting schedule as presented, the start time for January through April, and October through December, meetings being 7:30PM while the start time for May through September being 8:00PM. Motion passed by affirmation 7 – 0.
January
7th
21st
|
May
5th
19th |
September
2nd
15th
|
February
4th
18th |
June
2nd
16th |
October
6th
20th
|
March
3rd
17th |
July
7th
21st |
November
3rd
17th |
April
7th
21st |
|
December
1st
15th |
President Weiss said that Trustee Chiddister had previously announced he did not wish to remain chairperson of the Sewer Ad Hoc Committee and asked therefore that Trustee Brown be approved as chairperson. Trustee Witek asked how Trustee Chiddister remained on the committee since he had resigned, and had reaffirmed his resignation. President Weiss said since the Council had not acted upon either action, his appointment stood.
Motion by Chiddister, Seconded by Mathers, to appoint Mark Brown chairperson of the Sewer Ad Hoc Committee. Motion passed by affirmation 6 – 1. Voting YES: Brewer, Chiddister, Harder, Mathers and Witek, and President Weiss. Voting NO: Witek.
President Weiss asked when the date of the next Hoffman House Committee meeting. Chairman Harder agreed to Monday, January 28 at 7PM. Trustee Witek asked if there was a list of committee appointments. Clerk Strawser said she was working on updating the list and that it should be available by the end of the week. The list will be posted on the Village website and included in the Village newsletter as space permits.
The Village will not participate this year in Mayor Exchange Day.
Meeting adjourned at 8:40PM.
Ruth Strawser
Village Clerk
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