Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes - 04/25/2016 - City CouncilANNUAL CITY COUNCIL MEETING April 25, 2016 Mayor Low called the scheduled annual of the McHenry City Council to order at 7:00 p.m. In attendance were the following Aldermen: Condon, Santi, Glab, Schaefer, Curry, Wimmer and Peterson. Absent: None. Also in attendance were City Administrator Morefield, Deputy City Administrator Hobson, Director of Public Works Schmitt, Director of Economic Development Martin, Director of Finance Lynch, Director of Community Development Polerecky, Chief of Police Jones, City Attorney McArdle, Chad Pieper HR Green, Inc., and Deputy Clerk Geraghty. Absent: City Clerk Jones. CITY OF MCHENRY MISSION STATEMENT Mayor Low read aloud the City of McHenry Mission Statement. PRESENTATION Mayor Low announced a Proclamation declaring May 1 through May 7, 2016 as National Small Business Week in the City of McHenry and urged everyone to shop McHenry. PUBLIC INPUT SESSION No one signed in to speak at Public Input Session. CONSENT AGENDA A. Special Use Park/Picnic Permits; B. February 29, 2016 Committee of the Whole meeting minutes; and C. Payment of Bills: Mayor Low called for a motion: Motion by Wimmer, seconded by Curry to approve the Consent Agenda as presented. Mayor Low called for discussion: Alderman Schaefer asked how staff controls the amount of alcohol that is actually brought into the park. Deputy City Administrator Hobson stated staff does its best to guide applicants through the permit process. Many times they overestimate the amount of alcohol they need or they just don't know. Staff is also alerted by the number of people invited to the event. There being no further discussion, Mayor Low asked to call the roll: Voting Ave: Condon, Santi, Glab, Schaefer, Curry, Wimmer, Peterson Voting Nay: None Not Voting: None Abstaining: None Absent: None Motion carried. Annual Meeting Page 2 April 25, 2016 MOTION TO APPROVE THE FY 2016/2017 ANNUAL BUDGET AS PROPOSED AND RECOMMENDED BY THE FINANCE AND PERSONNEL COMMITTEE, City Administrator Morefield informed Council that as in previous years, the administration has taken a conservative approach in developing the Fiscal Year 2016/2017 Budget. Revenue projections continue to be based on historical trends and economic forecasts, while taking into consideration the current state of the economy and financial instability of the State of Illinois. City Administrator Morefield announced the accomplishments the city has made over the past fiscal year. Although the decisions made by Council were not always easy, he appreciated how staff and Council worked together to implement programs/projects for the benefit of our community: ■ WWTP Expansion ■ McHenry Recreation Center ■ Dispatch Consolidation and Development ■ Municipal Center Reception Relocation/Customer Service Enhancement ■ Engineering Services Procedures/Engineering Project Manager Position ■ Addition of a Community Development Director ■ Economic Development Efforts ■ Enhancement of three major intersections ■ Flat Tax Levy for the fifth consecutive year ■ Government Finance Organization Distinguished Budget Award ■ Passage of a Fund Balance Policy Fiscal Year 2016/17 Budget Highlights: • The budget presented for approval is balanced • Spending plan for all funds just over $50,000,000 • General Fund including Capital Improvement & Capital Equipment is $22,726,606 City Administrator Morefield reported the city has approximately four -months of operating reserve in the General Fund. At the end of each fiscal, the remaining surplus in the General Fund will be shifted into the Capital Improvement and Capital Equipment Funds so we will have a known amount to work with in the next budget cycle. From an operation standpoint, the focus of the budget for next year will be Police Dispatch Consolidation i.e. staffing and development new customers; hiring of Engineering Project Manager; continued momentum of Recreation Center and planning for long term expansion; redesign of the city website; continue to support community events such as an expanded Farmers Market and Band Concert schedule; and continue to increase efficiencies with minimal impact to the budget. Annual Meeting Page 3 April 25, 2016 At the April 4t" Finance and Personnel Committee meeting by a 2-1 vote, staff was directed to forward the budget presented this evening to the City Council. Mayor Low called for a motion: Motion by Wimmer, seconded by Condon, to approve the Fiscal Year 2016/2017 Budget, as presented. Mayor Low called for discussion: Alderman Wimmer noted the budget process is always difficult and this year was no different. He thanked staff for maintaining a positive and professional attitude through the process. Alderman Peterson said he stopped by City Hall to pay his water bill and the improvements made to the Municipal Center using this year's budget are really good. The new front counter is easy for customers and the design works. Alderman Condon thanked staff for their input during the budget process. Alderman Santi thanked staff for their work preparing the budget and said he had some questions about a couple of issues: a statement made in the February 29t" Committee of the Whole meeting minutes and raises that were extraordinarily high. He asked if it was correct there was a title change from general administration to Deputy City Clerk. City Administrator Morefield answered yes. Alderman Santi asked what was the discrepancy in regards to our window — is it an automatic increase in salary and how is that done? Is there anything written that tell us the percentage? City Administrator Morefield answered this is a non -bargaining unit position. Last year the city implemented a merit -based compensation system for non - bargaining unit employees that is a combination of merit performance and the CPI-U. Previous to that time, non -bargaining unit employees were on a 10-step system. Each year up until 10- years of employment, they would receive an automatic step increase and CIP-U adjustment. After 10-years they would receive only CPI-U. After the economic downturn, for non. bargaining unit employees, in some years all steps were frozen and just CPI-U increases were given; some years only % steps were given, and in other years non -bargaining employees received no increases. At the end of 2014, the CPI-U was .08%, in 2015 it was .07%. As of 2015, any additional amount an employee receives is based purely on merit. Mayor Low added taking on the additional responsibility of Deputy Clerk requires a lot of knowledge, expertise, and work. Things have to be accomplished in a timely manner. We are one of the few municipalities left in the county that have an elected Clerk who has a full time job elsewhere. We needed to fix that. Kathy Kunzer was the Deputy Clerk when she worked here and after she retired we did not have one. It was not efficient or safe for our municipality. Alderman Santi asked if Kathy was an assistant or deputy and Mayor Low answered deputy. Alderman Santi responded in his opinion, if we are looking at standard increases of 2% - 2.75%, based on your statement, you are thinking that is equivalent to an additional 8%. Annual Meeting Page 4 April 25, 2016 City Administrator Morefield stated this particular position was a promotion and all employees promoted are eligible for a 5% promotion increase based on our personnel policy. Alderman Santi said a double-digit increase is a major concern for him and he would have liked to have seen more information. Alderman Santi inquired about the increase for the building custodian. City Administrator Morefield reported a discussion occurred at the Finance Committee meeting regarding the fact that the salary for that position was misrepresented — it should have been a step higher than as identified in last year's detail sheet. That being said, the custodian is also part of a collective bargaining unit and those increases are outlined in the contract. City Administrator Morefield reported at the same time, the Committee was also informed about an employee who moved from the Street Division to Parks Maintenance who was much higher on the wage scale than the employee he replaced; both were bargaining unit employees. Alderman Glab suggested that in the future regarding these types of circumstances, staff should reflect the explanations in the supplement to avoid all the questions. Alderman Glab stated the City has made leaps and bounds with street programs and with various projects around the city to make life better for our residents. Alderman Schaefer asked how soon after the end of the fiscal year will Council have the actual vs. budget year-end numbers. Finance Director Lynch answered she will produce a fourth quarter report however the audit adjustment will not be reflected until the end of the new first quarter. Alderman Curry stated he would like to recognize that the budget process is a tremendous amount of work for staff. Three major changes made were the Fund Balance Policy, shift of excess fund to capital projects fund, and actually in this budget there is a line item that shows the unassigned fund balance and projection. That is something he likes to see. This budget comes to Council with a 2-1 vote and he reported he was the no vote because revenues are underestimated between 9% -11%. In his opinion, we should estimate as close as possible because this is inconsistent. Our current revenue projection is basically the past years. Smaller items are not as important but there are many expense items in the detail sheets where the budget amount is the same from year-to-year but the expenditures are $0. If you have $0 expenditures you really don't need to budget for it. As mentioned by Alderman Santi, the salary budget is not real clear for non -bargaining employees and said although he doesn't care to get information about the individual employee salary, but the overall salary budget for the city should be established by Council. Alderman Santi said he agrees with Alderman Curry's statements about Council determining the overall salary budget. There being no further discussion, Mayor Low asked to call the roll: Voting Aye: Wimmer, Condon, Glab, Schaefer, Peterson Annual Meeting Page 5 April 25, 2016 Voting Nay: Santi, Curry Not Voting: None Abstaining: None Absent: None Motion carried. MAYOR STATEMENT AND REPORTS: MOTION TO APPROVE FY 2016/17 ANNUAL APPOINTMENTS OF MUNICIPAL OFFICERS, BOARDS AND COMMISSION MEMBERS, AND STANDING COMMITTEES. Mayor Low announced the 2016/2017 Mayoral Annual Appointments. She took the opportunity to address the city's leadership team noting Director Polerecky is the newest member of the team and is doing a fine job. She stated she cannot express enough how much the professionalism staff brings to the city means to the city; the trust they instill in residents does not go unnoticed and she truly appreciates all the hard work staff does on the elected officials behalf. Mayor Low also thanked Chad Pieper from HR Green, Inc. and City Attorney David McArdle from ZRFM for being trusted experts and she appreciates all they do for our city. Mayor Low announced there are two new appointments on the list presented this evening. Planning and Zoning Commission member Joseph Vallez resigned March 30th due to schedule conflicts with his personal job. Brian Bromley also resigned from the commission on April 6th. She added the City appreciates the work they did on the board. When seeking replacements, two applications were on file with the city. They were reviewed with Chairman Strach and he is happy with the appointments. Therefore, Mayor Low recommended approval of the annual appointments as presented including Susan Miller and James Walsh on the Planning and Zoning Commission and called for a motion. Motion by Condon, seconded by Schaefer, to approve the FY 2016/17 Annual Mayoral appointments, as presented. Mayor Low called for discussion: Alderman Santi asked if the city needs to have a statement regarding in the recommendation on how we recruit/retain in-house engineer (2/29/16 Committee of the Whole minutes, page 8). Mayor Low answered no; it was approved in the minutes and decided upon by the Committee of the Whole. He also asked if the minutes are an official document and will be referred to as engineering projects come up. Mayor Low answered yes. There being no further discussion, Mayor Low asked to call the roll: Voting Ave* Voting Nay: Not Voting: Abstaining: Absent: Wimmer, Condon, Glab, Schaefer, Peterson, Santi, Curry None None None Annual Meeting Page 6 April 25, 2016 Motion carried. COMMITTEE REPORTS None. STAFF REPORTS None. FUTURE AGENDA ITEMS Alderman Curry suggested the video gaming ordinance be reviewed. Mayor Low stated the Council has the right to vote no and not issue a liquor license. Video Gaming is not permitted with a liquor license. It would be very difficult to go back and limit the number of machines because we already have so many businesses with the machines. Alderman Glab said he previously brought this as a future agenda item because when the Council originally voted to accept video gaming, it was to support existing business in the community. Now we have new places coming in just for the gaming. Mayor Low stated the last time the video gaming ordinance was reviewed it went to the Finance and Personnel Committee. She asked the Council to give staff time to discuss this matter and determine if that's the right direction to go or maybe it should be discussed by the Community Development Committee. ADJOURNMENT Mayor Low stated it has been an honor to serve with Council and Staff and she is looking forward to another year. Everyone is here for the right reason, to serve our community and do the best we can for our constituents. Motion by Wimmer, seconded by Curry, to adjourn the meeting. Voting Aye: Voting Nay: Not Voting: Abstaining: Absent: Motion carried. The meeting was adjourned at 7:50 pm. Mayor