Rockford Sun

Village of Winnebago Committee of the Whole met April 6.

Here is the minutes provided by the committee:

The Board of Trustees of the Village of Winnebago held a Committee of the Whole meeting telephonically by authority of the Government Emergency Declaration, at 4:00 PM with President Frank Eubank presiding.

ROLL CALL

ELSEN- KIMES–MALIGRANDA- MCKINNON– MORGAN- O’ROURKE – present

Guests: Attorney Mary Gaziano, Carrie Parent, Kellie Symonds, Interim Chief Jeff White, Sally Bennett, Dick Medearis, Officer Nick Haff, Chad Insko, Jim Johnson

A quorum was established.

There was no disclosure of any conflict of interest.

A motion was made by MR. ELSEN, seconded by MR. MALIGRANDA to approve the agenda as presented. Motion carried on a voice vote.

PUBLIC COMMENT

No one requested the opportunity to address the Board.

COMMITTEES:

A. PUBLIC WORKS

1. A motion was made by MR. ELSEN, seconded by MR. MALIGRANDA to approve the minutes of the March 2, 2020 committee meeting with the following corrections. Item 13, last line should be “consensus of the committee to not pursue this”. Item 18, next to last sentence should be “Elida Road project tentatively scheduled”. Motion carried on a voice vote of the committee.

2. The Meter Reader person has been hired and is in training.

3. Fehr Graham notified us that grants will be available for water projects that are shovel-ready. In 2012 – 2013 Fehr Graham engineered a project in the southwest part of town that wasn’t granted. Fehr Graham would need to complete the permit plans and the IEPA permit to have the project ready to go.

April 6, 2020 Page 2 of 6 A motion was made by MR. ELSEN, seconded by MR. MALIGRANDA to ratify the expense of $9500 for engineering and $5500 for the permit for a total cost of $15,000. The motion carried on a committee voice vote and will be ratified at the Board Meeting.

4. A quote was received from Midwest Meter for the software to upgrade the water meter system. Information has not been received from Incode for the cost to integrate the billing system.

5. The street project for 2020 is out for bid, and bid opening will be April 10, 2020.

6. Fehr Graham will provide information on the unplatted land in the Highland Development will be provided in the next couple of Weeks.

7. Attorney Gaziano will verify Crossroads Church’s letter of credit is up to date.

8. Detention ponds are on private property and the homeowner is required to maintain the area. This will be discussed by the committee.

B. COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT COMMITTEE

1. The minutes of the March 5, 2020 committee meeting were mentioned.

2. The Code Enforcement Officer reported that there is an issue with a homeowner who took down a tree but did not clean it up.

3. The Solar Electric System Code Enforcement ordinance and inspection requirements remains open.

4. & 5. The Ordinance Adopting Duties and Compensation of Building Official and revoking Ordinance #400 remains open.

6. Ken Mrozek is working on the appraisal of two properties and hopes to complete them in the next couple of weeks. The cost of each, the Langley property and the Whitehead property, will be $1000 each.

7. The Events for June 6 and June 3 are on hold for now.

8. & 9. After a great deal of discussion of the unknown – when will the shelter in place be removed- and the cost of the fireworks, as well as not knowing whether the needed donations for the fireworks will be received it was decided not to have the parade and fireworks July 4, 2020.

The people who have donated so far will need to be notified and asked if they would like their donation returned. A motion was made by MR. MCKINNON seconded by MS. MORGAN to recommend the cancellation of the July 4 fireworks and to have the Village notify those who have donated and ask whether they want their donation returned or kept for next year. Motion carried on a voice vote of the committee.

10. President Eubank reported that The Scoop sold pints of ice cream Saturday, April 4 for a few hours. They sold more than 500 pints of ice cream. Some of the profits were donated to OSF doctors and nurses. It was reported the event was very well organized. They hope to do it again and will donate to other groups, possibly Freeport Health Network and emergency responders. Mike Woolbright assured President Eubank all permits are in place.

Keep Northern Illinois Beautiful hopes to hold a medicine collection June 9, 2020. The cost to the Village will be $1250.

MR. MALIGRANDA asked about business signs illegally in the Village right-of-way. The code enforcement officer will be notified to check on and handle this issue.

C. FINANCE COMMITTEE

1. A motion was made by MR. ELSEN, seconded by MRS. O’ROURKE, to accept the minutes of the February 24, 2020 committee meeting. Motion carried on a committee voice vote.

2. There is no update on the Azavar Government Solutions.

3. The Audit of 2019 is slow going but there are no issues so far. 

4. For the 2020 budget revenues are uncertain. It was requested the discretionary spending be kept to a minimum.

A motion was made by MS. MORGAN, seconded by MR. ELSEN to recommend payment of the 2018 & 2019 unused vacation to Todd Stockburger plus his accrued vacation for 2020 prior to his resignation. Motion carried on a committee voice vote.

A motion was made by MS. MORGAN, seconded by MR. ELSEN to recommend payment of the 2018 unused salary vacation to Mr. Insko, Mr. Johnson and Mrs. Bennett. Motion carried on a voice vote.

The unused salary vacation hours for 2019 can be rolled over or paid out at the discretion of the employees: Mr. Insko, Mr. Johnson, and Mrs. Bennett. Attorney Gaziano will draft a letter requesting the written approval of payment or rollover of the 2019 unused vacation hours.

Attorney Gaziano will draft a resolution laying out the process for handling the unused 2018 and 2019 vacation hours and the process to transition from the prior method of accruing vacation to the new method adopted December 29, 2019. Going forward the three salaried employees will receive a prorated share of the vacation to their hire date for the old method and from their hire date going forward in 2020 they will accrue per the new policy. Mrs. Symonds is accruing for vacation in the new method since she was hired. Thank you to MRS. O’ROURKE for resolving the issue with salary vacation accrual.

Sullivan’s sales tax total for 2019 is not available yet.

5. Bank Reconciliation for December remains open.

6. The February credit card review is okay.

7. Some money has been received from Cannabis Tax, about $200.

8. The policy project remains open.

9. 2020 Budget Impact discussed earlier.

10. No New Business.

D. POLICE COMMITTEE

1. A motion was made by MR. KIMES, seconded by MRS. O’ROURKE to

accept the committee minutes from February 24, 2020 with the following corrections: Item 6, second line should read “cancelled due to time conflict”. Item 11, last sentence should be “potential concerns were voiced by Chief White”. Motion carried on a committee voice vote.

2. Officer Altamirano is working to get compliant with N.I.M.S., Mr.

Burkhart, recently hired, needs to become compliant. Mr. Fisk and MS. MORGAN are compliant.

3. If the power goes down to the server at the village office the Police

Department will have no power to write tickets, etc. There was a discussion of the cost to install backup power source. There would be two possibilities: a permanent generator with transfer switch or a manual starter for a portable generator. The cost of the permanent setup would be at least $25,000 and the cost of the portable setup would be at least $5,000.

4. Interim Chief White stated that several officers are at the maximum

for vacation accrual and unable to schedule vacation because of lack of officers and the COVID19.

5. The 2020 Tahoe is at the outfitter adding necessary equipment and

will be ready in a week or so. It will still need the graphics once the shelter in place is lifted.

6. Eight applications have been received for the Chief’s position. Aaron Booker’s was received after the due date, and he is not a certified officer. Another applicant is also not certified, Danny Rains. Steve Tallacksen has not been a supervisor for ten years. Possibly the first interview of the five remaining could be by video conference.

7. CAD/RMS is on hold.

April 6, 2020 Page 6 of 6

8. The E.O.C. requested help from the Police Department. Officer

Mike Mund has been released for part-time work by his physician and is helping at E.O.C. on behalf of the Village three days per week (Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday). His wages will be reimbursed to the Village. He is a big help as reported to Chief White and an asset to the Village as well.

9. The Indemnity and Hold Harmless agreement with Pecatonica for Alan Nylund will be signed after getting a response from Mr. Henry, Pecatonica’s attorney.

10. Chief White will contact I.M.L. to get information on police officers who work as security where cannabis is sold.

Crime is relatively light, with some small retail theft at Family Dollar.

Officers on duty are out being seen in the business that are open.

11. Distribution of Cannabis tax is to fund crime prevention, etc.

12. A motion was made by MR. KIMES, seconded by MRS. O’ROURKE to go into Executive Session at 6:50 p.m. per 2.C.5 Open Meetings. Motion carried.

The Board Returned to Regular session at 7:22 p.m. with trustees ELSEN – KIMES – MALIGRANDA – MCKINNON- O’ROURKE -present. MORGAN - absent Attorney Gaziano.

A motion was made by MRS. O’ROURKE, seconded by MR. ELSEN to adjourn at 7:23 p.m. Motion carried on a voice vote.

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