Grummitt Will Resign Seat on Savanna City Council

By MICHAEL MILLER | For The Prairie Advocate News

SAVANNA – Savanna’s Ward One Alderman Bill Grummitt informed the City Council that the next meeting, on October 23rd, will be his final one as a Council member, as he will be stepping down due to a move out of his particular district.

The meeting was attended by Council members Grummitt, Lois Hunsaker, Jeff Griswold, Peg Haffey, Merle Long, Bill Robinson, and Bill Scott, with Tony McCombie absent. Also attending were Mayor Larry Stebbins, City Clerk Paul Hartman, City Attorney Phil Jensen, Comptroller/Treasurer Sheryl Sipe, Police Chief Michael Moon, Fire Chief Shawn Picolotti, and Public Works Superintendent John Lindeman.

A public hearing concerning the close of the CDAP planning grant from the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity and also the close of the Sanitary Sewer Rehabilitation Project was held immediately prior to the meeting, with Sharon Pepin of Community Funding and Planning providing an overview of the project history and current situation. She told the Council that the City had applied for and received a CDAP Public Infrastructure Grant in the amount of $350,000, which was for a two-year period, ending on September 30 of this year. The overall project cost was estimated to be $462,600.00, and the City was to contribute $112,600.00 to that cost.

The grant was for the repair and lining of approximately 5,200 linear feet of sanitary sewer main, as well as the repair and lining of 18 manholes in the sewer collection system.

Insituform Technologies USA, Inc, submitted the winning bid for the work, with several subcontractors also on the project. Willett Hofmann & Associates, Inc. was contracted for the project’s engineering work. Community Funding and Planning Services was hired by Savanna for grant administration duties.

The project was largely completed in December 2011, with some restoration work being completed in the spring of this year. Costs of construction came in at $380,468.26, approximately $38,000.00 under the engineer’s estimated budget.

Other relevant statistics: overall project cost was $497,075.00, with CDAP grant funds paying $350,000.00 towards construction, administration and engineering, with the City contributing about $147.075.00 toward these costs plus in-kind labor and sewer equipment. The grant paid for 70 percent of the project and the City paid for the other 30 percent. Based on a 2005 income survey, this project will benefit approximately 67 percent of low to moderate income residents.

Finance Report

Finance Committee Chairman Robinson addressed a request from the Hotel/Motel Committee for funding assistance to the Savanna Chamber of Commerce in the amount of $3,000.00, from Fund 57. Long inquired whether or not it might be a good idea to have the Chamber furnish details of what such funding might go for, and Stebbins said that this information could be derived from the Chamber’s financial statements.

The chairman also related a request for funds from the Public Works Department to repair a 1996 pickup truck transmission, so this vehicle could be used in snow plowing operations in the winter. The projected cost of such repair is approximately $2,000.00 and the committee suggested using the $11,664.00 garnered from the recent sale of the City’s surplus items to help fund this repair. The request was for funding “up to $2,000.00.”

Both of these requests were approved by the entire council.

The committee also recommended approval of a request for funds to cover the engineering estimate from Willett Hofmann & Associates, Inc., for the city’s proposed sanitary sewer infiltration and inflow project, not to exceed $11,000.00. This recommendation was put into ordinance form and approved fully by the Council under New Business.

Updates on Property Purchases and Sales, Miscellaneous Business

Warrant #6, bills for the month of September, in the amount of $163,139.53, was also approved.

Jensen commented that both the purchase of 403 Oak Street for probable use in the sewer plant construction project and the sale of 1125 Chicago Avenue to Jo-Carroll are progressing well, and that the sale of 1125 Chicago Avenue should have a closing date in November.

A brief iFiber update revealed that the legal counsel for that group will report back to Jensen and that the item will be placed on the Council’s agenda for the next meeting under Unfinished Business.

Ordinance #2016, which would amend the ordinance establishing the current enterprise zone in Whiteside and Carroll County to additional properties within Whiteside County to include additional properties within Whiteside, including Menard’s, received it’s first reading by title only.

Burning Schedule and Non Resident Fire Department Response Charges Ordinances

Two ordinances appeared before the Council, in their first readings. One was the proposed ordinance compiled by the Ordinance Committee whereby the current ordinance dealing with open burning would be amended so that open burning of landscape waste could occur only between the hours of 9 am and sunset on the second and fourth Fridays of each month, and also on the Saturdays following these Fridays. Also amended in this ordinance was the violation measure for these conditions, which now will be addressed by the issuance of a citation to the violator by the police department and the imposing of a fine.

Also on the docket was the first reading of a new ordinance which would allow the City to charge non residents of the Savanna Fire Protection District for the services of the Savanna Fire Department, and also for technical rescue services as well as hazardous materials emergency responses, driving under the influence responses, methamphetamine incident responses and arson fire responses.

Both of these ordinances will have their second readings at the next regularly scheduled meeting, which will be on October 23rd, 2012.

Final Comments

Hunsaker inquired whether there were any results of the sales tax generated by the recent Kunes sales event at Poopy’s, and the mayor said that was no current ordinance requiring a vendor submit that information. Robinson said he felt that if asked, a representative of Kunes might be kind enough to supply the City with that information.

Stebbins addressed the news that the Thomson Correctional Center has recently been purchased by the federal government. He stressed the need for Savanna to plan for this eventuality, and said that the updating of the City’s website should be a priority in order to attract potential new residents who might be employed at the prison.