Savanna City Council Debates Commercial Dumpster Service,
Mulls Over Real Estate Purchase

By Michael Miller For The Prairie Advocate News

SAVANNA - The Savanna City Council met on Tuesday, November 25, 2008 and covered a wide range of issues, including the prospective purchase of the medical center building and the viability of continuing the city's dumpster business.

The meeting opened with a presentation local postmaster Pam Bartell, who provided information about the decision to no longer allow "local only" lobby drops. All outgoing Savanna mail will now go to Rockford. She explained that the post office wants all mail to pass through a bio detectable machine which, in light of the 2001 anthrax attacks and subsequent threats, will be able to more fully safeguard the postal employees. Savanna mail should be handed to the clerk who will postmark and deliver it. Residents can also still continue to mail Savanna mail from their home mail box. This change in operation should not overtly affect service, since she reassured the council that the mail that goes to the Rockford office should come back the next day. Bartell also explained that cost is a factor in the removal of the local only drops, and that like the rest of the country, the post office has been effected by the economic downturn.

The council then heard from Laurie Gungel, Director of the Carroll County Economic Development Corporation. Gungel proposed a snowmobile club for Savanna, noting that snowmobile enthusiasts could well be an important source of business for the area. She asked for the council's assistance in conceiving a way to make it easier to snowmobiles to get through town to get gas. The council was receptive to the idea while at the same time mentioning some obstacles such as the legal unavailability of public streets and highways. A motion to send the matter to the Building and Public Property Committee for further investigation was made and unanimously approved.

The finance committee presented their report, keying on the issue of liability worker's compensation insurance. The proposal they received from Illinois Counties Risk Management Trust Insurance Programs called for $96,752 per year as opposed to the current $102,097 plus there would be an additional $1,985 coverage for boilers and machinery that would be covered under the new proposal. After hearing the finance committee's recommendation of changing the city's insurance carrier, the council moved and unanimously approved this proposal.

The Water, Sewer, Refuse, Streets and Alleys Committee presented its report along with a motion to proceed with bid letting for refuse, recycling and yard waste, adding that the city is now losing money on their garbage service. The committee also recommended that the city get out of the commercial dumpster business (for businesses) by January 1, 2009 and have businesses that needed a dumpster contract privately to get one.

Councilman Griswold expressed concern that organizations like the historical society and churches might no longer be able to attain a dumpster if this motion passed and advocated treating them as different from commercial businesses, since they are charitable entities. The council voted on the motion and was deadlocked at 4 "nays" and 4 "ayes". Mayor Lease then broke the tie, voting "aye", reluctantly, he added, as he felt that local groups do need help in such matters.

The Holiday Train committee discussed plans for the upcoming train visit. The train will arrive at 3:15PM on December 5th at 913 Bowen Street and the event itself will begin at 3:30PM, with remarks by the Mayor, a check presentation, followed by comments from Reverend Michael Wey of the Savanna Food Pantry. Next will come the introduction of the entertainment, followed by the entertainment itself, provided by Shaun Verreault and Melanie Doane. The event will conclude at 4:00PM and the train will depart at 4:15PM.

In an update on the possible purchase of the medical building, the council resolved to table the issue until they have more information at their disposal as to the total cost of getting the building from its present state into something that can conform to what they want to use it for. Fire Chief Shawn Picolotti said that he's requested information on how much it would cost to bring the building up to Life Safety codes and will report back with that information when he receives it.

The Savanna City Council meets on the second and fourth Tuesdays of every month at the city council chambers. Meetings are open to the public.

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