New Savanna City Council Deals with New, and Old Business

By Michael Miller

For The Prairie Advocate

There were a few new faces around the table at the latest Savanna City Council meeting, including new alder-person's Lois Hunsaker and Rosalie Hansen, and Paul Hartman taking over Walter "Irv" Shrake's recently vacated City Clerk position. The face at the head of the table was a different one, too, with Larry Stebbins presiding over his first council meeting as Mayor.

Council members present included Jack Fosdick, Lois Hunsaker, Jeff Griswold, Bill Grummitt, Gail Bowman, Rosalie Hansen, Merle Long and Bill Robinson. Also in attendance were Police Chief Michael Moon, Fire Chief Shawn Picolotti, Comptroller/Treasurer Cheryl Sipe and Superintendent of Public Works John Lindeman.

Initiating a new tradition for the council, Pastor Michael White led a prayer shortly before the opening of the meeting.

The first item on the agenda was the refinancing of industrial revenue bonds for Met Form. After some questions about clarification of the issue, Jensen told the council that the City would be a "conduit issuer" and would have no obligation of repayment, and that responsibility for the letter of credit would go to Met Form. The council unanimously passed the motion to approve the proposal.

Robinson gave the report from the finance committee, which included discussion of possibly giving weather radios from the Fire Department to sites like Pinnacle Place and Big Meadows in order to better foster alerts on coming storms, etc. They also reviewed a request from the Police Department to purchase a new photocopier/fax/printer for $4700, plus a $86 a month maintenance cost, which would include all costs for the unit except paper. This expenditure was in the budget, and after a vote the council unanimously approved the motion to purchase the unit.

Next on the agenda was the West Carroll Lease agreement, with the council discussing whether or not to waive the approximately six hundred dollar per year rental fee for the use of the water tower. Robinson recommended denying this request and the council concurred, again unanimously.

Heartland Pet Welfare also requested a waiver of its yearly $1,000 licensing fee. The finance committee proposed waiving the yearly fee this year then sending the matter to the ordinance committee to make this a permanent waiver. Fosdick commented that since the council had earlier turned down the Savanna Historical Society for a similar request, they couldn't very well turn down one such organization and help the others. Grummitt said that Heartland solves a specific city problem (the overpopulation of cats in the area), while the Historical Society does not. The council voted to approve the waiver by a vote of 6 to 2, with Hansen and Fosdick providing the opposing votes.

Warrant #1 was passed, encompassing bills for the month of April for $252,302.09.

A number of City appointments were then reviewed and approved, including Police Chief Moon, Comptroller/Treasurer Sipe, Fire Chief Picolotti , and Superintendent of Public Works Lindeman and City Attorney Jensen, all for four year terms.

The council addressed the newly open position of Mayor Pro Tem, with Griswold nominating Long. This nomination was unanimously approved, with Long obstaining from the vote.

Monthly reports from the financial, fire, police and public works departments were accepted. Chief Moon gave an update on the situation with speeding vehicles on Portland Avenue, commenting that the department was now patrolling the area on all shifts and that they had a caught a couple more speeders. He said that he had also checked into signs that would help monitor speeding vehicles and discovered that Lanark had just purchased one for $8500, and that there was the possibility they would allow Savanna to use it for a time.

Little progress was reported on the Mediacom lease agreement issue, with Attorney Jensen still reviewing the relevant material and the special committee set up to examine it waiting on a new third member to replace John Powell.

In new business, the council discussed a finding of facts by the Zoning Board Appeals dealing with a request for a variation to build a garage (without a residence) on property at 702 Iris Street. Grummitt and Fosdick argued the City needs residents, not more garages. Despite support from Long and Hunsaker who felt the move would bring in tax money, the council elected to deny this variation. This upheld the recommendation of the Zoning Board (there was also the possibility of the owner's moving the garage back, therefore allowing room for a residence on the property, at which point they could come back with a second request to build). The vote was deadlocked at 4-4, and was broken by a "nay" vote from Mayor Stebbins.

Rhonda Ratchke then addressed the council about the work she has done for the City's website renovation/upgrading. She said she had done about 22 hours worth of work so far and had not been paid. Several members of the council stated that "improper procedure" had been the culprit, as Ms. Ratchke had been told to go ahead with the work by Mayor Lease, though he had not contacted the finance committee about this. Jensen advised her not to do any further work as the council pursued the matter further. Fosdick said that the Hotel/Motel committee had the money for this expenditure and that establishment of a new website committee had been a bit of a "left turn". Ultimately, it was decided that Ms. Ratchke should go to the website committee, meet with them and see what they come up with.

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