Grundy Reporter

City of Highland City Council met Jan. 3.

Here are the minutes provided by the council:

Mayor Hemann called the Regular Session to order at 7:00pm at the Senior Center. Council members Sloan, Frey, and Bellm were present. Councilman Hipskind was absent. Others in attendance were City Manager Conrad, City Attorney Michael McGinley, Directors Cook, Gillespie, Presson, and Rosen, Coordinator Mallord, Treasurer Nicholaides, Deputy City Clerks Hediger and VonHatten, City Clerk Bellm, 4 citizens, and 1 member of the news media.

MINUTES

Councilman Frey made a motion to approve the minutes of the December 19, 2022 Regular Session as attached. Motion seconded by Councilwoman Bellm. Roll Call Vote: Councilmembers Sloan, Frey, and Bellm voted aye, none nay. Motion carried.

PUBLIC FORUM

Citizens’ Requests and Comments:

Rusty Rodz Car Club – Rusty Rodz Car Cruse – Russell Huelsmann, Representative requested permission to use the streets around the downtown square for their car cruises the last Saturday of each month, May through October, from 5pm-8pm. Mayor Hemann noted everything is in the application. It seems like you get a really good turnout. He asked if there were any concerns from the businesses. City Manager Conrad responded, the exact opposite. They really like the atmosphere it creates and business it generates. Councilwoman Bellm made a motion to approve the request of Rusty Rodz Car Club to hold a cruise-in on the downtown square, the last Saturday of each month, for the months of May through October 2023, from 5:00pm – 8:00pm each night, as requested. Motion seconded by Councilman Frey. Roll Call Vote: Councilmembers Sloan, Frey, and Bellm voted aye, none nay. Motion carried.

A citizen came forward with a complaint regarding the horse drawn carriage rides that the council approved, to be done around the square during the holidays. She stated her family came from Chicago area just to ride and it was not never there. Councilwoman Bellm reported they were there for a few nights. They had said it was going to be weather dependent. Councilwoman Sloan suggested it may be better if they communicate with city hall regarding their operation schedule and cancellations, next time, so we can post it on social media.

John Kapp asked if citizens can still drop payments off at City Hall. City Manager Conrad responded the payments can be put into the night deposit slot outside only.

Requests of Council:

No comments or requests presented.

Staff Report:

City Manager Conrad reported in-person FEMA updated flood map Open Houses for Madison County will be held on January 18 and 19, 2023, from 5:30pm to 7:30pm for residents to view the maps. January 18 it will be at Granite City Township Hall, 2060 Delmar Ave; Granite City, IL 62040; and, the January 19 Open House will be at the Wood River Public Library, 326 E Ferguson Ave; Wood River, IL 62095. These two maps have been developed and debated over the past few years. FEMA did take into account our projects and made changes accordingly. We got a look at a few weeks ago

City Manager Conrad reported the Korte Rec Center did a PR campaign offering additional programs over the holiday months. They saw about a $10,000 revenue increase during that time. For a $400 investment, it paid off.

Discussion – Report on Recent Incident at City Hall – City Manager Conrad reported, between 5:30pm on 12/22 and 4:30am on 12/26, a water line burst in five different spots on the north side by HVAC system intake. The damage was about 1.5-inches of water covering the east three-fourths of the building. Total damage to conference room, women’s restroom, and the break room. Tomorrow we have a specialist coming in to look at the HVAC system as a lot of water went into the floor registers. With the extreme temperatures the earliest we were able to get someone in, was about ten days later. Korte Construction did a lot of the remediation today; we are getting this started on T&M basis. Once we get things dried out, we will get the insurance company. This has impacted 2700 sq. ft. of 3500 sq. ft. of the office space. It did not affect the council chamber. We are using the chamber area to store items that we need to keep and move out of the way.

City Manager Conrad asked do we repair just what was damaged or do we want to do some remodeling to address the HVAC system and electrical issues we have. The HVAC is all in the floor, along the outside edge of the building. Since we have created offices and changed from the open space area, there is no HVAC in several rooms. The number of computers inside the building was also not accounted for; so, we have a lot of cables and lines running across floors. Councilwoman Sloan stated it makes sense to address some of these issues in the areas that we can. City Manager Conrad reported, last year, we spent half of the funds budgeted to get a conceptual idea of what we needed to do. I think we are going to dust those plans off. Councilwoman Bellm pointed out the insurance is going to only pay so much; however, it makes sense to do some of the stuff while we can. Councilman Frey agreed we would save some money by doing it now while things are opened up. Also, it would prevent further disruption in the future, by addressing it now. Mayor Hemann asked City Manager Conrad do we hire an engineer or go out for bids on this. City Manager Conrad responded if we can get the plan portion under $25,000, then we can decide on plan we like; and, after that we can bid those plans out to a construction company. The only thing done in the council chambers would be the replacement of the HVAC system. We should know this week the insurance’s assessment of the HVAC system.

Mayor Hemann expressed HCS did an incredible job of getting everyone moved and setup to get things back into operations quickly. City Manager Conrad added Carole spent a tremendous amount of time trying to find companies to begin remediation, and Keith has been doing a lot of work trying to clean up and salvage what we can.

NEW BUSINESS

Bill #23-01/RESOLUTION Supporting Fair Housing – Councilwoman Bellm made a motion to approve Bill #23-01/Resolution #23-01-3003 supporting Fair Housing as attached. Motion seconded by Councilman Frey. Roll Call Vote: Councilmembers Sloan, Frey, and Bellm voted aye, none nay. Motion carried.

Approve Mayor’s Reappointment of Kathryn Comish to the Tree Commission – Councilman Frey made a motion to approve the mayor’s reappointment of Kathryn Comish to the Tree Commission for an additional three-year term to expire July 2025 as attached. Motion seconded by Councilwoman Bellm. Roll Call Vote: Councilmembers Sloan, Frey, and Bellm voted aye, none nay. Motion carried.

Bill #23-02/ORDINANCE Approving Contract for Sale of a Portion of the City’s 138 kV Electric Transmission Line to Ameren – Councilwoman Bellm made a motion to approve Bill #23-02/Ordinance #3253 approving contract for sale of 11.2 miles of the City’s 138 kV Electric Transmission Line to Ameren in the amount of $3,000,000 as attached. Motion seconded by Councilman Frey. Roll Call Vote: Councilmembers Sloan, Frey, and Bellm voted aye, none nay. Mayor Hemann voted aye. Motion carried.

Award Bid # E-08-22, for the Purchase of Assorted Distribution Transformers – Councilman Frey made a motion to award Bid # E-08-22, for the purchase of assorted distribution transformers in the amount of $364,989.40 from Graybar as attached. Motion seconded by Councilwoman Bellm. Director Cook reported we only received one bid, because there are not a whole lot of companies bidding these transformers. It is a national issue and I do not know what they are going to do about it. The bid comes from Graybar, and the manufacturer is Howard Industries. There is a statement from Howard, which states: ‘Due to current cost volatility they are allowed to change prices at any time to cover increases in the key transformer cost factors beyond the company’s control.’ It also states, ‘Due to COVID-19, labor and raw material shortages, as well as other supply change distributions, Howard Industries reserves the to modify lead times at any time, on both orders that have already been laced and on future orders.’ Our next shipment of transformers was to arrive in August and it still has yet not arrived. Plastic conduit we were waiting on, when it arrived in, the vendor notified us if we want to pick up our order, it was going to be 50% more. We have not a choice on these matters. Roll Call Vote: Councilmembers Sloan, Frey, and Bellm voted aye, none nay. Motion carried.

Bill #23-03/RESOLUTION Rejecting all Bids for Notice of Municipal Letting #E-09-22, for the 138kV Line Clearance Contract – Councilwoman Bellm made a motion to approve Bill #23-03/Resolution #23-01-3004 rejecting all Bids for Notice of Municipal Letting #E-09-22, for the 138kV Line Clearance Contract as attached. Motion seconded by Councilman Frey. City Manager Conrad reported this was the only bid received and it was way over what we had budgeted for. We are going to go back and restructure the bid, before sending back to council for approval to send back. Mayor Hemann noted we are selling a portion of the line. So, do we need this? City Manager Conrad explained we will be transferring the line to Ameren, under the agreement, in 2025. We are responsible for maintaining it until that time. Councilwoman Bellm inquired our guys cannot trim the line. Director Dan Cook explained there are few companies that can do this, which is why we only received one bid. Rather than bidding the length needed out, we are going to re-do the request for proposal to say, ‘Starting at point “x”, and how much can distance can they cover, for $100,000.’ In speaking with the contractor, there is some economy in restructuring the way the bid is setup, because of movement of the equipment. This company does this type of work all the time; they are based out of Vienna, IL. Roll Call Vote: Councilmembers Sloan, Frey, and Bellm voted aye, none nay. Motion carried.

Bill #23-04/RESOLUTION Authorizing the City to Apply for the Madison County, Illinois Resource Management Program Grant – Councilman Frey made a motion to approve Bill #23-04/ Resolution #23-01-3005 authorizing the City to apply for the Madison County, Illinois Resource Management Program Grant as attached. Motion seconded by Councilwoman Bellm. Roll Call Vote: Councilmembers Sloan, Frey, and Bellm voted aye, none nay. Motion carried.

REPORT

Accepting Expenditures Report #1233 for December 17, 2022 through December 30, 2022 – Councilwoman Bellm made a motion to accept Expenditures Report #1233 for December 17, 2022 through December 30, 2022 as attached. Motion seconded by Councilman Frey. Roll Call Vote: Councilmembers Sloan, Frey, and Bellm voted aye, none nay. Motion carried.

Councilwoman Bellm made a motion to adjourn. Motion seconded by Councilman Frey. Roll Call Vote: Councilmembers Sloan, Frey, and Bellm voted aye, none nay. Motion carried. Meeting adjourned at 7:32pm.

https://www.highlandil.gov/City%20Council/Minutes/2023/01-03-2023.pdf