Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutOctober 14, 1987 COW COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE MEETING October 14 , 1987 The meeting was called to order by Mayor Van De Voorde at 6 : 30 p.m. in the City Council Room. Members present : Councilmen Fox, Gilliam, Moylan, Popple, Shales , Walters and Mayor Van De Voorde. Absent : None. Public Hearing on apartment licensing and inspection. Jim Cook, City Manager: Last Spring when we were having the hearings on the use of Community Development Block Grant Funds , one of the proposals made to Council was for the funding of an apartment licensing and inspection program in the City of Elgin. At that time the Council determined not to fund that with Block Grant funds , but did direct the staff to visit other cities that have such a program, come back with draft legislation, and a design of what a program would entail. We did that in June, then after a review of that the Council asked us to provide them with a budget , showing what it would take in Elgin for such a program. You gave us guidance that if we were going to do such a program it should be scheduled around no more than 20% of the units inspected each year with every building that there are three or more units in inspected. Staff has examined and reported to you, and at that time, if you will recall, we displayed this map showing the apartment locations that meet the three or more unit criteria. We indicated the number of units we would be facing, the kind of workload we would be facing, and the budget we felt it would take to provide inspection of every building, and inspection of at least 20% of the units in a building with no fewer than at least one unit inspected in each building. You directed us that if we considered this that we ought to have a budget that would be self-funding, that this would not be a subsidized program. We put together a package and presented it to you in September and indicated that if the annual building fee, or license was $40. 00 for the building and $20. 00 for each unit , that you could reach the target of $170, 000, and that would fund the necessary personnel needed to do this kind of a program. Our budget for personnel with three inspectors, additional supervision, clerical person, plus all the mailing forms , notices that it would take to do not only initial inspection, but follow-up inspections, going to court , and the things that would be involved if we were to bring an enforcement . At that time you will recall the general feeling of staff was we are not yet caught up with where we ought to be in the inspection program in a number of crucial areas , and that we do not believe at this point that we are in a position Committee of the Whole Meeting October 14 , 1987 Page 2 to effectively gear up and go into an inspection program. You determined that you would like to hear from the public and called for a public hearing on this matter. We have prepared this information for you, we are here to answer questions that might be asked from the public, and I believe that is it Mr. Mayor. Councilman Fox: Just for general information this public hearing is exactly as the Courier, in my mind anyway, is exactly how the Courier printed it . It is to gather information and background from the public. To hear from both sides what they think about the issue. I am not prepared at this time to accept this proposal as the one we need to decide on, I am not sure we need apartment licensing at this time, we may have other priorities , but I think it is important , and I said this constantly throughout the campaign that public hearings are important , people need to be heard from. This is information gathering so that we know and have the information and the opinion of the people, so that when we sit down and discuss this again we can make those kinds of decisions . Councilwoman Popple: I have a couple of questions , one is about the fee structure, and its just a clarification, because I was the one who said that I preferred the lower fee structure. Now when I look at the fee structure, and if I am the owner of three units, the way I read it you would have a flat fee, then if you are looking at one unit , if a person paid for that inspection, to me that is $60. 00. In the table it looks like people are expected to pay for all of their units at once , when all of their units would not be inspected. Jim Cook: The fee is a flat fee, plus a fee for however many apartments are in the building, and if you did it any other way then in order to get $170, 000 you could take 6, 000 units at roughly $20. 00 per unit , or you could take the number of buildings, the 860 buildings , and divide it into the $170 , 000 and get so much per building, but in an effort to try and balance between the small and the large there is a certain amount of net expense to go out and inspect the buildings , and then there is a certain amount of expense associated with size. We gave you three different formulas to look at in the September meeting, each of those was a base fee of so much per the unit for the building, and then so much of a charge for each unit in the building. The Council are that time said prepare for a public hearing based on this particular formula. Councilwoman Popple: I understand the formula, I am just saying that when you look at that it is a high cost for people. Committee of the Whole Meeting October 14 , 1987 Page 3 Jim Cook: But $170, 000 is a lot of money. If you take what you are suggesting, as we point out we are talking about doing initial inspections , we are talking about 860 buildings , plus 1400 units , so you are talking about 2 , 300 inspections. If you were going to do it on just buildings and units inspected you would have to be at the range of about $55 . 00 per unit rather than a fee of $40. 00 for the building, and $20. 00 for the unit . Councilwoman Popple: My next question would be if the cost were this high, I would need to know how big is the problem and where is the problem. I Jim Cook: If you will recall my recommendation to Council was I don ' t believe this is a problem. We have a few problem apartments, but if people who have those problems will file complaints against those particular apartments , we have the legal power at present to go solve those problems. If however, we are to an inspection licensing program, which was asked for at the Block Grant Hearing, you cannot selectively license only those units that you think are a problem, you have to license them all. In my opinion we have been forced to exclude a number of the bigger problems, which is the two-family units, which we have only started at three units and larger because we are talking about a staff for this program of professional people. It is a significant program when you talk about going into 6 ,800 units , and it takes five years to get through those units and do something. We are talking about a big amount of time and effort . Councilman Walters: In the examples we have of the fee structures we are -taking -into account also all those" units of the Elgin- Housing Authority. Is that correct . Jim Cook: The program as it was submitted, and we pointed out to you in September, included all of the units. However, we pointed out at that time that part of the funding problem would be that we can charge a fee, but they will not be able to get it into their budget , and pay for it with federal funds, which means that portion will probably have to be subsidized. Ed Schock, 355 Jefferson Avenue: I am a apartment owner and my building would be subject to the proposed apartment licensing ordinance. I nevertheless support the ordinance whole heartedly with one reservation, I think the fee structure is a mistake, the fees will be passed on to the renters, many of whom are low to moderate income individuals and not able to pay. Committee of the Whole Meeting October 14 , 1987 Page 4 This is a city program, a city service, and when I hear the comment that this program should pay for itself, I would like to know what city programs pay for themselves . Does the Police Department , Fire Department pay for itself, what city services pay for themselves. My guess is that the largest portion of the city budget are services that don't pay for themselves , and they should not because this is government . Government is the collective action of the collective citizens of this community asking a body to do things that they can 't do for themselves . If I wanted to sabotage this proposal I would attach fees to it , because I will bet that the majority of debate tonight will be around the fees rather than the concept of whether or not we ought to have an inspection of dwellings so that people reside in safe, clean houses. The other comment I would like to make is I think the apartment licensing issue is really part of a larger issue and that ought to be the systematic inspection of all dwellings in the City of Elgin, not just apartments. Our community is in the dark ages when it comes to inspection. The concept being presented tonight and the concept of systematic housing inspection is not new, it is decades old. What is new is the discussion in Elgin. Elgin is one of the few communities that does not have a beefed up inspection program. We need a systematic Elgin City Government run inspection program. You cannot convince me that the inspection of dwellings that have code violations , that may save more than one life, can't be worth $170,000. I plead with the Council to adopt this measure. I encourage you to make this a part of the regular City budget and not a fee structure that will unfairly and unjustly punish those least able to pay. Ina Dewes , 128A Hemlock Lane: I am on the Board of Directors of Poplar Creek Crestwood Co-Operative , we have found out that we have been classified as apartments. We are not apartments , we are co-operative owners with a membership and body, and we would like to find out why are we included in this proposal. Jim Cook: At this point in time you were included for notice purposes . We would have to have the individual owners come in and demonstrate what their condition is. If you are all co-operative and there are no renters then you would be exempt , but if any of the units out there are owned by somebody and they are rented, they are multiple family, then those units would have to come under an apartment licensing program. Barbara Evans , 511 East Chicago Street : I am a Vice-President of the Gifford Park Association, and I would like to review our justifications for recommending the systematic apartment inspection. Committee of the Whole Meeting October 14 , 1987 Page 5 i i We are the ones who proposed this at the Block Grant Hearings this Spring, and we did so for several reasons. We felt that illegal conversions would quickly be spotted that way, and also that unsafe, unsound, and sanitary conditions could be addressed and hopefully eliminated in a fair and speedy fashion. We also felt that even though the City does have a building code in place, it only works on an individual complaint basis , it is not suprising that tenants are reluctant to complain, you can't ask the tenant to do it . I know some tenants who have gone to court , the courts ruled in their favor, the landlord had to improve the property, they were evicted the very next month. We originally requested Block Grant Funding to hire inspectors needed to implement our inspection program. We also said that if the City so chose this program could eventually be self- supporting, if say, $5 .00 per unit were charged. On this specifc plan. that has been presented to this City Council, the Gifford Park Association was asked for no input whatsoever. We concur with Mr. Schock that the proposed fee is excessive that it is sure way to kill it . Again the Gifford Park Association strongly urges that we start somewhere. Paul Patterson, 8 S. Alfred: I am here to speak as a representative of School District U-46 where I am employed as an administrator. While it is not our place to comment on the legislative wisdom of the proposed ordinance, as a purveyor of service to the public, we can comment on the financial impact , and I think you are aware of the fact that our school district , in spite of the fact that we continue to operate, our enrollment continues to grow at the rate of about 350 to 450 students a year. While it is exciting it puts increasing financial pressure upon our school district . A dwelling that is valued at $100, 000 pays $13000. 00 in educational real estate taxes. A child from that house, one child, costs our school district $3, 357. 00 a year to educate, that is our per pupil cost . Apartment licensing would allow the City to control apartment conversions and help the City monitor apartment buildings so they meet code. This helps the school district in many ways , first of all apartment conversions place extra students into our schools without any ability to offset that cost through real estate taxes, and secondly apartment conversions by placing extra students in our schools puts an . even heavier demand on our facilities. These factors combined represent an additional financial strain by expanding our costs without expanding revenue. We think that enforcement of the existing codes and ordinances would have an impact on the population density and in the long run reduce the demand for educational services to level more commensurate with the taxes being paid by the property. i Committee of the Whole Meeting October 14 , 1987 Page 6 Chester Bowser, 63 N. Melrose: I speak for some of the smaller owners , I am not part of any group. A lot of us do have pride in our property, we try to keep it up, we are proud of it . If you are having trouble with units somewhere bore in on them, don' t bore in on the innocent . Bill Leath, 219 Kathleen: It is my personal feeling that if you are going to pay somebody to go around and inspect the buildings there should be something built into a budget and not added on to the landlord' s already burdened payment schedule, because as a tenant the persons who will eventually end up paying is going to be me. Mayor Van De Voorde: Sir, no matter what program we get you are going to pay for it . Mr. Leath: I understand that , but is the current building inspection so bad that they can ' t be handled more efficiently without going to a paid structure of inspection. Jim Cook: At the present time our group are inspecting the heaviest load of new construction that this City has ever had. The last two years have been a continuous construction program, which we are handling with essentially the same staff, one additional person, what they were handling five years ago during which there was no building going on at all. Quite frankly we cannot take on an additional program with the existing staff. The four people that are there simply cannot do this amount of extra work without additional people , in fact , the Council has already agreed, and we are in the process of looking for next year' s budget , to increase the size of staff to tackle the existing programs , because we are not moving as fast as the citizens and the Council want on such things as public housing improvements and all the other things that are needed. Mr. Leath: I just want to go on record that some other fee structure would be more pleasing to me. Councilman Fox: At a previous City Council meeting we asked the City Manager, if possible, just to see if there were funds available to start looking for extra inspectors right now instead of waiting until December, so we do see a great need for more inspectors in general and we are trying to work on that . Don Pelletier, Manager of the Blackhawk Apartments: Blackhawk has always strived to provide high quality apartments in Elgin. We have a fulltime professional staff that operates twenty- four hours a day and our goal is to provide a safe , healthy environment to our residents . Committee of the Whole Meeting October 14 , 1987 Page 7 The residents are opposed to this ordinance, they do not want you coming in to their homes . The cost on my apartments $8, 300 per year, I must pass this on to my residents. I am trying to keep my rents as affordable as possible and give my residents the best living conditions possible. I feel the proposed ordinance misses a large number of units, I am talking about the one or two unit buildings, basement apartments , non-compliances , they do not have professional services and staff like we do, these units are lacking many times in electrical, plumbing and heating problems , I speak with authority because my father was an inspector for Elgin and I heard many things . I would encourage you to abandon this ordinance, enforce what we have. Licensing me and charging me a flat fee is very unfair. Larry Mann, 120 McKinstry Drive: I honestly feel the biggest problem in Elgin is not the buildings Mr. Pelletier referred to, it is the one and two family units , units that have been converted to perhaps to or more. I think a majority of the Elgin land owners do take pride in their buildings and take care of them. I echo what has been said before, I think there is an area where there is a problem, but I don' t think this is all of Elgin. Edna Krueger, 32 Woodland: I have a concern as to what this type of thing can do, take away the affordable apartment units in Elgin. I would wager that if your Inspection Department tomorrow started a program to enforce the ordinances , in effect , you would find violations as to numbers of people in units , not only in buildings with three or more, but also maybe in the two units. You people are never going to find out about those buildings. I It disturbs me that what may have been a sincere attempt to correct problems with housing for the people of Elgin may create more problems . If you, as elected officials of our community, affirmatively decide to take a position supporting the ordinance, the draft of which is proposed, I would respectfully ask you to give some consideration to tabling it so you get a better cross section of the community at another hearing, because I don 't think this is basically going to touch the tip of the iceberg. Keith Brown, President of Neighborhood Housing Services , 505 Barrett : I would like to remind the Council of a resolution that was passed on December 22 , 1981. In that resolution it Committee of the Whole Meeting October 14 , 1987 Page 8 was passed that there would be a systematic housing inspection program, which would be taken place in the Neighborhood Housing area. The reason for this agreement was that in order for a neighborhood Housing Service program to be initiated, it was mandated by the federal regulations for such a systematic program. I think what we have here is a few bad apples spoiling the whole bunch. If every apartment like Blackhawk Apartments , which is well maintained we would not be here tonight asking for this proposal. Unfornately we have apartments which are unlawful conversions , too many people living in an apartment , which was originally structured to be single family homes. I I believe the cost of this program might be too high. I believe the overall City budget should take a greater portion. We do have a great many low to moderate income people and of course that cost would be passed on to them, making it difficult for them to meet their budget . I Neighborhood Housing Services has not taken an official stand on this issue, but we would like to remind the City of this resolution. Charles Bennett , 18 South Edison: I think we have made a lot of progress in Elgin in the last few years and I think we are going in the right direction, but I don 't think this is the answer to the problem. It seems to me this program that you are proposing is manifestly anti poor people. It concerns me that the fees are only going to be a very small part of the expenses we are talking about , we are going to have an inspector come in , we are going to have some standards that we are going to have to enforce, and its going to cost some big money, which is going to be passed on. I understand the School District 's statement now, they are kinda anti poor too, keep the poor people out , you keep the kids out of town. I think the kids are the future of this town, I like to see people come in and I like to see their families . As these expenses go up we are going to pass them along to the tenants , rents are going to go up and we are going to exclude poor people, and I wonder if that is what we want to do. We are going to exclude these people that we claim we are trying to help. Mayor Van De Voorde: The Council has not decided on anything, it was only a 3 to 3 vote to even hold the public hearing. Pat Hill, 1090 Florimond: I built the only new apartment in Elgin last year, and every inch has been inspected. I find it rather ludicrous that now you want to charge me another $400. 00 to re-inspect my building within a year. I think it is a total waste of money whether I pay the fee or it comes from taxpayer' s money. Committee of the Whole Meeting October 14 , 1987 Page 9 You say that if you license one apartment you have to license them all. Why do you have to have license program, I am a charter member of NHS, couldn't you just have a systematic inspection program neighborhood by neighborhood, starting with the older neighborhoods , with some cut off for apartments less than twenty years old. Jim Cook: From everything that we have studied in the other cities , the only way you can have a systematic interior inspection of an apartment is to have a license, because that is the authorization by which you generate the ability to go inside , unless you have a complaint . Staff recommended earlier on that we do this on a neighborhood basis, we already have a program that started last year, in the Central Elgin Neighborhood, which the firemen went out on a voluntary basis and did inspection of all housing that would permit us in, and we got in about 60% of it . If it is a licensed business and the terms of the license include the right of inspection then we do have the right to go in and inspect . This is what has been established in the other communities that we investigated. Councilman Gilliam: It is possible to do something like this on an area basis , does it have to be city-wide. Jim Cook: We can do an area basis on a voluntary program, but not on a licensing basis. If you are going to have a class of license you could do your inspection on a neighborhood basis, but you will have a lot of people paying for a license that are not getting inspected, and you will have more complaints if they are not getting any service. Mayor Van De Voorde: One thing that troubles me, we have found a lot of violations that we are aware of right now, and we have been pretty ineffective in taking care of them at this point . I think it is critical that we face up to those things and correct them. This is a difficult thing, you get into court and you don' t win those battles automatically. We don 't need any more problems today, we have to take care of the ones we have now. Robert Royer, Allison and Lyle: I have four unit buildings and if I understand it this will cost me $480. 00 per year. I would like this further researched and see what can be done. Richard Thies, 535 Oakhill: I don't mind paying a just fee and I don ' t mind inspections , but I want you to realize it is passed on to the tenants . The insurance has gone up tremendously the last three or four years and that was passed on to the tenants. My apartment buildings you can inspect anytime, but what I want you to do is the same thing for a two unit as an eight or nine unit . I have known more two unit violations than the eight or nine units. Committee of the Whole Meeting October 14 , 1987 Page 10 If you are going to do this , do it fair, have it for anybody who rents an apartment . I will pay my share anytime because it is just passed on to the renters. Gary King, President of the Gifford Park Association: I would like to applaud the goals of the idea of what we are trying to do here tonight in terms of bringing this out in the open, get some discussion on the whole topic. The underlying effort is to try and upgrade the housing stock in Elgin, and approve Elgin as a whole , and that has been one of Gifford Park' s major efforts. We are doing basically the same things ourselves , trying to work within the Historic Neighborhood and we would really like to see some form of program aimed at apartments and primarily the absentee landlord. I don' t think I feel personally, that it would be necessary to absolutely see every unit within every five years. once we start a program it will probably start improving the surrounding neighborhood at the same time. A number of people are suggesting that the one, two unit , or three units are a major concern, I would agree with that , if you look at the larges places they have a lot more to lose if they have code problems , violations , people start moving out and maybe it is appropriate that we move down to a lower level and go into specifically the problem areas. Greg Besinger, Carpentersville: I am the owner of five buildings and I feel that Elgin does need some sort of an ordinance, whether it be this ordinance or something else, but is it necessary to charge a license fee. Mayor Van De Voorde: It is not , I think it is very clear that it can be paid for in any manner. We can just hire new inspectors and start the inspection program, and increase taxes for everyone in the community, or you can go to fully paid as the proposal suggests. Mr. Besinger: In all our properties we inspect the property with the resident before the resident moves into the building. They sign off that the apartment is in this shape. What I am suggesting is that after we sign a lease with our residents that we inspect that premise with them that they come to you with an inspection form from the owner, or management , and it says we have inspected this apartment and we find this to be right , or wrong, or whatever, and they file that with you and pay their $20. 00 and come back to us with a receipt , stating that everything is acceptable. Committee of the Whole Meeting October 14 , 1987 Page 11 Councilman Gilliam: I am ready to make a decision. I don 't want another public hearing, I think the people here want to know what we are going to do. I do believe in the concept that we should have some kind of inspection. Housing is very important because its a reflection on the neighborhood, and one of the biggest criticisms that we have is the run down housing, apartments are not kept up, and this ordinance will irritate two kinds of people, the good landlord, because they maintain their property and they don 't see the need of having someone come in and tell them how to do it , because they do a good job. The other people you will hear from and who will be upset are the slumlords, and they fear it , because they don' t want to keep the property up. I guess I want the ordinance, but I think it needs to be modified, changed, and looked at again. I think there should be a range from the City' s expense to what is passed on to the landlords , there has to be some happy medium. I also agree with the City Manager that we have some other problems that we are not enforcing now and until we get our house in order we should not go out and tackle more problems . My recommendation is that we look to hiring more inspectors for the staff for 1988, and that we look at this program for the year 1989 , and try to take the comments which were made tonight and come up with something that is fair and equitable. Councilwoman Shales made a motion, seconded by Councilwoman Popple to close the Public Hearing. Councilwoman Moylan: As you know I have had a problem with this ordinance right from the beginning. I don ' t think it is fair to pick on one kind of housing. All of us know driving around town that there are problems, there are problems on the westside too, it is not all of the older area. I think we need a systematic code enforcement of the codes we have right now, we don ' t have enough staff people with enough hours in the day, they can' t do it all. I think we need to see a significant number of people put in our Bureau of Inspection Services with systematic code enforcement of the codes we have now. I am not saying I never would support an apartment ordinance , but certainly not until what we have now is enforced well. Mayor Van De Voorde: Will the Clerk call the roll to close the public hearing. Yeas : Councilmen Fox, Gilliam, Moylan, Popple, Shales , Walters and Mayor Van De Voorde. Nays: None. Committee of the Whole Meeting October 14 , 1987 Page 12 Councilman Gilliam: I would like to make a motion that we look at a housing inspection code for the 1989 fiscal year. Councilwoman Popple: Second. Councilman Fox: I stated at a previous Council Meeting that I thought we should hire more inspectors as soon as we can and attack the various areas of the City, apartments , single family home, commercial buildings , in a regional type of approach, or an area type of approach, and that is why I hesitated in voting for the public hearing originally, that is there I thought the direction should be. So if we are all comfortable that everybody has had their say, then I am prepared to vote on this. Councilwoman Shales : I am prepared to vote for Mr. Gilliam' s motion, and I do not think tonight was a waste of time. We have had some excellent suggestions . There are a lot of people who are against this ordinance who recognize there is a problem and it does need to be tackled and maybe we should look for a different way. Councilman Walters: I think it has been pointed out to us very clearly tonight by all sides of this matter that there is a crying need and I think the Council does hear for more inspectors and for much tougher inspection and enforcement of what we do have now. I think there are other measures that we could take a look at as a Council, if we would like to do that in the upcoming year. Mayor Van De Voorde: I would like to commend everyone for their actions and suggestions. Certainly nobody in this room wants to see Elgin improved more than I . I think there may be a difference on how to go about it , we have had some good ideas tonight , and I want to thank everyone. Will the Clerk call the roll. Councilmen Fox, Gilliam, Moylan, Popple, Shales , Walters and Mayor Van De Voorde. Nays: None. Councilman Gilliam made a motion, seconded by Councilman Fox to adjourn the Committee of the Whole Meeting to go into the Council Meeting. Yeas: Councilmen Fox, Gilliam, Moylan, Popple, Shales, Walters and Mayor Van De Voorde. Nays: None. Consideration of adoption of the 1984 editions of the BOCA Basic National Building Code, the 1983 edition of CABO One and Two Family Dwelling Code, the 1986 State of Illinois Plumbing Code, the 1984 NFPA 54 National Fuel Gas Code, and amendments thereto. Mayor Van De Voorde stated he would like to thank John Schmidtke for all the work and many hours expended on the City' s behalf. i Committee of the Whole Meeting October 14 , 1987 Page 13 Councilwoman Popple made a motion, seconded by Councilwoman Shales to approve all code changes , reviewed and recommended by the Elgin Building Commission. Yeas: Councilmen Fox, Gilliam, Moylan, Popple, Shales, Walters and Mayor Van De Voorde. Nays: None. Consideration of a recommendation for selection of a consultant to do the 1987-88 water distribution study. Councilman Gilliam made a motion, seconded by Councilman Walters to approve the staff' s recommendation to award the contract for engineering services to complete the Water Distribution System Analysis to Donohue and Associates for an amount not to exceed $54 ,450. Yeas: Councilmen Fox, Gilliam, Moylan, Popple , Shales , Walters and Mayor Van De Voorde. Nays: None. Consideration of a recommendation to accept property return from Woodruff & Edwards . Staff advised the Council that in 1983 certain property owned by the City was conveyed to Woodruff and Edwards for use for landfill purposes for dumping of foundry waste sane, slag and baghouse residuals. A condition of the conveyance was that the property revert to the City after discontinuation of use of the property for the purposes described. Councilwoman Popple made a motion, seconded by Councilman Walters for staff to place this issue on the next Council Agenda for formal action. Yeas : Councilmen Fox, Gilliam, Moylan, Popple, Shales, Walters and Mayor Van De Voorde. Nays : None. Consideration of a proposed paving program for 1988. Staff proposed in the 1988 Budget the amount of $2 , 280,000 for the street resurfacing program. Included in that amount is $150 , 000 for National Street and $2 ,130, 000 for the annual street resurfacing program. It is proposed that the money will come from Community Development Block Grant ( $300 , 000 ) , MFT ( $500 , 000, Capital Improvement Fund ( $540, 000 ) , and G.O. Bonds ( $940,000 ) . A very preliminary estimate for this work is $2 ,400, 000. Councilwoman Popple made a motion, seconded by Councilman Walters to approve the proposed paving program for 1988. Yeas: Councilmen Fox, Gilliam, Moylan, Popple, Shales , Walters and Mayor Van De Voorde. Nays: None. Committee of the Whole Meeting October 14 , 1987 Page 14 Consideration of a proposed sewer program for 1988. Councilwoman Shales made a motion, seconded by Councilwoman Popple, to approve the proposed sewer program for 1988. Yeas : Councilmen Fox, Gilliam, Moylan, Popple, Shales , Walters and Mayor Van De Voorde. Nays: None. Consideration of well repairs to Well 4A. Councilwoman Moylan made a motion, seconded by Councilman Fox to approve staff ' s recommendation to accept Layne-Western' s proposal to pull and inspect well 4A on a time and material basis at an approximate cost of $7 , 000 . Yeas: Councilmen Fox, Gilliam, Moylan, Popple , Shales , Walters and Mayor Van De Voorde. Nays : None. Consideration of a change order to Thermoplastic contract . i Councilwoman Popple made a motion, seconded by Councilman Walters to approve this Change Order in the amount of $3 , 079 . 24 . Yeas : Councilmen Fox, Gilliam, Moylan, Popple, Shales , Walters and Mayor Van De Voorde. Nays: None. Consideration of selection of a consultant to design improvements for water plant . Councilman Gilliam made a motion, seconded by Councilwoman Shales to approve the staff' s recommendation that the contract for the design of both the variable frequency drive and polyphosphate feed system be awarded to Black & Veatch for the proposal price of $16 , 800. Yeas : Councilmen Fox, Gilliam, Moylan, Popple , Shales , Walters and Mayor Van De Voorde. Nays: None. Consideration of a request for lease and recommendation to sell property on North State Street . Councilman Walters made a motion, seconded by Councilwoman Popple to approve staff ' s recommendation to: a. Renew the lease on a month-to-month basis retroactive to October 1st with the annual rent of $125. 00 prorated accordingly; all other terms and conditions of the current lease to remain the same. b. To request Council consider a resolution declaring this property to be surplus and authorizing its sale. Yeas : Councilmen Fox, Gilliam, Moylan, Popple, Shales , Walters and Mayor Van De Voorde. Nays: None. Committee of the Whole Meeting October 14 , 1987 Page 15 Consideration of a recommendation to vacate the alley between Prospect Boulevard and St . John St . Councilman Gilliam made a motion, seconded by Councilman Walters to approve the subject vacation. Yeas : Councilmen Fox, Gilliam, Moylan, Popple, Shales , Walters and Mayor Van De Voorde. Nays : None. Consideration of a report on handicap parking policies . Staff recommended that the interim policy approved by the Council on October 13 , 1986 be extended for one year to October 1, 1988 so that they may have the possibility of receiving requests and then have the opportunity of evaluating the policy. Consideration of a recommendation to accept the utilities associated with the Seigle Home & Building Center. Councilwoman Popple made a motion, seconded by Councilman Fox that the sewer and water mains in the Seigle Home & Building Center be accepted for maintenance. Yeas: Councilmen Fox, Gilliam, Moylan, Popple, Shales , Walters and Mayor Van De Voorde. Nays: None. Quarterly_ Report on outstanding water accounts . 1987 Capital Outlay Projects Report Consideration of a request for the City Council support for the Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy. The Council reviewed a request from Gretchen T. Wirtz for a resolution providing for the support of the subject institution. Councilwoman Moylan made a motion, seconded by Councilman Fox to send a letter to Mrs . Wirtz expressing this support , with a copy to be forwarded to the Governor and State Representatives . Yeas : Councilmen Fox, Gilliam, Moylan, Shales and Mayor Van De Voorde. Nays: Councilmen Popple and Walters. Miscellaneous Discussion The City Manager extended an invitation to the Council to attend a dinner held by the Aurora Moose Lodge honoring the Kane County Policeman of the Year. Detective Olson of the Elgin Police Department is a candidate for this award. The date and time for this event will be furnished to the Council. Councilman Walters stated he thought the City' s Comprehensive Plan needed to be updated in the area of the Randall Road Interchange and the Northeast quadrant of Elgin. Committee of the Whole Meeting October 14 , 1987 Page 16 The City Manager stated he hoped to bring material to the Council concerning the Comprehensive Plan in January. Adjournment Councilman Fox made a motion, seconded by Councilwoman Popple to adjourn the Committee of the Whole Meeting to go into Executive Session to discuss acquisition of property, litigation and personnel. Yeas : Councilmen Fox, Gilliam, Moylan, Popple, Shales ,Walters and Mayor Van De Voorde. Nays: None. The meeting adjourned at 9 :40 p.m. Marie Yearman, City Clerk I �_ z