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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMarch 23, 1988 COW Committee of the Whole Meeting March 23 , 1988 The meeting was called to order at 6 :00 p.m. , by Mayor Van De Voorde. Members present : Councilmen Fox, Gilliam, Moylan, Shales , Walters and Mayor Van De Voorde. Absent : Councilwoman Popple. Joint Meeting with the Elgin Housing Authority Board Council was furnished with a summary of the joint staff meetings between the Housing Authority and the City. The report provided a current status on public housing improvements , tenant selection policies , tenant evictions , building permits , inspections , parking, security, Section 8 program, public housing cleanup, lease agreement and annual report . Charles Ohlsen, Executive Director of the EHA, Patricia Hill, and Everett Woods , Commissioners of the EHA Board were present . Mayor Van De Voorde stated he thought this Board was off to a good beginning, and he would like to see the quarterly meetings with staff and the Commissioners continued. Councilman Walters stated he would concur with the Mayor' s statement that the staff should continue to be involved in this area. Councilman Walters further stated it was his understanding there were problems in the area of cleanup and he wondered if the leases have been amended to cover this. Mr. Ohlsen stated the leases have been amended and are in the process of being submitted to HUD for approval. Councilman Walters asked if perspective tenants were being processed through the Police Department . Mr. Ohlsen stated yes , they were doing this . Councilman Gilliam stated the Board has been meeting twice a month. They have identified many of the problems and have set long and short range programs covering improvements. The Mayor and Council thanked the Board Members for coming down to the meeting, and assured them of the Council' s continued support . Request by the Elgin Police and Fire Commission to attend a training seminar. The Council reviewed a request to allow the three new members of this Commission attend the Phase I Training Seminar Committee of the Whole Meeting March 23 , 1988 Page 2 sponsored by the Illinois Fire and Police Commissioners Association. Councilwoman Shales made a motion, seconded by Councilman Walters to approve this request . Yeas: Councilmen Fox, Gilliam, Moylan, Shales , Walters and Mayor Van De Voorde. Nays: None. Consideration of a request for a change in the Liquor License Ordinance from Elgin Community College. The current liquor license allocations for sale on church or school premises restricts the license to two periods in a calendar year, with each period no longer than 3 days. The Culinary School of Elgin Community College has initiated a new series called the Visiting Chefs Series. This event brings to the campus a noted Chicagoland chef for a day of interaction with the students. The activities culminate with a recognition dinner for the Chef, prepared and served by the students , to the public. The College is requesting a change in the Ordinance to permit six one day periods in a calendar year. Councilman Gilliam made a motion, seconded by Councilman Walters to approve this request . Yeas: Councilmen Fox, Gilliam, Moylan, Shales , Walters and Mayor Van De Voorde. Nays: None. i Consideration of legal opinion requested regarding age restrictions on the dispensing of liquor. Pursuant to Councilman Fox' s request the Legal staff reviewed the authority of the City to regulate or prohibit the dispensing of alcoholic liquor by a minor. Based upon this review, the Legal Staff concludes that it is within the authority of the Council to pass an ordinance which would prohibit such activities . Attorney Blondin stated upon further review, both the servers and dispensers could be limited to age 21. Attorney Kevin McCarthy, representing a portion of liquor license holders , stated he had canvassed his clients, who have no objection to raising the age to 21. A majority of the Council felt at this time the age of the dispensers should be raised to 21. Councilwoman Moylan made a motion, seconded by Councilman Walters to amend the code restricting the age of dispeners to 21. Yeas : Councilmen Fox, Gilliam, Moylan, Shales, Walters and Mayor Van De Voorde. i Committee of the Whole Meeting March 23, 1988 Page 3 Consideration of an ordinance amendment regarding the storage of junk and waste. The Bureau of Inspection Services encounters large numbers of unlicensed vehicles stored on private property. Although thus far the local court judges have considered such vehicles as inoperable and included them under the definition of junk, the amendment to specifically include unlicensed motor vehicles will aid the Bureau of Inspection in the enforcement process. Councilman Walters made a motion, seconded by Councilman Fox to approve the requested ordinance amendment . Yeas : Councilmen Fox, Gilliam, Moylan, Shales , Walters and Mayor Van De Voorde. Nays: None. Consideration of a policy recommendation from the Greater Downtown Elgin Commission for use of the vertical street banner installations. Council reviewed the following recommendations: 1. That community organizations be allowed usage of the vertical banner brackets in the downtown area. 2 . That community groups requesting use of vertical banner brackets must request at least one week of display, but no more than one month of display. 3 . That each organization desiring to use the vertical banner brackets provide a certificate of insurance and hire a licensed and bonded company to install and remove the banners. If City banners are in place the organization would be responsible for the removal and re-installation of the City' s vertical banners . 4 . That the City always have first priority for the use of vertical banner brackets. 5 . That banners be the same size as the City banners ( 24"x72" ) and made of the same material (polyester and cotton blend) or a lighter weight fabric. Heavier weight fabric would not be allowed. 6 . That the Public Works Director schedule and approve vertical banner requests from other organizations. Only civic and commemorative requests would be considered. Each design and banner slogan would have to accompany each request for vertical banners. If an organization was denied use of the vertical banner brackets , the organization could appeal the decision to the Council. Committee of the Whole Meeting March 23 , 1988 Page 4 Councilwoman Moylan made a motion, seconded by Councilwoman Shales to approve these recommendations . Yeas : Councilmen Fox, Gilliam, Moylan, Shales , Walters and Mayor Van De Voorde. Nays: None. Consideration of a recommendation regarding concessionaire services at the softball complex from PARC. Councilman Gilliam made a motion, seconded by Councilman Walters to approve the proposal from The Kernal, Yeas : Councilmen Fox, Gilliam, Moylan, Shales , Walters and Mayor Van De Voorde. Nays: None. Consideration of a recommendation for sole source purchase of a defibrillator for the Fire Department . Councilman Gilliam made a motion, seconded by Councilman Walters to award a contract for the purchase of 2 Lifepak 5 Defibrillator/ECG Monitor Systems to Physio Control Corporation for a total amount of $14 ,450. Yeas: Councilen Fox, Gilliam, Moylan, Shales, Walters and Mayor Van De Voorde. Nays : None. Consideration of a recommendation for participation in a fire seminar to be held by Elgin Community College. The Bureau of Inspection Services would like to host a one-day seminar on automatic sprinkler systems. Cost of the program to the City is dependent upon the number of respondents from outside departments. The cost of the seminar is allocated and would be funded by the Fire Department Training Budget . Councilman Walters made a motion, seconded by Councilwoman Moylan to approve this recommendation. Yeas : Councilmen Fox, Gilliam, Moylan, Shales, Walters and Mayor Van De Voorde. Nays: None. Consideration of the status of the Police School Liaison Program. The City Manager advised the Council the U-46 cost for this program was estimated at about $32 , 880 for the school year 1987-88. The City has been notified that U-46 will be making budget cuts, including reductions in personnel for the 1988-89 school year. They have determined that , based on current funding levels , this program cannot be funded. City staff is not ready to evaluate the program at this time. Staff will be doing this in May and early June at the end of the first year. Staff is not prepared to make any recommendations on the program until performance has Committee of the Whole Meeting March 23 , 1988 Page 5 been evaluated. In addition the City is not in a position to evaluate its financial status this early in the budget year. Councilwoman Moylan made a motion, seconded by Councilman Fox to table further evaluation of this program until July. Yeas : Councilmen Fox, Moylan, Shales , Walters and Mayor Van De Voorde. Nays: None. Abstain: Councilman Gilliam. Consideration of a request that the payment for the Woolworth Building be made monthly, with interest , over the next two years. Councilman Gilliam made a motion, seconded by Councilwoman Shales to direct staff to prepare an agreement in accordance with the terms of Mr. Halsey' s proposal. Yeas: Councilmen Fox, Gilliam, Moylan, Shales , Walters and Mayor Van De Voorde. Nays: None. III Capital projects status report for the month of February, 1988. The City Manager provided Council with a status report of the various City capital projects . Consideration of agreement to abandon the National Street commuter station parking lot and replace Pat MacAtee, Corporate Manager with Metra: We are here tonight to discuss the National Street yard renovations , and may we say that we feel this is a joint effort with the City of Elgin. About two years ago Mayor Verbic contacted us , and the Northwest Transit District as well and began to discuss the beautification effort in Elgin , in ways that we might be able to assist the City to beautify our area from Chicago Street to points south of National Street . We were receptive to the plan, but we were very hard put to answer questions about moving the yard outside the City limits for very obvious financial considerations . Our Board is certainly very sensitive to the use of taxpayer dollars . When apprised of our difficulties the Mayor seemed to sense that the best option available to Elgin was to shift the yards south of National Street so that we could at least beautify an entire stretch, while renovating the station, reworking the parking situation and beautifying both the riverbank and the upper banks between State Street and our yard. This agreement was reviewed then in the Committee of the Whole and the general consensus was that we could move i Committee of the Whole Meeting March 23 , 1988 Page 6 forward, and at that point we did. So Metra then agreed to design a National Street yard, beautify the entire stretch, to rebuild the Elgin station, as well as validate the Big Timber Station , and make it a truly important part of the service with expanded train service and to coordinate with Pace shuttle bus systems for situations which might require an earlier and on time departure from downtown so there would be constant connection between the two stations. We are here tonight to ask you to approve our plan to allow us to continue the plan that we forged with the City of Elgin about a year ago, in which a great deal of time and money have been invested by Metra on behalf of the City. While it is true we are a railroad, we are also a public body. We have a board that takes it committments to the public very seriously, and particularly financial accountability and promises that we make. We are also an honorable railroad and we have attested to the improvements we envision. We assure this body that the City of Elgin staff will be well pleased with our desire and ability to make things happen, that we say we want to do. We have worked with over fifty communities in the last several years , all of them are happy and I think you will find that no negative circumstances have arisen from our involvement in those communities . Councilwoman Shales : I was one of the Council members who did agree with the concept when you were here before, but I thought the next thing that would happen, before any final approval was given, was that we would know exactly what the plans were. How many trains are involved, what is it going to look like, what it is going to sound like , what kind of impact is it going to have. Are you taking more land, is Imperial Catering still going to be located down there. I don't know anything about this project and that is why I feel very hesitant to make any decisions tonight , even though this is just to abandon National Street . Mr. McAtee: The Planning Departmment has our plans , they received these in the last week or so. We have those available for you here tonight . Vaughn Stoner, representing Metra, reviewed the Metra plans with Council. Councilwoman Moylan: I have heard a great deal of concern by neighborhood residents on both sides of the river in that area about the trains being turned off. Now you mention that you will be plugging them into a battery warmer, at zero, at 32 , all the time, where is the cut . Committee of the Whole Meeting March 23 , 1988 Page 7 Mr. Stoner: They are plugged in all the time. I think our first train goes out of there at 5 : 12 in the morning, they would start about four o 'clock in the morning. They are turned off at night . Councilman Fox: When will you have the environmental study findings . Mr. Stoner: We will have that on the 16th of April. Councilman Fox: You stated that you have dealt with fifty communities , in how many of those communities have you put a railyard. Mr. Stoner: In Joliet --- Councilman Fox: In the center of town, or on the outside of town. What we are doing here is moving a railyard 100 or 150 feet from residences . Mr. Stoner: In Joliet the area is mixed. On one side of the tracks it is residential and on the other side business . Mayor Van De Voorde: This site is beautified and you would set it up as an example, because Joliet is not too bad a trip. Mr. Stoner: It is an attractive yard yes . Mayor Van De Voorde: Alright I 'm going to Joliet . Mr. MacAtee you went into a little history on this project and I think consistently the Council has preferred to have the yard outside of Elgin, I think that has been very clear. Also, in re-constructing the meeting of a year ago, I recall some statements from your folks that they would beautify the area on Chicago Street , and there was some talk of buildings coming out down there, and that is not going to happen now. Mr. MacAtee: That is correct . That is something that has not been in our plans since I have been there, which is 9 years. . Councilman Walters: I am concerned about how many of these things you could do to make the area much more attractive, without having to necessarily abandon the National Street lot . In other words , can the area be cleaned up, can the trash be removed, can there be plantings made, without having to go to the abandonment of the National Street Station and put the yard down there. We see conditions that have been terrible down there as far as the viewing public has had for years. The current situation is a terrible location, right in the downtown of Elgin. That is not a good location for a yard. We have a public concern also. Committee of the Whole Meeting March 23 , 1988 Page 8 Mayor Van De Voorde: I would like to remind the audience that we are not having a public hearing here tonight to approve this yes or no. That public hearing will be held on April 18th, and if you have any imput you should really go there and state your opinions , but because the Metro people are here if you have any questions I would ask you to come forward at this time. Jane Olman, 472 N. Spring: Have you given any thought to the congestion of three or four hundred cars getting out of the downtown area when the commuter trains come in. Also, the proposed parking goes halfway down to National Street , commuters may not want to walk that far to get their car each night . Scott ---- , 453 Hendee: What will this do to National Street crossing, won' t that be blocked most of the time with trains going in and out . It is hard enough to get across the river as it is. Luis Padron, 107 Oak Street : How will this effect the traffic volumn on Oak and Hendee. Bob France, Huntley, Ill. , Chairman of the Northwest Suburban Mass Transit District : There have been studies made on thirteen different locations , one of the most promising was the location at Almora, and we had every indication that Elgin supported that yard. It was only after the study was made and there was some objection by a developer that the support was withdrawn. I have been on the board sine 1974 and all this time we have been looking for a viable place for a yard and in the meantime the costs have gone up 500% . Rick Ander, 157 Oak ST. : My biggest concern is the noise. Doretta Williams , 518 Ryerson: When do you do the washing of the engines , is that at night after they are brought into the yard. Mr. Stone: No, that is done at our Western Avenue facility. Ms. Williams: How much leakage of fuel from the engines will you have. Mr. Stoner: With the new engines there is no leakage. Ms. Williams: So none of this will be going into the grounds or the river. Mr. Stone: No. Committee of the Whole Meeting March 23 , 1988 Page 9 Councilman Gilliam: I have some questions which I hope will be answered at the April 18th hearing, and I also have concerns about the environmental impact on the neighborhood. My advise would be for Metra to sit down with the neighbors and answer their questions to where it would not be in a negative position as it is tonight . You may not change their minds , but it may resolve some of the fears that they have. I think that should be done before the 18th. Adjournment Councilman Walters made a motion, seconded by Councilman Gilliam to adjourn the Committee of the Whole Meeting to go into the Council Meeting. Yeas : Councilmen Fox, Gilliam, Moylan, Shales , Walters and Mayor Van De Voorde. Nays : None. 4v�'�-Gam/`-� Marie Yearman, City Clerk