MINUTES
City Council Meeting
City of Carmi
October 21st, 2014
The Carmi City Council met Tuesday, October 21, 2014 at 7:00 p.m. in the Council Room of the Municipal Building, 225 East Main Street, Carmi, Illinois.
Prior to opening the council meeting, Mayor Pollard asked Alderman Winkleman to give the invocation. The prayer was followed by the Pledge of Allegiance.
Mayor Pollard presided with the following Aldermen present: Steve Winkleman, Mark W. Blake, Kenny Carter, Keith Davis, Sheila Jo Headlee, Doug Hays, Jack Lamont and Mike Knight.
Minutes for the October 7th, 2014 council meeting were presented. Motion made by Alderman Hays and seconded by Alderman Blake to approve the minutes as presented. The motion carried on roll call by each Alderman answering “yes.”
Financial Reports for September 2014 were presented. Motion made by Alderman Headlee and seconded by Alderman Winkleman to approve the financial reports as presented. The motion carried on roll call by each Alderman answering “yes.”
October 2014 Vendor Invoices were presented. Motion made by Alderman Winkleman and seconded by Alderman Carter to approve the vendor invoices as presented. The motion carried on roll call by each Alderman answering “yes.”
Mayor Pollard presented Mrs. Holly Healy, the Executive Director for Carmi Chamber of Commerce, to seek permission to stage It’s A White County Christmas parade on Saturday, November 29, 2014 and to utilize a portion of Main Cross Street for the Santa House and Christmas Train through the holiday season. She thanked the city for their sponsorship of It’s A White County Christmas and added that it is coming along well. She informed the council that she talked to Chief Carter earlier in the year and also received permission from First Baptist Church to do the parade line-up there. She added that the parade route will stay the same as last year, if approved, and will take place on November 29th at 1:00 p.m. with the tree lighting to follow. She also asked the council to approve the closing of South Main Street from Main Street to the alley from November 17th, 2014 to January 9th, 2015 (depending on weather) for placement of the Santa House and Christmas Train. She commented that the Santa House has received some upgrades this year with some new paint and flooring. Motion made by Alderman Winkleman and seconded by Alderman Lamont to approve the parade route and time for It’s A White County Christmas as presented. The motion carried on roll call by each Alderman answering “yes.” Another motion was made by Alderman Lamont and seconded by Alderman Winkleman to approve the road closure for the Santa House and Christmas Train from November 17th, 2014 to January 9th, 2015 as presented. The motion carried on roll call by each Alderman answering “yes.” Mrs. Healy then stated that the bicentennial tree committee has sold forty seven (47) trees out of the two hundred (200). She added that all of the high school ornaments have been donated by various groups. She encouraged the community to buy the trees. Mrs. Healy then commented on the Halloween activities coming up this weekend at Burrell’s Woods. Alderman Headlee stated that everyone who has reserved camp sites is very excited about the activities.
Mayor Pollard asked the council to consider the approval of a resolution to authorize Mayor Pollard to act as the designated agent for Illinois Commerce Commission (ICC) stipulated agreement and an assuming partial financial responsibility for Motor Fuel Tax (MFT) Burrell Street Project. He explained that it is simply a hoop you have to jump through in order to get the paperwork signed to get the project moving. Motion made by Alderman Hays and seconded by Alderman Knight to approve the resolution as presented. The motion carried on roll call by each Alderman answering “yes.”
Mayor Pollard then presented Mr. David Coston, City Electrical Engineer, to give an update on the implementation of the SCADA system and other upgrades to the power system. Additionally, he is seeking approval to implement the IMEA incentive program. Mr. Coston began with the new SCADA System progress updates. He stated that the substation at the power plant is on line and is to be turned on in a week or so. The temporary monitoring and control has been completed at the Possum Substation and is operating on new radio telemetry system. The Sixth Street Substation will need a taller antenna pole. They are getting options on the prices now. They are clearing out brush around the Fairgrounds Substation so that new poles and isolation switches can be installed which will allow the substation to be shut down and the SCADA connections can be made. This will also make the substation accessible from the Rice Motor Company parking lot. Bradshaw Substation will not have temporary controls. They will begin work on permanent controls soon at that substation. Thursday October 23rd the power plant will be online so that they can fix substations. They will start at 8:00 a.m. and hope to be done early afternoon but could be working on it all day. Mr. Coston added that he does not except any power outages. New monitors are being put in place along with a new PC and some controls at the power plant. The welding shop has completed work on one substation SCADA building and the second building is under construction. Mr. Coston then moved on to streetlights. He said that the streetlight survey is one hundred percent (100%) completed. Most of the streetlights are being replaced with LED units as the existing ones fail. The high school streetlights are to be upgraded to LED units shortly and another light pole will be installed by the gymnasium. Mr. Coston discussed next upcoming work. He said that they lost control of a transformer at the power plant a couple of weeks ago and there is a new transformer on order. They ordered four (4) transformers giving them two (2) extras. Oil Field Electric Company will replacing the line switch at the Bradshaw Substation this week. Ameren will also repair the C/T’s in the sub. Safety upgrades will be taking place on the Sixth Street Substation sometime this fall. The materials are on hand for this project. PCI out of Evansville conducted a substation inspection and a summary report is expected by November 1st. Also, the power plant and substation annual thermal study date is to be determined. Mr. Coston gave an IMEA update next. He attended an annual meeting last weekend. Ameren has refunded six point five million dollars ($6.5) in overcharges to IMEA members to be divided up proportionately based on power purchase. He listened to leaders of Trimble County and Prairie State power plants discuss their facilities which are among the cleanest in the nation for coal plants. Carmi is in good shape with the EPA with everything except with Co2 emissions. Mr. Coston finally talked about implementing the IMEA Efficiency Program. The first portion on this program is the re-cycle my Fridge program where you get fifty dollars ($50) for every working refrigerator or freezer. The total funds available are twenty seven thousand five hundred and eight dollars ($27,508) to use between now and April 30th, 2015. He recommended it to be split between the public sector, the commercial/industrial sector, and the residential sector. He recommended accepting applications from commercial/industrial customers starting immediately with no funds to be awarded for projects started before application approval. Mr. Coston added that an opportunity exists for municipalities to aggregate solar power installations, such as on the roofs of customer facilities, with newly allocated state funds, thirty million dollars ($30,000,000), per Director. Motion was made by Alderman Knight and seconded by Alderman Davis to accept the IMEA Incentive Program and accepting commercial applications as presented. The motion carried on roll call by each Alderman answering “yes.”
Reports and/or updates from Mayor Pollard
Mayor Pollard thanked all of the city employees for all of their hard work in setting up and cleaning up after Corn Day. He also wanted to remind everyone about the Halloween events scheduled this weekend at Burrell’s Woods. He stated that there is also a fly in scheduled for this Saturday at the airport from 1:00 to 4:00 p.m., the public is invited.
Mayor Pollard informed the council that the family that was donating the property for the amphitheater has backed out of donating the property, but they are still moving forward with the project by relocating it somewhere else within the park. They have a couple of sites in mind on the lower area of the park with the removal of one (1) or two (2) trees possibly. The city has also purchased ten (10) trees from the Chamber of Commerce Bicentennial fund raiser and they will be placed at Burrell’s Woods.
Mayor Pollard still needs some ideas on whether or not the city wants to have a recycling day. There are some options with the first one being Candi Electronics out of Indiana which would cost thirty (30) cents per pound for all old tube type TV’s and computer monitors. The other option is Baby Huey’s Recycling out of Mattoon. This company charges five dollars ($5) to drop a monitor or TV off. He stated that they are wanting to schedule something on a Saturday in November and that the council needs to give him feedback within the next couple of weeks.
Mayor Pollard also let the council know that the MFT projects are being started.
Reports from Standing Committees
Alderman Knight stated that he met with CSRL and they will be doing some upgrades at Bradshaw Park.
Alderman Lamont informed the council that they need a revolving loan up to three hundred and fifty thousand dollars ($350,000) for a fire truck that would haul equipment. Chief Hite is getting quotes for the truck. The city would finance it with a low interest loan.
Alderman Headlee told the council that she received a thank you letter from Eli Degenhardt for the city letting him put up a sign and trash can at Maple Ridge Cemetery.
Business or Comments from Visitors
Citizen Richard Cook asked about what was going on at the end of Fairview Drive. Mayor Pollard answered that the Keiffer Brothers put in a water line there.
Motion made by Alderman Lamont and seconded by Alderman Carter to go into closed session for the purpose of discussing personnel and property issues with action to follow. The motion carried on roll call by each alderman answering “yes.”
At 7: 52 p.m. the council went into closed session.
Motion was made by Alderman Knight and seconded by Alderman Winkleman to return to open session. The motion carried on roll call by each alderman answering “yes.”
Mayor Pollard stated that while in closed session the council interviewed Kelly Catlin and Curt Hale to fill the position at the Parks Department. Motion was made by Alderman Knight and seconded by Alderman Davis to move Kelly Catlin to the Parks Department as an operator. The motion carried on roll call by each Alderman answering “yes.”
Motion was made by Alderman Headlee and seconded by Alderman Lamont to adjourn. The motion carried on roll call by each Alderman answering “yes.”
At 8:40 p.m. the council adjourned.
Brian K. Allen, City Clerk
Jeff Pollard, Mayor
