CITY OF WASHINGTON
WASHINGTON, ILLINOIS
CITY COUNCIL MEETING
MONDAY, MARCH 1, 2010 -
6:30 P.M.
LIBRARY MEETING ROOM
AGENDA
CALL TO ORDER
ROLL CALL
PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE
REVIEW AGENDA - ADDITIONS OR DELETIONS (DISCUSSION ITEMS ONLY)
CONSENT AGENDA
ANNOUNCEMENTS/AWARDS/PRESENTATIONS/RECOGNITIONS
AUDIENCE COMMENTS
STANDING COMMITTEES
FINANCE & PERSONNEL – NEWMAN, CHAIRMAN
PUBLIC SAFETY – DINGLEDINE,
CHAIRMAN
PUBLIC SERVICES – GEE,
CHAIRMAN
CITY ATTORNEY – KENNETH L. BLACK / DAVID BROWN
MAYOR – GARY W. MANIER
CITY ADMINISTRATOR - ROBERT MORRIS
STAFF REPORTS
ALDERMEN’S COMMENTS
EXECUTIVE SESSION - for the purpose of deliberations concerning the appointment, employment, compensation, discipline, performance or dismissal of specific employees of the public body, per 5 ILCS 120/2(c)(1) of the Illinois Open Meeting Act.
REGULAR SESSION
ADJOURNMENT
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
From:
Chief of Police James W. Kuchenbecker
Date: February 9th, 2010
Re: Proposed Ordinance to Amend
Penalty Provisions for Certain Offenses
Over the past few years, the City has adopted the use of the Notice of Violation (N.O.V.) as a method by which certain ordinance violations (curfew, truancy, and certain tobacco offenses) could be enforced without requiring the violators to appear in court. The thought was that those offenses related primarily to individuals likely to be enrolled in school, and requiring them to miss school to appear in court to answer the charges seemed counter-productive. In addition, mandatory court appearances took up additional officer time, City Attorney time, and cost the offender’s court costs regularly in excess of $100 (which was sometimes greater than the fine). When we originally implemented the N.O.V. program, it was felt that we could still enforce the specified ordinances without causing such an imposition on the individuals (and often their parents) to appear in court, miss work and/or school, and pay in excess of $100 in court costs for certain offenses. After the original implementation of the N.O.V. program, the City expanded its use to certain offense relating to animals, such as dogs running at large.
The N.O.V. works as follows: If a Police Officer determines that a person has violated a City ordinance for which issuance of an N.O.V. is an option, the Officer may issue the violator an N.O.V. instead of a Notice to Appear in court. The violator may then elect to pay the specified fine at City Hall or the Police Department within a prescribed period of time. If the person pays the fine on a timely basis, no further charges are filed. If the person fails to pay the fine on a timely basis, the Officer then issues the violator a Notice to Appear, which in turns requires the violator to appear in court. Therefore, any violator who wishes to appear in court and contest the charges still has that opportunity. However, a person who doesn’t want to contest the charge(s) can pay the fine for the offense without having to go to court and without having to pay court costs.
The City’s implementation and administration of the Notice of Violation program seems to have gone very well to date. In fact, it has gone well enough that I believe it is fair to say it that the City should consider expanding the list of ordinances which could be enforced by use of the N.O.V.’s We discussed a number of different commonly occurring offenses which we felt might be of such a nature that use of a Notice of Violation might be warranted, and came up with the following list:
Littering
in Public Places (Code §94.02)
Throwing Litter from Vehicles (Code §94.04)
Soliciting Without a Permit (Code §115.20)
Injuring or Defacing Property (Code §130.01)
Trespass to Land (Code §130.05)
Disorderly Conduct (Code §131.01)
Throwing Missiles (Code §131.09)
Loitering (Code §131.10)
Assault (Code §132.10)
Battery (Code §132.02)
Theft (Code §132.04)
Vandalism (Code §132.05), and
Possession and Use of Tobacco by Minor (Code §132.07C)
Certain commonly occurring offenses, namely drug and alcohol related offenses would not be appropriate for N.O.V.’s. The enclosed draft ordinance amends the various penalty provisions which apply to the above referenced offenses.
Please note, while reviewing the above ordinances and the correspondence penalty provisions, we discovered two (2) of the penalty provisions (Code §94.99 and §130.99) were outdated, in that they authorized a maximum fine of only $500, as opposed to the presently allowable maximum fine of $750. Therefore, for those code provisions, I am recommending not only adding the N.O.V. language, but also amending the general penalty provision to increase the maximum fine to $750.
The expanded list of ordinances for which NOVs could be used would provide another enforcement tool available to the Police Officers to address a wide variety of circumstances they face on a regular basis. As in the past, each Officer would be required to exercise his or her judgment and discretion as to the most appropriate method of addressing a violation or enforcing the law. Officers are authorized to take actions ranging from giving a simple warning to making an arrest. Many offenses can be charged either as a City ordinance violation or as a State criminal code violation. While a warning would be the lowest level of enforcement, an N.O.V. would be viewed as the next lowest available option for an Officer. In general, the following hierarchy of enforcement would generally be available:
Lowest level of enforcement: Warning
Notice of Violation
Second Chance Program
Notice to Appear – ordinance violationHighest level of enforcement: Notice to Appear – state criminal code violation
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From:
Jon R. Oliphant, Planning & Development Director
Subject: Final Plat – Hunter’s Glen
Section Five
Date: February 23, 2010
Attached is a final plat and checklist for Hunter’s Glen Section Five. Tony Berry proposes the subdivision of 5.056 acres into 11 single-family residential lots. The site is located on Austin Avenue just north of U.S. Route 24 and east of North Cummings Lane. The site is zoned R-1.
The final plat substantially conforms to the preliminary plat and meets the requirements stated within our Subdivision Code.
The proposal remains consistent with the recommendation for the site in the Comprehensive Plan. Given the above findings, staff supports approval of the final plat for Hunter’s Glen Section Five, subject to the following conditions:
This item is scheduled for review and action by the City Council at their meeting on March 1, 2010.
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From:
Bob Morris
Subject: Electrical Energy Bids
Date: February 26, 2010
The current market for electrical energy appears favorable for locking in rates on and after December 2010, the end of our current contract term. Accordingly, we have solicited proposals from a number of retail electric energy suppliers. We will be receiving bids at 11:00 am on Monday, March 1st and will report the results at the City Council meeting.
If the pricing appears favorable, we will be seeking City Council authorization to enter into a purchase contract.
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From:
Kenneth B. Newman, City Engineer
Date: February 25, 2010
Subject: Pay Request #3 – STP #2, Phase 1
Improvements
On October 5, 2009 the City Council approved the award of a contract for construction of the phase 1 improvements to sewage treatment plant #2 to River City Construction, LLC of East Peoria, IL for an amount of $6,654,300.00. The contract was fully executed and notice to proceed was given on October 22, 2009. We are now in receipt of payment application #2 from the Contractor for the amount of $528,669.90.
This pay application is for the period ending February 25, 2010. Since the previous pay request, about 90% of the concrete walls have been formed and poured for the screen building. All of the outer walls of the oxidation ditch have been formed and poured. About 80% of the excavation for clarifier #2 has been completed. The piping for the raw sewage line to the new screen building and for the waste sludge line and sludge bed drain line has been installed. In addition, work has continued on installing electric conduits in the control building. Based on the schedule of values, the value of completed work and stored materials stands at $1,198,492.00. The payment of $528,669.90 represents the total value of work minus previous payments of $549,972.90 and retainage of $119,849.20.
Based on the above, it is staff’s recommendation that the City Council approve making payment in the amount of $528,669.90 to River City Construction, LLC.
This matter has been included on the consent agenda for review and consideration at the City Council meeting of March 1, 2010.
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From:
Kenneth B. Newman, City Engineer
Date: February 23, 2010
Subject: Purchase Authorization –
Two-way Valve & Vault Materials
Currently, the water distribution systems from our two water treatment plants are interconnected at seven locations. At five of these points, we have to keep the main line valves closed so we will not have an uncontrolled amount of water moving from system 2, which has a greater relative pressure, to system 1. We have one inch bypass lines at each of these locations which allow water to flow from system 2 to system 1 at a continuous rate of about 40 gpm to maintain water quality at each dead end. At the Hillcrest booster station, we have installed a 4" pressure reducing valve that allows larger volumes of water to move from system 2 to system 1 should demand on system 1 increase and the pressure drops. With the completion of Kern Road this past year, an 8" water main was also extended which interconnected the two systems at the corner of Kern and Hillcrest. A combination pressure reducing/return flow valve was installed at this point, which for the first time allows us to automatically feed water in both directions between systems. Staff is now proposing to install a second combination pressure reducing/return flow valve on the existing 8 inch water main on Westminster Drive just east of Dallas Road to further increase the reliability of our water distribution system.
Application for an Illinois EPA construction permit for the valve installation was made and the permit was issued in December 2009. We are planning to perform construction in-house using City personnel. The materials needed for the installation include a valve vault, the two way valve, isolation gate valves, an additional line gate valve and various fittings. Quotes have been obtained for purchasing these materials from local suppliers. The cost of all the valves and fittings as quoted by H.D. Supply Waterworks will be $8,627.10. The cost of the valve vault quoted by Leman Precast is $2,500.00.
Staff requests City Council’s approval to proceed with this project and authorization to purchase the required materials as identified above.
This matter has been included on the City Council’s March 1, 2010 meeting agenda for consideration and action.
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