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CITY OF MONMOUTH
COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES
MARCH 3, 2008
I. CALL TO ORDER & PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE
Mayor Rod Davies called the meeting to order in the Council Chambers at City Hall, 100 East Broadway, Monmouth, Illinois at 7:00 p.m. and led the audience in the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag.
II. ROLL CALL
Present: Aldermen Dan Burgland, Dave Rutledge, Dave Giles, Bob Wells, Dan Heatherly, and Rod Themanson Absent: Alderman Giles and Alderwoman Vicki McNamara
Also Present: Mayor Rod Davies, City Clerk Susan S. Trevor, City Administrator Eric Hanson, City Attorney Marcum Spears, Fire Chief Jim Conard, Police Chief Brad Zeigler, EMC Public Works Director Andy Jackson, Cemetery/Zoning Administrator Chuck Talley, and members of the Press.
III. SWEARING IN OF PROMOTED MPD OFFICERS
City Clerk Susan Trevor swore in Derrick Johnston as Lieutenant and Brian Hall as Sergeantin the Monmouth Police Department.
IV. APPROVAL OF MINUTES
Due to absence of minutes, approval was postponed until the March 17 th meeting.
V. PRESENTATION TO THE COUNCIL
A. Old Business
There was none to present.
B. New Business
1. Release/Non-Release of Executive Session Minutes
City Attorney Spears explained that every six months Executive Session minutes need to be reviewed for approval to be released or not to be released. City Clerk Trevor, City Administrator Hanson and City Attorney Spears reviewed the last six months Executive Session minutes and determined that the minutes for the 8/20/07, 9/4/07, 9/17/07, 11/19/07, 12/3/07, and 2/4/08 could not be released due to ongoing negotiations; however, the minutes of 10/1/07 can be released. It was moved by Alderman Giles and seconded by Alderman Themanson to approve the release of the 10/1/07 minutes and non-release of the 8/20/07, 9/4/07, 9/17/07, 11/19/07, 12/3/07, and 2/4/08 Executive Session Minutes. AYE: Aldermen Rutledge, Giles, Wells, Heatherly, Themanson, and Burgland ABSENT: Alderman Smith and Alderwoman McNamara NAY: none MOTION CARRIED.
2. Approval of TIF Board Recommendations
Mayor Davies explained that the TIF Board met and made a unanimous recommendation to approve the use of $30,000 of TIF funds to fund the Buxton Retail Study and in conjunction with that, Monmouth College also committed $20,000 towards that study. It was moved by Alderman Heatherly and seconded by Alderman Rutledge to approve the TIF Board recommendation to fund the Buxton Retail Study. AYE: Aldermen Giles, Wells, and Heatherly, and Rutledge ABSENT: Alderman Smith and Alderwoman McNamara NAY: Aldermen Burgland and Themanson MOTION CARRIED.
3. Approval of the 2008 Yard Waste Contract
It was moved by Alderman Themanson and seconded by Alderman Rutledge to approve the 2008 Yard Waste Contract that will run from March 1, 2008 through November 30, 2008 with Maple City Recycling. AYE: Aldermen Wells, Heatherly, Themanson, Burgland, Rutledge, and Giles ABSENT: Alderman Smith and Alderwoman McNamara NAY: none MOTION CARRIED.
4. Report on Illinois Governor's Tourism Conference – City Clerk Susan Trevor and Executive Administrative Assistant Jan Helms
City Clerk Trevor reported on the sessions that she attended while at the 2008 Illinois Governor's Conference in Springfield, Illinois on February 14 th and 15 th. The theme of the conference was "Making News" in the tourism industry. The main points that Clerk Trevor gained from these sessions are:
1) "Backyard Travel" or close-to-home destinations are current trends due to fuel costs and economic issues.
2) Tourism is an integral part of Economic Development.
3) COLLABORATION within regions and communities is extremely important for small communities to attract visitors.
4) Trends such as "Go Green", Kid oriented attractions, Baby Boomers with discretionary income, and "Togetherness" or people's desire to stay connected, need to be studied and addressed in order to be able to attract visitors to our area.
5) "Conversational Marketing" is one trend that is becoming one of the best ways to "get the word out" and this is what "Blogs" can be used for.
Monmouth does have destinations like Monsanto, Monmouth College and could even partner with Galesburg to add the Kids Discovery Museum to a "Kids Discovery Package" . We all ready have several successful events – Cruise Night in August and the Western Stoneware Pottery Meet in June – to bring large numbers of people to the Monmouth area. All of the sessions emphasized the importance of the internet and the utilization of blogs. Jan Helms will expand on this subject with reference to the sessions that she attended while at the conference.
Executive Administrative Assistant Jan Helms continued the report on the 2008 Governor's Tourism Conference. She said that she attended sessions that were given by computer marketing professionals where the following points were emphasized:
1) On-line advertising is the most measurable form of advertising.
2) 58% of vacation planning is done by interacting with websites.
3) Social media – BLOGS – or on-line discussion groups are becoming extremely important.
4) A website needs to be personalized and interactive along with being "user friendly" with links that are relevant to the site.
Another session that Jan reported on had to do with how to maximize our website with such tips as:
1) Have a consumer and Search Engine friendly site.
2) Make a strong 1 st impression as generally a site has only 3 seconds to attract attention or the consumer will move on.
3) Site needs to also be quick to download and easy to read with "keyword" rich content.
The last session Jan attended focused on "blogs" or "social media discussion". "Blogging is the new tool for people to find out about almost any topic, vacation spot, etc. Blogs are cheap easy ways to allow people to share what they know. Blogs can also be used to drive traffic to a website.
In conclusion, Jan expressed her opinion that our goal of improving our City Website is a key to beginning the process. In addition, tourism for this area needs to be developed and there are a number of issues to be addressed as to how this will be accomplished. Currently a meeting is being organized to begin addressing some of these issues and questions.
VI. COMMITTEE REPORTS
A. Public Works – Acting Chairman Rod Themanson
No report.
B. Public Safety – Chairman Dan Burgland
No report.
C. Community Development – Chairman Dave Giles
1. Demolition Update – Zoning Administrator Chuck Talley
Mr. Talley updated the Council that the residences located at 915 South 5 th and 1133 South 9 th will be down by March 21 st.
D. Finance/Audit – Chairman Dan Heatherly
1. Approval of Bills
It was moved by Alderman Giles and seconded by Alderman Themanson to approve the bills as presented. AYE: Aldermen Wells, Heatherly, Themanson, Burgland, Rutledge, and Giles ABSENT: Alderman Smith and Alderwoman McNamara NAY: none MOTION CARRIED.
VII. CITY ADMINISTRATOR HANSON
A. Updates
1. PDF
Administrator Hanson informed the Council that the City has ordered software to have the capability to e-mail information for Council packets in PDF form to the Council members if they desire to receive their packets by e-mail. It will save the City staff time and money.
2. Monmouth College Contribution for Buxton Study
Administrator Hanson publicly thanked Monmouth College for contributing $20,000 to the Buxton Retail Study and also informed the Council that there may be several other groups that may be contributing towards the study as well.
3. Budget Timeline
There will be a Budget work session at 6:00 p.m. prior to the March 17 th Council meeting according to Administrator Hanson. He also related that in his opinion the biggest budget hurdles the City has to overcome are the unfunded pension obligations and the increased health insurance premiums that are seriously impacting the General Fund. Administrator Hanson told the Council that he intended to schedule several work sessions and post the budget by the 1 st of April with passage of the budget at the April 21 st meeting.
4. Pool Management Update
Administrator Hanson related to the Council that several meetings had taken place with regards to the 2008 management of the municipal pool and that he felt that a solution had been found that would save the City money and headaches. The proposal will be presented by Alderman Giles at the next Council meeting.
5. Web Site Proposal
According to Administrator Hanson, the City has received the preliminary numbers on what it will take to do a comprehensive overview of the new web site including graphics, ability of citizens to pay bills on-line, and directory assistance to just name a few. This will definitely give better information with regards to our City as sometimes as residents we take things that are here for granted. He also expects that when the City gets the results of the Buxton Retail Study that we will be surprised at how much money is being spent outside the City because we don't have all the tools necessary to capture these dollars. It is imperative to capture those dollars that are spent outside of our community as sales tax money is the one thing that the City can do to generate additional revenue which will help us to tackle those other projects that the City wants to undertake. The web site will certainly assist the City with promoting their assets and getting the information to those people who would take advantage of what the Monmouth area has to offer. The initial cost for creating this new web site is around $2,500 to $3,000. One objective that City is accomplishing with the new web site is the ability to be able to internally add updates to calendars as well as other information on the web site.
VIII. ORDINANCES
A. 1 st Reading
1. 08-006 – Amending Schedule of Chapter 77, Prohibited Parking", South Sunnylane and North Side of West 3 rd, 1000 block
It was moved by Alderman Themanson and seconded by Alderman Wells to approve Ordinance 08-006 which prohibits parking on the south one half of the 300 block of South Sunnylane and the west one half of the 1000 block along the north side of West 3 rd Avenue. AYE: Aldermen Heatherly, Themanson, Burgland, Rutledge, Giles, and Wells ABSENT: Alderman Smith and Alderwoman McNamara NAY: none MOTION CARRIED.
2. 08-007 – Amending Schedule II of Chapter 76, Entitled "Traffic Schedules"
It was moved by Alderman Burgland and seconded by Alderman Themanson to approve Ordinance 08-007 which amends the speed limit to 20 m.p.h. on West 2 nd Avenue between the 100 and 500 blocks. AYE: Aldermen Heatherly, Themanson, Burgland, Rutledge, Giles, and Wells ABSENT: Alderwoman McNamara and Alderman Smith NAY: none MOTION CARRIED.
IX. OTHER BUSINESS
Nothing to Consider
X. EXECUTIVE SESSION
It was moved by Alderman Heatherly and seconded by Alderman Themanson for the Council to go into Executive Session at 7:34 p.m. to consider the possible sale of real estate. AYE: Aldermen Themanson, Burgland, Rutledge, Giles, Wells, and Heatherly ABSENT: Alderman Smith and Alderwoman McNamara NAY: none MOTION CARRIED.
XI. RETURN TO REGULAR SESSION
It was moved by Alderman Burgland and seconded by Alderman Rutledge to return to Regular Session at 7:42 p.m. AYE: Aldermen Burgland, Rutledge, Giles, Wells, and Heatherly ABSENT: Alderwoman McNamara and Alderman Smith NAY: Alderman Themanson MOTION CARRIED.
1. Bid Acceptance
It was moved by Alderman Wells and seconded by Alderman Themanson to accept the Mid-Air Properties' $225,000 bid for the Western Stoneware Property that was opened on January 22, 2008. AYE: Aldermen Rutledge, Giles, Wells, Heatherly, Themanson, and Burgland ABSENT: Alderman Smith and Alderwoman McNamara NAY: none MOTION CARRIED.
2. Authorization of Sale of Western Stoneware Property
It was moved by Alderman Wells and seconded by Alderman Rutledge to direct City Attorney Spears to draw an ordinance authorizing the City to proceed with the sale of the Western Stoneware Property. AYE: Aldermen Giles, Wells, Heatherly, Themanson, Burgland, and Rutledge ABSENT: Alderwoman McNamara and Alderman Smith NAY: none MOTION CARRIED.
XII. ADJOURNMENT
It was moved by Alderman Heatherly and seconded by Alderman Wells to adjourn the meeting at 7:45 p.m. MOTION CARRIED by unanimous voice vote with the exception of Alderman Smith and Alderwoman McNamara, who were absent.
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