Brenda Masters, CPA, presented the city’s annual audit.

The Gillespie City Council on Monday night approved a tax levy totaling $280,140, but it was the routine matter of approving meeting dates for 2016 that provoked the most heated discussion. The council also accepted the city’s annual audit and approved the purchase of workers compensation insurance and liability insurance on the dams impounding the new and old Gillespie lakes at a cost that is about 50 percent higher than last year.

The 2016 meeting schedule approved by the council calls for the council to meet at 6 p.m. on Monday, Jan. 11, Feb. 8, March 14, April 11, May 9, June 13,  July 11, Aug. 8, Sept. 12, Oct. 11, Nov. 14 and Dec. 12.  The Public Works, Safety and Finance committees will meet at 6 p.m., Monday, Jan. 25, Feb. 22, March 28, April 25, May 23, June 27, July 25, Aug. 22, Sept. 26, Oct. 24, Nov. 28 and Dec. 26. Additional Finance Committee meetings are set for 10 a.m., Friday, Jan. 8, Feb. 5, March 11, April 8, May 6, June 10, July 8, Aug. 5, Sept. 9, Oct. 7, Nov. 10 and Dec. 9.

[pullquote]I can’t just take off. I’m a supervisor, plus we have to have a certain number of cars on patrol in the county at all times.[/pullquote]Annual approval of the meeting schedule typically is a routine matter, but before the vote, Ward 3 Ald. Roger Diveley said there were a number of meetings on the schedule he could not attend because of work commitments. Diveley is employed as a Macoupin County Sheriff’s deputy and currently is working a 12-hour night shift from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. The work schedule will conflict with a significant number of the council’s scheduled meetings in 2016.

“I work, plain and simple,” Diveley said. “My schedule is set for 2016. I can’t just take off. I’m a supervisor, plus we have to have a certain number of cars on patrol in the county at all times.”

Diveley said he was aware of comments on social media about his frequent absences from council meetings, and he alleged some members of the council had talked about the issue “behind my back.”

“I wish people would come to me and talk to me about it in person,” he said.

City Treasurer Dan Fisher countered that running for a seat on the council obligated Diveley to attend meetings. “If you can’t do it, you need to quit,” Fisher said, citing previous examples of city aldermen who resigned their seats when their work schedules changed and created a conflict with regular attendance at city council meetings.

“I disagree with that,” Diveley countered, adding that much of the job, in his view, involved fielding citizen concerns and responding to complaints.

Fisher agreed that constituent service is part of the job, but at its core, the position of alderman is a “legislative duty.”

“You can’t fulfill that if you can’t make it to the meetings,” he said.

Ald. Steve Kluthe commented that when an alderman misses a number of consecutive meetings, that alderman is not privy to discussion that may have taken place prior to the time when a specific issue comes up for a vote. “If you don’t have all the information from the previous meetings, you can’t make an informed decision,” Kluthe said.

“Fine,” Diveley said, “this will be my last meeting.” He later said he was angry when he made the statement and would further explore whether or not he should resign from the council.

“I come when I can,” he said. “My first priority is my family. Personally, I don’t think my whole job is just sitting here at this table.”

[pullquote]To be their representative, you have to be here[/pullquote]Fisher argued that an alderman, by definition, is a representative of the people in his or her ward. “To be their representative, you have to be here,” Fisher said.

Diveley was first elected without opposition in 2011 and was re-elected to a second term this year. When he first ran, he said, his schedule permitted him to attend council meetings. When he ran this year, he said he had decided that if anyone else filed for election, he would step aside, in part because of his inability to attend meetings on a regular basis. “No one else wants the job,” he said, adding that he called the City Clerk’s office before the filing deadline to see if anyone else would run for the seat.

Mayor John Hicks brought the discussion to a close, saying, “There’s the meeting schedule. If you can’t make it to the meetings, you have to decide if you need to submit your resignation. It’s your call.”

Brought to a vote, the meeting schedule was approved 6-1 with Diveley voting no.

TAX LEVY & AUDIT

Council members voted unanimously to approve the tax levy for the fiscal year beginning May 1, 2016. There were no members of public present to comment on the proposed levy during a brief public hearing set 15 minutes before the start of the regular council meeting.

The new levy calls for the following amounts to be generated from property taxes for the following line items: Corporate, $45,956; Police Protection, $19,782; Street & Bridge, $26,802; Emergency Services and Disaster Administration, $7,657; Liability Insurance, $44,669; Parks, $11,486; Municipal Band, $2,552; Social Security, $80,405; and Library, $40,841.

The council also unanimously accepted the city’s annual audit, which was performed by Fleming & Tawfall Certified Public Accountants, Litchfield. Brenda Masters, an accountant with the firm, distributed copies of the audit and briefly discussed its findings. There apparently were no findings or recommendations for improving the city’s accounting methods. In fact, Masters complimented Krystal Norville, assistant City Clerk, for the records she provided to complete the audit.

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[pullquote]There apparently were no findings or recommendations for improving the city’s accounting methods.[/pullquote]According to Masters, the city’s position for cash on hand has been steadily improving over the past five years. Referring to a summary sheet she distributed to council members, Masters said the city’s governmental cash reserves has grown by a rate of about $100,000 annually, from $342,340 in 2011 to $812,458 as of April 30 this year. Moreover, the city has retired nearly $38,000 in long-term governmental debt in the last five years. With notes receivable and capital assets, the city’s total governmental equity now stands at nearly $1.7 million.

Masters also noted that revenues and expenditures for water and sewer have remained relatively stable over the past five years. She took note of a significant jump in expenditures for salaries related to the Lake Account, from about $41,000 in fiscal 2014 to $77,363 at the end of the past fiscal year on April 30. That increase, however, was explained by allocating salary costs when workers from other departments performed work at the lake.

“It makes sense to do that,” she said. “You can raise rates to meet expenses easier than you can magically raise taxes.”

WORKERS COMPENSATION AND DAM INSURANCE

After several minutes of discussion, the council voted to buy Workers Compensation coverage through the Illinois Public Risk Fund and liability insurance for the dams at both Gillespie lakes through One Beacon, an insurance company that exclusively insures government owned properties. The total annual premium for both policies will be $112,284–nearly 50 percent higher than the previous year’s expenditure of about $83,000.

“That’s a pretty good pop up,” said City Treasurer Dan Fisher.

Matt Gazda with Gazda Insurance Agency, Carlinville, said the city has had a good record with Illinois Public Risk for Workers Compensation. Rates have remained stable despite a substantial claim arising from the Water Department. The new rate for Workers Compensation, he said, will be $33,353, which is only slightly more than the previous year’s premium costs.

[pullquote]The total annual premium for both policies will be $112,284–nearly 50 percent higher than the previous year’s[/pullquote]In 2011, the city insured the lake dams through HCC Insurance, also brokered by the Gazda agency. However, Gazda said HCC’s underwriters have concerns about liability risks for the dams and have declined to offer insurance for them. In the alternative, Gazda presented Jeff Link of Diamond Brothers Insurance, Carlinville, who offered the city the option of buying liability insurance through One Beacon at a cost of $78,931 per year. According to Link, the policy is for liability only and does not offer coverage for replacing a dam should one of the dams be breached. Additionally, the policy offers no protection for the loss of revenue the city would incur if the Water Department could no longer provide water to its customers. Additionally, the policy offers no supplemental mine subsidence insurance and no coverage for earthquake damage.

Link said properties downstream from the new lake dam that could be damaged in the event of a breach include a couple of residences, a bridge, farmland and a few outbuildings. Based on those potential losses, the policy would pay up to $1 million per incident, with an aggregate ceiling of $3 million.

There is no insurance available for the dams themselves, according to Link. “They won’t insure dirt is what they told us,” he said.

City Treasurer Fisher, Mayor Hicks and some of the aldermen expressed concerns about the lack of business interruption insurance.

“A million dollars wouldn’t make us whole,” Fisher said. “If we lost the lake, we’d be out of water in a day and a half. There’s all sorts of liability questions.”

Asked whether less expensive coverage might be available through the Illinois Municipal League, Link said IMl probably would not consider bidding on coverage for the city.

“They don’t like to work with smaller cities,” he said, “and they don’t like to bid and get beat, which is what happened the last couple of times. They wouldn’t even talk to us.”

Faced with a current policy that expires at the end of the year, the council opted to accept the policies presented by Gazda and Link despite the significantly higher costs, and directed Link to look into the cost of supplemental mine subsidence and earthquake insurance, as well as coverage for business interruption. The business interruption policy would be for the Water Department as a whole. Ostensibly, the policy would cover the loss of business the city might incur in event the water treatment plant or distribution system is disabled for any reason, not just the loss of a dam.

LAKE LEASES

On a motion by Kluethe, seconded by Ald. Frank Barrett, the council approved an amendment to a lake lot lease belonging to Rita Smith to allow her grandson, Casey Smith, to live at her permanent residence on the lake for a probationary period of six months and the end of which the council will review the issue and determine whether a previously imposed ban should be rescinded.  Both Rita Smith and Casey Smith attended the meeting to plead their case for the action.

Kluethe said Casey Smith was barred from lake property in 2004 because of behavior issues. He did not go into detail regarding the nature of the complaint against Smith.

“I was 17 years old at the time,” Smith told the council. “I was a bad kid and I had a lot of problems.” In the decade since he was barred, Smith said he has matured. He has sole custody of his young son, he said. Earlier this year, he said he lost his job and is now working part-time 25 hours a week. He said he and his son want to be able to live with his grandmother temporarily until he can get back on his feet.

“I don’t cause a problem,” he said. “I’m inside most of the time.”

Rita Smith said she wanted the council to approve the measure. “I really don’t have much of anyone else to help me,” she said.

Kluethe said both he and Barrett had interviewed Casey Smith and were of the opinion that the ban could be lifted.

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“Due to the amount of time that has passed, I think we can lift the bar and let him live there,” Kluethe said.

“Teenagers mature,” Barrett offered.

Fisher argued, however, that there is no clear protocol for revoking the ban. He asked about who would make the determination at the end of six months whether or not Smith would be added to the lease and what criteria would be used to make that determination.  He also questioned whether the council would proceed in the same way if the circumstances were to arise again with other lake tenants.

“We’re painting ourselves into a very uncomfortable corner,” Fisher said.

Barrett commented that in 2004, the “hammer” used to enforce the ban was the threat to revoke Rita Smith’s lease and evict her. She was allowed to keep her lease on the condition that her grandson did not enter onto lake property.

“Our action in 2004 worked,” Barrett said.

In a related matter, the council voted to amend the ordinance regarding permanent lake residences to permit leaseholders to maintain permanent status while using the cabin as a part-time residence as long as that period of part-time residency does not exceed five years. The change was made to accommodate Charles and Diane Patterson, who purchased a permanent residence cabin with the intent of using it as a part-time residence until the time of Charles Patterson’s retirement, at which time they planned to use the cabin as a full-time residence. Previously, city ordinance dictated that permanent residence lots would revert to part-time lots if the owner did not live at the lake full-time.

Charles Patterson said the change was acceptable, though he wasn’t sure he would be able to retire in five years. His current target for retirement is eight years.

“What happens then?” he asked. “Do we come back and do this again?’

“We can’t make any representation as to what a council will do in five years,” City Attorney Kevin Polo said.

Also related to lake lots, the council unanimously approved an ordinance to increase lot rent from $600 per year to $900 per year–the first increase enacted in 12 years. Lake Committee Chair Barrett said the increase will affect about 30 lake residents.

Fisher suggested the Lake Committee should consider an ordinance to increase the rental periodically, based on the rate of inflation or some other factor.

“The $900 rate is fine, but I think we need to key this more to how it affects our overall revenues,” Fisher said. “Twelve years is too long to wait.”

FOP CONTRACT

Following a brief executive session to discuss collective bargaining, the council voted unanimously to approve a new contract with the Fraternal Order of Police, the union that represents Police Department employees. The three-year contract calls for raises of two percent in the first and second year, and one percent for the third year. Additionally, the new contract eliminates a $500 sign-on bonus.

The council formerly awarded the contract to replace two deteriorating culverts on Cedar Street to Baxmeyer Construction of Waterloo. Baxmeyer was the low bidder when bids were opened in October with a bid of $169,799.25. The council had delayed awarding the bid at that time because of uncertainty about whether the city would have enough funds available to do both projects.

Mayor Hicks indicated Monday night that the city would be able to do both culverts.

Fisher reported that one of the culverts will require some work to be done on a sewer main at the same time. While city workers might be able to do that work, he suggested it would be more efficient to approve change orders to allow Baxmeyer to do the work once the culvert project begins.

In other action, the council:

• Approved Christmas bonuses of $50 for full-time employees and $25 for part-time employees.
• Agreed to donate $1,000 to a vocational entrepreneurship program at Gillespie High School.
• Agreed to donate $1 per student for an Adopt-A-Class program through Community Unit School District 7.
• Agreed to renew a contract with Homefield Energy to supply electricity for city facilities for one year at a rate of about 5.1 cents per kilowatt.

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