North Cook News

Village of Bartlett Committee met November 21.

Here is the minutes provided by the Committee:

President Wallace called the Committee of the Whole meeting to order at 7:35 p.m.

Present: Trustee Camerer, Carbonaro, Deyne, Hopkins, Gabrenya, Reinke, and President Wallace

Absent: None

Also Present: Village Administrator Paula Schumacher, Assistant Village Administrator Scott Skrycki, Finance Director Todd Dowden, Community Development Director Jim Plonczynski, Director of Public Works Dan Dinges, Public Works Engineer Bob Allen, Building Director Brian Goralski, Head Golf Professional Phil Lenz, Chief Patrick Ullrich, Deputy Chief Chuck Snider, Deputy Chief Geoff Pretkelis, Village Attorney Bryan Mraz and Village Clerk Lorna Giless.

Planning & Zoning Committee:

1. Consolidation of Zoning Board and Plan Commission

Chairman Hopkins introduced the consolidation of the Zoning Board and Plan Commission.

Community Development Director Jim Plonczynski stated that this is a continued discussion from June 20th. His staff surveyed 20 communities that have done their consolidation, which averaged 8 to 9 members and meet once per month with a 4 year term limit. Of the communities they surveyed, all were adopted by either ordinance or some type of text amendment. He stated that right now the Zoning Board has 6 members and the Plan Commission has 9.

Chairman Hopkins asked if staff had a recommendation of what they would like to see?

Mr. Plonczynski stated that they did not do a staff recommendation, they did the research. Whatever the Board desires is what the staff will be directed to do.

President Wallace asked if he had any information on the average attendance of the commissions.

Mr. Plonczynski stated that in the past, the Zoning Board had a loyal 4 members. Subsequently, since there were additional appointments, they pretty much get a full 6 members. The Plan Commission is pretty good about having a full complement of appointed attendees with 7-9 members.

Trustee Deyne stated that the Board was looking into moving the process along a little bit quicker. In his experience, the commissions meet on the first Tuesday and the second Tuesday and felt that if they were combined they are only picking up a week’s worth of time. There was also concern with professional costs of attending two meetings with petitioners. He stated that these are costs of doing business. He thought that the system we have right now works and is a good system. There are members that have served these commissions for decades and he did not know how they could go and tell these people, after the years of service that they have given, as well as the dedication and responsibilities they have had, that they are no longer needed. He commented about the long meeting hours by having monthly meetings and felt that they should think about some type of monetary reimbursement to these people that are away from their families. He thought that the current system was good and effective and the people that serve on those committees are dedicated and responsible people and they all bring a little different knowledge and insight to the meetings.

President Wallace agreed 100% on everything Trustee Deyne said. However, the reasons that this issue was brought up by him was because at one point we lost the Ashton Gardens wedding chapel business in this town because the Zoning Board only had 3 members. Because of the low attendance, anytime there was any kind of appeal or variance, it became a real issue. He stated that he knew that there are many dedicated commissioners and he applauds their service. When their lack of attendance potentially costs us an issue because you only have three opinions on a board, that’s the problem. It does cost less for petitioners because they only have to show up for one meeting instead of two. One of the important points that Trustee Deyne made about Plan Commission members in previous years was that it was vital to have them there when the town had a building boom. He asked the Board to consider the fact that there isn’t much more anticipated construction in this Village. He referred to his point and asked if it is necessary to have two separate meetings with the amount of work that there is to be done. He did not want to see another situation where they have a variance and only three people show up to a Zoning Board meeting.

Trustee Deyne stated that the Plan Commission took attendance and individuals that missed a number of meetings, were automatically dismissed. Chairmen of those committees must be aware that if we are jeopardizing businesses in the Village by attendance, it is something that has to be taken care of immediately.

President Wallace stated that how he envisioned this combination would be one meeting per month and approximately 13 members to start, with 3 alternates, and then losing members to attrition until it reached 9 members. This way we would not lose any faithful members that have served for so many years. He asked the Board to continue to think about this and consider the future growth of our community. He felt that it has been harder to find volunteers to serve because people are just too busy and it is a reality that the Board has to face.

Administrator Schumacher stated that she suggested that they watch the attendance on the boards for the next 6 months and revisit that in the future.

Trustee Camerer stated that he has sat on other boards where after a period of time, you are actually asked to take a break. It allows for new participants with new ideas and new blood. It is often times a good thing and perhaps they should be contemplating things of that nature.

Mr. Plonczynski stated that in the research he has done with other communities, you have both. It is not uncommon for Zoning Board or Plan Commission members to last 25 years. He stated that they have a good dedicated core of people who like to come out and they are friends.

President Wallace stated that some of the secret ingredients that Bartlett has are folks like this that have developed this community into what it is and it is a great thing. He asked them not to take the conversation as a way of saying that their service is not approvable. It has nothing to do with that and he is just thinking about what is going on in the Village now and what their responsibilities are moving forward.

Trustee Reinke wholeheartedly agreed with him. It makes a lot of sense to come back in 6 months and we will see a natural attrition in the committees. He thought this was the direction where they should go. He thought the efficiency was overwhelming and he did favor consolidating the two committees. He liked the approach of evaluating and when the time is right they will make that decision.

Trustee Deyne stated that he served with the Plan Commission for many years and he was proud and honored to do so. He thanked them for the service they have given to the Village.

Finance & Golf Committee:

1. 2018 Proposed Capital Budget

Administrator Schumacher stated that the Capital Improvements Program for the fiscal years 2017/18 through 2021/22, identifies long-range needs and proposes a multi-year financial plan and to address them. The 5 year program totals $156,303,424 and this is a 40 percent increase from last year’s program. While the Capital Improvement Program anticipates expenditures over a five-year period, immediate focus is on 2018/19 which is referred to as the Capital Budget. These projects will become part of the Operating Budget that will be developed over the next few months. The Capital Budget for the upcoming fiscal year is $51,546,389. Funds are proposed for a total of 23 projects that there are 4 new capital projects that we will go into detail on.

Public Works Director Dan Dinges stated that everyone is aware of the big projects such as the DuPage Water, Bittersweet Treatment Plant and Devon. He handed out a sheet that included capital expenditures by fund (see attached). He explained that the Street fund includes 140 miles of roads that the Village maintains. Resurfacing costs about $400,000 per mile and they hope to get 15-20 years from a road. Based on the amount of roads that we have, actual cost would be $2,800,000. We get about $1,000,000 from MFT so they are a little bit behind ($1,800,000). Back in 2012, they passed a bond and were able to get a bunch of roads resurfaced. His biggest fear is that the roads will come due again and they are not doing enough to keep up with it.

He stated that the Bike and Run Committee passed a recommendation to increase the maintenance budget to $45,000. They currently split with the Park District at $10,000 apiece. They are proposing to double that and go with $20,000 to the Village and $20,000 to the Park District. With the brush program being moved over to the waste hauler, his plan is to utilize those crews to do a lot of this work.

Storm sewer is one of those utilities that every community is dealing with. No one has a fund for it but we have 220 miles of pipe that at some point will need to be maintained. They are already seeing erosion at retention ponds and they must take care of that as well.

The Water fund has 192 miles of water main. When we signed up for Lake Michigan water, the Illinois Department of Natural Resources has a requirement which states that by 2019 when we get Lake Michigan water, we need to have an unaccounted water loss report. Lake Michigan water is going to cost us more when we are buying it from DuPage and we want to minimize losses as much as possible. One way to do that is by repairing water mains and the water leak detection program. We are proactively going out there to try to find these leaks and get them sealed off. The same thing with pump stations in which we are dependent on getting that water across town. We need to make sure these pump stations are up and running at all times where we are maintaining and replacing the pumps as needed. We have 7 water storage tanks and we need to keep funds aside to maintain these tanks. We are going to be doing rate increases with the DuPage water improvements and we need to be factoring in some of these long term capital projects into that rate increase in order to put the capital program together.

They have 157 miles of sanitary sewer and have taken care of a good portion of it, but there is still a lot more to do. When we are doing those rate increases for the waste water treatment plant. We should be putting in a little bit of an increase to keep that capital program going as well. The same goes for the lift stations of which they have 21 which is a whole lot of pumps.

He wanted to give the Board an idea of where they are at and they need to start thinking about how they are going to fund all those things.

He proceeded to introduce the new projects in the capital budget:

Watermain Leak Survey-

Mr. Dinges stated that this project is a multi-year project involving a comprehensive leak survey of the entire distribution system to reduce water lost. In this year’s budget they are hoping to get half of the town done. In 2018/19 they will look at doing the remaining half. They have surveyed the whole town and they know where the hotspots are and hopefully they will all be repaired before 2019.

Bike Path Maintenance-

Mr. Dinges stated that this involves maintaining existing bike paths. His main focus is having his paving crew to work on this and he thinks it will be beneficial.

Parking Lot Improvements-

Mr. Dinges stated that this will entail a maintenance and repair program to resurface, crackfill, and sealcoat Village parking lots. These include the Village Hall lots and the new police lot. The Metra lots will be due as well as Kohler fields and Ruzicka leveling.

Stormwater System Improvements/Maintenance-

Mr. Dinges stated that this annual program will maintain the Village’s storm sewer system including residential projects. We have addressed a lot of the major drainage issues and now we have the backyard nuisance type of things.

Trustee Reinke asked if any of the costs for repaving the Village parking lots can be paid from the bond proceeds for the Police station that were cut ($180,000)?

Finance Director Todd Dowden stated that they do have some money. This year, the parking lot, from the General Fund has $120,000. The bond issue was issued for the police department so he would have to check the parameters as far as what those funds can be spent on. We do have some non-bonded money that would be available.

Administrator Schumacher stated that the bond covers for the parking lot across the street. They would have to check if it covers the front parking lot but it would not cover the back parking lot.

Mr. Dinges stated that on the Water Main Replacement project, they are looking at including a lead service replacement program. This would be a cost share for residents that have lead services and we know we have to deal with it. The EPA has mandated that we have a survey done by April and we should start looking at a replacement program similar to the overhead sewer program which is a 50-50 type of program where the Village pays a portion and the resident pays the rest. They are looking on the sanitary sewer system side incorporating not only an overhead sewer program but a lateral program (the service from the main to the house). In the older part of town they lined the mains, but are still getting a lot of water. This can also be set up as a cost share program. They are moving along with the IEPA loans for both water and sewer. He has a Public Hearing prior to the next board meeting which is required by the EPA and will probably have the same thing in January for the sanitary side.

He spoke about the DuPage water side and stated that they have a transmission line out to bid. It is opening on December 12 and they will have some numbers. Things look like they are coming in under budget. They are moving along with their pump station design on the water mains that they need to get it across town. Those will be going out to bid in late winter. It can’t be awarded until July which is when we should get notice that our EPA loan funding is approved. On the wastewater side, they met with MWRD and the meeting was very positive. They talked about different options such as the Village building storage they would upgrade the lift station. They will utilize the storage and take all of our flow. Devon would then be eliminated in the discharge point and any permit requirements would go away which is a great thing.

Trustee Hopkins asked if the Villa Olivia water tower would be painted? Is that the water tower that they were going to paint but it came in over budget?

Mr. Dinges stated that was the Oneida water tower and the bids were rejected.

President Wallace asked if it would say “Village of Bartlett” instead of Villa Olivia?

Mr. Dinges stated that they would have to look at that since there could be an agreement.

Administrator Schumacher suggested just putting Comcast on it and they could pay for it.

Mr. Dowden stated that they are going to be adding the ITEP ($106,000) to the final number and it will be brought to the Board for a final vote on December 5. The Capital budget for the upcoming fiscal year will be at $51,652,389.

Chairman Camerer moved to adjourn the Committee of the Whole meeting and that motion was seconded by Chairman Carbonaro.

Roll Call Vote To Adjourn

Ayes: Chairman Camerer, Carbonaro, Deyne, Gabrenya, Hopkins, Reinke

Nays: None

Absent: None

Motion Carried

The meeting adjourned at 8:16 p.m.

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