Village of Bartlett Committee met March 3.
Here is the minutes provided by the committee:
President Wallace called the Committee of the Whole meeting to order at 6:00 p.m.
PRESENT: Chairmen Camerer, Carbonaro, Deyne, Gabrenya, Hopkins, Reinke, President Wallace
ABSENT : None
ALSO PRESENT: Village Administrator Paula Schumacher, Assistant Village Administrator Scott Skrycki, Senior Management Analyst Samuel Hughes, Management Analyst Joey Dienberg, Finance Director Todd Dowden, Director of Public Works Dan Dinges, Public Works Engineer Bob Allen, Building Director Brian Goralski, Golf Professional Phil Lenz, Police Chief Patrick Ullrich, Deputy Chief Jim Durbin, Deputy Chief Geoff Pretkelis, Village Attorney Bryan Mraz and Village Clerk Lorna Giless.
BUILDING & ZONING, CHAIRMAN HOPKINS 7-Eleven – 555 W. Lake Street
Chairman Hopkins stated that they have one item on the agenda tonight and that is the 7-Eleven at 555 W. Lake Street. They are requesting a Site Plan, Special Use Permits and Variations.
Planning & Development Director Roberta Grill stated that the Petitioner is requesting Site Plan Review for a proposed 3,500 SF 7-Eleven convenience store and gas station at the northeast corner of N. Bartlett Rd. and Lake St. The Petitioner is also requesting a Special Use Permit for an automobile service station since the use of the site as a service station has been discontinued for more than six (6) months.
The Petitioner is also requesting Special Use Permits to sell package liquor (beer and wine only) and for outdoor sales (propane).
The existing building would be demolished with the new convenience store oriented towards Lake St. It would be a 24 hours facility, open seven days per week. The site plan shows two curb cuts, one on Lake Street (right in/right out) and a full access point on N. Bartlett Road (towards the west). The two existing curb cuts would be removed.
The Petitioner is requesting the following Variations:
• A 2.5 ft variation from the required 50 ft. front yard to allow the fuel pump canopy 47.5 feet from the front property line (south – Lake St.)
• An 8 ft. variation from the required 50 ft. corner side yard to allow the fuel pump canopy 42 feet from the corner side property line (west – N. Bartlett Rd.)
• To allow parking in the corner side yard (on the west side of the building)
• To allow the trash enclosure in the corner side yard rather than the rear yard
• To reduce the required width of the landscaped interior parkway from 20 feet to 7 feet
They have provided 29 parking spaces on the site which exceeds the zoning ordinance requirement of 28. They are proposing a 6’ tall solid wood fence along the north and east property line (includes landscaping with trees and shrubs). The village’s environmental consultant has reviewed the plans and met with the petitioner. He has provided recommendations and these recommendations would be incorporated into the staff’s report if the Board decides to send this on to the Zoning Board of Appeals and Plan Commission. The petitioners are here tonight and would like to approach the Board with an amendment to their request.
Jon Silverberg, Director of Development at GW Properties Group LLC stated that they are proposing this development and they have a “scriber error” whereas they are looking for a “full” liquor license to sell package beer, wine and liquor. That is the only amendment and additionally they met with the police staff and while they are proposing a 6’ tall fence, they have made a request that it be a wrought iron fence that you can see through for safety purposes.
Chairman Hopkins stated that he did not see a problem with that.
Chairman Camerer stated that this is setting a precedent with this liquor license where no other gas stations in Bartlett have a full liquor license. He thinks it opens the door for a lot of different gas stations to come to the village asking for the same sort of thing. With a full license, it opens the door for video gaming. Is this also the intent?
Mr. Silverberg stated that is not in their proposal. He stated that he was not an expert in video gaming but there are additional other hurdles that must be met in order to have video gaming.
Village Attorney Bryan Mraz stated that you can’t get video gaming with package liquor unless they are a truck stop.
Mr. Silverberg added that there are certain volumes of gas to qualify and it must be over 3 acres.
Chairman Camerer stated that we are not taking into consideration some of the small liquor store businesses in Bartlett or 7-Eleven’s that don’t have the gas facility that sell liquor as part of the revenue. We have three liquor stores in town plus a 7-Eleven selling package liquor. Now you open up all the gas stations to selling and supermarkets. What kind of affect is that going to have on a small business person. He cannot see voting “yes” on this with a full liquor license.
Chairman Hopkins stated that he thought that the majority of the people utilizing this facility are probably not even Bartlett residents, they are just passing through to go home.
Chairman Camerer stated that as soon as this door opens the rest will be asking for it also.
Chairman Hopkins stated that it is a special use so we can determine what we see fit. He sees no problem with package liquors.
Chairman Camerer asked how you can deny one when another service station requests it.
Attorney Mraz stated that having something be a special use is not total discretion on your part. The ability to turn down the special use under more recent supreme court cases is not as restrictive. It is easier to defend if none of them have it than if one has it. He does believe you would see some others and doesn’t know if he could hide behind the fact that it’s a special use and deny it and not expect some litigation. It is not unusual for towns to have alcohol at gas stations.
President Wallace asked if the 7-Eleven across the street sells package liquor.
Mr. Silverberg stated that the 7-Eleven’s in town do sell package liquor. All of the liquor is only sold behind the counters.
Dan Akroyd with 7-Eleven thanked the board for having them there and they were very excited to have the opportunity to bring the latest and greatest of their stores. They are really excited to enhance this intersection. In regards to the package liquor license, by no means are they a liquor store. It is a percentage of their sales of which they do count for in order to afford a development such as this. Their developers are scraping and rebuilding the entire site, environmentally clean, from scratch. This is going to be a 3,500 SF store and to his knowledge there are no other stores this size in Bartlett. They are a convenience driven store and like to have those top items that their customers ask them to carry.
Chairman Deyne stated that they have gone through this before on the Plan Commission and with the Zoning Board of Appeals. We are setting precedents and what is happening is that it becomes a legal matter. He asked the petitioner if liquor were to be excluded from this project, would they still move forward with the construction of the gas station?
Mr. Akroyd stated that as large as the company that 7-Eleven is, it was a team decision. He stated that it would dramatically affect their ability to proceed here.
Chairman Reinke asked if they were to sell alcohol at this facility would it be behind the counter?
Mr. Akroyd stated that the hard liquor would be behind the counter. Beer and wine are in coolers.
Chairman Gabrenya asked if the location across the street would remain open?
Mr. Akroyd stated that it has not been determined yet or would be a relocation. 7-Eleven is a corporately owned company and they do look for business operators within the community. They do like to franchise locations but they are still corporately owned stores. They like to provide the opportunity for a local business person that is interested in becoming a franchisee, an opportunity to run their own business.
Chairman Gabrenya asked if we approved this location, would we be removing the opportunity for the person at the 7-Eleven across the street?
Mr. Akroyd stated that if it was a relocation, that franchisee would potentially take over the new store.
Mr. Silverberg stated that is a decision made at the corporate level and has not been determined at this point.
Chairman Hopkins stated that this is an opportunity to develop this corner and the EAV on this property would be beneficial. This has been an eyesore on Lake Street since 2013. He suggested that the fuel vent stacks along Lake Street could be on top of the canopy or off to the east property line away from a major intersection and add an additional 3-stop and overfill.
Mr. Silverberg stated that 7-Eleven designs and installs the fuel portion of the site but they can relocate the vents on the eastern portion of the property.
Chairman Hopkins stated that they will forward this on to the Zoning Board of Appeals and the Plan Commission for further review and to conduct the public hearing. He thanked them for developing this property.
Chairman Reinke stated that when this comes back to the Village Board he would be interested in hearing the police department’s thoughts on permitting alcohol at gas stations. He knew that South Elgin had a firm prohibition against that. He understood the zoning concern but did not know the law enforcement concern/if any.
FINANCE & GOLF, CHAIRMAN DEYNE 2020-21 Proposed Budget Review
Chairman Deyne stated that they will begin with the 2020-21 Proposed Budget Review.
Police Department
Police Chief Patrick Ullrich began his review of the police budget and stated that the 2021 budget has increased by 7% which is attributed mostly to the request to add three additional police officers, as well as the vehicle and equipment cost associated with adding those new officers and pension transfer expenses.
Adding three officers would allow the department to increase minimum staffing of patrol shifts, allow to better deal with upcoming retirements and succession planning. The budget also adds two squad cars to the fleet and the equipment necessary to outfit them.
With the addition of the three officers, the police department believes it will help them increase their staffing on the street, but will also help build their bench when retirements happen. When they are down many officers, all the work falls on fewer officers. They had 410 hours of traffic grants last year and when you have grants, you have to fill them and it has to be done on an overtime basis. They also do 40 community events they do throughout the year, 5 of which are multiday events.
Capital Outlay requests totaled $216,665 of which $176,700 comes from the equitable sharing fund and $39,965 comes from the machinery and equipment fund.
Chief Ullrich presented the capital outlay.
One of the items that was discussed were numbers 8 and 9, the pistol and rifle shields for $2,800 and $3,400 respectively. The shields are lighter and smaller than current shields allowing officers to more effectively perform their duties when shields are required.
Chairman Camerer asked if we have used our current pistol and rifles shields. Chief Ullrich stated that they use them often.
President Wallace stated that if we call in the county swat teams, why did our officers use the shields often, was it for precautionary measures when entering a building?
Chief Ullrich stated that occasionally when they get a call about someone threatening suicide or they are barricaded in their house, Bartlett Police would be the first ones there and the swat team won’t be there for 45 minutes to an hour, so they have to be able to handle those scenes until others can get there. In a lot of the active shooter situations, they are going in, if something happens at a school or business, they need that equipment to protect their officers.
Chairman Camerer later asked if two shields of each was necessary.
Chairman Ullrich picked up a pistol shield and stated that it is pretty heavy, especially going around a stairway or getting out of a car. It is big and cumbersome.
Chairman Reinke stated that he supported getting the shields and making sure the police department was protected if anything terrible happened here.
The next item discussed was item #10, arson investigator kit for $1,250. It is equipment to allow the newly certified arson investigator to safely and professionally perform Their duties while investigating fire scenes.
Chairman Camerer asked about the arson investigator kit. He stated that he assumes the fire department would typically do the arson investigation.
Chief Ullrich stated that the fire department cannot “charge” anyone so they bring a police officer out to assist in the investigation and if there is going to be a “charge” for arson, the officer has to do it. The fire department doesn’t have the ability to be an arson investigator because they do not have any law enforcement authority.
Chairman Hopkins asked if we can use the Cook County or DuPage County Task Force to investigate and handle it, instead of us having our own arson team.
Chief Ullrich stated that he supposes they could, but the question for years was, why don’t we have our own arson investigator, so we got one trained this year. It would be a waste to not get him the equipment needed.
President Wallace asked if we pay the task force.
Chief Ullrich stated that he did not know if the arson task force was a part of the other task forces or not.
The next item discussed was Item #15, the Severe Would Care Training Kit for $3,200.
Chairman Camerer asked about the need for the kit with paramedics on site if not as fast as an officer, almost as fast.
Chief Ullrich stated that in Aurora at the Henry Pratt Company incident, they had to do a lot of the trauma care themselves because when a scene is hot, the fire department will not go in. Our officers would be able to treat officers or civilians down during that time period.
Chairman Camerer stated that he would hate if an officer would go in there and cause issues in some way, so he understood the training, but didn’t know how often a situation like that would happen.
The next item discussed was Item #16, the NOMAD light tower for $2,600.
President Wallace asked when that would be used.
Chief Ullrich stated that they borrowed one from Hanover Township last year to help cross people across the area torn up by the horse farm during the 4th of July. The villages two lights were being occupied at the festival. If an incident happened in someones backyard, they can’t get a trailer through a fence, but with this, they would be able to pick it up and carry it into the backyard.
Chairman Reinke stated that we do not want to rely on Hanover Township.
President Wallace agreed.
The next item discussed was Item #18, two handheld thermal imagers for $800 per unit.
President Wallace asked if we have ever borrowed anyones that we had to use.
Chief Ullrich stated that we borrowed one from the fire department.
Chairman Hopkins stated that maybe we should just buy one.
Chief Ullrich stated they could do that and see how it goes and if they get use out of it.
Chairman Reinke stated that they have talked about it in the past and he thought getting one unit would make sense.
The next item discussed was Item #13, the three AED’s for $1,800 each. Chairman Hopkins asked if every officer is trained on how to use them.
Chief Ullrich stated they were.
VILLAGE OF BARTLETT COMMITTEE MINUTES March 3, 2020
Chairman Hopkins referenced the police department’s nine saved lives with AED’s and asked if he considered that a high number?
Chief Ullrich stated that he didn’t know what he would compare it to. All he can say is that he knows how thankful people are that we got there and were able to bring them back with the use of AED’s.
Chief Ullrich presented the Professional Development section.
Chairman Reinke asked about the police executive research forum.
Chief Ullrich stated that it is a nationally recognized command staff training that is three weeks in Boston. He has been to it and before him, Deputy Chief Snider, Leonas and Chief Williams had all attended. He wants to get his staff through so when he retires, there has been people that have already been through it. One of the good things about it is we are able to use equitable sharing funds for it and as you are aware, we have to use those funds for certain purposes and equipment and training. It is a good experience and good opportunity to discuss issues if other agencies and how they address those issues.
Chief Ullrich presented the Professional Association section. There weren’t any significant changes from last year.
Overall, salaries are going up 5% and a lot of that is due to adding three new officers. Overtime salaries were increased based on requests from this year for event security. The budget is increasing 7% for the year.
Chairman Hopkins asked about the increase in DuComm fees.
Chief Ullrich stated that police department fees are based on the authorized number of sworn police officers you have. Every year when computing their fees, they divide it equally over the police departments by the numbers of sworn officers. DuComm is increasing their fees and it was passed along to us. What they have started doing this year is a five-year average. They take an average of our authorized sworn staff members over five years, so although we are increased our staff this year by three, we won’t see that impact right away because it’s averaged over five years.
President Wallace asked what the reimbursement amount of the $550,000 that we spend in community requests.
Chief Ullrich stated that it was about $27,000 for what we spent this year through January.
President Wallace stated that one of his pet peeves in budgeting is budget creep. Materials and supplies is consistently at $36,000. We budgeted $63,000 last year and are budgeting $63,650 this year. He would rather see that budgeted to what we actually use.
Chairman Reinke asked how much of an issue the record expungement will be.
Chief Ullrich stated that it is going to be a lot of work. They don’t know yet how to expunge microfilm and everyone is in the same boat.
Planning and Development Services (PDS)
Planning and Development Services Director Roberta Grill stated that this is the first PDS budget and is a result of combining the Building and Community Development departments. The proposed budget is increasing 7%. No new positions or vehicles are being requested. The budget includes a new request for a permit tracking system. It would be linked to the village GIS system and would integrate code enforcement, building inspections and contractor licensing. This system would be very transparent and give contractors and homeowners knowledge on their permit in real time.
Ms. Grill reviewed the budget highlights.
Ms. Grill reviewed the permit tracking software.
President Wallace asked if it was mostly for the benefit of general residents and contracts applying for permits or is there going to be any kind of cost savings.
Ms. Grill stated that it is for both. It’s hard to describe the system that they have now. It is not transparent and is affecting our efficiency and staff time immensely. It is also the beginning to adding future add-ons at lower cost for reviewing huge plans online.
Chairman Deyne stated that he thought it was an outstanding program and wanted to compliment staff on the efforts they have put forth in preparing it.
Ms. Grill stated that the annual cost is listed at $37,000. With this system, we would be the first in Illinois to utilize it and they are working with us on the pricing to lower to $28,000 for annual costs.
The second Capital Outlay are tablets for the planner so she can go paperless at meetings and a tablet for an inspector out in the field.
Ms. Grill presented the Professional Development section. There was no new professional development items added.
Ms. Grill presented the Professional Association section. There was one new section added to cross-train a code officer in mosquito abatement.
Chairman Reinke asked what this license did.
Ms. Grill stated that there are tablets that can be thrown in the stagnant water sources to stop the mosquitoes. The code enforcement officer has been training with the health inspector to know what to look for, but it would be good for him to be a licensed back up.
Ms. Grill stated that salaries are down 1% and group insurance is up slightly because of the renewal rate increase.
Chairman Camerer moved to adjourn the meeting and that motion was seconded by Chairman Hopkins.
ROLL CALL VOTE TO ADJOURN THE MEETING
AYES: Chairman Camerer, Carbonaro, Deyne, Gabreyna, Hopkins and Reinke
NAYS: None
ABSENT: None
MOTION CARRIED
The meeting adjourned at 7:01 p.m.
The Committee of the Whole reconvened at 7:52 p.m.
ROLL CALL VOTE TO RECONVENE THE MEETING
AYES: Chairman Camerer, Carbonaro, Deyne, Gabreyna, Hopkins and Reinke
NAYS: None
ABSENT: None
MOTION CARRIED
FINANCE & GOLF, CHAIRMAN DEYNE 2020-21 Proposed Budget Review Finance Department
Finance Director Todd Dowden stated that the Finance Department consists of Information Technology, GIS and the Main Office. For budget purposes, only accounting, finance and the main office staff report to finance. IT, GIS and Utility Billing are charged
to other funds. This budget includes a 14% increase to the finance department from the prior year. The reason for that is we are proposing to fill the accounting position that has been open for 2-3 years. This position would also be helpful with succession planning because the last time someone was hired to the accounting section was 16 years ago. We need to get someone in there, get them trained and make sure they can take over as people move on. Personnel for the finance budget is going from 12 to 13 FTE’s.
There was no Capital Outlay.
The Professional Development section was reviewed and there were no new requests.
The Professional Association section as reviewed with no changes.
Employee retirement and insurance rates are up for all departments this year including finance.
Chairman Hopkins asked how the annual salary was calculated for the accountant position.
Mr. Dowden stated that the salary was based on payroll ranges that we have for each category of employee. The Human Resource Department does comparables with other towns and that’s where we come up with it.
Chairman Hopkins asked if we have a tiered healthcare plan or does everyone receive the same healthcare no matter the position.
Mr. Dowden stated that each full-time person is based on that $21,000. Employees have either an HMO, PPO or a different PPO.
Human Resources Director Janelle Terrance stated that there is no way of knowing what plan a new employee will choose or if they will go on our insurance so staff calculates an estimated value based on current enrollments and anticipated enrollments for new employees. It could be less than that, but that is the average for current enrollments.
Chairman Hopkins clarified that new employees can choose any plan they wish. Ms. Terrance stated that was correct.
Central Services
Information Technologies Coordinator Chris Hostetler stated that the professional services budget is made up of things that can’t be contributed to just one department and includes IT, GIS, janitorial services and alike.
The Capital Outlay was reviewed. Four items were reviewed totaling $30,500.
The Professional Development and Professional Associations sections were reviewed, there were no new changes for this budget.
The total budget is down 7% this year, primarily because the capital items requested are down.
Chairman Hopkins asked if the increase to the cleaning budget was because of the new police station.
Assistant Village Administrator Scott Skrycki stated that when the village went out for RFP for janitorial services, the police building was under construction. The crew under anticipated the size, so we budgeted for the new footprint and prorated the cost which is why you see the increase. We will likely undercut that by a significant amount due to staff recommendation at an upcoming board meeting.
Administration Department
Mr. Skrycki reviewed the department highlights.
There was no Capital Outlay or new Personnel requests.
The Professional Development section was presented. It is consistent with previous years other than the administrator removing herself from ICMA conference and the assistant administrator being budgeted to go to an out of state economic development certification which was not done, but there is an online certification that is cheaper and can be done in the office.
The professional association detail was presented and Mr. Skrycki stated that it is very consistent to what is in there from year to year. There is one addition for this year and one that has been removed.
The Administration proposed budget is increasing 7% this year.
In regards to civic group funding, staff took the boards guidance from last year and recommended the same amount that was recommended last year except for a slight reduction from the veteran’s foundation because they did not have a request this year. The total dollar amount was less, but the amount going to civic groups would be the same. Chairman Hopkins asked why the legal services has increased.
Village Administrator Paula Schumacher stated that we have had a number of personnel issues and some of those were discussed in executive session, so it was over and above what we typically budget for.
Chairman Camerer asked about the engineering study with the West Bartlett overpass.
Mr. Skrycki stated that right now there are a lot of factors that affect that study. One is the on-going battle between CN and CP in Washington D.C. and not knowing the fate of the Spaulding station. Another major factor with that is a stretch of 4.7 miles of track from Hoffman Estates to Bartlett which CN is proposing a double track for. One of the concerns about completing that study would be not knowing what we are doing that study for. Staff will continue to monitor both of those issues and they are both very difficult to predict at this time.
Chairman Hopkins asked how the train traffic was on West Bartlett.
Mr. Skrycki stated that currently it is down significantly ever since the temporary injunction the STB issued.
Chairman Deyne moved to adjourn the meeting and that motion was seconded by Chairman Carbonaro.
ROLL CALL VOTE TO ADJOURN THE MEETING
AYES: Chairman Camerer, Carbonaro, Deyne, Gabreyna, Hopkins, and Reinke
NAYS: None
ABSENT: None
MOTION CARRIED
The meeting adjourned at 8:35 p.m.
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