Kankakee Times

City of Watseka Finance, Legal & Audit Committee met May 20.

Here are the minutes provided by the committee:

PRESENT: Mayor Marcier, Aldermen Miller, Muench, Garfield, Brault, Dewitt, Petersen, Alderwoman Rohlfs

ABSENT: Alderman Pence

GUESTS: Phil Gioja with Center Street and Jeff Memenga with Ruder Technologies

Mayor Marcier opened the meeting at 6:30 pm. There was no public comment. Phil Gioja with Center Street spoke first. He presented to the committee 3 options for video services to promote the city. These videos will be put on the city website, Facebook and could maybe lead to a TV commercial. There was discussion about spot lighting a certain group/organization, or even a person. The proposals were $21,000/year, $15,400/year or $10,100/year. After some discussion Alderman Garfield makes a motion to recommend to the council to accept proposal option #1 for $21,000/year and Alderman Brault seconded. Roll call carried 7-1 with Alderman Dewitt voting no. This will be paid for from the promotions line item.

Jeff Memenga with Ruder Technologies spoke next. He stated currently the city has AT&T ADI fiber 100 MBPS for $694.50 and AT&T ADI Voice phones at $120.87 for a total monthly charge of $815.37. AT&T now has ABF internet 1 GBPS which is 10 times faster. The city could also move the phones over to ESI Hosted service and get Conxxus internet 100mbps for a backup internet connection when or if AT&T would go down. With these upgrades the cost per month to the city would go down to $555.04 which is a annual savings of $3123.96. There will be a one-time cost for installation and setup of $1932.35. Alderman Dewitt makes a motion to recommend to the council to accept the quote for Ruder to move the internet over to ABF and move the phone lines over to ESI for a monthly cost of $555.04 along with a 1 time set up and installation fee of $1932.35. Alderwoman Rohlfs seconded. Roll call carried 8-0.

The committee had before them a proposal from Advanced Computer for enhanced cyber security measures. The monthly fee will be $420.00 along with a one-time set up fee of $399.00 for a total cost of $819.00. After a short discussion Alderman Brault makes a motion to recommend to the council to accept the quote from Advanced Computer for $819.00 and Alderman Miller seconded. Roll call carried 8-0.

Alderman Dewitt makes a motion to accept the April Treasurers report and Alderman Muench seconded. Roll call carried 8-0.

Mayor Marcier stated he asked the City Treasurer to look into investing a $1,000,000. She received quotes from all the local banks. Iroquois Federal had the best rate for 6 months at 4.38% Alderman Garfield makes a motion to invest $1,000,000 with Iroquois Federal for 6 months at a rate of 4.38% and Alderman Dewitt seconded. Roll call carried 8-0. Mayor Marcier stated the committee has before them a donation request from the Watseka Farmers Market for $2,000. Alderwoman Rohlfs stated she started this event 5 years ago. This money will be used for lot rent, a corn festival and purchasing some seating and umbrellas. Alderman Dewitt makes a motion to recommend to the council to donate $2,000 to the Watseka Farmers Market and Alderman Garfield seconded. This will be paid for from the promotions line item. Roll call carried 7-0 with Alderman Rohlfs abstaining. Alderman Petersen asked for a summary of expenses after the season is done. Next the committee had a request from the Knights of Columbus for a fireworks donation. The organization is asking for $10,000 or more. There was much discussion about the amount of people that come to the city and the money that will be spent at the local restaurants and gas stations. It was also suggested that maybe some food trucks would be in the area. Alderman Brault makes a motion to recommend to the council to donate $14,000 to the Knights of Columbus and Alderman Garfield seconded. This will come from the promotions line item. Roll call carried 7-0 with Alderman Miller abstaining. The committee also had before them quotes from Zerox and DTI for leasing copiers for the Police Department and city hall. DTI came in the lowest for the police department at $184.65 ( 2 copiers) lease per month with a service contract fee of $35.00 per month for 60 months and city hall came in at $117.80 per month with a service contract fee of $35.00 per month for 60 months. Alderman Garfield makes a motion to recommend to the council to accept the quote from DTI for copiers at city hall for a cost for police department at $184.65 per month plus a service charge of $35 per month and for city hall at $117.80 plus a service charge of $35 per month. Alderman Dewitt seconded, roll call carried 8-0.

Mayor Marcier stated he would like to discuss ordinance #2707 water and sewer rates. With this current ordinance the rates are to increase June 1st, the minimum bill will go from $64.75 per month to $66.31 per month. It was stated over the last 3 years the city bought some much needed equipment for the water and sewer departments, and Loren has saved the city a lot of money since he was hired by doing projects in house. It was a consensus of the committee to freeze water and sewer rates for this year. This will be on the agenda for the full council meeting next week.

Aldermen Petersen asked about discussing how roll call is taken and Roberts Rules of Order. Mayor Marcier suggested he wait until the full council to ask those questions when the city attorney is here.

Alderman Brault reminded everyone of the fireman’s breakfast they are having June 8th from 6:30-10:00 at station one.

Mayor Marcier makes a motion to adjourn at 7:30 and Alderman Miller seconded. Roll call carried 8-0.

https://www.watsekacity.org/media/4131