McHenry Times

City of Harvard Administration Committee met Aug. 9.

Here are the minutes provided by the committee:

Chairperson Lisa Haderlein called the meeting to order at 6:30 pm. Committee members present: Chairperson Haderlein, Alderman Dan Carncross, Alderman Charlie Gorman, and Alderman Matt Perkins. Also present were Mayor Mike Kelly, City Administrator Lou Leone, Finance Director Deb Bejot, Community Development Director Donovan Day, Public Works Supt. Rob Lamz, City Attorney TJ Clifton and members of the public.

Public Comment 

Chairwoman Haderlein opened the floor to public comment for any item not on the agenda. There were none.

Public Works Truck Purchase 

Supt. Lamz reviewed his memo relating to a truck purchase. Heavy-duty units are currently facing significant availability challenges, with lead times exceeding 18 months for the chassis alone. The City budgeted $150,000 for FY23/24 for the replacement of a plow truck. This amount is not sufficient to acquire a heavy-duty plow truck which currently costs $265,000. City staff has been looking at different options, one of which is the purchase of a medium duty plow truck on a Mack MD7 chassis through Lindco Equipment Sales, with delivery of the truck to the manufacturer in October with the body build completed early in 2024. Rob indicated that the market is volatile and the numbers are very fluid. This is not a direct replacement for one of the City’s heavy-duty dumps which at some point, still needs to be replaced. A motion was made by Alderman Carncross, seconded by Alderman Gorman to approve Supt. Lamz’ recommendation to approve the purchase of a medium-duty plow truck, funding the $110,000 chassis out of the $150,000 budgeted in FY23/24 and budgeting $116,000 (as of today’s pricing) for the body build of the truck in FY24/25. All ayes. Motion carried.

Supt. Lamz reviewed his memo requesting use of the remaining $40,000 budgeted for the new plow truck to acquire a used asphalt patch cart ($25,000), a new plate compacter ($4,000) and a shoring upfit ($7,000). After discussion, a motion was made by Alderman Carncross, seconded by Alderman Gorman to approve the request as presented. All ayes. Motion carried.

Supt. Lamz reviewed his memo requesting reallocation of funds in the amount of $32,000 currently approved for the cleaning and televising of sanitary sewer mains to purchase a push camera, jetter camera and field tablet to conduct sewer inspections and facilitate data management in the field. This funding was originally provided by ARPA funds which is sunsetting. Finance Director Bejot would like to verify that the equipment would qualify for use of ARPA funds. After discussion, a motion was made by Alderman Perkins, seconded by Alderman Gorman to approve the purchase, provided it is appropriate. All ayes. Motion carried.

PetDine Request – Dogs Way No Parking/Fire Zone 

City Administrator Leone presented PetDine’s request to make Dogs Way no parking on both sides of the street. Badger Fulfillment Group had no objection to the request. A motion was made by Alderman Carncross, seconded by Alderman Perkins to recommend approval of the draft ordinance Amending Section 15.07.B, No Parking Locations, to add Dogs Way, on both sides of the street.

Amend Section 25.06.B.1 Beer Garden Certificates 

City Administrator Leone reviewed the proposed ordinance amending Section 25.06.B.1 to permit the retail sale and consumption of alcoholic liquor in a beer garden. This was brought up by Bopp’s who has a Beer Garden Certificate; currently, a patron has to go inside to purchase alcohol. This would apply to any establishment that has an approved Beer Garden Certificate. A motion was made by Alderman Carncross, seconded by Alderman Perkins to recommend approval of the draft ordinance. All ayes. Motion carried.

Review Chapter 11, Nuisances 

Alderwoman Haderlein related one of the areas that residents contact her the most relates to noise which is briefly mentioned in Section 11.05 Public Nuisances Affecting Peace and Safety as well as Chapter 27, Offenses Against Public Peace, Safety and Morals. Section 27.04.E.2. states that “ The sound amplification device shall not produce loud sounds at a distance greater than 100 feet from the location of the device”. Residents who contact the police about loud music are often advised that the property owner has a permit or the police don’t have a device to measure decibels. Alderwoman Haderlein commented if it’s specified in the code, the City should be able to enforce it; otherwise it shouldn’t be in the code. She also suggested that Section 11.05 refer to Chapter 27. City Attorney Clifton suggested something more specific than “loud sounds” citing some type of objective standard that the officer would have. Alderman Gorman made a motion to amend Section 27.04.E.2 to remove the verbiage “loud sounds” and putting in “sounds that would be considered loud by a reasonable person”. Attorney Clifton clarified the language to read “the sound amplification device shall not produce loud sounds or noise which would cause distress or adversely impact and cause a disturbance of the peace to a reasonable person”. Alderman Perkins recommended making the same changes in Section 27.04.E.3 which also references loud sounds. After further discussion, Alderman Gorman withdrew his motion. City Administrator Leone will prepare a draft ordinance for the next Administration Committee Meeting. The general consensus was to leave the decibel language in Section 27.04.D.1.

Alderwoman Haderlein related her second issue in the nuisance section relates to lighting that has a cross reference in the UDO. There are a lot businesses along Route 14 that have put up tall LED lights for their parking lots, some of which are pointed down as they should be, while others point straight out across the parking lot which is contrary to what the code says. UDO Section 9.2 specifically calls for cut-off lighting. City Administrator Leone and Community Dev. Director Day recommended sending letters to business owners that are not in compliance pointing out the code and noting the difference/impact of LED lighting. Businesses would be given a certain amount of time to make sure their lighting is at the appropriate angle so as to be in compliance with the ordinance.

Alderwoman Haderlein brought up Chapter 19.13 relating to the inspection of dwellings, in particular multi-family units every 5 years with specific standards; she didn’t think the City was doing that. Mayor Kelly related that inspections were conducted in the past but were put on hold during Covid; he was uncertain of the current status. City staff will discuss with the City Attorney to make sure the City isn’t violating any lingering pandemic related issues and to confirm that it’s okay to proceed with the current code. Alderwoman Haderlein recommended a review of this section which has been in the code book for about 20 years to make sure the right language is being used for regulations, documentation and enforcement. Alderman Perkins commented that enforceable standards would refer back to which Life Safety Code has been adopted by the City. City Administrator Leone said there will be an overhaul of the code book, including the building code, kicking off next month.

Mayor Kelly later interjected that he did a quick review of emails; the last inspection that the Code Enforcement Officer conducted on a multi-family home was in February of this year, so inspections are ongoing.

Surplus Property Declaration 

The Committee reviewed the list of surplus property which includes the old phone system with phones, computer and tornado sirens. A motion was made by Alderman Perkins, seconded by Alderman Carncross to recommend approval to declare the property as surplus. All ayes. Motion carried.

Police Pension Tax Levy Amount 

Finance Director Bejot presented an overview of her memo regarding a proposed budget amendment and funds transfer for the Police Pension Fund based on the GASB 67/68 Report and subsequent Funding Actuarial Report prepared by Lauterbach and Amen for the Police Pension Fund/Board. Deb recommends funding to the Alternative Contribution and increasing the Police Pension Funding Transfer by $41,000 to an amended amount of $242,015.00. There is adequate funding to transfer the funds. A motion was made by Alderman Carncross, seconded by Alderman Gorman to amend the FY23/24 Budget as follows:

Account #	Account Name	Type	Original Budget	Amendment	Revised Budget
01-01-57000	Transfer Out	Expense	$952,950.00	+ $41,000.00	$993,950.00
80-00-44020	Police Pension Property Tax	Revenue	$201,015.00	+ $41,000.00	$242,015.00

All ayes. Motion carried.

Discussion on Regulations for Backyard Chickens 

Alderwoman Haderlein distributed copies of the March, 2018, draft of the UDO that had a section on chicken coops as an accessory use. City staff did some research on other municipalities as to what they do/do not allow.

Community Development Director Day related that in his previous job in Fox Lake, chickens were permitted with no more than 4 hens; 8 hens if 1 acre or more. In the nine years he was there, there was one complaint when someone accidently raised a rooster. The permit fee was $50 with an inspection once the coop was up, with no annual renewal. The average was 3 permits a year. There weren’t any complaints that the coops drew in mice, rodents, etc. It was easily manageable and worked out very well. Alderman Gorman thought, an experimental basis, it might make some sense to try it in an R1 Large Residential Lot and keep the other residential zones free from chickens. Mayor Kelly related the issue has come up many times in the past and ultimately was not included when UDO was approved as there was a lot of dissention. After further discussion, Donovan was directed to prepare a draft ordinance for review at the next Administration Committee meeting. This will also allow time for the public to provide their input.

Sarah Thompson, 319 Marengo Rd., was the petitioner who submitted a variation request at the last City Council Meeting. She commented that she didn’t think there should be a limit for lot size and it should just be allowed if you meet setback requirements. She said that 4 chickens are not a lot and suggested the number of hens that are allowed could be amped up as the amount of acreage increases. She had several suggestions she has seen in other ordinances: hefty fines that would keep people in compliance; fence depth to prevent animals burrowing into the coop; coop regulations such as climate control and storage of food in a metal container/lid. City Administrator Leone asked that Sarah reach out to Donovan for her input on the draft ordinance.

Schedule Audit Review in September 

Finance Director Deb Bejot related that the City audit is complete. The Audit Review was scheduled for the next Administration Committee Meeting on Tuesday, September 13th, at 6:30 pm.

Non-Disclosure Agreements (NDAs) 

The Committee reviewed Attorney Clifton’s memo reference Non-Disclosure Agreements. Attorney Clifton noted the biggest thing is that as a government employee or elected official, you’re subject to FOIA regardless of what the NDA says. There are certain situations, and the Motorola Plant is a perfect example of that, where it is necessary, but for the most part, the position should be that we’re not signing an NDA unless a specific circumstance that warrants it comes up. The Committee discussed the current NDA with the glove company and boundaries of said agreement. The NDA is with the tenant and not the property owner, CAI Manufacturing. City Administrator Leone clarified that when a patent/trademark is filed, all that information is public; proprietary information is held within the company and is not subject to public information. The tenant has yet to complete the fire suppression system and does not have a certificate of occupancy. They will be scheduling a date for a tour; participants will be required to sign their NDA which covers their proprietary information. Attorney Clifton clarified that to his recollection, he reviewed the NDA and specifically had language added that the NDA wouldn’t apply to information that would have to be disclosed pursuant by operation of law, specifically FOIA. Alderman Gorman inquired if the NDA itself contains any information that shouldn’t be disclosed. Mayor Kelly said no it does not and that the actual NDA could certainly be reviewed by the City Council. The Mayor further noted, that t this juncture, neither the tenant or owner have made any ask that would require the City Council to make a decision based on information they don’t have. Alderman Gorman noted his concern was more for future NDA’S and recommended some policy going forward that would involve the City Council. Alderman Carncross said he would like to see a little more transparency in letting the City Council know when an NDA is being entered into.

Director Day related in the near future, there will be Meet ‘n’ Greets with local businesses/manufacturers. He asked if he should inquire to see if NDA’s are required prior to any meetings. City Attorney Clifton said it would not be a bad idea to be proactive about it. There was further discussion whether such NDA’s should be brought to the City Council. TJ commented that at the end of the day, even if someone signs an NDA, regardless of what the NDA says, the City is still subject to FOIA.

City Administrator Leone will work with Attorney Clifton to draft a policy with general guidelines for future NDA’s.

New Business 

City Administrator Leone noted there has been some changes in state labor laws with regard to paid leave which will be on the next Administration Committee Meeting Agenda.

A motion was made by Alderman Perkins, seconded by Alderman Carncross to adjourn the meeting. All ayes. Motion carried.

Meeting adjourned at 8:35 pm.

https://www.cityofharvard.org/sites/default/files/fileattachments/administration_committee/meeting/14809/minutesadministration2023-08-09.pdf