McHenry Times

City of Woodstock City Council met March 5

Here are the minutes provided by the council:

A Special Budget Workshop meeting of the Woodstock City Council was called to order at 2:05 PM by Mayor Michael Turner on Tuesday, March 5, 2024, in the Council Chambers at Woodstock City Hall. 

A roll call was taken. 

COUNCIL MEMBERS PRESENT: Darrin Flynn, Bob Seegers, Gordie Tebo, Natalie Ziemba and Mayor Michael Turner. 

COUNCIL MEMBERS ABSENT: Melissa McMahon and Tom Nierman. 

STAFF PRESENT: City Manager Roscoe Stelford, Deputy City Manager/Executive Director of Strategy & Planning Paul Christensen, Executive Director of Operations Christina Betz, Executive Director of Business Development Danielle Gulli, Recreation Department Director Dave Zinnen, Police Chief John Lieb, Deputy Chief Ray Lanz, Deputy Chief Rob Pritchard, Public Works Director Brent Aymond, City Engineer Chris Tiedt, Library Director Nick Weber, Opera House Managing Director Daniel Campbell, Human Resources Director Deb Schober, Information Technology Director Dan McElmeel, Economic Development Director Garrett Anderson, Building and Zoning Director Joe Napolitano, Marketing and Communications Director Heather Arnold, Utilities Manager Mike Rousey and City Clerk Jane Howie. 

OTHERS PRESENT: President Brad Ball, Woodstock Area Chamber of Commerce & Industry. 

Mayor Turner noted the presence of a quorum. 

City Clerk Howie confirmed the agenda before the Council was a true and correct copy of the published agenda. 

PUBLIC COMMENTS 

There were no comments forthcoming from the Public. 

DISCUSSION ITEMS 

a. FY24/25 Budget Development 

City Manager Stelford thanked Mayor Turner and Council members for their time this afternoon. He thanked City staff for all their work putting the budget together. He added that currently there is a surplus of $1.0 Million projected for FY23/24 within the General Fund, which is proposed to be moved to the General - CIP Fund. City Manager Stelford shared preliminary budget projections. In response to a question from Councilman Tebo, City Manager Stelford noted a majority of the surplus was generated from lower than anticipated expenditures as well as operating transfers, with the remainder being revenues outperforming the annual budget.

Councilman Seegers mentioned inflation due to increases in wages, the cost of food, fuel and housing. City Manager Stelford explained the proposed pay raises for the upcoming fiscal year ultimately driven by employees' performance reviews. It was noted that pay for several jobs increased due to the increase in minimum wage. Discussion ensued pertaining to wages and pay increases. Suggestions were shared about possible ways to improve the compensation structure. Councilwoman Ziemba asked about the $280,000 decrease in sales taxes. City Manager Stelford said much of this was due to a decline in automobiles sales, offset in part by decreases in local incentive payments. He noted that $5.6M was brought in through the Municipal Sales Tax; with $3.5M from the Home Rule Sales Tax. G. Anderson said during the pandemic many people shopped local. As things returned to "normal," people are getting out and about more and shopping everywhere. 

It was noted that the balanced General Fund includes the proposed salary increases. The proposed FY24/25 Budget is not predicated on the economy entering into a recession, just overall slowed growth. City Manager Stelford reviewed Revenue Highlights in the General Fund. He noted increases for both the Rec Center and the Opera House. 

Staff mentioned several new proposed positions, including two part-time custodians for the Opera House and Old Courthouse Center. This would be in addition to the City's cleaning company. 

Discussion ensued pertaining to the single-use bag fee. Currently, the City has used between $15,000 – $25,000 for electronic recycling events in the past year. Staff proposed using a portion of these funds to pay for a Street Maintenance Worker. Councilman Flynn would like these funds used for environmental purposes, such as dredging a pond at the park, or other environmental issues. The goal of the single-use bag program was to reduce the use of the single-use bags. Mayor Turner opined that Council is supportive of continuing the program. Councilman Flynn suggested sharing ways in which the bag fee funds are being used with the community. Councilman Tebo asked that this information is shared with Council going forward, as well. Councilman Seegers opined that the bag fee is an irritant; the optics are important. The community wants to know how the funds are being used. Mayor Turner asked that staff find ways in which to use these funds. City Manager Stelford stated that some states have eliminated the use of single-use bags altogether. 

City Manager Stelford said there are some position changes that are being implemented. Executive Director Gulli shared additional information for the role of the Business Development Manager; the salary range, along with incentives, were discussed. This role would be moved from the Opera House to report directly to her and expand the scope to cover the City as a whole. Executive Director Betz shared her request to promote the City Engineer to a Director role. Council was supportive. 

City Manager Stelford explained the unfunded staffing requested. Mayor Turner asked Executive Director Betz to rank the roles in order of importance. In response, Executive Director Betz explained responsibilities of the various roles and the needs of the Facilities HVAC Technician and the full-time Administrative Office Coordinator. She shared the responsibilities of the Administrative Team and the reason for the needs of one part-time Office Assistant to move to full-time Office Coordinator. Executive Director Betz also explained how this would be handled if an outside facilities contractor were hired. Councilman Seegers suggested the City wait a year or two before committing to these additions in staffing; work through the learning curve first. Mayor Turner said the issue with waiting is that we're not meeting the current needs. Councilman Flynn said that City staff does a great job of determining staffing needs and he's supportive of these requests. Executive Director Gulli shared some of the issues with hiring a management company vs. keeping the responsibilities in-house. Further discussion ensued pertaining to the addition of new positions. Mayor Turner said the management of the Old Courthouse Center is extremely important. 

Mayor Turner said the City needs to consider the revenue impact of the growth and development that we have and what is proposed to occur. Lennar's Riverwoods subdivision would bring in $1.0 million of revenue into the City. He also mentioned advantages of the proposed Die Cast site development; economic activity enhances the City. 

City Manager Stelford mentioned planned fee increases as it related to the Recreation Department, the Opera House and the Aquatic Center. D. Zinnen said R. Torrez has done a great job of obtaining sponsorships for the Rec Center's Playground Program. Discussion ensued. Council and City staff are very supportive of keeping these Program fees low. 

City Manager Stelford said the Water & Sewer Fund has several challenges. He mentioned that Woodstock has one of the lowest rates in the area. He opined that many municipalities will need to raise their rates in the upcoming year(s). Councilman Seegers mentioned the proposed 9.95% rate increase. He asked what is needed to close the gap. He suggested to raise it high enough to close the gap and communicate with the residents why the rates are going up. Council discussed increasing this rate to 12.5% with an explanation to the community. 

Councilwoman Ziemba said the City is getting backlash for rate increases if the reasons why are not explained/shared. She stated that City staff is responding to these questions publicly; Communications staff need to be handling this. Mayor Turner suggested creating a brochure. Councilman Flynn opined the City needs to communicate it and keep it separate from fees for trash pickup. Councilman Tebo said there's so much misinformation being circulated; an educational process is needed. He agreed that City staff needs to provide the facts to Council so that they can share the correct information. In response to Councilman Seegers suggestion, Executive Director Gulli said part of the plan is to have this information accessible on the City's website on the FAQs section. Executive Director Gulli shared further information. 

Mayor Turner mentioned the City's rebranding, new logos and website. He said staff did a fabulous job; everything looks great! 

b. FY24/25-FY33/34 Capital Improvement Program 

City Manager Stelford shared information about the Capital Improvement Program (CIP). Councilman Seegers said, as it pertains to the CIP, debt service comparatively speaking is as big as it's been in decades. He opined the City's debt load is too large at this time. City Manager Stelford said its nearing where it was during the downturn. In response to Mayor Turner's question, City Manager Stelford said staff has talked to the financial advisor; the rating agencies are aware of the City's previous debt plans and have not downgraded the City's rating as of yet; the City is still rated as “stable." Councilman Seegers opined the City won't be able to get all the streets repaired that were proposed. Councilman Seegers shared some information about his recent discussion with Lennar. He suggested being very conscientious about the big picture. Discussion ensued pertaining to future development and ways in which to address expansion items. 

M. Rousey shared information on how many homes could be built with the City's current sewer and water system. He said the South Treatment plant is at 69% capacity; 1,000 more homes would get it to 75%. Design should start at 80% capacity with an additional 1,000 homes (2,000 additional total). With 4,000 new homes the City would need a new sewage treatment plant. This would cause a need to get shovels in the ground when the capacity is at 90%. The cost would be $20.0 to $30.0 M, at a total of $40.0 M, the cost would be $5,000 per new home. Executive Director Christensen said this is one of the reasons impact fees are necessary; they assist with future growth. Further discussion ensued pertaining to new housing developments and the City's requirements for moving forward proactively. 

City Manager Stelford shared additional information about Total CIP Revenues. 

Mayor Turner stated that he, Councilman Tebo and City Manager Stelford had meetings with state legislators in Springfield on February 20th and 21st. The majority of the meetings pertained to the Route 47 road widening project; the costs and funds needed. He added that due to inflation, the cost for sewer and water infrastructure has increased $10.0 million more than the City planned for. At this time the City is asking the State for financial assistance. IDOT wants the City to sign the agreement in April/May to get the project moving forward. However, we're not sure if the City will be able to sign due to the increased costs. City Manager Stelford said the City is heading into the fourth year of the Enhanced Streets Program and will have to borrow $10.0 M to fund this program. In addition, the cost of the Raffel Road resurfacing project is estimated to cost $300,000. Additional information was shared pertaining to CIP projects. 

It was noted that IDOT's 2019 letter noted the City's cost for the water and sewer portion of the Route 47 road widening project would be $6.0 million; however, there were no design plans included. In September 2023 the cost went up to $12.0 million; now it's up to $13.2 million. City Manager Stelford said, as it pertained to the scope of the project, only water line and sewer line costs were included, which was $6.0 million. He believes the increase is due to inflation. The City hired HR Green in 2021. Then, in 2023 HR Green projected the cost to be $12.0 million. C. Tiedt believes some of the costs involved design work that was done on the City's side. Councilman Flynn asked if the City can re-visit the plan and make changes. He would like to know what's available in this fund? City Manager Stelford said the City does not have these funds available. Mayor Turner asked City Manager Stelford and staff to look into the water and sewer rates and put a plan in place. Executive Director Christensen said staff will conduct a water rate study to bring validity to it this upcoming fiscal year. 

Discussion continued about the current Recreation Center and how best to proceed. The project is currently unfunded. Staff also needs to consider the PARC grant. 

Council would like to know what roads were repaired over the past three years vs. what the original intention was. 

ADJOURN 

Motion by Flynn, second by Tebo, to adjourn this special City Council Budget Workshop to the next regular City Council meeting at 7:00 PM, on Tuesday, March 5, 2024. 

Ayes: D. Flynn, B. Seegers, G. Tebo, N. Ziemba and Mayor M. Turner. Nays: none. Abstentions: none. Absentees: M. McMahon and T. Nierman, Motion carried. 

The meeting was adjourned at 5:06 PM.

https://www.woodstockil.gov/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Minutes/_03052024-333