O’Fallon council faces budget decision as revenue uncertain during coronavirus crisis

The current public health crisis is making an impact on city revenue in O’Fallon but how much is too uncertain and can’t be pinpointed at this time. Therefore, it may not be yet reflected in the $84.3 million 2021 budget proposal, but the city has suspended any non-essential purchases until further notice to keep expenditures down.

The FY2021 budget, proposing $84,269, 440 in expenditures, to be equally balanced by a revenue estimate, will be up for adoption at the O’Fallon City Council meeting Monday. Aldermen advanced the budget ordinance at its April 6 meeting.

The new budget must be approved by May 1 — the start of the fiscal year — and is in effect through April 30, 2021. It must be filed with the St. Clair County Clerk prior to the beginning of the fiscal year.

The FY2021 budget has been presented previously at committee meetings. No changes have been made to any of the budgets since the original presentations. But now due to the coronavirus mandates that have affected the local economy, the city is expecting a decrease in revenue.

“But at this time, we do not know to what extent,” said Budget Director Sandy Evans noted in her report.

Rather than adjusting the budget at this time, staff recommends approval of budget as presented, knowing city staff has been notified to suspend any non-essential purchases until further notice. This includes for the remainder of FY2020 as well as the start of FY2021. Should the budget need to be amended, this will be done at a future time.

The suspension includes the purchase of large spend items, such as vehicles and equipment, hiring of new personnel, professional services for studies, and any other non-essential purchases.

The city staff is preparing for a sharp drop in tax revenue from decreased sales tax, food and beverage tax, hotel/motel tax and possibly others from the state, O’Fallon Mayor Herb Roach said.

“We are making sure that all essential services will be maintained for our citizens and that we continue to have strong financial reserves,” he said.

The April 6 council meeting was conducted through the virtual Zoom platform because of the stay-at-home order during the global pandemic. Several officials were at O’Fallon City Hall: Mayor Herb Roach, City Clerk Jerry Mouser, Assistant City Administrator Grant Litteken and alderman Jerry Albrecht, which is within the gathering limit of 10, and all maintained social distancing. The other aldermen joined from their homes, as did city staff members and citizens. There were 42 participants in all in the Zoom online meeting.

Gov. Pritzker’s March 16 executive order waived the attendance requirements for public meetings to allow for virtual attendance. This is a first in O’Fallon’s 166-year history. As a result, O’Fallon will host online Zoom committee meetings Monday if there is an agenda, and always on the first and third Mondays for city council meetings during the shelter-in-place mandate.

In-person attendance will not be allowed, but public attendance and comment will be available through the virtual meeting — only beginning with the meeting Monday, registration is required. Instructions are on the website and posted on the agenda page for every meeting.

Also moving on for approval at the April 20 meeting was the Highway 50 Office Suites proposal. A zoning amendment and planned use request from Terry Heimann and Michael Stock for a 2.19-acres development located at 819, 821 and 823 W. U.S. 50, between Green Mount Road and the State Street Spur, is up for consideration. The developers would like to construct a 36,400 square foot, three-story multi-tenant office building, along with associated parking and landscaping. The property is currently zoned B-1 Community Business District.

The staff recommends approval, but with conditions, seeking to reduce parking spaces from 155 to 140, so construction may begin prior to securing right-of-way from IDOT. However, they would need to secure the excess right-of-way from IDOT to ensure the site meets minimum parking requirements. This would need to be constructed and be operational within one year of the council approving the planned use. An entrance permit from IDOT is required.

Other action taken by the council

The council amended an ordinance on fire department service fees to make it easier to recover the costs of non-residents’ emergency fire calls for O’Fallon Fire and Rescue.

The residents of the O’Fallon-Shiloh Valley-Caseyville Fire Protection District will be exempt from these rates. This would be for the delivery of emergency and non-emergency services by the fire department for personnel, supplies and equipment to the scene of emergency and non-emergency incidents.

The mitigation rate is based on actual costs of services and will increase by 1.5 percent annually or based on the annual percentage increase in the Consumer Price Index. Claims are to be filed through insurance carriers and, in some cases, will be billed directly.

Fire Department Chief Brad White explained the department takes care of vehicles involved in accidents or catch on fire on the highway, and these are often out-of-towners.

“This is aimed at non-residents,” he said. “We’d bill them and insurance would deny it, and we’d have no recourse.”

To date, the department has had less than a 5 percent cost recovery success rate generating billing invoices in house. O’Fallon Fire would like to sign a contract with Fire Recovery USA for cost recovery billing. He said Swansea and the French Village Fire Protection District use this company. This would help the department’s revenue stream, he said.

Water, Sewer and Street Improvements

The city council approved several resolutions for water, sewer and street projects, including the following agreements:

• Henry, Meisenheimer & Gende Inc. for water storage tank improvements at the State Street Water Tower and Seven Hills Road Water Tower, which will cost $35,815. Inspections conducted last year recommend painting. This engineering agreement will provide a plan and specifications to bid the recommended work, and also provide construction observation. The construction will include exterior painting of the Seven Hills Tower and exterior and interior painting of the State Street Tower.
• KRB Excavating, Inc., this year’s lowest responsible bidder, for the 2020 Concrete Replacement Program, which will cost $314,287.50. The city has routinely contracted for general concrete repair of streets and sidewalks. The list of repairs is collected during the prior year.
• Korte & Luitjohan Contractors Inc., the lowest responsible bidder, for the Robert Drive Sanitary Sewer Extension that will cost $65,803. The residential properties at 102, 104, 106, and 108 Robert Drive currently are not connected to the city’s sanitary sewer system. All four homes have septic systems. This project will install a sanitary sewer main that will be able to provide sewer service to the four properties. In addition, sewer laterals will be installed to connect the homes into the new sewer main.
• The Kilian Corporation for the 2020 Street Resurfacing Program, which will cost $1,092,652. This is the city’s annual asphalt resurfacing program done every summer supported by Streets and Prop S funds. Streets selected to be overlaid are identified by utilizing the City’s Pavement Management Program. This program involved the evaluation of every street in the City by a consulting engineering firm.
• Rooter’s Asphalt, the lowest responsible bidder, for the Cambridge Boulevard Patching Phase 2 that will cost $417,978.70. Cambridge Boulevard was identified in the Pavement Management Plan as a roadway that needed reconstruction. A previous phase was constructed in 2012 that removed portions of the concrete pavement in the west bound lane and replaced it with asphalt. This second phase will remove the remaining concrete pavement in the west bound lane and also replace it with asphalt. In addition, Sunset Boulevard and Wall Street will also be milled and overlaid with new asphalt as part of this project.
• Hayes Contracting, Inc., the lowest responsible bidder, for the Misty Valley Rear Yard Drainage Improvements 2020 that will cost $95,459. There are locations in the Misty Valley Subdivision where sump pumps discharge directly out into the curb and gutter of the street causing a nuisance and deterioration of the roadway. Due to the high ground water elevation in the area, these pumps run almost constantly. This problem becomes a safety issue in the winter when ice begins to accumulate on the roadway creating a hazard. In the past, the city had required the property owner to discharge the sump pumps into their backyard, but the rear of the properties do not drain well and this was causing standing water on neighboring properties.
• L.W. Contractors, Inc., for the Southview Subdivision Water Main Improvements Phase 2 project that will cost $665,732.00. The city went out for bids for Southview Gardens Water Main Replacement. Two bids were received with Haier Plumbing & Heating, Inc., being the low bidder. This project consists of the replacement of water mains in Southview Gardens Subdivision.

Harley-Davidson Expansion and Storage

The council approved a planned use ordinance for a 6, 512 square foot building addition at the south end and outdoor storage at the Green Mount Road Harley-Davidson at 1560 North Green Mount Road.

The new part would be used as a showroom for three-wheel motorcycles, ATVs and small watercraft. The original building, constructed in 2006, has been used as a dealership and service center. The business had proposed rezoning, because an outdoor product storage area was not authorized in a B-1 district, at the Planning Commission meeting Feb. 25, but the staff had concerns over the location and use. They wanted to remove the outdoor storage area.

After amending conditions, the Community Development Committee OK’d temporary storage of product for six months after the building permit is issued, which must be within three months of the council’s passage. At their March 9 meeting, the CDC also recommended staff limit the height of the storage facility to be under the height of the fence.

Conditions include all building material is to remain consistent with the existing elevations, the vehicle display is limited to the front plaza of the building, and final civil drawings and drainage report are required. The existing storage may remain temporarily during the construction of the addition as long as the product is stored orderly and stacked to remain below

TIF Funds

The council declared a surplus of funds in the special tax allocation fund for the city’s Tax Increment Financing Redevelopment Project Areas: TIF Districts #3 Central Park, #4 Hwy 50/Scott Troy Road and #5 Central City. This is required by the Illinois Tax Increment Allocation Redevelopment Act when declaring a surplus (pass through).

The pass through amount of $349,840.24 is sent to the County Collector who distributes this amount to the respective taxing districts in the same manner and proportion as the most recent distribution by the county collector to the affected districts of real property taxes from real property in the redevelopment project areas.

The amount of $184,528.18 represents the pass through amounts from TIF #3-Central park from Menards, Commercial R.E. LLC (Gander Mountain property) and Central Park Retail redevelopment agreements. The amount of $153,760.06 represents the pass through amounts from TIF #4 from U.S. 50/Scott Troy Road-Metroplex. The remaining balance of $11,552.00 represents the pass through from those parcels in TIF #5-Central City TIF area.

Mayor’s Report

In his report, the mayor brought up that St. Clair County Treasurer and former O’Fallon Alderman Andy Lopinot reached out to him to discuss what could be done to help residents during this time of coronavirus where many are out of work or had their businesses closed.

“We discussed the need to help ease the financial burden on our residents without having a major impact on the taxing bodies that depend on the real estate taxes such as our schools, library, and fire department. This has resulted in a delay on the payment for your annual real estate taxes to a later date,” he said.

Roach said in an effort to make it easier for O’Fallon businesses labeled “essential” to keep working, the city has relaxed some measures, such as allowing tents to be on sidewalks so restaurants can conduct pick-up services and allowing restaurants to sell packaged liquor even if they only have a pour license, in a way to align liquor sales with food purchases. They have allowed businesses to increase signage for pick-up and delivery.

Litteken said all O’Fallon city employees are not currently allowed in their workplaces until their temperature is taken and a series of questions are answered, and they pass.

The mayor reappointed Kip Adkins to the Police Pension and Fire Pension Board for a two-year term expiring on May 12, 2022.

The council approved the request from the American Legion Post 137 to conduct a roadblock at the intersections of State and Lincoln and State and Smiley from 8 a.m. to noon Saturday, June 13, with a rain date scheduled for Sunday, June 14.

The O’Fallon Town Hall meeting, previously set for April 15, has been canceled.

Zoom Meeting Protocol

Roach said the virtual council meetings have come with their own challenges. On April 7, he issued a statement explaining a new procedure and a problem that arose at the April 6 meeting.

“Change is always difficult and challenging.,” he said. “During last night’s (April 6, 2020) city council meeting, one public (not elected or staff) member used the name and identity of an elected official to make negative comments about another public member. The comments were not reflective of the quality of this community and its members. We are working with the online platform Zoom to identify the person who made these comments and action will be taken accordingly,” Roach said.

“There was also a participant who displayed signs during the meeting, which is not allowed in regular meetings and is in violation of the city council’s rules and procedures. We will modify the virtual meetings’ setting so this does not occur again,” he said.

“Unfortunately, these types of actions require us to increase security precautions regarding virtual city meetings. Effective immediately, all participation in virtual city meetings will require all participants to register and be authenticated through the Zoom website. Instructions will be provided with each meeting notice. We are sorry for the inconvenience and appreciate the support during these tough times,” he said.