Woodstock City Council Meeting - November 1, 2022
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Woodstock City Council Meeting - November 1, 2022
The Woodstock City Council met on November 1, 2022, at 7:00 p.m. in City Council Chambers. The meeting included recognition of employee service awards, a proclamation for late employee Melissa O'Leary and announcement of a memorial splash pad fund, presentation of the FY21/22 audit report, approval of the consent calendar (including several ordinances and resolutions), and discussion of a special meeting on November 4, 2022, regarding proposals for the DICAST property.
Floor Discussion: Employee Service Awards
- The Mayor recognized city employees for years of service milestones: 5-year (Tim Hickey, Brad Bedcher, Lou Luciotto, Hector Mesa, Thomas Nichols, Gaspar Ortega), 10-year (James Lombardo, Jane Howie, Joe McCormick, Dan McAmile, Trevor Sheff, Deb Schrober), 15-year (Michael Gustis, Chris Link, James Webner), 20-year (Tino Cepola, Alan Dunker, Ray Lance, Renee Torres), 25-year (Phil Moss, Lisa Miller), and 30-year (Chris Birdsell).
Floor Discussion: Proclamation & Memorial Splash Pad Fund
- The Council issued a proclamation honoring the life and service of Melissa Canto O'Leary, a 20-year employee of Woodstock Waterworks who passed away in August 2022. The proclamation highlighted her dedication as a lifeguard, water safety instructor, and pool manager for 16 years.
- The City announced the creation of the Melissa O'Leary Memorial Splash Pad Fund to build a community splash pad, with donations accepted through the Woodstock Recreation Department. Becky Vidales, program manager, spoke about Melissa's impact, including teaching over 150 swim lesson participants annually, training nearly 300 staff, and ensuring inclusive experiences for families.
Floor Discussion: Audit Report Presentation
- Jim Savio of Sikich presented the FY21/22 Annual Comprehensive Financial Report (ACFR). Key points:
- Unmodified (clean) opinion issued – highest level of assurance.
- General fund unassigned fund balance: $5.7 million (about 50% of expenditures, meeting policy).
- General fund net change in fund balance: $75,000 (increase from prior year $22,000).
- Water and sewer fund net income: $1.1 million (up from $860,000).
- IMRF pension funded at 108% (net pension asset of $4.5 million as of December 31, 2021).
- Police pension fund: net pension liability $14.4 million, funded at 66% (down from 76% due to investment losses and assumption changes).
- No material weaknesses; two deficiencies noted: (1) grant receivable not recorded when expenditures incurred, (2) cash handling segregation at City Hall (limited staffing causes occasional overlap). Councilman Bob questioned the cash control risk; staff acknowledged the deficiency but noted mitigating controls and cost-benefit of adding staff. The Mayor requested a refreshed review of cash handling.
- The audit also included a separate single audit for federal funds, a TIF compliance report, and a GATA report.
Public Comments
- No members of the public spoke during the two opportunities for public comment.
Consent Calendar
- The consent calendar (Items IV.A through IV.D.6) was approved unanimously (6-0) via a single motion. Items included:
- Approval of October 18, 2022 City Council minutes.
- Warrants #4026 and #4027.
- Minutes from various boards (Police Commission, Pension Board, Arts Commission, Plan Commission, Library Board).
- Manager’s Report No. 214:
- Ordinance rezoning property behind 801-999 S. Eastwood Drive to B3 Service and Retail District.
- Ordinance authorizing a fence variation for 830 Manke Lane.
- Ordinance adopting UDO text amendments for solar farm supplemental standards.
- Ordinance repealing authorization of a pre-annexation agreement with Dremac PM, LLC.
- Resolution estimating the calendar year 2022 property tax levy in compliance with the Truth in Taxation Act (estimated levy amount not specified in transcript).
- Contract awards for downtown snow removal for 2022/2023: Langton Group (snow cleaning), Gavers Excavating Inc. (snow loading), Bell Cartage (snow hauling).
- Councilman Gordy discussed the property tax levy estimate, noting the city had gone 11 years without a PTEL (Property Tax Extension Limitation Law) increase, including a 10% reduction in 2017/18. He stated the city forewent $13 million in revenue over that period, and the 4% CPI increase this year is a modest catch-up. The levy remains below the previous reduction level.
Future Agenda Items
- The Mayor announced a Special City Council Meeting on Friday, November 4, 2022, from 10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. (streamed and recorded) to hear presentations from three organizations with proposals for the DICAST property. The meeting is intended for council to see conceptual proposals and provide initial feedback, not to approve any proposal. Staff will provide economic impact analysis (investment, assessed value, sales tax, jobs) before the November 15 regular meeting, where council will discuss and potentially select a developer to proceed with formal agreements and public processes.
- Discussion about logistics: only four council members can attend in person; absent members are urged to watch the recording. Staff will compile detailed economic data from the presenters. The Mayor clarified the special meeting is not the final decision point.
Key Outcomes
- Employee service awards presented for 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, and 30 years of service.
- Proclamation honoring Melissa O'Leary adopted unanimously.
- Melissa O'Leary Memorial Splash Pad Fund launched; donations accepted.
- FY21/22 audit report accepted; unmodified opinion issued; management letter with two deficiencies noted.
- Consent calendar approved unanimously (6-0).
- Special meeting scheduled for November 4, 2022, 10 a.m.–1 p.m., for DICAST property proposals.
- Meeting adjourned at approximately 8:40 p.m. (estimated from transcript length).
Meeting Transcript
Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. I'd like to uh welcome you to this evening's meeting of the Woodstock City Council. I'm glad to see such a full house tonight. Um brief announcements before we get started. The first being that uh this evening's agenda will be posted up on the uh video screen for everyone to see. Uh there will be two opportunities for public comment this evening. The first will be during floor discussion, which will be at the start of the meeting, and then the second will be uh an opportunity for public to speak uh before any actions taken by the Woodstock City Council. As a reminder, this evening's meeting, uh, like all Woodstock Council meetings are being streamed, just so you're aware of that. Any questions on the uh those uh brief announcements before we get started this evening? All right, hearing none, I'll go ahead and officially call this November 1st meeting of the Woodstock City Council to order and ask the uh clerk Cindy to please call the roll. Councilman Flynn. Here, Councilwoman Lomaier here, Councilman Nearman, Councilwoman Pearsall, here, Councilman Seegers? Here, Councilman Tebow here, Mayor Turner. Here. The record reflect that um six of the members of the Woodstock City Council are here this evening. Um I'll ask uh Cindy to please confirm that this evening's agenda is the true and published agenda. It is. That being the case, ladies and gentlemen of the council, the people's business is duly and appropriately before us. Uh the first item on this evening's agenda is floor discussion. We have a couple different items uh under floor discussion this evening before we get to public comment. And the first being uh recognition um of years of service uh for 2022 for Woodstock uh city employees. It's always our honor as a council, my honor as mayor to recognize um Woodstock City employees who have met or have achieved uh certain length of time and tenure with the city of Woodstock. Um we are a service organization at the end of the day. We we do deliver a lot of things uh as a city, but without uh the employees that we have, we don't we don't have a chance to uh to uh meet the needs and deliver for our uh for our customers who are the members of the of the public. So uh the importance of uh our staff cannot be overstated, and it's always a great opportunity for us to recognize uh the service awards of of our city employees and and to pause to recognize the value that they bring uh that they all bring uh each and every day, but in particular as they hit different milestones. So milestones of service. So I'm gonna ask uh Deb Schrober to come forward, and she's going to uh assist me with uh handing out these uh awards this evening. Are you cueing up the pictures, Paul? I'm trying to if I can figure out where the full view is. Get that man in promotion. That maybe wasn't appropriate, though. Oh, it was funny, I was okay with it. All right. So the uh the first group that we're gonna recognize are five-year anniversaries. Um I'm gonna first name the the uh those that are or those that are not in attendance, so and then we'll go ahead and call up uh the five-year uh uh employees one by one. So uh first, not able to attend this evening, Tim Hickey. I don't think Tim's in the room. Uh so I'm gonna recognize Tim Hickey, engineer technician in public works. Um this is his five-year anniversary this year. Uh Brad Bedcher, is Brad here? No. Okay. Uh Brad, wastewater treatment plant operator one. Uh Luci uh Luciotto. Lou here. Lou, five years IT support analyst. Thank you, Lou. Thank you, sir. Hang up here. We're gonna take a picture of everybody.
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