Lake County Gazette

Village of Lake Bluff Board of Trustees met July 10.

Here is the minutes as provided by the board:

1. Call to Order and Roll Call

Village President O’Hara called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m. in the Lake Bluff Village Hall Board

Room, and Village Clerk Joy Markee called the roll.

The following were present:

Village President: Kathleen O’Hara

Trustees: Barbara Ankenman

Steve Christensen

Mark Dewart

Eric Grenier

William Meyer

Absent: Aaron Towle, Village Trustee

Drew Irvin, Village Administrator

Also Present: Joy Markee, Village Clerk

Peter Friedman, Village Attorney

Susan Griffin, Finance Director

Michael Croak, Building Codes Supervisor

Jeff Hansen, Village Engineer

David Belmonte, Police Chief

Jake Terlap, Public Works Superintendent

Glen Cole, Assistant to the Village Administrator (A to VA)

2. Pledge of Allegiance

President O’Hara led the Pledge of Allegiance.

3. Consideration of the Minutes

Trustee Dewart moved to approve the June 26, 2017 Board of Trustees Regular Meeting Minutes as

presented. Trustee Christensen seconded the motion. The motion passed on a unanimous voice vote.

4. Non-Agenda Items and Visitors

President O’Hara stated the Village President and Board of Trustees allocate fifteen minutes for those

individuals who would like the opportunity to address the Village Board on any matter not listed on the

agenda. Each person addressing the Village Board of Trustees is asked to limit their comments to a

maximum of five (5) minutes.

There were no request to address the Board.

Village Board Sets the Order of the Meeting

There were no requests to change the order of the meeting.

5. Item #6A – Warrant Report for July 1-15, 2017 and June 2017 Payroll

Expenditures

President O’Hara reported expenditure of Village funds for payment of invoices in the amount of

$217,405.42 for July 1-15, 2017 and for payroll in the amount of $295,241.31 for June 2017.

As such, the total expenditures for this period is in the amount of $512,646.73

As there were no questions from the Board, Trustee Grenier moved to approve the Warrant Report.

Trustee Meyer seconded the motion. The motion passed on the following roll call vote:

Ayes: (5) Ankenman, Christensen, Dewart, Grenier and Meyer

Nays: (0)

Absent: (1) Towle

6. Item #6B – June 2017 Financial Report

At President O’Hara’s request, Finance Director Susan Griffin provided a brief summary of the June 2017

Finance Report highlighting major revenue sources and expenditures for the period.

Finance Director Griffin reported the recently approved State Budget did not include changes to the States

sales tax expanding the sales tax to services as she noted in her financial report. At the start of the State

fiscal year (July 1, 2017) there will be a 10% decrease for local government distributed funds (LGDF),

which is affectively the state-shared income tax. However, the State is planning to issue two additional

checks in August and September to offset the decrease. She stated that theoretically the Village should

receive the same amount of dollars; however, if the additional offsets are not received the Village would

experience a loss of $58,000, which is 10% of the income tax revenue received from the State.

President O’Hara stated the Village should recoup the money because the plan is for the funds to be paid

directly upfront to municipalities instead of going through a pass through. She asked if the legislation

regarding the 2% sales tax administrative fee was included in the final budget. Finance Director Griffin

replied that she has not heard anything from the Illinois Municipal League but will seek clarification and

report back to the Board.

President O’Hara stated the State is proposing that 2% of the total sales taxes distributed to municipalities

be retained by the State for administrative costs. Finance Director Griffin said that represents 2% of the

2% that the Village gets as the State levies a 7% non-home rule sales tax of which 1% is remitted to the

Village. In addition, Lake Bluff receives a 1% home rule sales tax.

President O’Hara stated the problem is the State continues to nibble at the money that was normally

allocated to municipalities. She continued by noting that embedded in this new State budget is a provision

that there will be no funding for schools unless all schools are evidence-based. For a school district such

as Lake Bluff this is not a huge amount of money; however, for other school districts it is a substantial

amount of money. A lot of confusion remains regarding this budget and how it cures certain issues.

Finance Director Griffin stated this is the first month that the home rule sales tax are down slightly from

the same month the year before. Further, there have been indications that automobile sales are beginning

to decline as people likely will keep autos longer because the average new vehicle financing period is at

least 5 years with average monthly payments of over $500. A decline in vehicle sales could have a sizable

impact on sales tax revenue as it represents about 78% of the Village non-home rules sales taxes.

President O’Hara said there are some national concerns regarding construction and automobile sales and

this trend could cause significant issues for the Village. Although the Village is trying to diversify as

much as possible, it still has most of its eggs in one basket financially.

Trustee Christensen moved to accept the Finance Report. Trustee Dewart seconded the motion. The

motion passed on a unanimous voice vote.

7. Item #7A – Village Administrator’s Report: Regarding a Letter of Intent

with Siemens Industry, Inc. to Complete a Village Water Meter

Accuracy Audit

In the absence of Village Administrator Drew Irvin, President O’Hara reported as part of the Village’s ongoing

efforts to reduce unbilled water, the Village Administrator intends to execute the attached Letter of

Intent (LOI) with Siemens Industry Inc. (Siemens) to complete a Village water meter accuracy audit. The

scope of this audit is to remove and replace 68 meters of different sizes and in different locations within

the Village. The removed meters will be tested for their accuracy to determine how much water

consumption is unbilled (lost revenue). She further reported upon completion of this meter accuracy audit,

Siemens will provide the Village with a report outlining the results of the meter tests and provide potential

efficiency measures including the costs of and return on investment to replace all the meters with install

an automated meter reading system (AMR). With this LOI the Village has the flexibility to engage

Siemens, contract with another vendor, or to maintain the current system. The only up-front cost associated

with this audit is the meters (between $18,000-$23,000). If the Village pursues a performance arrangement

with Siemen’s, then the cost of the audit would be included in project expenses.

Trustee Ankenman moved to accept the Report. Trustee Meyer seconded the motion. The motion passed

on a unanimous voice vote.

8. Item #8 – Village Attorney’s Report

Village Attorney Peter Friedman had no report.

9. Item #9 – Village President’s Report

President O’Hara thanked the Public Works Staff for promptly cleaning the Village after the 4th of July

parade.

10. Item #10 – Correspondence

President O’Hara introduced the correspondence from the Informational Reports on June 23 and 30, 2017.

Trustee Grenier moved to accept the correspondence as submitted. Trustee Christensen seconded the motion.

The motion passed on a unanimous voice vote.

11. Item #11 – A Resolution Approving an Easement and Ravine Improvement

Agreement (145 Moffett Road)

President O’Hara reported the FY17 & FY18 budget includes $240,000 to plan, design and secure the

necessary access rights to complete the reconstruction of the side slope of the landfill bridge at the ravine

crossing and replacement of the storm sewer running down the east bank of the bridge; with construction

slated to take place next summer, it is anticipated that the Moffett Road Box Land Bridge Repair Project

will total approximately $1.5 million with 65% of the funding coming from federal dollars. She further

reported to keep the project on schedule, secure access rights, and to further the long-term strategic

objective of “setting the standard for public ravine maintenance,” the Village Engineer and Village

Administrator recommend that the Village Board approve the easement agreement. The agreement,

reached after several months of discussions with the two landowners directly contiguous to the project

site, provides the following:

 The granting and use of a permanent easement to complete the land bridge and culvert repairs;

 A native landscaping restoration plan for any areas the Village disturbs while completing the work;

and

 Certain ravine improvement and protection work not to exceed $40,000.

This is one of the two easement agreements needed to complete this capital initiative.

As there were no comments from the Board, Trustee Christensen moved to adopt the resolution. Trustee

Meyer seconded the motion. The motion passed on the following roll call vote:

Ayes: (5) Christensen, Dewart, Grenier, Meyer and Ankenman

Nays: (0)

Absent: (1) Towle

12. Item #12 – A Resolution Approving an Easement and Ravine Improvement

Agreement (201 Moffett Road)

President O’Hara reported this is the second parcel associated with the aforementioned agenda item.

As there were no comments from the Board, Trustee Meyer moved to adopt the resolution. Trustee Grenier

seconded the motion. The motion passed on the following roll call vote:

Ayes: (5) Dewart, Grenier, Meyer, Ankenman and Christensen

Nays: (0)

Absent: (1) Towle

13. Item #13 – A Resolution Approving Final Plat of Subdivision for

Property Located at 201 Moffett Road

President O’Hara reported Julia Magnus currently resides at 201 Moffett Road on a property owned by

the Winifried R. Magnus Family Trust. The property consists of five separate parcels, but has been

considered one zoning lot under the Village’s Municipal Code for several decades. Ms. Magnus has

submitted a plat of subdivision that would consolidate the five parcels into one, cure a title issue with one

of the parcels discovered during the negotiating of the easements and ravine improvements, and establish

a conservation easement over a portion of the property. She further reported the subdivision is not required

to be reviewed by the Plan Commission as it meets the exemption under Section 11-6-2(B) of the

Subdivision Code. The subdivision does not create additional lots, reduce any lot to any area smaller than

required by the Lake Bluff zoning ordinance or create any nonconforming conditions under current Village

Ordinances.

President O’Hara thanked the property owners for working with the Village regarding the matter.

As there were no comments from the Board, Trustee Dewart moved to adopt the resolution. Trustee

Christensen seconded the motion. The motion passed on the following roll call vote:

Ayes: (5) Grenier, Meyer, Ankenman, Christensen and Dewart

Nays: (0)

Absent: (1) Towle

14. Item #14 – Trustee’s Report

There was no Trustee’s report.

15. Item #16 – Adjournment

Trustee Meyer moved to adjourn the regular meeting. Trustee Ankenman seconded the motion and the

motion passed on a unanimous voice vote. The meeting adjourned at 7:18 p.m.

http://www.lakebluff.org/government/agendas-and-minutes?format=raw&task=download&fid=1462