City of Rochelle Council Chambers
420 N 6th Street, Rochelle, IL 61068
I. CALL TO ORDER:
• Pledge to the Flag
• Prayer
II. ROLL CALL:
III. PROCLAMATIONS, COMMENDATIONS, ETC:
IV. REPORTS AND COMMUNICATIONS:
• Mayor
• Council Members
• Appoint Gary Dunn to Airport Advisory Board Term 11/21/17-07/01/20
V. PUBLIC COMMENTARY:
VI. BUSINESS ITEMS:
1) CONSENT AGENDA ITEMS BY OMNIBUS VOTE with Recommendations:
a) Approve Minutes of City Council Meeting – pdf 11/13/17 (233 KB)
b) Accept and Place on File Minutes of Golf Course Advisory Committee – pdf 09/25/17 (84 KB)
c) Accept and Place on File Minutes of Utility Advisory Board – pdf 9/20/17 (262 KB)
d) Approve Exceptions pdf 11/08/17-11/20/17 (74 KB)
e) Approve Bills – pdf 11/21/17 (201 KB)
f) Approve Payroll – pdf 10/23/17-11/05/17 (51 KB)
h) pdf Approve City of Rochelle Meeting Dates for 2018 (23 KB)
i) pdf Approve City of Rochelle Legal Holidays for 2018 (70 KB)
j) pdf Accept and Place on File Budget Summary Month Ending 10/31/17 (831 KB)
2) Ordinance Adopting 2017 Tax Levy
3) Ordinance Abating the Taxes Levied for 2017 - Taxable General Obligation Bonds
4) Resolution Authorizing the Sale of Surplus Real Estate – 122 S 9th Street
5) Resolution Establishing Utility Services Price Schedule for Electric including Rider 4 Interconnection and Net Metering Program for Renewable Energy Effective 01/01/18
6) Resolution in Support of an Application to the Illinois Department of Transportation’s State Rail Grant Program
7) Ordinance Authorizing the Purchase of a Ventrac 4500 Series Tractor and Tractor Equipment without Competitive Bidding - Golf Course
8) Engineering Agreement with Willett Hofmann & Associates – Meadowbrook Area Sanitary Sewer Lining Project
9) Engineering Agreement with Baxter & Woodman Consulting Engineers – Water Reclamation Facility Improvements
10) Ordinance Amending Chapter 66 of the Municipal Code Regarding Possession of Cannabis and Possession of Drug Paraphernalia
11) Resolution Authorizing the City Manager to Execute a Letter of Intent with Nextera Energy Transmission Mid-Atlantic, LLC
12) Resolution Authorizing the City Manager to Execute a Memorandum of Understanding with NATEX Research & Development
VII. DISCUSSION ITEMS:
VIII. EXECUTIVE SESSION
1) Discussion of minutes of meetings lawfully closed under this Act for purposes of approval by the body of the minutes of meetings lawfully closed under this Act for purposes of approval by the body of the minutes or semi-annual review of the minutes as mandated. Section (c) (21)
IX. ADJOURNMENT
The Council Meeting will be broadcast live on Facebook
Agenda Item #2 Ordinance Adopting 2017 Tax Levy
Staff Contact: Chris Cardott, Finance Director
Summary: The State of Illinois requires the City annually adopt and file a Property Tax Levy Ordinance on or before the last Tuesday in December. Last year the City’s Equalized Assessed Valuation (EAV) was $225,031,578 and its property tax rate was $1.053060 per $100 of EAV. The City collected $2,372,996 in property taxes. For the upcoming year, Ogle County has estimated the City’s EAV at $238,031,578. The proposed levy calculations would result in the City collecting $2,486,713 in property taxes, an increase of 4.98% (excluding the bond). Based on the estimated EAV, the tax rate would decrease .008361 per $100 of EAV. The proposed 2017 levy includes funding the Police and Fire Pension Funds as recommended by the City’s actuarial studies.
Recommendation: Approve the tax levy ordinance
Supporting Documents:
pdf Tax Levy Presentation (61 KB)
pdf Ordinance Adopting 2017 Tax Levy (90 KB)
pdf Rochelle Police Pension Board Recommendation (42 KB)
pdf Rochelle Police Pension Fund Actuarial Valuation – Lauterbach & Amen, LLP (303 KB)
pdf Rochelle Police Pension Fund Actuarial Valuation – Illinois Department of Insurance (79 KB)
pdf Rochelle Fire Pension Board Recommendation – (47 KB)
pdf Rochelle Fire Pension Fund Actuarial Valuation - Lauterbach & Amen, LLP (1.51 MB)
pdf Rochelle Police Pension Fund Actuarial Valuation – Illinois Department of Insurance (79 KB)
Agenda Item #3 Ordinance Abating the Taxes Levied for 2017 Taxable General Obligation Bonds
Staff Contact: Chris Cardott, Finance Director
Summary: In 2010, the Mayor and Council approved an ordinance providing for the issuance of bonds to finance offsite improvements related to the Lighthouse Pointe Subdivision and Route 38 corridor. The City subsequently issued Taxable General Obligation Bonds, Series 2010 (Recovery Zone Economic Development Bonds) in the amount of $2,940,000. In April 2013, due to federal budget cuts which affected the subsidy available through the Recovery Zone Bond program, the Council approved the issuance of General Obligation Refunding Bonds in an amount not to exceed $3,125,000, which included interest and bond issuance costs. The annual debt service related to these bonds is being paid through TIF revenues, instead of property taxes, when sufficient funds are available. In order to abate the property taxes, the proposed ordinance must be approved annually and forwarded to Lee and Ogle County.
Recommendation: Approve an Ordinance Abating the Taxes Levied for 2017 to Pay Debt Service on Taxable Obligation Bonds
Supporting Documents:
Agenda Item #4 Resolution Authorizing the Sale of Surplus Real Estate – 122 S 9th Street
Staff Contact: Michelle Pease, Community Development Director
Summary: The City of Rochelle is currently the owner of a vacant lot located at 122 S. 9th Street. The property is surplus real estate and it is no longer necessary for the City to retain ownership.
The property is zoned R5 (Multi-Family-High Density Residential) with a lot size of 66’ x 123.75’. The land is a vacant lot with no existing structures.
On November 1, 2017, the City obtained a written appraisal prepared by state certified appraiser Ryan L. Herbig of Midwest Appraisal Services, LLC. The written appraisal sets the value of the property at $6,000 and is available for public inspection.
The City Council may accept any contract proposal to purchase the property pursuant to 65 ILCS 5/11-76-4.1 by a vote of two-thirds. The property must be sold not less than 80% of the appraised value.
Recommendation: Approve a Resolution Authorizing the Sale of Surplus Real Estate at 122 S 9th Street
Supporting Documents:
pdf Resolution Authorizing the Sale of Surplus Real Estate (115 KB)
Agenda Item #5 Resolution Establishing Utility Services Price Schedule for Electric including Rider 4 Interconnection and Net Metering Program for Renewable Energy Effective 01/01/18
Staff Contact: Barbara Bell, Customer Service Supervisor
Summary: Currently, RMU has four solar customers and based on the number of solar inquiries, the solar production in the Rochelle area is expected to grow. In order to ensure RMU is billing for solar at an acceptable rate, RMU retained Utility Financial Solutions (UFS) to conduct an avoided cost determination for the value of solar. Mark Beauchamp (UFS) presented the findings from the study to the city council on October 23, 2017.
The study was conducted using RMU’s system load, class load data and the 2017 cost of service study. The solar production profile was based on irradiance data from the Rockford, IL area and obtained from NREL.gov. The recommended residential avoided cost value for solar is $0.06146. The recommended commercial avoided cost value for solar is $0.06860.
UFS recommends using net billing to charge for the avoided solar cost. The customer will be charged for all energy delivered to the customer at the rate assigned to the customer. The customer will be credited for all energy received from the customer at the value listed above. A sample of the billing difference between net metering (current) and net billing (proposed) is included.
Recommendation: Approve a Resolution Establishing Utility Services Price Schedule for Electric including Rider 4 Interconnection and Net Metering Program for Renewable Energy Effective 01/01/18.
Supporting Documents:
pdf Resolution Establishing Utility Services Price Schedule for Electric (215 KB)
pdf Rider 4 Interconnection and Net Metering Program for Renewable Energy (231 KB)
pdf Sample Solar Customer total Monthly Bill Before Taxes (28 KB)
Agenda Item #6 Resolution in Support of an Application to the Illinois Department of Transportation’s State Rail Grant Program.
Staff Contact: Jason Anderson, Economic Development Director
Summary: The City of Rochelle Railroad initiated a rail expansion project called Co-Op in 2016. Subsequently the Economic Development Office advanced an application for a grant, for the project, through the Economic Development Administration (EDA). Last Fall the City was awarded, by the EDA, a $3.42M grant for the $7.0M project. Upon the announcement of the EDA award, the Economic Development Office approached the Governor's office and the Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT) for a matching grant to help the City of Rochelle fund the rail expansion project. The IDOT State Rail Grant Program has now come forward to offer the City of Rochelle $2.58M to go along with the $3.42M EDA grant. Together these two grants amount to $6M. The current CIR revenues will allow us to cash flow the remaining $1M for the completion of Project Co-Op.
Funding Sources:
Source: Budgeted Amount: Proposed Expenditure:
EDA Grant $3.42 M $3.42 M
IDOT State Rail Grant Program $2.28 M $2.28 M
CIR $ 1 M $1 M
Recommendation: Approve a Resolution in Support of an Application to the Illinois Department of Transportation’s State Rail Grant Program.
Supporting Documents:
Agenda Item #7 Ordinance Authorizing the Purchase of a Ventrac 4500 Series Tractor and Tractor Equipment without Competitive Bidding
Staff Contact: Mitch Hamilton, Golf Course Director
Summary: Our goals at the golf course over the 7 year agreement are to repair buildings, make upgrades to the golf course, replace equipment, build a reserve source of money, and at the end of the agreement we hope to have the course running on its own without any financial help.
We would like to purchase a Ventrac tractor with a contour mowing deck for the price of $27,461.00. This unit will replace a 2001 mower that is specific to green bank and tee bank mowing. We decided on the Ventrac tractor due to its capabilities to add over 21 attachments that are golf course related making the tractor a multi versatile machine to us. The majority of golf course equipment is site specific.
We would like to pay for the unit over a six year period with annual payments of $5,681.24 due May 1st at an interest rate of 4.6%. This will allow us to keep progressing on other upgrades to the property and equipment while still building our reserves.
Funding Sources:
Source: Budgeted Amount: Proposed Expenditure:
Golf Course Capital Outlay 5700.00 per year $27,461.00
Recommendation: Approve an Ordinance Authorizing the Purchase of a Ventrac 4500 Series Tractor and Tractor Equipment without Competitive Bidding
Supporting Documents:
pdf Picture of Ventrac Tractor (605 KB)
Agenda Item #8 Engineering Agreement with Willett Hofmann & Associates – Meadowbrook Area Sanitary Sewer Lining Project
Staff Contact: Adam Lanning, Superintendent of Water/Water Reclamation
Summary: The City of Rochelle was recently awarded a community development block grant from the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity in the amount of $284,652 to line approximately 4,000 feet of sanitary sewer. The City was awarded this grant based on various factors such as basement back up occurrences, income levels and bypass pumping occurrences. This project will line the sewers along Sunnymeade, Springdale, part of Fairview and Short Ct. I expect the project to be completed in the summer of 2018. Willett has been an integral part of this project since its inception approximately 4 years ago. Construction costs are estimated for this project at $354,710 and the city is required to provide $88,680 in local funds per grant requirements.
Funding Sources:
Source: Budgeted Amount: Proposed Expenditure:
Capital Outlay $90,000 $40,500
Recommendation: Approve an Engineering Agreement with Willett Hofmann & Associates in the amount of $40,500.
Supporting Documents:
pdf Engineering Agreement with Willett Hofmann & Associates (280 KB)
Agenda Item #9 Engineering Agreement with Baxter & Woodman Consulting Engineers – Water Reclamation Facility Improvements
Staff Contact: Adam Lanning, Superintendent of Water/Water Reclamation
Summary: In 2016 Willet Hoffmann and Associates was awarded a contract to provide the Water Reclamation Department with a facilities plan along with a rate study to help secure funding sources for numerous wastewater treatment plant upgrades. The report was completed and submitted to the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency (IEPA).
On September 19th we posted a request for qualifications to evaluate engineering firms to design the upgrades for next year and received 4 statements of qualifications. Over the course of 2 weeks we visited numerous facilities and conducted field interviews with the plant managers to evaluate the quality of work from each firm.
The plant improvements will be phased over the course of 2 years and funded through a low interest IEPA loan. In August of 2017 we made the final payment on a 20 year loan and plan to borrow an equivalent amount so the rates will not have to increase.
The proposed projects for 2018 include system 1 pump station modifications, new preliminary treatment bar screen grit removal equipment, SCADA system upgrade, anaerobic lagoon rehabilitation, administration building addition, high efficiency blower replacement(s), and eliminate the Cleveland 2 lift station. The proposed projects total around $5,000,000 in construction costs. The proposed engineering agreement specifies a fixed cost not to exceed based on a time and material basis since some of these projects may not happen based on a preliminary study.
Funding Sources:
Source: Budgeted Amount: Proposed Expenditure:
2018 Capital Outlay $877,675 Not to exceed $816,500
Recommendation: Approve an Engineering Agreement with Baxter & Woodman Consulting Engineers in the amount not to exceed $816,500.
Supporting Documents:
pdf Engineering Agreement with Baxter & Woodman Consulting Engineers (961 KB)
Agenda Item #10 Ordinance Amending and Updating Chapter 66 of the Municipal Code regarding possession of cannabis and drug paraphernalia within the City of Rochelle
Staff Contact: Eric Higby, Chief of Police
Summary: On July 29th Governor Rauner signed into law SB 2228 which removed the criminal penalties for those found in possession of 10 grams or less of cannabis. SB2228 further provides that the penalty for possession of any drug paraphernalia seized during the arrest for the offense of possession of cannabis 10 grams or less shall be a civil law violation. Both offenses are punishable by a minimum fine of $100.00 and a maximum fine of $200.00. The Rochelle Police Department and the City Prosecutor believe that the ordinance should be modified and updated to be consistent with the new Illinois law.
Recommendation: Approve an Ordinance Amending and Updating Chapter 66 of the Municipal Code regarding possession of cannabis and drug paraphernalia.
Supporting Documents:
pdf Ordinance Amending and Updating Chapter 66 of the Municipal Code (121 KB)
Agenda Item #11 Resolution Authorizing the City Manager to Execute a Letter of Intent with Nextera Energy Transmission Mid-Atlantic, LLC
Staff Contact: City Manager Jeff Fiegenschuh and Electric Operations Superintendent Jason Bird
Summary: Rochelle currently owns approximately 20 miles of 138 kV transmission lines and associated substation facilities at Caron Road and Twombly (Substation #2). Since August 1, 2015, RMU has operated these facilities as a transmission owner (“TO”) under the applicable tariff and related agreements of PJM Interconnection, LLC (“PJM”). As a PJM TO, Rochelle recovers an annual revenue requirement for its transmission facilities, which allows Rochelle to recover all necessary transmission-related expenses, including transmission O&M, A&G, taxes, insurance, and depreciation, earn a return on transmission rate base and recover a Payment in Lieu of Taxes.
The transmission function has served Rochelle well by enabling the City to meet PJM reliability requirements and regional compliance obligations, with the necessary cost being shared by customers throughout the applicable transmission zone rather than solely by RMU customers. However, RMU’s primary focus as an electric utility is on providing electric distribution service to retail and commercial customers, not the provision of transmission-related services. In order to better enable RMU to meet current operational needs and better situate it to meet potential future needs, RMU issued a request for proposals on July 12, 2017, to explore opportunities either for a transmission-related strategic partnership, or an outright sale of its transmission assets to a transmission-focused company.
Rochelle received competitive proposals from six respondents, four of which were bids for an outright sale of RMU’s transmission assets. These proposals have been evaluated by RMU staff and its consulting team and follow-up interviews were conducted with four of the respondents. The results of these evaluations have been shared with council members over the course of two executive sessions, most recently on November 13th.
After careful consideration, RMU is recommending that the council authorize the City Manager to execute a Letter of Intent (“LOI”) and enter into negotiations over a potential definitive agreement with Nextera Energy Transmission MidAtlantic LLC (“NEET”). In our view, NEET has offered Rochelle the best overall value for the outright sale of Rochelle’s transmission assets, including a commitment to work in close partnership with RMU on future transmission-related projects that will need to be completed in the next few years to enhance the reliability of the existing system and to serve new load requirements.
If the council accepts this recommendation, an LOI will be executed and negotiations over the definitive agreement will commence immediately thereafter. If the negotiations are successful, we will bring the agreement to the council for review and final approval. It is anticipated that this would occur most likely during the first quarter of 2018.
Recommendation: Approve a Resolution Authorizing the City Manager to Execute a Letter of Intent with Nextera Energy Transmission Mid-Atlantic, LLC
Supporting Documents:
pdf Resolution Authorizing the City Manager to Execute a Letter of Intent (114 KB)
Agenda Item #12 Resolution Authorizing the Execution of a Memorandum of Understanding and Application to the UAS Integration Pilot Program
Staff Contact: Jason Anderson, Economic Development Director
Summary: NATEX Research & Development LLC is seeking to submit an application through the FAA to identify a community to test and collect data on the use of Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS) technology. UAS technology is advancing rapidly and the FAA is looking for sites where these aircraft can be tested within boundaries of rural settings. The MOU attached to this memo allows NATEX to submit a competitive application for Rochelle to be a potential test site. We believe that as UAS technology becomes a viable resource for direct distribution of products that can be delivered through "Drones," economic development opportunities will follow. Test sites will likely become permanent locations for new industries that are designed to take advantage of such technologies.
Recommendation: Approve a Resolution Authorizing the Execution of a Memorandum of Understanding and Application to the UAS Integration Pilot Program
Supporting Documents:
