City Council Meeting Agenda - April 27, 2020

AGENDA
ROCHELLE CITY COUNCIL
REGULAR MEETING
Monday, April 27, 2020 at 6:30 p.m.
City of Rochelle Council Chambers
420 North 6th Street, Rochelle, IL 61068

I. CALL TO ORDER:
• Pledge to the Flag
• Prayer
II. ROLL CALL:
III. PROCLAMATIONS, COMMENDATIONS, ETC:
• Recognition of Jason Bird’s Retirement
IV. REPORTS AND COMMUNICATIONS:
• Mayor
• Council Members
• City Manager
o Recognition of New Leadership at RMU
V. PUBLIC COMMENTARY:
VI. BUSINESS ITEMS:
1) CONSENT AGENDA ITEMS BY OMNIBUS VOTE with Recommendations:
a) Approve Minutes of City Council Meeting – pdf April 13, 2020 (423 KB)
b) Approve Exceptions – pdf 04/08/20-04/21/20 (204 KB)
c) Approve Payroll – pdf 03/23/20-04/05/20 (60 KB)
d) Accept and Place on File Financial Statement – pdf March 2020 (845 KB)
2) Resolution Authorizing the City Manager to Modify the Rochelle Municipal Utilities Assistance Program
3) Intergovernmental Personnel Benefit Cooperative Premium Renewal Rates July 1, 2020 – June 30, 2021
4) Ordinance Amending Ordinance No. 45-OH Lee Ogle Enterprise Zone
5) Engineering Agreement with BHMG Engineers, Inc. for 138 kV Prologis Park Substation
VII. DISCUSSION ITEMS:
VIII. EXECUTIVE SESSION
IX. ADJOURNMENT

Anyone interested in participating in public commentary remotely should contact City Clerk Sue Messer at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or 815-562-6161 to make arrangements.

Council members may participate in the City Council Meeting remotely as a result of the Governor suspending
the requirement for in-person attendance at Public Meetings.

The Council Meeting will be broadcast live on Facebook

Agenda Item #2 - Resolution Authorizing the City Manager to Modify the Rochelle Municipal Utilities Assistance Program

Staff Contact: Jeff Fiegenschuh

Summary: RMU currently offers up to $300 annual utility assistance for customers that are at or below the 150% of the federal poverty level. The proposed resolution will temporally modify the annual utility assistance by increasing the amount to $500 for customers that are at or below the 200% federal poverty level for the duration of six months from the day of this Resolution.

In 2019, 109 customers received assistance totaling $32,700. So far this year, 43 customers have received assistance totaling $12,900. The program is funded by the sale of renewable energy credits generated by the Rochelle Energy Center at the landfill.

Recommendation: Approve a Resolution Authorizing the City Manager to Modify the Rochelle Municipal Utilities Assistance Program

Supporting Documents:
pdf Resolution Authorizing the City Manager to Modify the Rochelle Municipal Utilities Assistance Program (204 KB)

pdf Application for Residential Utility Assistance (198 KB)

pdf RMU Customer Assistance Program Presentation (483 KB)

Agenda Item #3 - Intergovernmental Personnel Benefit Cooperative Premium Renewal Rates July 1, 2020 – June 30, 2021

Staff Contact: Nancy Bingham

Summary:
On September 25th, 2017 the City Council approved the Resolution Accepting Membership to the Intergovernmental Personnel Benefits Cooperative (IPBC) in the sub pool known as Quad Cities Health Insurance Pool (QCHIP). Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Illinois remained the insurance carrier.
IPBC’s fiscal year is based on July 1-June 30th.

The City currently offers health insurance benefits to all full-time employees.

The premiums continue to be shared cost with the City and the employee currently paying 15% of the monthly premium for single coverage and 18% of the monthly premium for family coverage for existing employees. With new employees, that started after January 1, 2020 on “tier 2” with single at 18% and family at 21%. The tier 2 rates will continue to increase until they reach single at 20% and family at 25% in 2021.

The IPBC board approved the 2020/2021 premium rates for the members and the sub pools and were presented to the members in late March. The average renewal rate for IPBC is 5.4%, with some increases up to 10.6%. The renewal rate for QCHIP members, including Rochelle, is 5.7%, which will keep our premium rates still below the 2018/19 premium amounts. In 2019/20 there was a reduction by 8%, leaving the new premium amount still be approximately 2.76% less than the 2018/19 premium amounts.

The total premium for a family is going from $1,786.20 to $1,888.01 and single from $696.51 to $736.21.

The insurance plan will be reviewed for 2021 with possible changes in the plan structure to stabilize or reduce rates for the future.

Strategic Plan Goal Application: 

-Dynamic planning and evaluation in City wide planning efforts.
-Budget - A tool to attract and retain quality employees allowing the departments to provide quality services to the City and its residents.

Recommendation:

Approve IPBC premium renewal rates for July 1, 2020 – June 30, 2021 

Supporting Documents:

pdf IPBC - City of Rochelle Rate Renewal Document (70 KB)

Agenda Item #4 - Ordinance Amending Ordinance No. 45-OH - Lee Ogle Enterprise Zone

Staff Contact: Sue Messer, Assistant to the City Manager/City Clerk

Summary: In December of 2015 the Mayor and Council approved an Ordinance Establishing the Lee Ogle Enterprise Zone. The zone encompasses the City of Rochelle along with the City of Dixon, Ogle County and Lee County. The zone was established to provide incentives to promote the economic growth of the area, to reduce unemployment and to encourage expansion, rehabilitation and new construction of structures within the zone for a term of 15 years.

Since establishing the zone, multiple ordinances have been approved to add properties to the zone. The proposed amending ordinance moves a single connecting strip near Dixon so that another regional enterprise zone can expand to cover the 4,000 acre Duke Solar project.

Lee Ogle Enterprise Zone Administrator Andy Shaw will attend the meeting remotely to answer any questions.

Recommendation:
Authorize an Ordinance Amending Ordinance No. 45-OH - Lee Ogle Enterprise Zone

Supporting Documents:
pdf Ordinance Amending Ordinance No. 45-OH - Lee Ogle Enterprise Zone (110 KB)
pdf Amendment 9 to Addendum B (531 KB)
pdf Amendment 10 to Addendum A (396 KB)

Agenda Item #5 - Engineering Agreement with BHMG Engineers, Inc. for 138 kV Prologis Park Substation

Staff Contact: Adam Lanning

Summary:
BHMG has submitted a proposal to provide engineering and construction management services for the proposed 138 kV Prologis Park Substation to provide 34.5 kV and 13.8 kV to the proposed loads. The project requires energization of systems by fall 2021 with long equipment lead times therefore it is important to get this project moving. The agreement is written on a time and material basis with a not to exceed amount of $695,000. Total project cost including engineering is estimated at a range of approximately $8-12 million depending on numerous factors such as future loading and what combination of equipment we select to meet future loading. The proposed project will follow provisions for cutting expenses by 10% for the 2020 fiscal year.

Recommendation: Authorize the City Manager to sign an engineering agreement with BHMG Engineers, Inc. for a not to exceed cost of $695,000.

Strategic Plan Goal Application: Short-Term Route & Long Term Complex Goal Create a 20 Year Capital Improvement Plan, review & modify plan as needed.

Supporting Documents:
pdf Attached Notice of Award (291 KB)