Renovation Cost Discussion for 333 Chicago Avenue Dominates Savanna City Council Meeting

Michael Miller For The Prairie Advocate News

In a very brief regularly scheduled meeting, the Savanna City Council discussed ways to address citizens’ concerns about the cost of renovating the old medical building at 333 Chicago Avenue.

The meeting was attended by Council members Jack Fosdick, Lois Hunsaker, Jeff Griswold, Bill Grummitt, Peg Haffey, Merle Long and Bill Robinson. Also attending were Mayor Larry Stebbins, City Attorney Phil Jensen, City Clerk Paul Hartman, Comptroller/Treasurer Sheryl Sipe, Police Chief Michael Moon, Fire Chief Shawn Picolotti and Superintendent of Public Works John Lindeman, as well as a small audience.

The meeting began in earnest with Committee reports, with Grummitt delivering the Hotel/Motel Committee report. He said that the artwork for the City’s new billboard would continue for another cycle, with a new cycle beginning in May. Grummitt also communicated that any area groups or organizations that have upcoming events that they wish to advertise on the billboard are invited to contact the Committee for possible inclusion on the billboard.

Building Committee report

Long gave the Building/Public Property Committee report, with 333 Chicago Avenue discussion highlighting this meeting as well. The Committee heard from Thomas Houck of Willett, Hofmann and Associates who detailed preparation of construction documents for project bidding, a bidding phase and a construction phase including project engineering oversight. Fosdick motioned to move forward with the construction documents pending finance committee review, and consideration by the full Council, with all members voting in favor.

The Committee also heard comments and questions from J.D. Gundlach. Mr. Gundlach asked “where is the money coming from?” and questioned why an office building is more important than other infrastructure improvements. Additionally, Mr. Gundlach asked about extending the current City building to the North to create more space with less cost to area taxpayers, and the potential for increased taxes the project may create.

Lindeman responded, saying that the current City building and the City’s infrastructure were not made to last forever and that the taxpayers would benefit from the expense for the renovation in the future. He also noted the many infrastructure improvements that have been done by the City, including street, water and sewer system improvements. He added that there are some space allocation issues for the current City building as well as Police department space needs, and said that rehabbing the current building would only yield a short term benefit as opposed to the projected work at 333 Chicago Avenue which would be beneficial for at least 50 years.

Fosdick gave a brief Finance Committee report, during which he tabled the agenda item dealing with a potential agreement with Willett, Hofmann and Associates regarding 333 Chicago Avenue, as he said the Committee was ‘trying to negotiate a better price’.

The Council reviewed and unanimously approved Warrant #11, bills for the month of February, totaling $177, 207.62.

The Humane Society of Carroll County submitted a letter requesting support from the City for their grant application to PetSmart Charities. This action would require no funding from the City. The Council discussed putting this item on the next meeting’s agenda.

Mayor Stebbins presented recommendations for appointments, including the appointment of Marty Rubio for a two year term to the Police Pension Board, ending on 4/30/12, and the appointment of Keith Brown for a two year term to the Fire Pension Board, ending on 4/17/12. These appointments were unanimously approved.

During a review of the departmental reports, Robinson requested use of the speed sign for use on Pike Road, saying that it had yielded good results on Portland Avenue.

The Council reviewed, in New Business, the third addendum of the Use Agreement between the City and the Savanna Train Car Museum, and the second addendum to the space lease agreement between the City and Computer Dynamics of Northwest Illinois L.L.C.

Public comments

A lengthy discussion followed on the 333 Chicago Avenue renovation. Griswold suggested having a public hearing concerning the details on spending for this building. “I think the Council should hear more of the voice of the public as far as how we should be spending funds for this venture,” he commented. “I have yet to have anybody come up to me on the street and say “I’m happy about how you’re spending the money and that you want a new building”, “If anything, I’ve heard the opposite . . . One of them asked if we’re trying to protect police evidence, why we’re putting it in a basement, that could flood or the sewer could back up . . . or we could have water leaks . . . I said, ‘well, I don’t have a good answer for you.’”

Jensen said that while he didn’t think a public hearing was the “appropriate venue” for this, something could be put on the agenda saying that public comments would be received.

Steve Silberman then addressed the Council, commenting that he’d like to see more details on the posted agenda on the website for the meeting, which would allow the public to be more prepared to ask questions during the meetings.

Roger Husband also commented, saying that he was concerned about the amount of money for project at 333 Chicago Avenue. He said he felt that “the public doesn’t really have any idea what’s going on” and that, as a contractor, he thinks that “maybe a big empty parking lot and a new building would be cheaper than this . . . I’m having trouble with this kind of money. I agree the City needs a new office . . . but I’m just questioning where all this money’s going.” He suggested maybe the City should have an engineer on staff.

Moon spoke to this issue, saying that he’d also been approached by people concerning the possible costs of the project. He said he explained to them that the prevailing wage of $52.00 per hour is a large percentage of the costs involved. He went on to say that “you couldn’t touch a new building for $500,000.00. I think if you polled ninety percent of the people, they’d probably say “fix my street, don’t put up a new building, but that doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t do it.” Moon continued, saying, “I need more space. I need better space . . . I think we can pay for it, we’re going to look at lowering the cost . . . there’s always another pothole, there’s always another street, if you base your decision on that, this project will never get done.”

Moon also talked about the amount of litter currently on the City streets and highways, which he termed “the worst he’d ever seen”. He said that he was trying to get community service workers to help clean this mess up.

Robinson talked about the importance of filling out the upcoming census forms. These forms help calculate essential information that ensures each community receives its fair share of governmental funds for highways, schools, health facilities and various other needed programs. Robinson stressed that the information supplied is confidential, that the information is safe and is not going to be used against anyone.

Long said he, too, had received several calls regarding the renovation expenses, and that he felt it was important to keep in mind that the Council represents the people.

Haffey concurred, saying that “we are the stewards of the taxpayers’ dollars.”

Sipe added that funding has been set aside for the building, and that this funding comes from “transfers for buildings”.

Hunsaker also said she’d been approached by people, “concerned about the cost” of the renovation, including questions as to whether the stated costs included new furniture and the phone/internet system costs.

Fosdick said he’d like to “do a negotiation to see if we can go for a bid and get some real numbers”. He said the number could come in lower or higher, “but we won’t know until we go out for bids”. Once the Council gets that number, he “would have no problem going to a special meeting for it.”

Fosdick also brought news of the Skateboard Park project, reporting that “with a great deal of help from Paul (Hartman)”, the Committee had all the permits and permissions to go out to the Portland Avenue site, including EPA, DNR and USDA. He said the bid opening for the work would be on the 23rd of March, and that the Committee was “moving ahead with this” and that “hopefully the bids will be within the budget”.

Robinson suggested the Mayor might write a letter for the paper to spell out the costs of the renovation project to people including an explanation of the prevailing wage, so that “they see what we’re dealing with, that we’re not building the Taj Mahal over there.”

Concerning this, Mayor Stebbins said that “no matter what we do, we have to follow the laws.” He said that anytime a purchase is made over $10,000, “by law, it says we have to go out for bids”. He commented on the large amount of paperwork involved in such projects, and that “the main idea is to protect people”.

Open House

Note: Subsequent to this meeting, the City announced that it will have an “Open House” at 333 Chicago Avenue on March 20th from 9 A.M. to 12 Noon, during which the public can “view building and plans for future City office and Police station”. The announcement states that this is “not a formal meeting” and that there will not be a question/answer session.”

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