Elmhurst City Council Set to Approve 2012-13 Budget

Elmhurst City Council will hold its regular meeting at 7:30 p.m. Monday, April 16, at City Hall, 209 N. York St.

The public meeting will be preceded by a closed session to discuss collective bargaining, acquisition of real property and pending/threatened litigation.

After the public meeting is called to order, there will be a presentation for the Tackle the Tower first-place trophy winner and volunteer recognition for Elmhurst Historical Museum volunteers.

The public will then be invited to speak on any topic for up to three minutes.

In addition to approval of minutes and accounts payable, the consent agenda includes the following items:

• reappointment of Thomas Klein and Leslie Leader to the Elmhurst Heritage Foundation
• approval of the 2012 tree purchase and planting program. The plan is to purchase 422 trees for $61,000; the cost to plant them will be an additional $72,000.
• approval for the York and Vallette Business Association to hold the 2012 Farmers Market in the municipal parking lot east of York Road on Vallette from 7 a.m. to 1 p.m. Wednesdays, June 6 through Oct. 31
• approval for the Elmhurst Jaycees to hold its annual carnival June 7 to 10 on Park Street between Myrtle and Prospect avenues. The carnival will be increased this year to include a festival of food and music.
• approval of a proposal from Chubb Group, the city's current carrier, for risk management insurance for 2013 at a cost of $54,226, a $2,191 increase (4.2 percent) over last year. The coverage is for general, auto and public officials liability insurance, property insurance and excess workers' compensation insurance.
• approval to outsource claims administration for general liability, property, casualty and employment related claims for 2013 to the city's current providers, Employer's  Claim Service Inc. and Carl Warren & Co./NovaPro Risk Solutions. The quoted fee for worker's compensation claims administration is $15,240, and the quoted fee for liability claims administration is $11,700, for a total cost of $26,940, an increase of $1,915. The fees are contingent on the number of claims.
• approval to hire Penn Credit as the city's collection agency. The city's current vendor, Armor Systems, has a 30 percent contingency fee with a recovery rate of 11 percent in 2011. Penn Credit has a 19 percent contingency fee, has been in business for 20 years and has positive feedback from other municipalities.
• approval to authorize the transfer of volume cap (equal to $95 per resident) toward the issuance of private bonds. Because Elmhurst is a home-rule city, it is allocated private activity bond volume cap from the state based on population. It can be used to issue bonds or can be transferred (generally for value) to another municipality. If if is not used or reserved by May 1, it reverts back to the state.
• approval of the Annie Ryan Fun Run on May 20. The run starts and finishes near York and South streets.
• approval to remove diseased or dangerous trees on private property
• approval to allow the city manager to extend or reduce the amount of time a sidewalk cafe can operate
• amendment to the city code regarding drag racing
• approval of an ordinance to allow stop signs at Oak and First streets
• approval of an ordinance allowing the city to purchase gasoline and bio-diesel fuel from Heritage FS Inc.
• approval of a resolution rejecting all bids for the municipal building flat roof replacement. The project will be budgeted for fiscal year 2013-14.
• approval of a contract with Robinson Engineering for the sanitary lift station project at a cost not to exceed $48,000
• approval of a resolution authorizing a highway authority agreement between Pauli's Marathon and the city in connection with groundwater contamination
• approval to authorize destruction of audio recordings of certain closed session meetings prior to Oct. 1, 2010
• approval of a collective bargaining agreement between the city of Elmhurst and the Illinois Fraternal Order of Police Labor Council on behalf of Elmhurst Police officers FOP Lodge 81.

Aldermen will then hear updates from the mayor and city officials. This will be followed by a report on the plan of operation and governance for municipal electricity aggregation.

The council will then approve the budget and appropriation ordinance for 2012-13.