PUBLIC SERVICES COMMITTEE Minutes of Public Meeting June 4, Village of Downers Grove Committee Room 801 Burlington Avenue, Downers Grove

Transcription

1 PUBLIC SERVICES COMMITTEE Minutes of Public Meeting June 4, 2002 Village of Downers Grove Committee Room 801 Burlington Avenue, Downers Grove ROLL CALL: PRESENT: STAFF: ABSENT: Visitors: Commissioner Martin Tully Chair Public Services Committee Commissioner Marilyn Schnell Mr. Jack Bajor, Director of Public Works Bob Schiller, Director of PW Operations Jon Hall, Engineering Manager Enza Petrarca, Acting Village Attorney Megan Dugard, Recording Secretary None Chris Lavoie, CM Lavoie & Associates, Inc. Ed Novak, Resident Commissioner Michael Gilbert Commissioner Tully called the Publics Services Committee Meeting to order at 5:31 p.m. The minutes for the April 1, 2002 and the May 7, 2002 meeting were both approved as submitted. He summarized the circumstances regarding the DuPage County 1997 Storm Water Audit. The status of the audit will be extensively discussed at the June 25, 2002 Public Services Committee meeting. Any corrections or changes can be submitted between now and the June 25 th date. The next item for discussion is the Christopher B. Burke Engineering Ltd., contract amendment to increase the limits on amount available for billing. Mr. Bajor stated we are at the point of exhausting our contract in the amount of $50,000 with Christopher Burke who not only assisted us in working with the County Department of Environmental Concerns through the audit but also have been working with us through our probationary status resultant of the audit. Kay Whitlock was appointed Storm Water Administrator and she has been essentially overseeing the duties, day to day, in making approvals of the application reviews. This has been going on since December We are in excess of $50,000 contract paid to Christopher Burke since the pass through ordinance is not yet in place. We are hoping to internalize many of the reviews as Jonathan Hall, Development Engineer, assumes more duties within the next few months. We are able to pass through wetland fees and hope with the Storm Water pass through ordinance we will pass through those fees. Jack distributed a listing showing the invoices and amounts received from Christopher Burke. Rick 1

2 Ginex, Village Manager asked that a contract change order be put through which was included in the packet for this meeting along with a memo from Christopher Burke dated April 16 th. Commissioner Schnell stated she felt this was discussed and that we were passing through the cost of the reviews. She is uncertain if Chrys Rymas mentioned it was the Storm Water or Wetland reviews. Commissioner Tully replied he thought the pass through was the SMA reviews. Commissioner Schnell questioned if the SMA Review cost were passed through. Mr. Bajor concurred the SMA review cost have been passed through. Commissioner Tully asked with respect to the contract in the amount of $50,000 limit going to $150,000 limit, it is understood we are required under the current terms of the probation by County to utilize Christopher Burke as our Storm Water Administrator in dealing with day to day storm water review, pre-application and hearing matters. Mr. Bajor stated to a certain degree this is accurate. In a meeting earlier today, this matter was addressed. Kay Whitlock feels we can work with the County due to having the expertise on staff. Jonathan Hall is in his fourth week with the Village Of Downers Grove. He is a registered professional engineer and a storm water specialist. First we need to get the ordinance in place as quickly as possible to maintain pass through, and recapture those funds. Commissioner Tully stated this is understood. For clarification, there are three components of this topic. One is the contract extension with Christopher Burke; the pass through ordinance, why we have not recouped our funds, what can we still recoup; as Commissioner Schnell pointed out, there are a number of issues in the memorandum that were presented to the Committee regarding where are we vis-à-vis progress towards requirements of the probation and how do we get off probation. Returning to the contract for a second, Christopher Burke s memo dated April 16, 2002, on page two, there are twelve items listed which constitute terms of the probation, one year, including daily oversight by Christopher Burke. Christopher Burke appears in a number of different items. These are the terms of the probation until we can demonstrate that we have staff in-house, the expertise in-house, to substitute for the role that Christopher Burke now provides as our Storm Water Administration. Mr. Bajor stated this is correct. Commissioner Tully continued we are obligated by the terms of the County probation to have somebody overseeing these matters whether it is Christopher Burke or Mr. Hall. Is there a current estimate when we can get off outside consultants and have Mr. Hall pick up the role Ms. Whitlock presently holds? Mr. Bajor explained during a meeting with Rick Ginex, Village Manager, a schedule was put together. We are looking at 1 ½ to 2 months. Commissioner Schnell asked if Mr. Hall will be working on the Storm Water reviews and then Kay Whitlock will review Mr. Hall s work. How is this transition going to take place so that County can be made aware of the change and aware of Mr. Hall s expertise. 2

3 Mr. Bajor explained his intentions in working with Mr. Hall, as well as Kay Whitlock who has a strong voice with County, a lot of honor and expertise as well. Ms. Whitlock has already shared with the County that Mr. Hall is extremely capable of taking over on her behalf. Our future plans will be presented to the County. We are on a one-year probation. At the six-month interval, Ms. Whitlock has suggested making County aware of our progress. Commissioner Schnell asked if the plan was in place switching from Ms. Whitlock to Mr. Hall. Mr. Bajor responded the plan is not yet in written form. As discussed with both, Ms. Whitlock and Rick Ginex, the Village Manager, Mr. Hall will be overseeing the regular storm water reviews and the SMA s involving riparian, flood plain, or wetland, yet we would still like to rely on Ms. Whitlock. We want to make sure we can pass those costs on through. Commissioner Tully added we are required to rely on Ms. Whitlock. We are required to either demonstrate the SMA expertise internally or externally and that is why we had Christopher Burke in Mr. Bajor explained that Planning Resources is our current Wetland Consultant. They solely deal with wetlands, specialist located in Wheaton, IL. We have been utilizing Planning Resources all along. Commissioner Tully stated as quickly as possible, we would like to get back to where we were with the County s blessing before we took Christopher Burke back on board, which is having our own internal expertise to handle the general reviews and seek outside consultant assistance with respect to permits that impact special management areas. Mr. Bajor confirmed this to be correct. Those are the most complex and most of them have to do with sophisticated modeling, which we cannot do in-house even with Mr. Hall s expertise. Commissioner Tully asked if a plan was being put together right now. Mr. Bajor responded a plan was definitely being put together. Commissioner Tully inquired within the next 1-½ months to 2 months to be self sufficient again with the County s blessing. Mr. Bajor stated yes. Mr. Ginex gave him a schedule for the plan. Commissioner Schnell suggested it might be beneficial for the purposes of the report that we eventually send notification to council that we have the timeline on how this transition will take place. It should include how you view Mr. Hall s transitioning into Ms. Whitlock s position, the time table, the functions he will be taking over and what functions within the County Ordinance we will still require a Consulting Firm and for how long. This needs to be in our final report. Mr. Bajor stated at this time he would like to add, hoping it is appropriate, the enforcement was a concern and this was in the area of our inspections. Now that Jane Gerdes is no longer with us, he has been working directly with the Engineering Staff. Two Right of Way Inspectors are on staff, Kris Palko and Troy Kline. In addition, he has been meeting with Bob Sandmann and Chrys Rymas weekly. Bob Sandmann from Code Services also performs inspections, and would like to couple these inspectors looking at ongoing projects and utilize their services for 3

4 enforcement inspection, which is the maintenance of citation control and such. We want to try to use as much of the available staff as we can to stand on our own two feet for the enforcement, which was a major item of our probation. Commissioner Schnell asked if a training program was available for Code Enforcement to help them understand the process that is required. Mr. Bajor stated he was aware that County does provide a certain amount of training. But with our in-house capabilities and Ms. Whitlock, he is certain this could be pulled together in-house. Commissioner Schnell stated if training is available from County, then this would be the direction to take. In order to rely on Code Enforcement to do the enforcing, they need to understand what they are enforcing. This is a specialized area. It is also showing a good faith effort to the County that we are trying to train our staff to complete the inspections properly. Mr. Bajor stated he has also learned that Code Enforcement does electrical inspections, as well as fire safety inspections. Essentially they are already at the site to perform the Storm Water Inspections. We need to make the best use of staff cross training between Code Enforcement and Public Works. Time on the road takes the most out of staff. We need to train them to be our eyes and ears for us, which will really help empower our enforcement program. Commissioner Schnell asked if he was working with Don Rosenthal to try to come up with a plan. Mr. Bajor replied that a schematic has been compiled depicting the permit review process from the point that a person applies for the permit to the final inspection. This has been discussed with Mr. Rosenthal. He has a copy on his bulletin board and is working essentially with Bob Sandmann in trying to coordinate his activities. We would also like to coordinate the activities of the two inspectors in Public Works. Commissioner Schnell asked if there is a plan specifically to help train Mr. Rosenthal s staff. Mr. Bajor stated there is no specific training plan at this time. Commissioner Schnell stated a training plan would be put in place. Mr. Bajor stated a plan would be put in place starting with the schematic. There is presently a plan in Public Works for the Storm Water Review that Chrys Rymas put together which fits into the overall permit review scheme. Essentially it is a flow chart we refer to as a checklist. Commissioner Tully asked to return to the contract. The original contract when Christopher Burke was hired in November was not to exceed $50,000. What is the total amount of fees we have incurred with Christopher Burke regardless if they have been passed through or not, to date? Mr. Bajor stated Ms. Whitlock provided him with a total of $ 125,000. Commissioner Schnell asked if this was the total. Commissioner Tully asked if we know how much of this was passed through. 4

5 Mr. Schiller stated some portion of this has been or will be passed through expenses and will offset the $125,000 total. Exactly how much is not known right now. Mr. Bajor replied the numbers could be pulled together. Mr. Schiller agreed that the invoice charges need to be reviewed. Christopher Burke has been involved with the Parking Deck Project. This is a total of Christopher Burke s invoices received to date. Commissioner Tully asked if some of the charges were for the CBD Water Shed. Mr. Schiller stated we need to look at this amount closer to determine if some charges were for the CBD Water Shed. Commissioner Tully asked again if this included the CBD Water Shed work. Mr. Schiller stated some of the CBD Water Shed work could be included in the billing total. It is not a large amount. Commissioner Tully stated he would like to know the numbers. It would be helpful to have a breakdown on the charges from Christopher Burke. Commissioner Schnell stated there are three aspects: 1. CBD Water Shed 2. SMA-Passed Through 3. Storm Water Review Mr. Schiller stated this is the sum of everything received from Christopher Burke. Commissioner Tully stated he saw a document as early as January of 2002, showing that the $50,000 was going to be exceeded and asked why this was not brought to Council at that time. There was an estimate from Christopher Burke stating their fees would be as much as $168,000 annually. We knew then it was going to be more than $50,000. Why wasn t this discussed earlier? He understands the issue that until you get into the problem, you can t fully appreciate what is involved. On page two of the April report, Christopher Burke states the annual fee. Mr. Bajor stated this was the first he had seen the amount. Ms. Whitlock never relayed this to him. Commissioner Tully stated this is going to be very upsetting to Council. The very terms of the contract say they are not to exceed $50,000 without prior written authorization from the Village. It is work that had to be done by terms of the County probation. We can t stop issuing Storm Water Permits and dealing with Storm Water issues. Procedurally, this should not have waited this long to come up before Council. Christopher Burke sent invoices to us, the numbers were adding up and we did not know about it in advance. Commissioner Schnell asked if the invoices have come to total. Up to a month ago, we were beyond the $50,000. 5

6 Mr. Bajor responded this is correct. Commissioner Schnell asked why was this matter not brought to Mr. Ginex or Council? Obviously, we may have been able to come up with an ordinance sooner, or found a way to budget for this work. What was the process or the breakdown? How is this going to be paid? Mr. Bajor explained invoices were received monthly. In the last two months we recognized the fact that the invoices were going to be in excess of the $50,000. Concurrent with this, he was comfortable that a lot of the charges would be passed through. He met with Dan Blondin to get this under way, and Mr. Blondin stated he did not feel we had the strength in our existing Storm Water ordinance to pass through the regular storm water costs other than the SMA s, which included the Wetlands. Of course there after, Mr. Blondin resigned. He since has been working with Enza Petrarca, Acting Village Attorney, the last month or month in half after she returned from maternity leave. Commissioner Schnell stated irregardless whether there was going to be passed through or not, the way the contract was written, once we reached $50,000 of what the Village is required to pay, authorization is required from Council for additional funds. Commissioner Tully stated he is baffled why Christopher Burke continued to do the work without a contract. Commissioner Schnell stated Christopher Burke had the contract and knew what the contract stated. Mr. Bajor responded he wished to assume his responsibility as well. He did try to monitor the budget. Commissioner Tully added the letter from Kay Whitlock dated April 16, 2002 estimating $168,000 for the year and claimed on January 15, 2002 estimated the Administrator role over the remaining probationary period would cost approximately $94,000. If all work stopped at that point in time, because there had been no authorization, that would have been a logical point to determine this was going to cost $94,000 up to $168,000. We needed the pass through ordinance finalized before incurring any additional fees. This is the problem. Now what are we talking about. We need the numbers. We need the ordinance passed this week or next week, June 11, Mr. Bajor stated he is uncertain as to why Christopher Burke continued to perform the duties without funds as well. Chrys Rymas brought $15,000 in bills from Code Enforcement when she transferred back to Public Works. Those invoices were paid first. He asked Megan Dugard for a delineation of the invoices received from Christopher Burke, which shows the monthly bills from January through March, and then a bill received in May for two months. This is included in your packet. Commissioner Tully stated he understands the deferred billing from Christopher Burke was part of the culprit. No bills were received for 30 to 45 days. Why Christopher Burke performed work and incurred fees absent authorization is beyond him. Of the $100,000 that is being requested that we add as an amendment to Christopher Burke contract totaling $150,000, which with any luck we can wean ourselves off of them sooner and not have to incur that total amount, any ideas of where the additional funds can be secured? 6

7 Mr. Bajor replied he was working with staff today and worked with Marty Lyons a month ago. There is a Water Shed fund. There are four separate funds for each distinct Water Shed. He asked Ms. Whitlock to make sure in relationship with the ordinance there was the ability to tap into these funds. There were restrictions, which had to do with detention storm water improvements. Both Stan Balicki and Bob Schiller worked with him looking through the ordinance. They are confident there is enough funding to cover the expenses. Mr. Schiller added in completing additional research, the Water Shed fund is broken up by tributary areas. For example, there is $50,000 in the budget this year for work on the Lacey Creek project. It would be applicable to use the monies from the Water Shed fund since it is an improvement for the Water Shed area and a portion would come out of the Water Shed fund. Likewise, in speaking with Ms. Whitlock there is the possible ability to break down the cost associated with the ditching maintenance. This totals $20,000 for the contractual ditch cutting and evaluate the appropriateness of applying this fund in addition through the various Water Shed tributaries. We need to find $30,000 additional through other miscellaneous storm water related funding through the capital account. Commissioner Schnell stated Water Shed money was not to be used to fund Christopher Burke. Mr. Schiller stated no, Water Shed money is not going to be used to fund Christopher Burke. That is not appropriate. Commissioner Schnell clarified, there is money budgeted for Public Works. Instead of using Village funds to fund the Lacey Creek improvements, the Water Shed money would be used. Mr. Bajor stated we could certainly justify and clarify how it is being interpreted. Commissioner Schnell stated yes these are Water Shed projects and the funds are being used correctly, but we need to make sure the public understands. We need to be very clear. Commissioner Tully inquired if there will be projects sacrificed in order to accomplish this arrangement. Mr. Bajor replied no projects would be sacrificed to accomplish this arrangement. Mr. Schiller stated the only draw is the additional $30,000. There would be a reduction in miscellaneous small accounts that we do not have any specific area targeted at this point. These are small projects that pop up through the year. Commissioner Tully stated he was not certain about discussing the pass through ordinance. He feels what may happen is a new ordinance presented this evening looks as though it covers what needs to be completed. This will be submitted to Council for review and consideration next Tuesday, June 11, 2002 Workshop Meeting. Is there any idea on how many permits currently need to be issued? Mr. Schiller stated there are 35 to 40 permits, which are open and not issued. Commissioner Tully asked if these could be held off until the ordinance is issued. 7

8 Mr. Bajor will speak to Ms. Whitlock in the morning regarding this matter. Commissioner Schnell asked Enza Petrarca, Acting Village Attorney, if at this point, we could ask the people whose reviews have been completed for any additional cost of $200-$500? Ms. Petrarca replied we cannot ask for the additional cost of $200-$500 if the permit fees have already been paid. There is a ten-day waiting period. This item is on the next Workshop agenda, June 11, 2002 and it is recommended to pass the ordinance at this time as well. Mr. Hall stated we have not collected any fees on the 35 open applications. No fees have been collected. Commissioner Tully asked for a total of open permits that we could recoup the consultant fees once the ordinance is passed. In all fairness, the applicant should have paid these fees in the past. The spirit of the Village ordinance has always stated outside consultant fees were to be recouped. The only difference now is that we are dealing with additional consultants. Commissioner Schnell asked for legal opinion if these fees could be charged to the applicant if the fees have not been quoted. Mr. Hall stated he did not feel the applicants were quoted fees, but the public could read the ordinance on their own. Commissioner Schnell asked if we could waive these fees because the Village is paying them, for a Charity or the Park District. Ms. Petrarca replied that outside consultant fees are not waived. We hardly used outside consultants until recently. Commissioner Tully referred to the consultant s letter in meeting the County s requirements with respect to probation and six-month status reports. Commissioner Schnell stated in reading the letter, there were required issues she was unaware existed in getting off probation. Perhaps this could be explained. What do we need to do to get off probation? Mr. Bajor replied the keynote items to address are internalizing enforcement, getting out and making sure as developments are underway, they are being reviewed, maintaining files on inspections, ensure some control is in place. The Wetland audit, we need to essentially hire Planning Resources. They traditionally have been our specialists and there are not too many others who do this type of work. In your packet there is a list of remaining open Wetlands, which need to be addressed. There is $20,000 put aside for this particular activity. It can be worked through the budget; however, he has not taken the time with staff to take it to that point. Commissioner Schnell asked what the timeline was for hiring. Does another contract need to be brought before council for hiring Planning Resources to get rid of the audit? Mr. Bajor stated either go before council or there is a certain amount of funding and he would like to utilize those funds for Planning Resources. It certainly does not approach what was said to 8

9 be the total cost. The total cost could be $35,000 to $75,000. There is $20,000 available now and there is an opportunity to secure more funding. Ms. Petrarca stated the Planning Resources contract is required to go before Council for approval. Commissioner Schnell agreed. The contract needs to go before Council. What is the timeline to do this work? There is no contract. It will prove to County we are serious, providing the timeline, etc. What is needed is to have the information for Council 2 Work Shops from now, June 25 th. This can be discussed at the June 25 th meeting. We need the timeline when the contract will be presented to Council. Everything you are doing needs to be in writing. Commissioner Tully suggested, with respect to the issues raised by Kay Whitlock in her April 1 st memorandum, how we are doing vs. what we ought to be doing with respect to probation. These issues are far too involved to discuss in the next 6 minutes. This will need to be put on the agenda for June 25, Hopefully we will be in a position where specific issues raised, can actually have answers to them. We don t have the opportunity today. Commissioner Schnell agrees to put these issues on the June 25, 2002 agenda. The majority of the work will be complete for the County, because the timeline and manner in which you will be doing it and when it will be completed. It can be presented to the County and Ms. Whitlock, done and over. We need to have a schedule and the County needs the schedule. This should be channeled through Rick Ginex. Commissioner Tully asked if he understands, $20,000 has already been budgeted for Planning Resources completion of the open Wetland issues, which go back to the 1997 audit. Mr. Bajor replied yes $20,000 has been budgeted for Planning Resources completion of the open Wetland issues. Commissioner Tully stated there are 32 open files not 26 files. Mr. Bajor confirms there are 32 open files. There is a summary in the packet for this evening Commissioner Tully repeated that it is anticipated in finding the balance, hopefully the midrange figure of $50,000 in the existing Public Works budget. Mr. Bajor responded this is correct. He anticipates finding the balance, in the range of $50,000 in the existing Public Works budget to get this removed from the books. Commissioner Tully stated it is not the issue of getting this matter completed, that is noncontroversial. The issue is where are the funds coming from and he is glad Mr. Bajor set aside some funds and is hopeful in finding the remaining funds within the existing budget. These 32 items go back to the 1997 Audit. They have been hanging out there and we don t think they are any longer the subjects of probation, or is this the question. Are they subject to the current December, 1999 probation? Commissioner Schnell stated this what she understands from Ms. Whitlock s memo. 9

10 Commissioner Tully stated than this needs to be completed now more than ever. There is no question, we need to get Planning Resources on this matter and get it completed. Commissioner Schnell replied we need get the timetable to Council and move forward getting this matter off the books. Mr. Bajor stated coupled with the timetable he would like to show and demonstrate how internalizing and developing our skills in-house, and how utilizing, construction inspections opportunities from Code Services to get out there and take care of what we need to during construction inspection enforcement. Commissioner Tully stated in the remaining time, we did jump ahead. Are there any questions from the public regarding the Christopher Burke Engineering Contract amendment? Any questions about consideration using a wetland consultant Planning Resources Inc. to review and close the remaining 32 Wetland Permit items. Mr. Chris Lavoie, C.M. Lavoie Associates, Downers Grove, he is also working on projects related to Storm Water. The fees, the recapture agreement that would be replaced should also include consultant fees, for the study in the CBD. The over all Water Shed study and consultant fees need to be built into the recapture agreement. You are providing Storm Water and detention under the Parking Deck. Also, C.M. Lavoie Associates, review of Storm Water Permit reviews, have found the quality of work provided by consultants has gone down. What is happening, a number of reiterations have to be completed to secure the permit. One of the issues Mr. Hall is going to be faced with is spending a serious amount of man-hours and staff time in getting permits to meet the requirements due to the quality of work being submitted. We suggest limiting the number of reviews. Provide a provision, if it is necessary to hire a consultant or spend additional staff to meet the requirements, and secure the permits. Commissioner Schnell agreed with Mr. Lavoie. Very good point made. Commissioner Tully thanked Mr. Lavoie for his comments. Next Meeting June 25, :00 p.m. Adjourned 6:26 p.m. 10