Savanna Fire Department to Refurbish Old City Council Chambers

By Michael Miller For The Prairie Advocate News

SAVANNA – The Savanna Fire Department got the go ahead to begin demolition of the now vacant and unused City Council chambers, thanks to a unanimous vote by the Savanna City Council at that body’s January 10th, 2012 meeting at 333 Chicago Avenue.

The meeting was attended by Council members Robert David, Bill Robinson, Merle Long, Peg Haffey, Jeff Griswold, Tony McCombie, Bill Grummitt and Lois Hunsaker. Mayor Larry Stebbins, City Clerk Paul Hartman, and department heads John Lindeman (Public Works), Sheryl Sipe (Comptroller/Treasurer), Michael Moon (Chief of Police) and Shawn Picolotti (Fire Chief) were also in attendance, with City Attorney Phil Jensen absent.

Another sparse agenda was kicked off by Committee Reports, with Hotel/Motel Chairperson Haffey updating the Council on the highlights of the latest Hotel/Motel meeting. She said that the City might be eligible for a federal highway grant on behalf of the seven Illinois byways for Savanna to receive two state of the art bicycle racks for bicycles at the Savanna Train Car Museum. This would be an “80/20” grant, meaning that 80 percent of the funding would be from the state and the remaining 20 percent from the City. Haffey also related that the committee would be requesting $1,000.00 to finance the publication of a visitor’s map and guide to the City, highlighting area businesses.

Robinson delivered the Finance Committee report, which was highlighted by a request to allow the Savanna Fire Department to begin demolition work on the old City Council chambers in order to convert that area into use for fire fighting vehicles (this work to commence once the asbestos is removed from the building). The committee also recommended granting the Hotel/Motel Committee’s request for $1,000.00 to fund the aforementioned Savanna visitor’s map and guide, as well as $60.00 for advertising. The committee also reviewed a list of eleven surplus property items, and ultimately recommended declaring these items as surplus, establishing a “junk price” to determine the minimum bid requirements for these items, and disposing of these items per city code regulations. The subsequent motion was to establish the junk price then go out for bid on these items. This, and all the committee’s recommendations, were unanimously approved by the Council.

One of the evening’s main agenda items, the ongoing review of the status of the City’s franchise agreement with Mediacom, could not be acted upon due to Jensen’s absence, and will no doubt appear on future agendas. The Council did give final approval to Ordinance #1992, which would alter the language defining the dimensions of the handicapped parking zone by the Catholic Church on Chicago Avenue.

In New Business, the Council read by title only and approved Resolution #1030, which closes out the Fourth Street Resurfacing Project.

In Final Comments, McCombie remarked that the Savanna Chamber of Commerce was still willing to work with the Finance Committee to establish guidelines for the City’s still to be defined Business Retention Program. Lindeman commented that so far the spring-like weather had been great, with the City able to save on overtime expenditures for Public Works employees because of the temperate weather (this was, of course, before the snowstorm that brought several inches of snow to the area on Thursday).

The Council then moved into executive session to discuss matters of probable or imminent legislation. No public comment or action was forthcoming following this session.