Savanna To Re-Evaluate Carey Rebate Proposal Upon Formation of Business Incentive Plan

By Michael Miller For The Prairie Advocate News

The Savanna City Council voted down Savanna auto dealer J.C. Carey’s original proposal for a tax rebate to help conform his business to GM standards, but in the same breath pledged a ‘re-evaluation” of the proposal once they have successfully completed the formation of a business incentive plan for the City, at their September 27, 2011 regular meeting.

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

Robinson opened up the committee reports with highlights of the most recent Finance Committee meeting, which included a recommendation to allow Lindeman to negotiate for the purchase a 2009 Panel Van for the water department, for $21,000.00 plus $200.00 for shelving work.

He then summarized the discussion held by the Finance Committee regarding J.C. Carey’s request for a tax rebate that occurred at the committee’s September 19th meeting, telling the Council that the committee had voted to recommend a rescinding of the denial of the request (which would help Mr. Carey expand his business to conform to GM standards by granting a tax rebate in the amount of $150,000.00 or 50 percent of sales tax, whichever is less, for a period of ten years), and also to approve his request contingent upon the completion of a business retention plan for the City.

Noise and Liquor Ordinances

Ordinance, Public Relations and Health Committee Chairperson Haffey then delivered that committee’s report, with several updates to ordinance wording. The word “music” was added to the noise ordinance, after Moon reported that using the Carroll County law officers for assistance at times would not be a “viable option” and that using equipment to measure sound would prove too costly and would necessitate a lot of training for the officers involved. Specifically, the ordinance (#1981) would change to reflect that the City could regulate “the use of any drum, loudspeaker or other instrument or device for the purpose of attracting attention by creation of noise and/or music for the purpose of show or display of merchandise.” Haffey also reported on Ordinance 3-7-7, regarding regulations for private citizens carrying liquor into restaurants. This ordinance (#1982), would “create an additional class of liquor license” and would contain many wording revisions. Haffey said the committee had also begun to look at a standardized policy for accepting grant applications.

Later, the Council voted on the first reading of the reworded noise ordinance, with Haffey motioning to read the ordinance by title only, and Robinson seconding, with the Council unanimously approving. Fast upon this, the Council voted on #1982, with Robinson motioning to read by title only, waive the second reading, and approve.

Mediacom

The City received and reviewed a letter from Mediacom, which was once again informing the City of impending fee increases. The letter stated that after September 15, 2011, each additional digital adapter beyond three will cost $.99 a month for existing customers. On January 31, 2013 a $.99 fee per adapter will be added to the customer’s monthly bill. New customers will pay $.99 per adapter upon signing up with Mediacom.

J.C. Carey Tax Rebate Proposal

Unfinished business saw Robinson offering the following motion regarding the J.C. Carey sales tax proposal . . .”to disapprove a sales tax rebate incentive to expand J.C. Carey Motors in the amount of $150,000.00 or 50 percent of his yearly sales tax for a period of ten years. Upon completion of the City of Savanna Retail Retention and Expansion Plan, his request will be re-evaluated using the parameters established in the Savanna Business Retail Retention and Expansion Plan.” Haffey seconded this motion. McCombie asked if, in light of the absence of several members of the Council and the importance of the issue before them, it might not be prudent to table the matter until the absent members had a chance to review and decide upon it. She made the motion to table, but with no second, the motion died.

In discussion, Robinson said he felt the bottom line was that the committee wanted to support the proposal but they wanted to do it in a way that was fair to all taxpayers. He said that the Finance Committee would work with the Chamber of Commerce to formulate the Business Retention Plan. Haffey said that with this method, in the event that other businesses came to the Council with similar requests, they would have a structure in place to try to fit them into, and that it would send a message to businesses that the City wanted to not only help, but do it fairly for everyone.

McCombie questioned why the wording of this motion was different than the wording of the recommendation that came out of committee. “Because that’s not the way he made the motion,” Stebbins replied.

Grummitt said he thought the committee had gone about things the right way, trying to get a plan in place for the businesses before attempting to render help for them. “We want to build the box before we put the people in it,” he said.

Put to a vote, the motion passed by a four to one margin, with McCombie providing the sole “nay” vote.

Resolutions

Halloween approaches, and the Council quickly passed two resolutions dealing with the observance of the holiday. The first, #1027, will allow the closure of Illinois Route 64 (Main Street) from Division Street to Chicago Avenue, on Sunday, October 30th, between 2:00 pm and 2:30 pm. The second, #1028, authorizes Trick or Treat hours between 3:00 pm and 6:00 pm on Sunday, October 30th, of this year and also establishes the time of the annual Halloween Mardi Gras parade at 2:00 pm on Sunday, October 30th of this year, with parade formation at 1:30 pm at Main and Division Street, proceeding South on Main Street to the City of Savanna’s South Parking lot at Chicago Avenue, with treats being provided at the end of the parade. Both resolutions passed.

Stebbins read aloud a mayoral proclamation regarding Mental Illness Awareness Week, the observance of which will be October 2nd through October 8th.

Stebbins also noted that he plans a meeting on the 6th of October at St. John’s Hall in Savanna, with state and local officials, as well as IDOT and representatives from the Corps of Engineers, to address the issue of flooding in Savanna. This is not a public meeting, and will be by invite only.

Public and Final Comments

Steve Haring asked the Council what it’s thoughts were on the time frame in order to get the Business Retention Plan established. He noted that the Council had denied a long time business owner his proposal for help to expand his business, and that while he understood the need for a framework for such requests, he couldn’t believe that something couldn’t be done “to handle these situations” in light of all the businesses that have and continue to thrive in Savanna. “We have TIF, we have enterprise zones, we’ve abated sales and property taxes in the past,” he said. He warned against letting things get bogged down too long in a time frame while praising the Council’s willingness to work with the Chamber of Commerce to form a plan. He said he felt that “at minimum” the motion should have been tabled this evening.

Mrs. Ruth Kelly followed up on Haring’s comments by saying that all the Council had done this night was to send a message to the world that “you do not want to help business people.” Robinson tried to respond to these comments, but Stebbins said that Council’s comments should be restricted to information only.

The mayor went on to say that he needed to appoint the formation of the business retention plan to a committee and resolved to do so soon.

Long revealed that in all the work involved with getting the Haunted Forest together, he’d somehow forgotten to renew the user agreement with the City that allows the Forest to utilize city property to conduct it’s business. Since the matter was not an agenda item, no action could be taken on it this evening and since the next regular meeting would occur after the first night of the Forest (October 8th), Stebbins said a special session of the Council would be necessary to grant the user agreement.

McCombie said that she was “embarrassed” by the vote on the tax proposal.

The next scheduled meeting is on October 11th, at 333 Chicago Avenue at 7:30 pm and the public is welcome to attend.