City of Dixon City Council met March 8.
Here are the minutes provided by the council:
CALL TO ORDER
The meeting was called to order by Mayor Arellano at 4:02pm.
ROLL CALL
Councilman Oros, Venier, Considine, and Mayor Arellano answered roll call. Absent: Councilman Bishop.
PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE
The Pledge of Allegiance was cited. Councilman Venier blessed the proceedings.
VISITOR/PUBLIC COMMENT
Chris Hammitt – Dixon Municipal Band came to advocate the fully funding the budget requested, previous budget meeting only allocating half of revenue requested $40,000. He explained the history and is not a not-for-profit entity, it is a City entity with staff that is paid by the City, explained the budget allocations, we are not asking for a donation but asking for annual revenue allocation request. $60,000 budget overview in a meeting. Explained the previous year. In order to continue to perform at that level, they need to maintain their equipment and talent and continue to bring in talent. What they have raised, will go through the details of the budget request. Please reconsider your allocation and fully fund the Dixon City Municipal Band.
At 4:07pm, Councilman Bishop arrived at the meeting.
Demaris Martinez – addressed the council regarding installing the license plate readers, she explained that she did some digging on FLOCK and read highlights of a report on who has access, and participating in surveillance structure that is warrantless.
David Hellmich – Sauk Valley College Foundation gave an update on the Impact Program, every student in the district can earn their education, total to date 829 students, 117 from Dixon. Volunteer hours 9700 from community and 1300 from Dixon students, 22 non-profits taking advantage of the volunteers. Milledgeville & Prophetstown have donated, fully endowed, Rock Falls Council donated $25,000. They are about halfway to their goal, and support would be appreciated. Discussion ensued, and general consensus was to budget $25,000.
Discussion ensued regarding police cameras not being in the budget this year. There will be a public forum to discuss.
WORK SESSION
Council discussion: Dixon Chamber Commerce & Main Street – original request of $75,000 add to total budget equaling $375,000; municipal band; Theatre, Scott Fatisi updated on the renovations, timelines and events coming up; discretionary funding through Senators, submitting for the Bloody Gulch expansion; portage around the dam pre-engineering; Resiliency Program, allocating an additional $20,000 for education and training; enhancing the entry and exit signs to the City; vehicle charging system downtown; arch maintenance; downtown officer.
City Manager Langloss – with the new structure of the Streets and Public Properties, the manager will be in the office more and need to refresh the 2 offices at the Streets building, asking for a place holder of $60,000 for the renovations.
Council discussion on the municipal band, Public Comment during the discussion – Glen Hughes talking about upping the donation to $20,000 is an actual decrease due to the $8,000 in equipment upgrades, actual operational stand point would be down to $12,000, really a decrease in operational budget. His opinion, you need to consider the equipment replacement or improvement as a separate issue from the operating side.
COMMENTS
Another Special Meeting will be schedule at 4:30pm prior to the next regularly scheduled meeting.
Comment – Councilman Considine addressed Mr. Langloss no way did he want to infer that puling back and trying to lower our real estate that I was inferring that we have done anything frivolous in the City, I like your explanation of where we were and what we are doing. All very conscious of our tax payer dollars, and didn’t think that is where he was inferring but wanted to clear that up.
ADJOURMENT
Councilman Bishop moved that the Special Session of Wednesday, March 8, 2023 be adjourned to meet in Regular Session, actually prior to that there will be a Special Session and then Regular Session on March 20, 2023, at 4:30pm in the City Chambers at City Hall. Seconded by Councilman Venier. Voting Yea: Councilman Oros, Venier, Bishop, Considine, and Mayor Arellano. Voting Nay: None. Motion Carried
The meeting adjourned at 5:56pm.
https://www.dixongov.com/index.php?option=com_docman&view=download&alias=3392-03-08-23-special-council-meeting-minutes&category_slug=2023-city-council-minutes&Itemid=1086
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