VILLAGE OF NORTH AURORA
VILLAGE BOARD MEETING
MARCH 12, 2007
CALL TO ORDER
Village President Hansen called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m.
ROLL CALL
In attendance: Village President John Hansen, Trustees Paul Shoemaker, Dale Berman, Linda Mitchell, Mike Herlihy, Mark Gaffino and Max Herwig.
Staff in attendance: Village Administrator Sue McLaughlin, Wes Kornowske, Finance Director Bill Hannah, Building Commissioner DeWayne Williams, Public Works Superintendent Mike Glock, Police Chief Tom Fetzer, Fire Bureau Chief Mark Bozik and Atty. Kevin Drendel.
AUDIENCE COMMENTS
Jim Merk, 1557 Hawksley Lane, North Aurora – Mr. Merk, a teacher at Jewel Middle School, asked the Board to allow an artillery demonstration by a group of WWII re-enacters, 2nd Panzer Division. Hawksley said he is aware of the concern about safety and notification to the public. Merk said that firing of the artillery would be done with blanks. An all day project would involve Jewel Middle School and Fearn Elementary and would be open to the public later in the day. The group would be located at the site of Jewel Middle School’s football field, which will be at least 100 yards from any building. Merk said that the 2nd Panzer Division would like to do a vehicle demonstration with a 60-year old tank. Public notification would be done via the local newspapers, the village newsletter, if possible, and letters sent to the parents of the students who attend Fearn and Jewel. Merk said he understood that there is an ordinance that prohibits firearms to be used in neighborhoods. Village President Hansen said that the Ordinance states that a firearm cannot be discharged within the Village limits.
Atty. Drendel said that an ordinance would be needed to make an exception and to allow this through a permitting process involving specific criteria. Village President Hansen asked who would police the artillery. Chief Fetzer said he does not have anyone certified to inspect WWII artillery.
Trustees Shoemaker and Berman said they would be in favor of the event. Trustee Mitchell asked to hear more from the fire and police departments. Mitchell asked if any of the activities could result in a possible fire resulting from sparks. Mark Bozik said he would not have anyone qualified to inspect the equipment. Bozik said his concern is that there be a safe distance for spectators. Trustee Gaffino said it is important to teach kids about the past, but would agree with Mitchell and Hansen regarding safety. Mitchell asked about a certificate of insurance that would name the Village as an additional insured that the school district would activate.
McLaughlin noted that the field being considered for the demonstration is the land north of the proposed WalMart site, which is unincorporated Kane County. Atty. Drendel said the Village could only allow or not allow within the Village limits and would not have any say in anything that would take place outside the limits. McLaughlin asked if the Village could grant a variation from the ordinance. Atty. Drendel said his concern about approving the variation or approving suspending the ordinance in this situation, without any criteria, is that any organization could come along and if the Village wanted to deny, it would have a problem without any criteria. Herlihy said this would have interesting educational value, however, public policy is to separate guns from schools. Herlihy said there would be people who will have a hard time with guns around the schools. Chief Fetzer said that the Village’s current ordinance does not allow the discharge of firearms. Berman asked how this is done in other communities. McLaughlin said that Naperville and St. Charles do Civil War Re-enactments but they are done in public parks. In St. Charles and Naperville the fire dept. certifies the blanks. Berman said he would like this group to be exempt in order to allow the event. Atty. Drendel said the Village would want to know if the school district insurance policy would cover this and cover the Village as an additional insured. Herlihy said he would like to know if the school board would endorse this. Mitchell said she would like to see the Village mirror the process of Naperville and St. Charles. Atty. Drendel to work on this issue and bring information to the next Committee of the Whole meeting. Merk asked, in the case that the event is not allowed, if the artillery demonstration would be allowed for display. The Board agreed that this would not be a problem. Merk said the Board could get further information about the group on its website: www.2ndpanzerdivision.com
PRESENTATION: SPACE NEEDS ROUGH DRAFT BY FGM ARCHITECTS
Mary Ann O’Hara (FGM Principal) of FGM ARCHITECTS, Jason Estes (FGM Senior Associate) and Jim McClaren (McClaren, Wilson, Laurie, Inc.) were before the Board on behalf of FGM Architects.
Mary O’Hara informed the trustees that a rough draft report would be provided to the Board at the end of the meeting. O’Hara reviewed the staffing needs:
– Village Administration: Assistant Village Administrator added.
РFinance Department: Accounts Payable Clerk and a Water Billing Clerk added. Hannah said there is one accounts payable person, one water-billing person and one senior accountant. O’Hara said the senior accountant position was accounted for in the plan.
РBuilding & Zoning – additional future staff was a ½ person for a billing clerk. Two more code enforcement officers and two more building inspectors.
РIT Department – Added an IT Manager.
O’Hara said that the boardroom would hold 100 to 150 people with an executive session conference room of 400 s.f.
Gross square footage is 20,258 s.f. for the Village Hall function.
Existing conditions:
Basement floor is 4,375 (largely storage space). Concerns: ADA issue that the lower level is not accessible, moisture concerns about storage of files, elevation of the basement is well below the base flood elevation that is required as part of the Kane County Ordinance. The existing village hall is 11,958 s.f. The immediate need is 18,556 s.f. The build out need is 20,258 sf.
O’Hara said that the total existing building square footage will not support the Village’s immediate need or the build-out need. There are serious constraints with regard to expansion due to floodplain issues. O’Hara said that the Illinois Flood Insurance program defines this property as a floodway. The Kane County Stormwater Ordinance says that the finished floor elevation of any building in a floodway should be three feet higher than the base flood elevation. O’Hara said this building does not meet that requirement since it is only 1 foot higher than base flood elevation. If there were to be an addition built, there would be some ADA challenges in getting the existing building to meet the new addition.
O’Hara said that mechanical equipment is approaching the end of its useful life. In the next five years a complete overhaul of the mechanical system would be required. Electrical distribution cannot handle future expansion. There are also challenges of wiring technology through an existing facility that did not anticipate it.
Parking is another challenge for the Village Hall.
O’Hara said that FGM believes that an addition or remodeling would not be in the Village’s best interests.
Trustee Herlihy asked if another AP or water clerk would be added. Hannah said the future needs that Staff conveyed to FGM was a potential HR/payroll person and an additional accountant, but not an AP or water clerk. Hansen asked Williams if the additional employees in the Building & Zoning department would be permanent or temporary. Williams said the Village would need to add more in code enforcement due to the buildout and growth, but not in inspections. Mitchell said she found it hard to believe that the Village building would not be sufficient space for the Village offices once the police vacated. Mitchell said she did not agree with adding another building inspection position.
Jim McClaren provided the following information to the Board. Private offices would be minimized, open plan furnishing plans (standardized work stations). Open plan workstations size of 10 x 10.
Two structure concept : 1. Main Police Headquarter (office functions and patrol and investigative functions. 2. Support building (evidence, armory, high value vehicles, firearms proficiency range).
Parking Needs: 40 spaces for public parking (sized for the community room) and 75 spaces for secure parking (fleet & Staff POV and specialty vehicles)
Main bldg s.f. is 24.041 GSF (sized for buildout)
Support bldg – 5,761 GSF (sized for build-out)
Herwig asked about the needed acreage. McClaren said a little more than 4 acres would be needed, which would include parking, dumpster location, apron space in front of second building, space for 8 controllers, snow stack area, emergency generator area, setback of 25 feet and 30% for service, landscape area.
Gaffino asked about the size of the multi-purpose room. McLaren said it would be sized for 50 people.
O’Hara reviewed the suggestions:
New stand alone max of 20,258 s.f. Village Hall on a hypothetical max of 3.6 acres
New stand alone max of 29,802 s.f. police station on a hypothetical max of 4.1 acres
New combined max of 50,060 s.f. Village Hall and Police Station on a hypothetical max of 7.7 acres.
There were no questions.
CONSENT AGENDA
A.
