Franchise Agreement Nears Approval in South Beloit

By Margaret Downing, REPORTER

 At the first South Beloit City Council Meeting of the year, Commissioners once again discussed the Franchise Agreement between the City and Rock Energy Coop. The current agreement has run its course (25 years) and a new one needs to be agreed upon. Originally on the agenda for a vote at the Jan. 3 meeting, Mayor Ted Rehl requested that the matter be held over to the Jan. 16 Council Meeting.

City Attorney Roxanne Sosnowski explained that it had to be laid over because of some language in the new (25-year) agreement and because the City is waiting for the okay from Rock Energy officials. “The new agreement should result in savings for residents of South Beloit,” she said. She also explained that the utility tax South Beloiters pay is for electricity, not gas. In other business, Commissioners approved payment of $116,385.49 in bills from Dec. 17-29. A “Professional Services Agreement” with Fehr-Graham, and Associates of Rockford (an engineering and science consulting firm) for a Waste Water Treatment Plant Project was approved. Mayor Rehl noted, “This is the start of improving the City’s infrastructure.”

A request from Nyman Properties, LLC for a refund of a Zoning, Special Use Permit application fee amounting to $750 was approved on an amended motion to refund $650, not $750, due to the fact that a City employee had put time in on the matter.

A resolution approving “a methodology” for the calculation of Fire Department employee overtime pay was passed. According to Commissioner Tom Fitzgerald, it was very recently discovered that the City had been paying overtime to Firefighters at a wrong rate since 2001.

One example, he said, was one Firefighter who was overpaid $3,600 in the past year. Overpaid employees will not be required to pay back the money however, as the situation was a City oversight for the past 15 years. “Pay will be calculated correctly now,” Fitzgerald said.

Police Chief Dean Stiegemeier gave thanks to the Community for a quiet holiday period. Commissioner Fitzgerald explained, “There were a couple of calls for loud parties, but that was about it.” On the Police Activity Report it was noted that a 35-year-old man had been arrested by Officers for burglary. Storage units on South Bluff St. were broken into, and a television was stolen from a bar. The Chief reported that the Police Department received 532 calls for service in 2016.

On the bi-weekly Fire Department Report a total of 31 runs (three engine and 28 ambulance runs) were made between Dec. 16 and 31. Two mutual aid responses to Beloit, one automatic alarm and one natural gas leak call response were also made.