Ordinances on vacant buildings, public comments approved by council

Rick Phillips of Phillips & Associates speaks about the Pontiac audit Monday evening at City Hall.

A pair of ordinances were approved by the Pontiac City Council Monday night pertaining to vacant buildings and public comments during meetings.

Ordinance 2026-O-018 adds a section on vacant buildings to the Municipal Code. This is something the city has talked about for some time.

“We have a number of vacant buildings, they’re not just vacant but they are falling into disrepair,” said City Administrator Jim Woolford. “This ordinance will address them. It would require the owner to register that building as a vacant building if it is deemed so.”

This would also require the owner to do updates and maintenance on the building. If they don’t, it could lead to a violation which could be enforced in the form of a lien or ultimately could end up in a lawsuit.

Meanwhile, Ordinance 2026-O-017 covers rules for public comments. Woolford admits the city does not have a big need to have tight limits on anything but this gives them an outline to follow. The presiding officer has quite a bit of authority.

Comments can be made prior to the council voting on a topic, putting in place a framework, according to Woolford.

Also during Monday’s regular meeting, the Pontiac City Council heard the FY25 audit presentation from Rick Phillips of Phillips & Associates, CPAs, P.C.

The audit document states the financial statements present fairly, in all material respects, the respective modified cash basis financial position of the business-type activities, the general fund, each major fund, each enterprise fund, the aggregate remaining fund information and each fiduciary fund of the City of Pontiac as of March 31, 2025.

Phillips did note that because the city does not maintain accounting records for its governmental funds capital assets by fund or departmental source, they were unable to obtain sufficient appropriate audit evidence regarding the amounts at which governmental fixed assets and accumulated depreciation are recorded in the accompanying statement of net position at March 31, 2025 or the amount of depreciation expense to include in the statement of activities for the year then ended.

“We draw attention to Note 1 of the financial statements, which describes the basis of accounting,” the audit says. “The financial statements are prepared on the modified cash basis of accounting, which is a basis of accounting other than accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America. Our opinions are not modified with respect to this matter.”

Council members authorized a TIF expenditure not to exceed $75,000 for the library HVAC system, which is in need of replacement. The library was awarded $91,000 in an Illinois Public Library Grant. The city will cover the rest of the project cost.

A design proposal for a riverbank retaining wall at Riverside Park was approved. Part of the wall needs to be replaced.

“We could replace it with limestone,” said Administrator Woolford.

Approximately 60 linear feet of the wall has a one-foot outward bow approximately two feet above the wall footing. Exterior faces of the mortar joins appear to be in fair to poor condition with some joins completely missing mortar while others are cracked but still appear capable of transferring load from block to block.

Chamlin & Associates engineers feels the portion of wall should be replaced and could be reconstructed with similar limestone blocks or replaced with a cast-in-place concrete wall or large manufactured block gravity retaining wall.

“It is our opinion that the remaining portions of the approximately 300-foot-long wall outside the recommended replacement limits appear stable in their current condition under current loading,” said the company.

It is recommended a surface or underground drainage system be installed to intercept surface water before it reaches the wall.

The council approved a nitrate recycle pump installation bid for the wastewater treatment plant from Schomburg & Schomburg Co. which was the low bidder at $103,718.81.

A cost of $33,569 was approved for Pace Laboratories in Peoria to perform the analytical portion of a study to ensure models for treatment are accurate. As part of the city’s nitrate reduction efforts, they must participate in large-scale sampling. WWTP Superintendent Brad Duncan said the study was budgeted under the engineering budget for nitrate reduction initiatives.

City leaders also voted to replace the furnace and A/C unit which serves the Gilding Arts Museum at 217 North Mill Street as they have experienced ongoing issues with the 1980s era furnace and air unit. The project will be awarded to DPI Plumbing, Heating and Cooling in the amount of $13,500.

During the comment portion of the meeting, Mayor Kelly Eckhoff thanked everyone who served on a committee for the America 250 celebration in Pontiac.

“The dunk tank worked out super well,” stated Eckhoff.

Eckhoff addressed recent criticism about golf carts in parks. She says it is about individuals in the park and has nothing to do with the grass.

During public comment, a local resident said she would like to see enforcement for golf carts and asked the city to consider getting more information out for golf carts, scooters and bikes.