Monday’s Rochelle City Council meeting was the first for City Manager Zeke Jackson, who officially began his new role June 8.

Jackson was officially hired in April and replaced Jeff Fiegenschuh, who resigned in December to take a city administrator position in Washington, Illinois, after eight years as Rochelle’s city manager. City Engineer Sam Teseau served as interim city manager between Fiegenschuh’s departure and Jackson’s first day.

During Monday’s meeting, Mayor John Bearrows welcomed Jackson to his new role.

“We wish him the very best and welcome him to the community,” Bearrows said. “I know he’s had several meetings with staff already. I trust that everything is going well and we’re happy to have him aboard.”

Tesreau took a moment Monday to thank the City Council and staff for their work during his time as interim city manager. He will be assisting Jackson in the transition in the months to come, along with continuing his city engineer work.

“I want to thank you all for putting your trust in me over the past few months,” Tesreau said. “It’s truly been an honor. In this role, I gained a newfound appreciation for the roles of each of our staff members.”

Liquor code

The council unanimously approved an amendment to its liquor code that will allow 18-year-olds to serve alcoholic beverages as wait staff and sales clerks.

Previously, the city’s code prohibited 18-year-olds from delivering drinks to customers.

“Several local restaurants” inquired about lowering the minimum age to serve alcoholic beverages from 19 to 18 years old to allow for staffing flexibility, the meeting’s agenda packet said.

After the change, 18-year-old waiters, waitresses and sales clerks will be permitted to serve alcoholic beverages to customers and deliver alcoholic beverages to customer tables and perform the same duties as 19- and 20-year-old waiters and waitresses.

All employees under 21 years old will continue to be prohibited from working behind the bar, tending bar or performing bartending duties, pouring and mixing alcoholic beverages and preparing alcoholic beverages for service.

Transformers

The council and Rochelle Municipal Utilities Superintendent of Electric Operations Blake Toliver discussed a future emergency purchase of electric transformers during the meeting.

At the council’s next meeting on June 22 it will consider the emergency purchase of two transformers for stock after a recent failure of a transformer at Wheatland Tube. The purchase is expected to cost about $300,000 and take 10-14 weeks for delivery. Toliver said the purchase will be made as soon as possible to ensure RMU has stock in the event of another future failure.

At the council’s April 27 meeting, it approved the purchase of four electric transformers from Wesco Distribution for $267,962.

Variance

The council voted unanimously to postpone a variance request for Wheatland Tube. The business at 1600 Ritchie Court has a desire to build a fabric-covered hoop structure for the enclosed loading of pipe.

The proposed alternative construction method would be approximately 33,000 square feet, 48 feet tall, 110 feet wide, and 291.5 feet long. The variance would apply only to the alternative construction method. All other applicable building, fire, life-safety, zoning and municipal code requirements would remain in effect.

Wheatland Tube has said to the city that its code provisions would limit the facility’s ability to adapt to changing operational needs and the alternative method would help with construction duration, material lead times and facility downtime. The petitioner submitted structural design information indicating the structure meets the required 30-pound snow load, anchoring and other applicable code requirements.

The city’s planning and zoning commission voted 7-0 to recommend the approval of the variance to the City Council.

Before the postponement of the request, city staff and council members asked a representative from Wheatland Tube to provide additional information before another vote later this month, such as how the new structure will connect to an existing building, plans for snow removal and whether a concrete barrier wall could be constructed around the new structure.

Parking

The council unanimously approved an ordinance that will prohibit parking along the east side of North 15th Street between 10th Avenue and Squires Landing.

The 1000 block of North 15th Street functions as a local roadway providing access to the Squires Landing neighborhood, Little Hubs Daycare and St. Paul Lutheran Church. The segment measures about 31 feet from back of curb to back of curb, which limits the space available for on-street parking and efficient traffic movement.

Concerns were raised by residents and motorists regarding safety when vehicles are parked on both sides of the street, namely on Sundays during church, which brought about the change.