North Egypt News

City of West Frankport City Council met July 9.

Here is the minutes provided by the council:

1. Mayor Jordan Called The Meeting To Order At 6:00 P.M.

Requesting A Roll Call. All Commissioners Were In Attendance, Along With The City Attorney And City Clerk.

2. Mayor Jordan Asked For Approval Of The Minutes From The June 25, 2019 Council Meeting. Commissioner Harkins Made A Motion To Approve, Seconded By Commissioner Chambers. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Jordan Voted To Approve. Motion Carried.

3. Mayor Jordan Next Asked For Approval To Pay City Bills And Payroll In The Amount Of $195,545.70. Commissioner Simpson Made A Motion To Approve, Seconded By Commissioner Warren. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Jordan Voted To Approve. Motion Carried.

4. The Next Item Was Approval Of A Resolution Appointing A P.O.C. Volunteer Firefighter To The City Of West Frankfort Fire Department. The Fire Chief, Jody Allen Asked For Permission For The Approval Of Thomas Herron Iii. Commissioner Harkins Made A Motion To Approve, Seconded By Commissioner Simpson. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Jordan Voted To Approve. Motion Carried.

5. The Next Item Was Approval Of A Resolution To Appoint The City Codes Officer. The Mayor Stated At This Time I Would Like To Ask The City Council Indulgence In Order To Appoint Cw Stilley As Our Code Enforcement Officer. The Mayor Talked About His Background And Skills And The Things He Would Like To See Happen In The Codes Department. Commissioner Simpson Made A Motion To Approve, Seconded By Commissioner Harkins. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Jordan Voted To Approve. Motion Carried.

6. The Next Item Was Approval Of A Resolution Of Acceptance Of Proposals To Furnish Materials And Approval Of Award Regarding The 2019 Motor Fuel Program. Commissioner Chambers Made A Motion To Approve, Seconded By Commissioner Warren. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Jordan Voted To Approve. Motion Carried.

7. The Next Item Was Discussion, With Possible Action, Regarding Repairs To Engine One. The Fire Chief Stated The Prices To Repair, Replace With A Used Engine Or Buy New And The Value Of The Current Engine. Commissioner Simpson Asked Would You Recommend Getting This Engine Fixed For $38,000.00? Jody Stated The Condition On The Engine Is Old And The Value Of This Is $5,000.00 It Is A 1991 And Is The Newest Engine We Have. Commissioner Simpson Stated By Getting This Fixed It Would Buy Us Some Time To Look For A Replacement. Jody Stated I Can't Answer That We Could Get It Back And The Transmission Could Go Out, Commissioner Simpson Asked What Is Your Overall Feeling Towards This? Jody Stated It Would Work For The Time Being. Commissioner Simpson Stated That's What We're Looking At Is The Time Being, If We Want To Move Ahead To Purchase A Fire Truck In The Near Future We Need Time To Have One And Replace The 1983. Jody Stated The 1983 Has A Bad Pump Now. The Mayor Stated If I Gave You The Chance To Fix Engine 1 Or Trade It For Anything Less Than This 1999 Model Would You? Jody Stated Without Seeing These Used Engines In Person And Looking At The Pictures On The Internet I Can't Say. The Mayor Stated This Used 1999 $85,000.00 Truck Wouldn't Be First Out. Jody Stated A New Demo Truck That Is Already Completed Would Cost $635,000.00 And Would Take 30-60 Days. The Mayor Stated I Think What We Were Hoping That You Would Say Would Be Before I Bought One Of These Used Ones I Just Assumed To Fix The One I Got Because I Know What's Wrong. Jody Stated I Can't Say That One Of These Would Be Better Without Looking At It. Engine 1 We Know What's Wrong And If We Fix The Pump We Know What We Got. Commissioner Warren Stated Even If You Do That You Don't Know. The Mayor Asked If There We're Any He Would Like To Go Look At. Jody Stated Yes, The 1999 That Is $85,000.00. The Mayor Stated It Is Similar To What We Have And We Are Halfway There Spending $38,000.00 On The Other One. If We Are Going To Spend $38,000.00 And Be In The Same Situation We Are In Now And You Can Spend $85,000.00 And Be Ten Years Ahead If The Truck Is Worth It. Commissioner Simpson Stated You Are Talking About Replacing The 1991 With A 1999 And We Will Still Need A New Engine Right? The Mayor Stated We Have Some Decisions That We Need To Make As A Community. Do We Want A Stock Truck Or Custom? Commissioner Chambers Asked When The Last Time We Bought A Fire Truck? The Mayor Stated In 1998. Commissioner Simpson Stated I Think We Should Fix The One We Got. The Mayor Stated We Need To Do Something. If You Want To Go Look At These Other Trucks And See The Condition We Can. Jody Stated The 1991 Has A Lot Of Pump Hours On It. Commissioner Warren Asked What The Insurance Is On It? The Mayor Stated The Bill Is $38,000.00 To Repair And The Insurance Denied It Because It Is Part Of A Wear And Tear Type Of Thing. We Already Paid $31,000.00 To Get It Fixed When It Burned. The Insurance Company Has Refunded Us That Money Back. I Would Like To Wait Until The Next Council Meeting To Decide What To Do. Jody Stated It Will Take Three Weeks To Fix The Pump. Commissioner Harkins Asked If Marion Is Still Okay With Us Using Their Truck? Jody Stated As Far As I Know. Commissioner Chambers Stated So Are We Just Deciding If We Want To Buy This More Expensive One Or Just Fix The Old One? Commissioner Simpson Stated Eventually We Are Going To Have To Buy A New Truck. The Question Is Do We Want To Spend $38,000.00 To Fix The One We Got For Backup When We Get The New One Or Spend $85,000.00 On A Back Up? Either One Of Them Will Be A Backup Once We Get The New Truck. Commissioner Harkins Stated My Gut Tells Me To Fix The One We Have. Commissioner Warren Stated I Have Never Bought A Used Car Because I Don't Want Somebody Else's Problem, Commissioner Simpson Stated We Need To Set Up A Rotation Program So We Can Replace Ours In A Certain Period Of Time. We Need To Start Planning For That Because We Are Now Faced With A Dilemma That Our Fleet Is All Needing Replaced At The Same Time. The Mayor Stated I Would Like To Table This Matter. If You Guys Want To Vote To Fix It If It Is Acceptable And Then If The Guy Doesn't Recommend Doing That We Don't Have To Move Forward With It. Commissioner Chambers Asked What Year Is The Marion Truck We Are Using? Jody Stated 2003. Commissioner Chambers Stated We Should Definitely Keep Fixing Our Old Ones Then That Makes Sense. I Might Be The Only One Up Here Who Thinks We Need A Newer Truck. We Have An Antique Warehouse We Don't Have A Fire Department And That Is Not Helpful. Commissioner Simpson Stated I Will Make A Motion To Give You The Authority To Get That Repaired. Jody Asked If They Still Want Him To Call And Look At The Other Truck And Maybe Go See It. The Mayor Stated I Think We Need To Go Look At That Truck. I Am Okay With Fixing What We Got Because It Is A Know Quantity. Commissioner Simpson Made A Motion To Approve, Seconded By Commissioner Harkins. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Jordan Voted To Approve. Motion Carried.

8. The Next Item Was Approval For The Closure Of The 100 Block Of North Jackson Street For E.R. Brown's Annual Street Sale On July 11 Through July 13, 2019. Commissioner Chambers Made A Motion To Approve, Seconded By Commissioner Simpson. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Jordan Voted To Approve. Motion Carried.

9. The Next Item Was Discussion, With Possible Action, Regarding The Proposal From Lunsford Architects, Incorporated For The New City Hall Project. The Mayor Stated This Is The Architect Firm That We Talked To About The New Location. They Are Going To Look At The Building And Do A Rendering Of What They Think We Should Do To It As Far As Making It A City Hall Instead Of A Bank. They Are Also Going To Use The Health, Life And Safety Program. The Total Bill Is $6,000.00 That Will Give Us The Interior And Exterior. Commissioner Simpson Made A Motion To Approve, Seconded By Commissioner Chambers. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Jordan Voted To Approve. Motion Carried.

10. The Next Item Was Discussion, With Possible Action, Regarding The Demolition Of Certain Properties Under Provision Of The Illinois Municipal Code. The Mayor Stated I Talked To The City Attorney About This On The Phone Today And A Little Last Week. Currently With Demolitions We Are Trying To Take Possession Of The House Through Court And Then We Tear Them Down. A Lot Of The Demolitions That We Do We Get On Tax Sales. What I Would Like To Talk About Is The Provision In A Municipal Code Which They Call A Fast Track Demolition. We Don't Own The Property We Tear Them Down And Put A Lien On The Property. Decatur Uses This Provision Because They Don't Want To Own The Property. One Scenario Is We Have A Quit Claim Deed Signed Over To The City And According To The Tax People Next Year In September 2020 The Property Will Go Out For A Tax Sale Available To The City. If We Take Possession Of It Now And File The Deed We Will Be Responsible For The Back Taxes On The Property. Under This Provision We Can Deem It Unsafe And Dangerous And Tear It Down. I Just Want To Talk About How To Do This? The Problem With Fast Track Is That It Doesn't Require Court Or A Judge. There Are Some Provisions That It Needs To Be Vacant, In Disrepair, No Owners Around And All Of Them Have To Be Met. City Attorney Mike Riva Stated I Think It Might Be Good To Start With An Overview Of The Demolition Act In Western Civilization We Hold Property Rights To Be Pretty Important And Our Statute Does The Same Thing, You Can't Go In And Tear Somebody's House Down Because You Don't Like The Way It Look's, You Can't Go In And Take Over Control Of Somebody's Piece Of Property As An Owner Because You Don't Like The Way They Have Kept It. The Statute Provides Two Procedures The First One Is The Standard Procedure Of A Good Title Search Done Because All Interested Parties Have To Be Properly Notified, After You Have Established Who The Interested Parties Are Then You Give Them The Notice In The Regular Procedure They Get A Fifteen Day Notice To Remediate. If They Don't Do That Then You File A Suite Against Them Either One Or Two Counts Depending On The Situation. Then You Get Ownership Of The Property And Either Give It Away To A Neighbor, Sell It To A Neighbor And It Gets Back On The Tax Roll At That Point. The City Attorney Continued To Speak About This Statute And The Issues And Legal Problems You Can Run Into If You Use The Fast Track. After A Long Discussion With The City Attorney, Mayor & Commissioners. This Matter Was Tabled.

11. The Next Item Was Discussion, With Possible Action, Regarding A Request For A Stop Sign At The Intersection Of E. Garland And S. Mcclelland Streets, Facing East And West. The Mayor Stated The Police Chief Has Recommended We Put One There. Commissioner Chambers Made A Motion To Approve, Seconded By Commissioner Harkins. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Jordan Voted To Approve. Motion Carried.

12. The Next Item Was Approval To Pay Invoices For Emergency Repairs To Secure Buildings At 200 Block Of E. Main Street After Demolition Work. The Mayor Stated We Tore Off The Barbershop From The Vacuum Cleaner Place, After Doing That We Had An Exposed Opening In The Ceiling So We Had To Fix That To Prevent The Rain From Going Into Their Building. We Had Emergency Repairs Done In The Amount Of $4,396.00 To Wilburn Construction. We Are Also Going To Get A Bill From Randy Pierce For Cementing Up The Side Of It. Commissioner Chambers Made A Motion To Approve, Seconded By Commissioner Warren. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Jordan Voted To Approve. Motion Carried.

13. The Next Item Was Approval To Pay A Deductible Invoice From Trident Insurance Services In The Amount Of $2,500.00 Regarding A General Liability Claim. The Mayor Stated This Is Our Deductible. Commissioner Simpson Made A Motion To Approve, Seconded By Commissioner Chambers. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Jordan Voted To Approve. Motion Carried.

14. The Next Item Was Approval To Pay An Invoice From Illinois Environmental Protection Agency In The Amount Of $17,500.00 Regarding The Annual Npdes Fee For The Sewer Department. Commissioner Warren Made A Motion To Approve, Seconded By Commissioner Chambers. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Jordan Voted To Approve. Motion Carried.

15. The Next Item Was Approval To Pay An Invoice From Moran Economic Development, Llc In The Amount Of $2,280.00 Regarding Tif Administration. The Mayor Stated This Is For The Projects Involving Union Funeral Home, Pediatric Project, Glodich Honda And The Moreland's. Commissioner Simpson Made A Motion To Approve, Seconded By Commissioner Harkins. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Jordan Voted To Approve. Motion Carried.

16. The Next Item Was Approval To Pay An Invoice From Brown & Roberts, Inc. In The Amount Of $8,878.83 Regarding The E. St. Louis Street Project. Commissioner Chambers Made A Motion To Approve, Seconded By Commissioner Simpson. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Jordan Voted To Approve. Motion Carried.

17. The Next Item Was Approval To Pay An Invoice From Illinois Department Of Transportation In The Amount Of $54,807.77 Regarding The E. St. Louis Street Project. Commissioner Chambers Made A Motion To Approve, Seconded By Commissioner Simpson. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Jordan Voted To Approve. Motion Carried.

18. The Next Item Was Approval To Pay An Invoice From Brown And Roberts, Inc. In The Amount Of $2,909.58 Regarding Tif Development. Commissioner Chambers Made A Motion To Approve, Seconded By Commissioner Warren. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Jordan Voted To Approve. Motion Carried.

19. Officer Reports:

Chief Prudent Read The Police Department's Report.

Chief Allen Read The Fire Department's Report.

20.Building And Sign Permits:

N/A

21.Mayors Comments:

I Want To Talk About Codes We Are Going To Try And Take A Different Approach On This. I Take Responsibility For This Department I Am Just Not Happy With The Way That We Have Been Doing. I Don't Think We Have Accomplished What I Would Like To See Accomplished So If We Have To Start All Over Then We Will. We Can Do Better Than We Have Been Doing And It Is My Goal To Be A Part Of That. I Have To Work At Being A Better Communicator On Social Media With The Public. We Are Going To Work On That And Try To Improve And I Want To Thank The Council For Appointing Cw As The Codes Officer.

22. Commissioner Comments:

Commissioner Harkins Stated The Police And Fire Department Are Doing Fine. With What They Got They Are Doing A Good Job.

Commissioner Chambers Stated I Am Excited That We Are Making Changes In Codes And Maybe Some Of Those Changes Will Include Being More Electronically Friendly And Giving People A Place To E-Mail In Complaints To Make Things Easier. It Doesn't Really Matter Who The Codes Officer Is If They Don't Have The

Support And Tools. It Would Be Nice To Have It Electronic Using Ipads And Not Have All The Paperwork And Have To Print Pictures To Put Into Files. I Hope We Can Kick That Up A Notch And Give Him A Fighting Chance.

Commissioner Warren Stated The Water And Sewer Is Good.

23. Audience Questions Or Comments:

I Would Like To Thank Roger And The Street Department For All The Hard Work They Do. I Also Want To Thank The Girls That Work On All The Flowers In This Heat.

We Saw In The Paper About The Upcoming Marijuana Laws And How Each City Is Going To Be Able To Set Their Own Jurisdictional Stipulations On It I Was Just Wondering If You Guys Have Discussed This And What Your Thoughts On This Is? The Mayor Talked About The Marijuana Law And The Gas Tax Laws. He Stated He Thinks The Council Will Have A Decision To Make Between Now And January 2020. The State Of Illinois Owns The Marijuana Dispensaries And Has Not Allowed The Local Governments To Be A Part Of That. The State Has Full Control Over Dispensaries, The City Does Not. We Are In It Unless We Opt Out. If We Opt Out What That Will Mean Is There Will Be No Marijuana Dispensaries In The City Of West Frankfort And There Will Be No Production. There Are Some Things The City Will Have To Look Into.

24. With No Further Business To Be Discussed, The Meeting Was Adjourned On A Motion By Commissioner Harkins At 7:24 P.M.

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