City of West Frankfort City Council met Oct. 8.
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, commissioner Harkins, Commissioner Chambers and Commissioner Warren were in attendance, along with the City Attorney and City Clerk. Commissioner Simpson was not in attendance.
2. Mayor Jordan asked for approval of the minutes from the September 24, 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 $382,233.78. Commissioner Warren made a motion to approve, seconded by Commissioner Chambers. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners and Mayor Jordan voted to approve. Motion Carried.
The Mayor stated we have a bill that has been given to me from Don Gass who is the administrator of the business incubator and they have a roof problem that they need to get repaired. This is an emergency situation and we have an amount from tri-county roofing for $21,350.00. This company is who did the repairs and the roof on the mall. Don has a leak there that is causing some problems at the incubator so I would like to ask the councils approval to allow them to fix this. Commissioner harkins made a motion to approve, seconded by Commissioner Chambers. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners and Mayor Jordan voted to approve. Motion Carried.
4. The next item was approval of a purchase request for Surplus property. The Mayor stated we have a bid from Robbin Smothers to purchase 502 N. Adams. The bid is for $1000.00. and I would recommend that we accept that bid for that property. Commissioner Chambers made a Motion to Approve, seconded by Commissioner Warren. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners and Mayor Jordan voted to approve. Motion Carried.
5. The next item was discussion, with possible action regarding approval to accept bids and award projects for renovations to the new city hall building at 605 W. Main Street. The Mayor stated we received two bids. The first bid was from ross construction in the amount of $46,700.00 and the next bid was from faber mcgee for $88,755.00. Through this process what we found was that Faber Mcgee brought in subcontractors and went through a very extensive process about all this construction. What I would like to do is ask for the councils approval to meet with these two contractors and talk to them because I don't think these two bids are the same. They didn't seem to bid on the same things. After discussion, this matter was tabled.
6. The next item was approval of an ordinance prohibiting parking on E. St. Louis Street from Bryan Street to Horrell Street. The Mayor stated this is almost completed so we need to pass an ordinance so people can't park on this street. We need to decide how much the fine will be and the towing amount. If someone is parked illegally they will get a parking ticket and if it isn't removed in a certain amount of time we can tow it at their expense. The first couple months we can write warning tickets to let everyone know. The no parking signs are already up and included in this project was accommodations that we made for all the residents that were there that if they were parking in the street we accommodated them with either additional parking somewhere or a driveway. The Council decided on $50 ticket and $100 towing plus the towing fee. Commissioner Harkins made a motion to approve, seconded by Commissioner Chambers. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners and Mayor Jordan voted to approve. Motion Carried.
7. The next item was discussion, with possible action regarding the street department demolishing 303 and 305 W. Main Street. The Mayor stated we received one bid on this and this bid was rejected. I talked to Roger Stanley and he said the city has the ability to tear those buildings down. The bid we did receive on this was $26,000.00 and it was rejected. I think it would be a great savings to the city to let the street department demolish these buildings because if we put a lien on them we aren't going to get our money back. I would recommend that we have an asbestos survey done of the structures to make sure there is no asbestos in them. Commissioner Harkins made a motion to approve, seconded by Commissioner Chambers. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners and Mayor Jordan voted to approve. Motion Carried
8. The next item was discussion, with possible action, regarding a proposal from chemstream for an office expansion at wfbi. The mayor stated we have a letter from chemstream and what they want to do is expand. They are a thriving business out there and are in need of office space. They have a proposal to put in a 17 x 70 office structure that would be placed directly in front of the current shop at the business incubator. They will put this on a concrete pad and if they leave or chemstream stops leasing the area at the business incubator the building will be ours. They are asking consideration from the city to not charge them additional rent because of the structure that is going to be there and left there for us. They would like for the city to provide them with a water and sewer hook up and some electrical. What that would require would be to bring the water line up to the building Inside the concrete pad, hooking up a sewer line and to put a light and electricity on the pole outside the building. From what I understand they are going to have five more jobs available out there and the city will benefit from the building they are going to put up.
I think this is very reasonable we just need to find out how much this will cost to run the sewer line. Commissioner Chambers stated I will make a motion to approve this pending any cost issues with the sewer. Commissioner Chambers made a motion to approve, seconded by Commissioner Warren. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners and Mayor Jordan voted to approve. Motion Carried.
9. The next item was discussion, with possible action regarding approval of bids to install a hvac unit at the new water shed. The Mayor stated we received a building just north of here and the water department has been repairing it and we need to put some heat and air conditioning in it. We have two proposals the first one from fowler heating and air for $12,527.00 and we have one from Carl Volanski for electric it is $6,717.00 and gas $7,466.00. The mayor asked water superintendent Jim White if he has a preference on electric or gas? Jim stated he prefers the gas. Commissioner Warren stated I will make a motion to go with Carl Volanski with the gas option for $7,466.00. Commissioner Warren 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 approval to pay an invoice from Brown and Roberts Inc. In the amount of $52,913.96 regarding 157 and IL RT 149 interchange modification Phase 1 engineering Commissioner Chambers made a motion to approve, seconded by Commissioner Harkins. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners and Mayor Jordan voted to approve. Motion Carried.
11. The next item was approval to pay an invoice from ERB Equipment Company in the amount of $1,902.00 for the rental of equipment for the street department. Commissioner Chambers made a motion to approve, seconded by Commissioner Warren. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners and Mayor Jordan voted to approve. Motion Carried.
12. The next item was approval to pay an invoice from Hawkins Inc. In the amount of $1,844.04 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.
13. The next item was approval to pay an invoice from door doctor of Southern Illinois regarding repairs 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.
14. The next item was approval to transfer Lake Lot #116b from Lonna Herrell to Ken Langdon. Commissioner Chambers made a motion to approve, seconded by Commissioner Harkins. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners and Mayor Jordan voted to approve. Motion Carried.
15. Officer Reports:
Chief Prudent Read the Police Department's Report.
Chief Allen Read the Fire Department’s Report.
Codes Officer CW Stilley Read the Codes Report.
16. Building and Sign Permits:
We have a building permit from a Carlos Hudgins at 1303 E. Elm Street Building a 50 x 122 duplex building.The setbacks look like they are okay with the size of the lot. The Mayor stated we had a discussion with him and it is a pre built duplex, Commissioner Harkins made a motion to approve, seconded by Commissioner Chambers. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners and Mayor Jordan voted to approve. Motion Carried.
17. Mayors comments:
I went to springfield last week and talked to iepa about our permit at the sewer plant. We had a very good meeting up there and I want to thank Matt Tosh and Jom Brown our engineers for going up there with us.
18. Commissioner comments:
Commissioner Harkins stated our new fire truck is getting close to being ready.
Commissioner Chambers stated if anybody ever questions how awesome our guys are I think Gaston is a pretty good example. We had a fire fighter come to work with a 103 degree temperature and pneumonia and still saved somebody else. That is pretty impressive. It is Christmas planning time and we have started the planning.
19. Audience questions or comments:
Becky Robinson the partnership specialist for the census 2020 spoke about the census and what they do.
20. With no further business to be discussed, the meeting was adjourned on a motion by Commissioner Harkins at 7:09 p.m.
http://www.westfrankfort-il.com/web_files/forms/October%208,%202019.pdf
Alerts Sign-up