City of West Frankfort City Council met July 28.
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 July 14, 2020 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 $292,086.23. 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 To Accept The Annual Audit For Fiscal Year 2018-2019. The Mayor Stated That There Is A Copy Of The Audit In Each Of Your Books. Commissioner Simpson Stated That We Had A Good Opinion And Presents Fairly In All Material Respects, The Financial Position Of The City. Since We Just Received This, There Is Not Much Time To Look It Over And Ask Questions, But Based On The Financial Statements We Received Earlier, We Were Just Waiting For The Opinion And Then We Can Go Over At Another Meeting After We Review The Suggestions By The Auditor. To Facilitate Us Getting This Into The State Since This Is Our April 2019, I Will Make A Motion To Approve The Audit. Commissioner Simpson Made A Motion For Approval, Seconded By Commissioner Chambers. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Jordan Voted To Approve. Motion Carried.
5. The Next Item Was Approval Of A Resolution To Hire Alexa Lee As A New Water Office Employee. The Mayor Stated That Alexa Has Been Here For A Couple Of Weeks, Filling In And From Recommendation From Angie. Commissioner Warren Made A Motion For Approval, Seconded By Commissioner Simpson. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Jordan Voted To Approve. Motion Carried.
6. The Next Item Was Discussion, With Possible Action, Regarding A Potential Application To Idot For Additional Competitive Freight Program Funds. The Mayor Stated That This Was Talked About A Little At The Last Council Meeting. The Competitive Freight Program, The City Has A $1,500,000 Grant To Look At I57 Regarding Changing The Exits And The Council Has Been Working On This For At Least Eight Years. There Has Been An Access Justification Report That Cost $300,000. We Received A Grant For Phase I Environmental Study. So What Has Happened, Because Of The Situation The State Is In, A Lot Of These Programs Other Cities Have Dropped Out Of Them And There Is Extra Money Left Over. The State Made A Decision To Recommend To The People Who Are Still In The Program, Like Us, If We Would Like To Request Additional Funding To Go With The Project, They Would Take That Application On August 1st. Commissioner Simpson 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 Approval To Purchase New Accounting And Utility Billing Software From Locis In The Amount Of $22,060.00. The Mayor Stated This Will Replace Our Current Water Utility Software Where We Do The Billing, This Will Replace Our Accounting Software, Payroll, Vehicle License And Permits Module. This Will Include Training. Commissioner Simpson Stated That We Have Also Talked To Our Auditors To Help Us Facilitate This Transition So That We Will Be In Better Condition During The Audit And It Should Move More Rapidly Than What The Past Audit Has. We Did Look At This System Before And The Utility Package And Payroll Package Are Totally Integrated So We Don’t Have To Duplicate The Work. Commissioner Warren Stated She Was Here The Day They Were Showing It To The Water Department And The Details Were Amazing. It Was Really Good. You Can Breakdown The Accounts And Keep Track Of Past Billing. I Think It Is Going To Be Good. Commissioner Simpson Made A Motion For Approval, Seconded By Commissioner Harkins. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Jordan Voted To Approve. Motion Carried.
8. The Next Item Was Approval To Accept Offers For Purchase Of Lots Deemed As Surplus Property. The Mayor Stated We Have Two Bids For Two Separate Lots.
A. Regarding 805 E. Clark Street We Have A Bid Of $800.00 From Katie Griffin. She Lives At 807 E. Clark Street. Commissioner Simpson Made A Motion For Approval, Seconded By Commissioner Warren. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Jordan Voted To Approve. Motion Carried.
B. Regarding 406 E. Clark Street We Have A Bid Of $1,000.00 From Roger Stanley. This Is A Lot That Is Close To His House And He Is Planning On Putting A Building On This Lot. Commissioner Chambers Made A Motion For Approval, 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 A FaçAde Improvement Grant Application. We Did Not Receive The Application So We Will Skip This Item.
10.The Next Item Was Approval To Accept Bids For Emergency Demolition. There Are Two Houses That We Are Wanting To Demo. This First One Is At 1210 E. St. Louis Street. Joplin Gave A Bid Of $2,950.00 And The Second One Is At 607 N. Horn And Joplin Gave A Bid Of $4,250.00, Including A Basement. These Bids Are Accepted Once Ownership Is Confirmed. Commissioner Simpson Made A Motion For Approval, Seconded By Commissioner Harkins. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Jordan Voted To Approve. Motion Carried.
11.The Next Item Was Discussion, With Possible Action, Regarding Proposals For Fencing Along The Alley Behind The 300 Block Of East Main. The Mayor Stated That When The City Tore Down The Coleman Rhodes Building We Ended Up With A 6 Foot Drop Near The Novacare Building, So We Want To Put A Fence Up Along That Alley To Protect People. We Received Two Bids One From Homeland Fencing For $7,225.00 And One From Gardner Fence For $5,860.00. Commissioner Chambers Wants To Accept The Low Bid From Gardner Fence. Commissioner Chambers Made A Motion For Approval, Seconded By Commissioner Warren. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Jordan Voted To Approve. Motion Carried.
12.The Next Item Was Discussion, With Possible Action, Regarding The Purchase Of Cardiac Monitors For The Fire Department. Chief Jody Allen Explained The Details Regarding The Zoll Monitors. 3commissioner Harkins Made A Motion For Approval, Seconded By Commissioner Simpson. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Jordan Voted To Approve. Motion Carried.
13.The Next Item Was Approval Of A Resolution For The West Frankfort Recreation Assoiation To Sponsor A Labor Day Parade On Monday, September 7, 2020 At 9:00a.M. Commissioner Chambers Made A Motion For Approval, Seconded By Commissioner Warren. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Jordan Voted To Approve. Motion Carried.
14.The Next Item Was Discussion, With Possible Action, Regarding Acceptance Of A Proposal From Fowler Heating & Cooling In The Amount Of $2,023.60 Regarding Repair Of Old Downspout Trough Guards For The Mall. Commissioner Warren Made A Motion For Approval, 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 Skuta Construction In The Amount Of $3,100.00 Regarding The Sewer And Street Departments. Commissioner Chambers Made A Motion For Approval, Seconded By Commissioner Warren. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Jordan Voted To Approve. Motion Carried.
16.The Next Item Was Approval To Pay An Invoice From Energy Culvert Company In The Amount Of $4,173.66 Regarding The Purchase Of Culverts For The Street Department. Commissioner Chambers Made A Motion For Approval, 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 Derksen Brothers In The Amount Of $31,098.00 Regarding Sludge For The Sewer Depratment. Commissioner Warren Made A Motion For Approval, 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 Iepa In The Amount Of $17,500.00 Regarding Annual Npdes Fee For The Sewer Department. Commissioner Warren Made A Motion For Approval, Seconded By Commissioner Chamers. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Jordan Voted To Approve. Motion Carried.
19.Building And Sign Permits: None
20.Mayors Comments: The Mayor Stated When We Had The 5 Inch Rain We Had Some Houses That Had Some Back Up Into The House. I Would Like Council To Give Us Some Guidance On How We Should Approach These Things. Unless We Are A Direct Cause Of The Incident, Would It Be Appropriate To Ask The Homeowner If They Would Run It Through Their Homeowner’s Insurance And We Could Help Them With The Deductible And Whatever Was Not Covered. We Want To Try And Help These People Out, But I Don’t Know If Our Liability Is That We Have To Replace The Entire Residence. We Have A $5,000.00 Deductible On Our Insurance Policy, So Anything Under $5,000.00, We Just Pay It. Again, Obviously, I Think There Is A Difference, We Want To Be Fair But I Am Curious What The Council’s Opinion Is On What Fair Is. Commissioner Chambers Stated That This Had Been Talked About Years Ago And What The Appropriate Action Was At That Time Was To Have Them Start With Their Insurance. That Is What I Have Always Told People, Because I Have Always Thought That Was The Process. If Their Insurance Wants To Get In Contact With Our Insurance, They Call Angie And That’s How It Is Handled. Because I Get Contacted By Insurance Companies And I Send Them To Angie And She Gets Them In Touch With Our Insurance Company. Commissioner Simpson Stated It Was His Thought If They Contact Their Insurance Company And The Insurance Company Deems It Not Be A Collectible Item, Then They Would Contact The City And Our Insurance Company, If Our Responsibility Lies There. I Think We Will Let The Insurance Companies Determine Who Is Liable For That, Instead Of Us Making That Determination. Commissioner Warren Stated That She Did Speak With A Couple Of Them And She Told Them That The City Would Help Them Out With It, Reasonably. The Mayor Stated This Is One Of The Largest Rains We Have Had In A Long Time Because It Came So Quick. Also, We Depend On Our Street Superintendent And Sewer Superintendent To Let Us Know If It Is Our Fault. Understand, If It Is Under $5,000.00, We Will Pay It Anyway If We Are Found To Be Liable. Commissioner Simpson Agreed, And Stated If We Are Liable. The Insurance Company Should Decide If The City Is Liable.
21.Commissioner Comments:
Commissioner Harkins Stated The Police And Fire Department Are Doing Good And The Fire Trucks Have Passed Their Testing. These Two Guys Have Everything Under Control. Jp Stated That Ronnie Russel Graduated Last Friday And Is Doing Well
Commissioner Simpson Stated He Had Nothing.
Commissioner Chambers Stated Dave Chambers Is Doing A Great Job With The City. She Also Wanted To Thank The Fire And Police Departments With All The Help They Have Given Her Grandparents Recently.
Commissioner Warren Stated Water And Sewer Is Doing Pretty Good So I Don’t Have A Whole Lot.
22.Audience Questions Or Comments:
None
23.With No Further Business To Be Discussed, The Meeting Was Adjourned On A Motion By Commissioner Harkins At 6:41 P.M.
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