North Egypt News

City of West Frankfort City Council met Sept. 22.

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 September 8, 2020 Council Meeting. Commissioner Harkins Made A Motion To Approve, Seconded By Commissioner Simpson. 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 $272,199.79. 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 Offers For Purchase Of Lots Deemed As Surplus Property. The Mayor Stated There Were Two Properties That The City Has Received Bids On; The First Lot Received Two Bids At 405 S. Odle. We Have A Bid From Joshua Owens And He Owns The Property At 403 S. Odle As Rental Property And He Has Bid $500.00 To Purchase The Property. We Also Have A Bid From Katherine Cornell Jones And She Has Bid $700.00 And She Says This Bid Depends On Whether The Property Has Had A Basement Prior. Commissioner Harkins Made A Motion To Accept The Higher Bid, Seconded By Commissioner Simpson. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Jordan Voted To Approve. Motion Carried.

The Other Lot Is At 1704 E. Oak. There Is A Bid Of $1,000.00 From Lawrence And Heather Turner, They Live At 1701 E. Elm. Commissioner Simpson Made A Motion To Accept The Bid, Seconded By Commissioner Stanley. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Jordan Voted To Approve. Motion Carried.

5. The Next Item Was Approval Of A Resolution Of Support For A Community Development Block Grant Program. The Mayor Stated There Was A Public Hearing About This Earlier. This Is A Housing Rehab Program That Is Going To Be Monitored By Crosswalk. Commissioner Simpson Made A Motion To Approve, Seconded By Commissioner Stanley. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Jordan Voted To Approve. Motion Carried.

6. The Next Item Was Discussion, With Possible Action, Regarding Approval To Make Application Fo Phase Ii Engineering, Phase Iii Engineering And Construction For The Illinois Transportation Enhancement Program (Itep). The Mayor Asked The City Engineer, Mike Roberts, To Explain This Item. Mr. Roberts Stated That Another Funding Cycle For The Illinois Tranportation Enhancement Program. The City Of West Frankfort Applied For Funding For Design Engineering And Construction Engineering And Phase 1 Engineering. The Applicaions Are Due In November If You Want To Make Application. Commissioner Simpson Asked If This Was For The Sidewalks And Street Lights Between Jefferson And Monroe. The City Engineer Stated, Yes, Similar To What You Have Done In The Past, The Decorative Sidewalk, Lighting, Probably Replace Some Of The Curb And Gutter. The Citycommissioner Simpson Made A Motion To Approve, Seconded By Commissioner Stanley. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Jordan Voted To Approve. Motion Carried.

7. The Next Item Was Approval Of An Ordinance Authorizing The Leasing Of A Specific Areas Of The West Frankfort Outlet Mall. The Mayor Stated That This Was A Renewal Of A Lease With Country Companies For Two Years At The Same Rent As Before. 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 Of An Ordinance Authorizing The Leasing Of A Specific Areas Of The West Frankfort Business Incubator. The Mayor Stated There Were Three Vacant Suites At The Wfbi And They Were Combined For Computechnique. They Will Be Leasing Suites 17c, 17d And 17e, This Is A One Year Lease For $300.00 Per Month. Commissioner Simpson 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 Approval Of An Ordinance Authorizing The Leasing Of 222 E. Main Street. The Mayor Stated The Buildings That We Acquired On Main Street A Few Years Ago And We Had One Of Them That Was Leased Out, But The Gentleman Became Ill And He Couldn’t Fulfill His Lease. Jordan Murphy Has Been Up There Working On That And He Would Like To Lease That Building From Us For The Period Of One Year. He Is Going To Call It Gallery 222 And He Is Going To Put Some Of His Art Up There. He Is The One That Painted The Mural On The Side Of The Building At Burgs. He Is A Very Talented Young Man. This Is A Lease For Him To Rent The Building For One Year At $250.00 Per Month. Hopefully, If This Works Out, We Can Sell Him That Building In The Future. I Believe He Is Also Planning On Living In The Back Of This Building. Commissioner Simpson Made A Motion To Approve, Seconded By Commissioner Stanley. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Jordan Voted To Approve. Motion Carried.

10.The Next Item Was Authorization For The City To Make Application To The Illinois Housing Development Authority For Strong Communities Program Round 1 Grant Application. The Mayor Stated This Is A Grant We Are Applying For And Greater Egypt Is Helping Us With It, But We Are Doing An Awful Lot Of Work On It. We Tear Down A Lot Of Buildings And This Is A Grant We Are Asking The State Of Illinois To Reimburse Us Going Back To January Of This Year For All The Buildings We Have Torn Down And Also To Give Us Funding To Tear Down Buildings In The Future. Also, If We Can Acquire This Grant, There Is A Possibility This Is An Ongoing Thing. They Like Communities That Are Doing This. The Fact That We Are A Low Income Community Helps Us A Lot. So We Are Asking For Council’s Approval To Apply And Sign This Grant Once It Is Completed. Commissioner Harkins

Made A Motion To Approve, Seconded By Commissioner Warren. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Jordan Voted To Approve. Motion Carried.

11.The Next Item Was Approval Of An Estimate From Clinton Electric In The Amount Of $18,242.00 Regarding The Installation Of A 3p, 225 Amp, 120/208 Volt Transfer Witch And Cummins Generator That Was Donated To The City By Wps. The Mayor Stated We Have A Generator That Has Been Donated To The City By Wps. It Is Big Enough To Run This Entire Building And Another Building This Size. We Have Been Talking With The Fire Chief And Others About This. First Of All, I Can Only Imagine What The Cost Of This Generator Would Be If We Had To Buy It. This Is Just For Installation. We Will Have To Purchase A Transfer Switch. It Has A 300 Gallon Tank For Diesel Fuel. Commissioner Warren Made A Motion To Approve, Seconded By Commissioner Simpson. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Jordan Voted To Approve. Motion Carried.

12.The Next Item Was Approval To Pay An Invoice From Franklin County Highway Fund In The Amount Of $8,700.00 Regarding The Purchase Of Salt For The Street Department. Commissioner Stanley Made A Motion To Approve, Seconded By Commissioner Simpson. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Jordan Voted To Approve. Motion Carried.

13.Building And Sign Permits:

The Next Item Was Approval Of A Building Permit. The Mayor Stated This Was For A Concrete Block Shed At 108 Benton Road. Commissioner Harkins Made A Motion To Approve, Seconded By Commissioner Warren. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Jordan Voted To Approve. Motion Carried.

The Next Item Was Approval Of A Building Permit. The Mayor Stated This Was For A Pole Barn At 1710 E. Oak Street. Commissioner Harkins Made A Motion To Approve, Seconded By Commissioner Warren. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Jordan Voted To Approve. Motion Carried.

14.Mayor’s Comments: The Mayor Stated That He Would Like To Take A Moment And Talk About John Hampton. We Lost One Of Our Dispatchers. I Read All The Comments On Facebook About Him That Were Written By The Fire Department And Police Department, Other Dispatchers And People That Knew Him. As Long As I Can Remember Being In The Fire Service, The West Side Of The County Started An Ambulance Service And John Hampton Was Involved In That. They Started Central Dispatch Over There To Put Radio Communications To Put Radio Communications For Walton, Ziegler, Christopher, Valier, Buckner And Sesser And He Was Involved In That. We Were Lucky Enough To Get Him At The City. When You Lose Somebody, You Stop And Pause And Think About What They Meant To You And How Much They Did. There Is A Hole That Is Going To Be In That Police Department And It Is Going To Be Hard To Fill. I Want To Thank Chief Prudent For The Way We Represented Our City Over There. He Had A Tremendous Funerla And He Was A Really Good Guy. I Just Want To Acknowledge That He Was A Good Employee And A Great Person.

I Also Want To Say A Little About The Green Space On Main Street. I Want To Thank Connie, Harriet And Roger And Whoever Has Been Involved In This Project. I Really Feel Like We Were Blessed When That Building Was Torn Down And The City Gained Access To That Property, Plus A Church For Approximately $21,000. We Are Going To Pour A Concrete Pad In The Middle Of That Lot And Put The Christmas Tree There This Year, Along With The Santa House, Trees And Benches. There Will Be A Parking Lot In The Back Of That Area As Well. The Whole Project Is Somewhere Around $10,000.00 And People Will Be Able To Purchase A Tree Or A Bench And Sponsor That Item For A Loved One. This Will Help This Project Get Completed With, Hopefully, Not A Lot Of Expense To The City.

15.Commissioner Comments:

Commissioner Harkins Stated That Some Damage Has Been Done To One Of The Detective Trucks And One Of The Squad Cars That We Would Like To Get Fixed. Therefore, We Would Like To Request Emergency Approval Of Repairs To A West Frankfort Police Squad Carin The Amount Of $5,665.31 And Truck In The Amount Of $3,213.17 For A Total Of $8,878.48. Commissioner Harkins Made A Motion To Approve, Seconded By Commissioner Simpson. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Jordan Voted To Approve. Motion Carried.

Commissioner Simpson Stated He Didn’t Have Much. We Met With Idot This Week Regarding Work To Be Done On Main Street From Douglas Street To Highway 57. I Think The Mayor Is Meeting With Them Again Tomorrow To Show Them Where To Move The Poles. They Talked About Burying The Lines, But The City Could Buy Everyone A Generator And Skip The Lines For What They Wanted To Bury Those.

Commissioner Stanley Stated The Street Department Is Doing Okay. Larry Is Doing A Good Job Getting Ready To Make The Bam And Coal Patch.

Commissioner Warren Stated Water And Sewer Is Doing Great. We Didn’t Spend Any Money Tonight. I Just Wanted To Point That Out. So Far So Good.

There Was A Lake Committee Meeting The Other Night. There Are A Few Things We Need To Do Out There. The Trees Going Into The Sportsmen’s Dock The Limbs Need To Be Trimmed.

16.Audience Questions Or Comments:

Halloween! The Mayor Stated We Are Receiving Calls From The Businesses Wanting To Know If We Are Doing Trail Of Treats And/Or Trick Or Treating. We Are Going To Disuss This A Little Bit. My Opinion Is I Like The Way When You Talk About Covid, We Are Adults. If You Want To Have Trick Or Treating At Your House, You Turn Your Porch Light On And You Give Them Candy. If You Don’t, You Turn Your Porch Light Off And They Stay Away. I Think If You Are A Business And You Want To Have Trail Of Treats Coming Down Main Street And You Want To Invite Them Into Your Business, You Make It Known. If You Want To Do It, You Can Do It, If You Don’t Want To Do It, Don’t. I Am Reluctant To Stop People From Doing Things They Want To Do. Again, It Is Like Wearing A Mask, I Need To Wear A Mask If You Want Me To Wear A Mask. That Is Just Common Consideration. I Think That We Have To Be Cognizant That We Have Just Sat Here And Talked About The Fact That We Have Lost One Of Our Employees To Covid, So It Is Real. Chief Prudent Has Just Talked About The Fact We Have Another Employee Who Has Just Contracted It. But I Do Think, Life Goes On. That Is My Opinion. What Does Everyone Else Think? Commissioner Warren Stated It Was Brought Up About A Parade, Like They Did Graduation. Throw Candy Out At People Standing. The Mayor Asked If That Is Going To Be At Night? Commissioner Warren Stated That She Knows How Hard The Schools Are Working To Keep The Kids Safe And Not Congregate, But People Have Their Own Ideas About Doing Things. Commissioner Simpson Stated That He Did Not Have A Problem With Trick Or Treating, As Far As Trail Of Treats He Thinks We Need To Talk To The Businesses Before We Commit To Anything On That. I Am Not Sure If They Would Want To Do It Or That It Is A Good Idea. Commissioner Warren Added, Yes Because They Would Be Sitting Out There With All Of These People You Don’t Know Coming By. Commissioner Simpson Stated If Somebody Wants To Open Their Door To Trick Or Treaters And Turn Their Lights On, That’s Fine, That’s Their Perogative. The Mayor Said Let’s Take These One At A Time. So Trick Or Treating Is Something That Would Be Acceptable To Everyone And The Requirement Would Be To The Houses With Lights On Only. Let That Be Their Choice. If The Homeowner Is Concerned About It, Don’t Do It And If The Parents Don’t Want Their Children To Do It, Don’t Take Them Out. It’s Not Mandatory. Commissioner Simpson Said We Should Just Set The Hours. Halloween Is On A Saturday And Have Trick Or Treating From 5:00p.M. To 8:00 P.M.

17.With No Further Business To Be Discussed, The Meeting Was Adjourned On A Motion By Commissioner Harkins At 7:00 P.M.

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