City of West Frankfort City Council Met Dec. 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 December 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. The Next Item Was Approval To Pay City Bills And Payroll In The Amount Of $423,995.84. 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 Awarding Of A Contract From Bids Received For The Residential Solid Waste Collection And Disposal For The City Of West Frankfort. The Mayor Stated We Have Before Us Is Two Proposals One From Our Current Contract With Bulldog And The Another From Republic Services Out Of Marion. We Had Two Separate Meetings With Each Company To Address The Council. Then We Had Another Meeting With Commissioner Stanley And Warren Met With Them Each Separately To Discuss What We Wanted In Terms For The Bid. The Cost Was The Deciding Factor As We Did Not Want To Raise Anyones Rates Right Now. Bulldog Was Awarded The Contract For 5 More Years. Commissioner Stanley Made A Motion For Approval, Seconded By Commissioner Warren. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Jordan Voted To Approve. Motion Carried.
5. The Next Item For Approval Is A Resolution Appointing Sergant And Corporal In The West Frankfort Dispatchers Center For 911. Chief Prudent Stated That Back In Late August Early September When Sergant Hampton Came Down With Covid, Corporal Gass Took Over The Supervisory Duties. It Is My Recommendation That Corporal Gass Be Promoted To Sergant And Dispatch Supervisor And Promote Sarah Emberton Who Is My Next Senior Dispatcher To Sergant. Commissioner Harkins Made A Motion For Al, Seconded By Commissioner Simpson. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Jordan Voted To Approve. Motion Carried
6. The Next Item Was Approval To Publish 2021 Meeting Dates For City Council, Planning Commission, Lake Committee, Police And Fire Pension Boards And Police & Fire Merit Board.The Mayor Stated All The Meetings We Have Upcoming And The Dates Of When They Are. We Are Required To Post These. They Will Be As Listed On This Paper. Commissioner Harkins Made A Motion For Approval, 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 Making The Annual Tax Levy For The City Of West Frankfort, Illinois, For The Fiscal Year Commencing On The First Day Of May, 2020 And Ending On The Last Day Of April, 2021. Commissioner Simpson Made A Motion For Approval, Seconded By Commissioner Warren. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Jordan Voted To Approve. Motion Carried.
8. The Next Item Was Approval To Accept Bids And Award Projects For Demolition. The House At 108 N Cherry And We Only Received One Bid. It Was From Joplin It Was For $2,750. Commissioner Simpson Made A Motion To Approve, Seconded By Commissioner Stanley. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Jordan Voted To Approve. Motion Carried.
9. The Next Item Was Discussion, Approval Of An Ordinance Authorizing The Leasing Of A Specific Area Of The West Frankfort Mall For An Extension To Lease. Northland Hearing Centers Suite 103; $670 A Month Rent For A 3 Year Lease. Runs From January 1st 2021 Thru December 31st, 2024. Lets Just Make Sure The Lease Reflects 3 Years, As Paperwork Does Not Reflect That. Commissioner Harkins Made A Motion For Approval, Seconded By Commissioner Simpson. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Jordan Voted To Approve. Motion Carried.
10. The Next Item Was Approval Of Change Order #1 And Final,
Along With Supporting Force Account Bills For The Road Repairs On McClelland Street. This Is A Change Order. Commissioner Stanley Made A Motion To Approve, Seconded By Commissioner Simpson. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Jordan Voted To Approve, Motion Carried.
11. The Next Item Was Approval Of A Pay Estimate #2 To Samron.
This Is A Payment For Work That Has Been Done Already. But It Is Not Completely Done, They Will Finish It This Spring. Commissioner Stanley 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 For Payment Of An Invoice From Ferrell Electric In The Amount Of $1,503.06 Regarding Replacement Of Three Security Lights At The West Frankfort Business Incubator. Commissioner Simpson Made A Motion To Approve, Seconded By Commissioner Stanley. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Jordan Voted To Approve. Motion Carried.
13. The Next Item Was Approval For Payment Of An Invoice From Davis Tree & Crane Service In The Amount Of $1,775.00 Regarding Rental Of A Crane For The Sewer Department. Commissioner Warren Made A Motion To Approve, Seconded By Commissioner Stanley. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Jordan Voted To Approve. Motion Carried.
14.Building And Sign Permits ~
Kyle & Holley Hosick For A Modular Home $32,000 For A Permanent Foundation, Water, Sewer, And Electricity At 512 S Mulberry Street For A Residence. Commissioner Harkins Made A Motion To Approve, Seconded By Commissioner Stanley. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Jordan Voted To Approve. Motion Carried.
Hale & Margaret Duke For A Modular Home At 305 N McClelland To Be A Residence. $32,000 For A Permanent Foundation, Water, Sewer, And Electricity. Commissioner Harkins Made A Motion To Approve, Seconded By Commissioner Simpson. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Jordan Voted To Approve. Motion Carried.
15. Mayors Comments: Is Sad To Say The Vf Factory Outlet Is Closing Its Doors For Good This Week. We Are Working To Find Something To Go Back Into The Mall. They Closed 46 Stores So It Wasn't Just West Frankfort; They Were Not Mad At Us. Just Like When Kmart Closed; We Are Just A Product Of Corporate Decisions That Are Beyond Our Control, With Covid We Are In A Quickly Changing Economic Environment. If You And Your Family Here Haven't Had Someone Close To You That's Had Covid Say Your Prayers Because You Are Lucky. Tim Murphy Is In The Hospital Right Now Fighting For His Life, So It's A Very Difficult Time For Several Families. I Just Want To Say I Had To Call The Ambulance For My Step Mom And I Can't Say Enough Good Things About These Guys. I Can't Recommend Anyone Better Than Our Guys. I Had To Call Them Back And Let Them Know Although The Rapid Test Came Back Negative, The Four Hour Test Came Back Positive. I Called To Let Them Know And They Were Like "That's Ok We Have This Happen All The Time, We Took All The Precautions We Needed To." I Don't Think We Realize How Fortunate We Are To Have These Guys. A Special Thanks Goes Out To Our Fire, Police And Ambulance Depts For All They Do On A Daily Basis.
16.Commissioner Comments:
Commissioner Harkins Stated The Police And Fire Department That The Guys Are Doing Just Fine And Are Staying Very Busy And They Are Doing An Excellent Job. I Would Also Glad To Have Our New Sargent Gass.
Commissioner Simpson Stated That I Was Looking At The Report On The Bills Payable In The Past They Had To Go Do All Of This Manually To Get Those Prepared. With Our New Accounting Software, We Are Able To Bring That Up And Save Some Time And They Are Doing An Excellent Job In Converting Over. Hopefully Sometime In The Near Future We Will Have Financial Information All Switched Over For The Commissioners At Our Meetings. Commissioner Stanley Stated The Pad Is Poured For The Generator And The Guys Will Be Here Wednesday Morning To Set It Up From Clinton Electric. His Crew Is Doing A Fine Job.
Commissioner Warren Stated The Water And Sewer Is Doing Great. They Are Keeping Up With The Demands.
17. Audience Questions Or Comments:
18. Randy Puckett And His Wife Michelle Were In The Audience Wanting To Discuss A Sewer Backup That They Had On June 30th, 2020. Mr Puckett Is Wanting To Know If There Has Been Any Movement On Assistance For Help Paying For Damages Done To Both His And A Neighbor Beth Graff Houses? The Mayor Stated Our Insurance Company For The City, That We Pay For; Investigated It With The Sewer Dept They Found That We Were Not Liable. He Also Stated In His Heart He Would Love To Help Him. The Problem Is We Have Talked To Our City Attorney, And As A Council, If We Go Against The Recommendations That We Aren't Responsible With The Our Insurance Company There Is A Fear Of That We May Be Placing Ourself In A Position That If Were Going To Pay For Stuff They Say Is Not Our Responsibility, We Are Ata Conflict. The Mayors Concern Is What That Does To Us If They Will Cancel Us Or Whatever Happens. And They Mayor Is Sympathetic With Whats Happened. If Mr Puckett Would Like To Share With The Council And The Members That Don't Know What Happened Your Welcome To Do That. But The Decision Not To Pay The Bills That You Have Was Made On A Recommendation Discussion With Our Insurance Company And Our City Attorney That If We Take Those On Then We Are
Taking Responsibility For Something That Our Insurance Says Is Outside Of Our Control. The Mayor Asked The City Attorney Mike Riva If He Was Stating It Correctly? Mr Riva Replied "Yes" That Was Correct.
Mr Puckett Stated That Feels Like This Is A Problem; He Has Lived In This Residence For 26 Years. And Something Had To Cause This Either The Rain Water Or Something. The Mayor Asked What Did We Get Something Like 4-5" Of Rain In Like 20 Minutes Wasn't That Like A Down Pour? Mr Puckett Stated That Road Has Been Flooded Before And We Have Never Had This Problem.
Beth Graff Was In The Audience And Agreed They Have Never Had This Happen Before. Its Happened To Her 3 Times And She Has Put In A Check Valve To Prevent It And In Four Years Time She Was Told When She Talked To The Foreman Of The Sewer Dept That The Pumps Were Not Strong Enough To Handle All The Water That Was Coming In At One Time. It Was Too Much And The Pipes Were Too Little And It Flooded Him Mr Puckett For The Very First Time And Me Even After Installing A Valve To Prevent It. Why We Are Upset Is Because We Were Told To Submit Our Bills By Commissioner Warren. We Have Gotten No Answers The Adjuster Never Came Out To Our Homes, Never Saw Any Of The Damages, Never Even Looked At The Lift Station, All She Said Was There Was A Claim Filed On Our Behalf. We Never Filed A Claim She Stated. So There Is A Problem And It Needs To Be Fixed. Why Come Out And Tell Us To Submit Our Bills And Then Call Us And Say We Will Take Care Of The Cleanup But We Can't Pay For The Rest Of It? If Your Saying Here That That's Not Ever Going To Be The Situation Because You Cant Afford To Lose The Insurance? They Never Came Out To Look At Our Situation...At All. How Can You Submit A Claim When No One Every Talked To Us?
The Mayor Trying To Clarify Replied That Whenever You
(Beth Graff) Talked To Us About What Happened That Was The Claim, You (Beth Graff) May Not Of Written Up A Claim But We Contacted Our Insurance Company And Said One Of Our Residence Has Said That They Had Damage Due To Our Sewer System. We Submitted The Claim But In The Initial Conversation With You That Was The Claim. How Do They Know That There Isn't A Problem Asked Mr Puckett? They Never Even Came And Looked At It, No One Has Stated Mrs Graff. The Mayor Stated I Think They Talked To Our Sewer Supervisor Charles Hubble About It And Angie Baker Deaton Had Passed All The Bills Over To The Insurance Company. Mrs Graff Stated That The Very Rude Lady Told Us Simply That It Had Been Denied. Mrs Graff Had Personally Sent Her Videos Of Her Damaged Home, The Text Message From The Sewer Foreman Stating That It Was Definitely The Cities Fault Because The Lift Station Didn't Do What It Was Supposed To Do. It Showed She Read It And Never Replied Back Said Anything And Nothing Has Ever Been Done. This Has Been Going On Since June And We Keep Being Told We Will Discuss It At The Next Council Meeting So Now We Are Here.We Want Answers. The Mayor Stated We Have Discussed It. He Is Very Sympathetic To Her, He Is Not A Sewer Guy But Apparently In Our Ordiances There Is Some Responsibilty That You Bare. Our Insurance Company And Sewer Superintendent Felt Like It Was Your Responsibility To Midigatte This Not Ours. Mrs Graff Asked Do You Know What Year That Lift Station Was Put In? The Mayor Stated Do I Know? She Also Asked How Long Has It Been Since Any Type Of Upgrade Has Been Done To That Station? With All Of Those New Homes Have Been Built Out There? In The Manhole In The Street, Tampons Come Up Out Of There When It Rains Too Much. Its Terrible It Needs To Be Fixed. And Its Happened To The Pucketts After How Many Years They've Lived There? There Is A Problem. The Mayor Stated He Is Not Denying That. Mr Puckett Stated He Has Over $40,000 In Repair Bills To Get My House Legally Ready To Sell My House. But I Can't Do That Because I Know There Is A Problem. He Asked His Wife Michelle To Address Her Discussion With The Insurance Lady. She Stated She Has Several Issues Including The Sewer Issues. One Of Her Big Issues Is She Sent The Original Email July 18, 2020 And I She Doesn't Know How We Operate But She Knows How She Operates And She Is Required To Respond To That Email. To Date She Has Not Received A Response To Her Email To The City. The Mayor Asked From Who The City Or The Clerk? The Mayor Stated He Met With Her On The 28th Of July. She Stated The City Clerk. 10 Days Later The Mayor Met With Mrs Puckett Is That Not A Response He Asked? She Stated There Is A Difference Between A Verbal And A Written Response, In The Business World A Written Response Is Called For. She Stated Randy Her Husband Had Specifically Asked For A Written Response In His Email December 11th And To Date He Still Hasn't Received A Response. It's The 2nd Email That Weve Sent With No Response. On July 31st When She Got The Phone Call From Someone Named Cynthia From Davies Insurance Saying My Claim Was Denied. She Said There Was A Claim Filed For Your Sewer Backup. Mrs Puckett Stated She Didn't Realize She Had Filed A Claim Because She Never Received A Response From The City. We Had To Spend $10,000 Of Our Own Money To Put A Lift Station In Our Basement To Make Sure This Doesn't Happen Again And To Make Sure Our Insurance Would Cover It.
Mr Simpson Stated This Is Not Our Money We Are
Representing The Citizens Of West Frankfort On Money We Watch Over In A Judiciary Responsibility. We Have An Insurance To Take Care Of These Types Of Things And We Have A City Attorney Who Advises Us. We Can't Go Against That Or We Are Opening Ourselves Up To The Citizens Of West Frankfort That We Are Responsible For The Money That We Pay Out Against The Advice Of Our Council And Insurance Company. If You Feel West Frankfort Is Liable And We Have Insurance For That The Insurance Company Is The One You Should Be Dealing With. Mrs Puckett Stated To Provide Them With The Information We Need In Writing And We Will Take It From There. Commissioner Simpson Stated We Will Contact Them And Get You The Information You Requested. Mrs Puckett Stated She Doesn't Want It From The Insurance Company, She Wants An Email From The City. Mayor Jordan Stated We Will Be Closed Thursday And Friday But We Will Get All The Information You Requested And Get It To You, Mrs Deaton Has All Your Information To Get Back With You. They Will Also Contact The City Engineer To See If There Is A Grant Or Something That Can Be Done. We Don't Want It To Happen Again.
19. With No Further Business To Be Discussed, The Meeting Was Adjourned On A Motion By Commissioner Harkins At 6:51 P.M.
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