City of West Frankfort City Council Met March 23.
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, Except For Commissioner Simpson; Along With The City Attorney And City Clerk.
2. Mayor Jordan Asked For Approval Of The Minutes From The March 9th, 2021 Council Meeting. Commissioner Harkins Made A Motion To Approve, Seconded By Commissioner Warren. 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 $264,478.66. Commissioner Hawkins Made A Motion To Approve, Seconded By Commissioner Stanley. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Jordan Voted To Approve. Motion Carried.
4. The Next Item Was Approval Of A Resolution For The Fchs Homecoming Parade To Be Held Friday, April 23, 2021 At 2:00 P.M. Commissioner Warren Made A Motion To Approve, 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 To West Frankfort Bowl For Redevelopment Of Certain Property Utilizing Tax Increment Financing Located In The City Of West Frankfort, Illinois. Keith Moran Our Economic Developer Has Gone Over This Application. They Need Roof Repairs In The Amount Of $2173.29 And Wall Repairs For $2,215.00. 100% Of This Is Availble For A Tif And Its His Recommendation That The City Cover All Of The Costs. Bowling Alley Has Been Open Since 1939. The Prudents Have Owned It For 26 Years. Commissioner Stanley Made A Motion To Approve, Seconded By Commissioner Warren. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Jordan Voted To Approve. Motion Carried.
6. Discussion With Possible Action, Regarding The Acceptance Of Bids For The Purchase Of Property Deemed As Surplus. Brandon Scott Padget Bid $500.00 On The Property Located At 514 South Douglas. It’s A Little Triangle, Its Behind Mccord’s Market There Is A Railroad Track That Runs Next To It. The House Was Torn Down Three Years Ago. This Isnt A Full Lot. Commissioner Stanley Made A Motion To Approve, Seconded By Commissioner Harkins. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Jordan Voted To Approve. Motion Carried.
7. Discussion With Possible Action, Regarding Setting A Minimum Bid For The Purchase Of Property Deemed As Surplus. Last Year We Paid $866.00 Per Lot That We Got From The Tax Sale. We Have Been Selling Some Of These Lots For $500 To $700 A Piece And I Would Like To Recommend That We At Least Start Getting This Much Out Of Them When They Are Deemed Surplus. We Also Spend Another $2500-$3500 A House To Have Them Demolished. We Need To Set A Minumum Amount For Bids To Atleast Cover The Amount It Cost The City To Purchase Them. Whether It Be $900 Or $1000 At The Highest Per Lot. Commisioner Stanley And Warren Both Agreed It Should Be $900 Or $1000 A Lot. This Will Be A Minimum Bid On Properties We Purchase From The Surplus List, But Bids Are Always Welcome To Be Higher This Is Just A Starting Point. Commissioner Stanley 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 Certain Properties Located In The City Of West Frankfort To Be Declared As Surplus Real Estate. We Have Received Some Requests On Property. And What We’ve Heard From Our Developer They Had No Idea This Property Was Available. Its Not Listed, Its Not On A Site Anywhere. The Mayor Stated He Would Like Begin The Process To List These Properties As Surplus. And Then At A Future Meeting Hire A Person To Market These To Out Of State People, That May Want To Bring A Business Here. Right Now These Properties Are Zoned. The Old City Hall Is An Example Of One Of Them, The Church On West Main, 200-206 E Main, 228 E Main, 17 Acres North Of The Mall, Lots Next To Quest 4 Acres By Strawberry Meadows, And The Lots In Front Of The Mall. The Mayor Believes That We Should Start This Process To Make This Land Available For Purchase. Commissioner Stanley Agreed It Was A Good Idea To Get Them Listed, As The City Has To Pay To Keep Them Up, Keep Them Mowed And Etc. Commissioner Warren Asked If The City Could Put These On Our Website? The Mayor Stated Absolutely. First, We Need To Decide If We Are Willing To Sell Them. Each Piece Of Property Should Be Listed Individually As Far As What They Are Going To Do With It. This Is Just The First Step To Get Things Going. The Mayor Checked With City Attorney To Make Sure It Was Fine To Declare These Surplus. Mr Riva Concluded That Yes, This Is What Needed To Be Done First. Eventually We Would Like To Work With A National Realtor To Market Them For Us. If There Is More To Add To The List, We Will Do So Later. Commissioner Stanley Made A Motion To Approve, Seconded By Commissioner Harkins. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Jordan Voted To Approve. Motion Carried.
9. The Next Item Was Approval To Purchase Properties Located In The City Of West Frankfort Il Through The County’s Tax Liquidation Program. The Mayor Stated We Have Received A List From The Tax Assessor’s Office; For Properties That Have Fallen Behind Three Years On Their Taxes. These Are Vacant Lots, Houses With People That Live In Them, Derelict Buildings. The Mayor Stated He, The Codes Officer And Commissioner Stanley Have All Went And Taken A Look At Them. They Are As Follows:
712 N. Palmer, 501 N. Horn, 314 N. Horn, 1104 W. St. Louis, 1107 W. Oak, 604 W. Jones, 710 S. Douglas, 712 S. Douglas, 206 E. 4th, 207 N. Monroe, 901 E. Elm, 1310 E. Clark, 605 S. Odle, 417 E. Main, 417 E. Main (Back Lot), 1102 W. St. Louis. We Are Going To Try To Purchase These Properties, We Will Demolish Or Clean Them Up. These Are Being Sold For Taxes, The Mayor Stated He Has Been Reluctant To Pick The Houses Although Most Of Them Are Empty, There Are A Few With People In Them. To Demolish Them We Will Use Grant Money That We Have Received Recently. We Will Notify The Trustee, These Houses May Still Be Bought Back By Owners If Done By Deadline.
Commissioner Harkins Made A Motion To Approve All Sixteen (16) Properties, Seconded By Commissioner Warren. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Jordan Voted To Approve. Motion Carried.
10.The Next Item Was Approval Of An Iepa Loan Pre Applications (Funding Nominations) For The Phase I And Phase Ii Water Meter Project. This Is A Project To Replace All The Water Meters In West Frankfort. It Got Approved Last Year But There Was No Funding For It At That Time. The City Decided To Decline The Project Last Year. Mr. Tosh Is Wanting Us To Reapply For The Grant And See If It Will Be Accepted This Time. The Project Would Cost $2.2 Million And If The Epa Will Help Cover The Cost That Would Be A Huge Help. This Will Put Us In For Next Years Proposal And If It Gets Funded Maybe We Can Start This Project. Eventually Every Meter Is Going To Have To Be Replaced. All We Are Doing Is Reapplying And Keeping This Alive To Keep Our Place In Line. Commissioner Warren Made A Motion To Approve, Seconded By Commissioner Stanley. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Jordan Voted To Approve. Motion Carried.
11.The Next Item Was Approval To Pay An Invoice From Brown And Roberts In The Amount Of $53,699.46 For The I57-Il149 Interchange Modification Program. Commissioner Stanley 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 Invoice From Johnson’s Auto & Truck Repair In The Amount Of $4,014.62 For Repairs On Engine 3 For The Fire Department. Commissioner Harkins 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 To Pay An Invoice From Drp Construction In The Amount Of $4,250.00 For An Emergency Repair To Wall Section And Support Columns At The West Frankfort Business Incubator. Commissioner Stanley Made A Motion To Approve, Seconded By Commissioner Warren. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Jordan Voted To Approve. Motion Carried.
14.Next Item Was To Pay An Invoice From Diamond Equipment, Inc. In The Amount Of $1,634.51 For Repairs To The Backhoe For The Water 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.
15.The Next Item Was Approval To Pay An Invoice From Moran Economic Development, Inc. In The Amount Of $1,995.00 Regarding Tif Adminstration. They Work On The Project S For Us Like The Wf Bowl And Mike’s Drive In, They Have Also Put Together A Proposal For Us To Present On A Possible Development At The Industrial Park. Commissioner Harkins Made A Motion To Approve, 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 Sandner Electric Company, Inc. In The Amount Of $3,098.75 For Repairs To The Other 5 Hp Flygt At 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.
17.Building And Sign Permits
We Have One From John And Sharon Mills For 2206 E Elm Street, They Are Going To Do An Addition To Their Foyer And Porch Area. Ben Wyant Will Be Doing The Work.
Commissioner Warren Made A Motion To Approve, Seconded By Commissioner Harkins. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Jordan Voted To Approve.
The Other Is For Eric D. Warren At 409 N. Van Buren Who Is Going To Be Building A Pole Barn. Valued At $28,600. Commissioner Harkins Made A Motion To Approve, Seconded By Commissioner Warren. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Jordan Voted To Approve. Motion
18.Mayors Comments: He Would Just Like To Say He Misses Commisioner Simpson. He Is Recovering At Home; He Is Going To Try To Come To The Next Meeting. I Would Also Like To Thank The Council And Everyone That Works For The City. Hopefully We Are Seeing Some Light At The End Of The Tunnel. Good Or Bad We Have A Lot Of Road Construction That Is Going To Be Going On All Around Us. It Will Be East To The City Limits And West Past Greg Weeks, Inc.
19.Commissioner Comments:
Commissioner Harkins Stated The Police And Fire Department Are Doing A Great Job As Always. Everything Is Doing Fine. Dispatchers Are Up And Running Now. And On Saturday We Will Be Losing A Fireman Craig Lemmon Is Retiring On Saturday. He Will Be Missed.
Commissioner Simpson Was Not Present
Commissioner Stanley Stated That The Street Department Is Staying Busy Keeping Ditches And Tiles Cleaned Out. The Roads Are Terrible, From The Ice And Snow They Have Been Filling In The Pot Holes As Fast As They Can.
Commissioner Warren Stated Water And Sewer Is Fine. She Would Like To Say The Beautification Group Will Be Out Doing Their Thing. She Would Like To Encourage The People Of West Frankfort To Make It Beautiful All The Way Around. The Flowers Are Always Beautiful On Main Street But Let’s Take Pride In Their Homes And In Your Properties. To Help Make Everything Beautiful In West Frankfort. The Beautification Group Works Very Hard And The Rest Of The Community Should Step Up In Their Neighborhoods On The Side Streets To Make The Town Look Good.
20.Audience Questions Or Comments: Mrs. Dragovich Stated That One Of The Properties The City Is Interested In Acquiring Has Some Kids Who Are On The Roof Of That House Playing All The Time, Unattended. We Did Call The Police This Last Week. We Are Afraid That The House Is In Such Bad Condition That They Are Going To Fall Thru The Roof And Get Hurt Or Something. I Wouldn’t Want The City To Get Sued If They Aquire That Property. The Mayor Stated If We Get It; We Will Be Demolishing It. Mrs Dragovich Stated Im Sure My Nephew Would Be Interested In It At That Time.
21.With No Further Business To Be Discussed, The Meeting Was Adjourned On A Motion By Commissioner Harkins At 6:37 P.M.
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