City of West Frankfort City Council Met May 25
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. Except For The Finance Commissioner Who's Seat Is Vacant.
2. Mayor Jordan Asked For Approval Of The Minutes From The May 11th, 2021 Council Meeting. Commissioner Harkins Made A Motion To Approve, Seconded By Commissioner Stanley. 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 $178,003.01. Commissioner Stanley 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 Of The Mayor's Appointment To The Vacant Position Of Finance Commissioner. With The Passing Of Mike Simpson; We Have An Opening On The Council. We Had 30 Days To Fill It And That Would Be May 27th, 2021. It's The Mayors Pleasure To Recommend, To The Council That Marilyn Simpson Take Over The Position. She Has Been Involved In Helping To Find Someone To Take The Position. Several Names Were Offered, And Talked To, But In The End The Council Thinks She Is The Best Fit. Commissioner Harkins 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 To Hire Temporary Appointment To Fire Department. During Summer We Usually Have An Appointment So They Can Fill In On Vacations, And Things Like That. Chief Allen Stated That Lucas Lingle Will Be Filling In For Craig Lemmon, Who Has Retired. He Will Be Filling A Vacancy On One Of The Shifts. He Is Currently Working His Last Shift With Abbott Ems Tonight. He Is From Here, Lives Here, And Has Been A Volunteer At 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.
6. Approval To Accept Offer For Purchase Of Lots Deemed As Surplus Property. This Lot Is At 1108 East Oak. Terryl Willis Lives Next Door At 1106 And He Has Bid For $1,400.00 For That Lot. Commissioner Stanley Made A Motion To Approve, Seconded By Commissioner Warren. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Jordan Voted To Approve. Motion Carried.
7. The Next Item Was Approval Of An Ordinance Annexing Parcel Index No. 11-36-226-019 To The City Of West Frankfort, Illinois. Blazing Trails, Ryan Purcell Has Purchased The Property Out By Crownline Boats, That Used To Be A Car Lot On Rt 37 Across The Road, We Have Annexed That Into The City Limits. 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 And To Advertise For Sealed Bids.
A. 1102 East Main-The Mayor Stated This Is A Gravel Lot That Paschedag Used To Be On. Bella's Used To Use It As An Overflow Parking Lot. What We Are Asking Is To Just Declare It Surplus. We Do Have Someone That Is Interested In It, But There Will Be Discussion About That At A Later Time. Commissioner Stanley Made A Motion To Approve, Seconded By Commissioner Warren. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Jordan Voted To Approve. Motion Carried.
B. 102 West 9th~ Commissioner Stanley 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 To Advertise For Bids For Demolition. 106 West Elm, And The Second Is At 1505 East Oak. Commissioner Harkins 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 Discussion With Possible Action, Regarding An Application From Sarah's Salon & Spa For Redevelopment Of Certain Property Utilizing Tax. Increment Financing Located In The City Of West Frankfort, Illinois. The Mayor Stated Sarah Mcvicker Wants To Purchase The Property At 200 East Main Street, Which Used To Be The Old Subway Building On The Corner. She Wants To Put A Salon In There. The City Would Have To Put Some Money Into It; A Heating I Ac Unit, ETC To Get It Up To Code. But She Will Be Responsible For Paying Us Back When She Purchases The Building. We Have Also Received A Phone Call From Greg Peebles At The 212 And He Is Interested Buying All Three Buildings From The City And To Take One Or All Of Them Down And Put An Outdoor Dining Area And Other Areas For The 212. He Wants To Check Into Getting Some Funding From The TIF Financing As Well. Council Wants To Hear More From Mr. Peebles, Since He Brought This Up After The Fact That Sarah Had Already Submitted, Looked At The Building And Is Ready To Get This Going The Council Will Decide What Is Best For That Downtown Area. Sarahs Offer Has Been Here For A Month Or Longer And The Mayor Believes It Deserves Some More Discussion, Council Has Decided To Table For Now.
11.Approval Of A Resolution Appointing Board Members To The West Frankfort Library Board. The Resignation Of Amanda Neibch Has Left A Vacancy And Bill Alexander Is Going To Take Her Place. Commissioner Harkins Made A Motion To Approve, Seconded By Commissioner Warren. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Jordan Voted To Approve. Motion Carried.
12.A Resolution Appointing Members For The City Of West Frankfort Police Pension Board. We Need To Re Appoint John Prudent To The Pension Board, His Term Has Ran Out. It's A Two Year; Appointment. 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 For Brown And Roberts, Inc To Prepare A CMOM (Capacity, Management, Operations, And Maintenance) Report For IEPA. We Had A Meeting With Charles Hubble Our Superintendent Out At The Sewer Plant And Matt Tosh Today. The Mayor Stated This Was Put On The Agenda So We Could Discuss Whether Or Not To Assist In Preparing A CMOM Report. During That Discussion We Found Out That What Mr. Hubble Thought He Had To Do, He Was Already Doing It The Way It Needed To Be Done. The Mayor Stated He Basically Got A Letter From The EPA And He Was Responding To That Saying He Needed Some Help To Do This. But During The Conversation We Had With Him And Matt Tosh Our Engineer; We Came To An Agreement That 90% Of The Things He Needs To Do He Can. And The Things That He Can't Matt Tosh Will Be There To Help. So We Are Going To Table This, And If We See That We Need Some Additional Engineering Work We Will Do That.
14. The Next Item Was Approval To Pay Invoice #17 To Brown And Roberts, Inc. In The Amount Of $25,564.73 For The 157 & Rt 149 Interchange Modification Phase 1 Engineering. Commissioner Stanley Made A Motion To Approve, Seconded By Commissioner Warren. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Jordan Voted To Approve. Motion Carried.
15. The Next Item Was Discussion, With Possible Action, Re: 157-Il Rt 149 Interchange Modification, Phase 1 Engineering Supplement #2 For Study To Determine Feasiblity Of Diverting The 157 Pump Station Storm Water Discharge From Inside The West Frankfort Levee System Directly To The Big Muddy Watershed. The Mayor Stated Right Now Every Time It Rains On The Interstate, They Pump It Right Through Town, We Pump It Over The Levee Into Big Muddy Then It Goes Down. Mike Roberts Stated That IDOTIs Receptive To This Idea As Well. They Would Like To Pump More Than What They Are Currently Able To Pump. This Will Be A Cost Study To See If The Benefit Shows Us That It Is Worth It So We Can Apply For IEMA Funds. There Is A Chance That This Will Be Approved The Cost Would Be Approximately $48,000; With It Costing Us Only 20% Or Around $10,000. The Mayor Stated That We Will Just Add This Cost To The Already Approved Project. Commissioner Stanley 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 Is Consideration Of Bids For Eda Funded Mall Infrastructure Improvements Contract #1 With Possible Award. Mike Roberts Stated That This Is A Little Unusual We Had Two Bidders Bidding On This Project. The Low Bidder Was Evrard Company, Inc Out Of Marion For A Price Of $173,950.00 The Other Was H.E. Mitchell Construction Out Of Harrisburg In The Amount Of $209,078.00. However; When We Looked At The Bids Evrard Left The Individual Unit Prices Blank. That Is What We Call A Non-Responsive Bid. We Asked The City Attorney To Look Into That And Contacted The Iml And They All Concurred That We Can Reject That Bid. They Were Supposed To Submit The Same Document So We Can Compare Apples To Apples And Evrard Failed To Follow The Directions Of All Blanks Must Be Filled Out. Based On That Mr. Robert Suggests The City Reject The Offer Of Evrard And Accept The Offer From H.E. Mitchell. The Mayor Stated He Would Agree With Mr. Roberts Suggestion And Stated That This Is A Very Time Sensitive Matter And We Have To Get Started On It Or We Are Going To Lose Four Million Dollars On A Grant. Commissioner Stanley Made A Motion To Approve, Seconded By Commissioner Harkins. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Jordan Voted To Approve. Motion Carried.
17.Building And Sign Permits
We Only Have One; Which Is From Danny Daugherty For 512 N. Gardner Street, They Are Going To Build A Pole Barn On A Concrete Slab With Electricity. Cost Of Building It Is $18,275.00. Commissioner Harkins Made A Motion To Approve, Seconded By Commissioner Warren. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Jordan Voted To Approve.
18.Next Item Was An Emergency To Pay An Invoice To MES Municipal Emergency Services In The Amount Of $1,629.36. Chief Allen Stated It Was For The Annual SCBA Flow Test. They Come Annually And Check All The Equipment. Commissioner Harkins Made A Motion To Approve, Seconded By Commissioner Warren. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Jordan Voted To Approve. Motion Carried.
19. Mayors Comments: I Would Like To Say That This Years Old King Coal Was A Huge Success! Thanks To The OKC Committee For Putting It All Together. They Doubled Their Best Year Ever In Sales. Almost $100,000.00 In Ticket Sales Was Brought In According To Their Chairman Steve Sawalich. It Was Very Successful, The Mayor Wants To Take The Time To Also Thank, Local Law Enforcement For Their Time And Efforts During The Festival, And The Street Department For Getting Everything Cleaned Up And Ready To Go For The Festival. Don't Forget Steve Has Done This For So Long He Would Like To Retire, And Hand The Torch Off To Someone Else. The Mayor Has Talked To The Chamber Take It On And Get Some Of The Local Clubs To Take It On. He Will Not Let It Die, But Really Hopes Someone Will Come Forward To Continue The Tradition.
This Is The Second Month Since Water Shutoffs Started, And The Office Staff Has Been Great. They Have Handled These Customers So Well And Its Not Easy When You Have Unhappy People To Deal With.
The Mayor Also Stated We Talked Earlier In The Year About Raising The Water, Sewer And Also The Trash Rates. We Will Be Providing Information And Talking About It In The Coming Months. We Got Behind With Not Having Any Increases For So Many Years Ago That Mr. Simpson Recommended That We Do A Small Increase Every Year So That Way We Don't Have To Do Such A Large Increase Every Five Years. We Will Be Discussing This In The Coming Months.
20. Commissioner Comments:
Commissioner Harkins Stated The Appointment Of Mr. Lingle Is Much Needed. The Guys Are Staying Very Busy With Fire And Ambulance Calls. The Police Department Has Also Been Busy With Old King Coal And Keeping The Community Safe. I'm Just Proud To Represent Them.
Commissioner Stanley Stated That Our Guys Are Doing Fine. Larry Is Keeping Them All Busy. They Have Been Busy Mowing, Mowing Ditches, Cleaning Out Ditches And Laying Sidewalks. The Street Department Has A Lot Going On Right Now.
Commissioner Warren Stated Water And Sewer Is Doing Well. We Are Staying Busy I've Had A Good Discussion With Charles Hubble And Matt Tosh About The Sewer Department. At The Water Department Jim White And His Crew Had A Big Long Day Monday With A Water Break On Horrell Avenue. They Were Able To Get That Fixed After 12 14 Hours. Everything Is Working Well And They All Do A Good Job.
21. Audience Questions Or Comments:
Mr. Hastings Is Trying To Come Up With Background Info As To Who Marilyn Simpson Is Other Than Mr. Simpsons Widow. Was She A Realtor He Asked? She Was Some Time Ago Stated The City Attorney. When Will She Be Joining The Council Mr. Hastings Asked? The Mayor Replied June 8th, 2021.
Isabelle Heyder Asked The Status Of The House Across The Street From Her? The City Clerk Angie Baker Deaton Stated You Have To Realize That If We Do Anything With That House It Will Interrupt Her Stay In The Nursing Home. Im Sure Its Being Used As A Lein Towards Her Stay So We Can't Just Tear It Down. We Have To Figure Out How To Clean It Up, Which Will Be Very Difficult Because Of All The Garbage And Junk In Her Yard. The Grass Is Really Tall And We Will Get Someone Over There To Try To Take Care Of That. Commissioner Stanley Said He Had Been Over There The Other Day And Picked Up Limbs And Will Get In There And Mow It Himself. He Stated He Will Get It Half Way Decent But He Isn't Going To Be Able To Get In That Back Yard.
The Mayor Stated On That Subject, Our Codes Enforcement Officer C.W. Stilley Had His Last Day; Friday May 21st, 2021. He Wants To Spend More Time With His Wife And Family. So, Want To Thank Him For All The Work He Has Done. We Will Be Adding Someone To That Position Soon. We Have Some Volunteers That Are Working Now A Couple Days A Week. But As Of Right Now; We Do Not Have A Codes Enforcement Officer
Tim Arview Stated That He Would Like To See West Frankfort Businesses Thrive. He Feels Like It Would Benefit The City And Other Businesses. He Would Like To Get A Program Together. Like He Said, He Doesn't Have All The Details Worked Out. But Get Some Kind Of Committee Together To Help These Businesses When Someone Wants To Start A Business. Not Just Like With The Tif, To Help Them With Finances, But To Help Them Run A Business, To Help Them See The Viabilty Of Whatever They Are Doing. Be A Lot Of Them Will Buy A Building, Start A Business But They Don't Know The First Thing About Running A Business And Maybe They Should Of Never Done It In The First Place. So, It Might Be Beneficial To Have Something Like That To Say Well You Present Your Plan For This Business To Us, Do Something Like A Tif But Not With The Building Or Infrastructure But With The Administrative Costs And Things Like That For Running A Business. When They Present It, You See The Viability Of It And If It's A Viable Thing Then Give Some Kind Of Program Or Reward To Help Them Get It Off The Ground. Mr. Arview Stated This Is Just A Thought. The Mayor Stated We Are Kind Of Doing A Couple Of Things Along That Line. If Anyone Does Come To Us With A Business; Keith Moran Our Economic Developer Will Give Them Guidance And Help Them Find A Way To Put Together A Business Plan Talk About The Way Their Business And If Its Going To Be Cost Effective. We Are Looking In The Next Couple Of Months To Expand Our Planning Commission Team To Put Some People On That That Are Business Leaders. I Agree With You 100% We Want To Help Any One We Can Be Successful.
22. With No Further Business To Be Discussed, The Meeting Was
Adjourned On A Motion By Commissioner Harkins At 6:48 P.M.
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1zpecJRoOo63Y53kUEN6Bz2RKs4WCjmSTBXkT1i3bm00/edit
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