City of West Frankfort City Council met Jan. 11.
Here are 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. The City Attorney And City Clerk Were Also Present.
2. Mayor Jordan Asked For Approval Of The Minutes From The
December 28th, 2021 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 $214,465.52. Commissioner Simpson 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 The Continued Coverage Of Key Benefit Administrators As The Third-Party Administrator Of Record For The City Of West Frankfort's Health Insurance. The Mayor Stated We Are Seld Insured And Key Benefits They Administrate The Bills. We Met With Them Last Week And They Have Given Us A Proposal That Will Reduce Our Rate By 17%. So, Our Administration Cost From Them Will Go Down. The Mayor Makes A Recommendation That The City Renews The Policy With Key Benefits With One Provision Our Attorney Found That They Changed The Contract A Little Bit. He Is In Contact With Them About Some Minor Changes That Need To Be Made. He Would Like For Us To Accept The Contract; It Will Be Signed When The New Contract Comes Available With Those Changes. Commissioner Simpson Made A Motion For Approval, Seconded By Commissioner Stanley, Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Jordan Voted To Approve. Motion Carried.
The Mayor Stated The Contract Starts On February 1st, So What They Have Is For People That Maybe Go To The Dr At The End Of January Those Bills Do Not Come In Until After
That Contract Is Over. So, They Want Us To Set Aside $46,000 To Pay What They Call The Runout. Anyone Going To The Dr. After February 1st Will Fall Under The New Contract. For Billing Purpose, They Anticipate They Will Need $46,000 To Cover That And Do The Runout For The Policy. Commissioner Stanley Made A Motion For Approval, Seconded By Oner Warren. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Jordan Voted To Approve. Motion Carried.
5. The Next Item Was Approval Of An Ordinance Authorizing The City To Borrow Funds From The Water Pollution Control Loan Program. The Mayor Stated This Is An Ordinance That Has Been Prepared For Us To Cover The Cost Of The New EPA Guidelines. We Have A New Waste Water Treatment Plant And During That Time Of Building It The State Of Illinois Has Changed The Requirements For Discharge. The Mayor Stated We Have Talked About This For A Couple Of Years With Our Engineers. Pointis Is That We Have To Spend About A Million Dollars To Put In Ultra Violet Lights To Disinfect Some Of The Stuff That The Plant Discharges. This Is A Loan We Are Applying For. On The Recommendation Of Our Engineer's, I Think We Should Accept This. Commissioner Warren Made A Motion For Approval, Seconded By Commissioner Stanley. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Jordan Voted To Approve. Motion Carried.
6. The Next Item Was Approval Of An Ordinance Establishing A Building Code For New Residential Construction Of One And Two-Family Dwellings And Townhouses Up To Three Stories; International Residential Code, The Codes Inspector Stated We Already Updated The International Building Code For Businesses Are Just Updating To The International Residential Code, Which Covers New Build Houses. 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 Setting The Rates For Water, Sewer, And Sanitation (Trash Pick-Up) Service Charges For The Next Five Years. The Mayor Stated Back To #3 On The Agenda We Were Told That Our Sewer Rates Are Low, And That We Need To Raise Them To Help Cover The Cost Of Repairs At The Sewer Plant. In Your Binder We Have Included The Rates From Several Communities Around Us, If You Look At Those, We Are The Lowest Around Except For Sesser. We In The Past Of 2017 Had Set Up A Rate Increase For Three Years 2017, 2018 And 2019. The Base Rate For A 1,000 Gallons Of Water Was $12.03 At That Time $4.06 For The Next Thousand Gallons. So, What We Did At That Time Was Raise It A Quarter A Year For 2017, 2018 And 2019. Sewer Rates Were Increased Seventy-Five Cents A Year For 2017, 2018 And 2019. Because Of Covid In 2020 And 2021 We Did Not Do A Rate Increase. We Need To Talk About A Rate Increase That Is Going To Give Us Enough Revenue To Cover The Cost Of This Million Dollar Loan. The Mayor Stated The New Rates Will Be About A 3 12% Increase.
The Mayor Stated He Would Like To Raise The Base Rate On Water From $12.03 To $12.28 Which Is A Quarter Increase,
Then For Each Additional 1,000 Gallons Of Water That Would Also Go Up A Quarter. So, If You Had A 3,000 Gallon Water Usage, You're Going To Get Charged A Quarter More For The Base Rate And Then Fifty Cents For The Additional 2,000 Gallons Of Water You Used, So That Will Be An Increase Of Seventy-Five Cents. For The Bulk Rate We Are Also Going To Raise That Twenty-Five Cents. Sewer Rates The Base Rate Has Not Been Change In At Least Five Years, Probably Longer. So, The Base Rate For Sewer Will Go Up By Twenty-Five Cents, So It Will Go From $7.63 To $7.88 Now We Were Raising The Sewer Rates Seventy-Five Cents A Year But I Think We Would Just Like To Raise It At This Time To Fifty Cents. Sewer Rate Would Go To $6.31. So, With A 3,000 Gallon Bill You Are Going To Pay $1.50 More For Water And $1.25 More For Sewer. So That Would Be $2.75 Increase Per Bill. This Is The Minimum Rate We Could Increase We Can Do To Come Up With The Minimum Rate We Need To Come Up With The Amount We Need. Also, Our Trash Pickup, Every Year Our Contract Increases So We Need To Increase The Garbage Rate From $14.00 To $15.00. Instead Of Doing A Five - Year Increase Right Now We Are Going To See How Much This Increase Will Generate And Then Revisit This After Six Months To A Year. This Increase Will Be Effective On The March Billing Cycle. If The Revenue Is Not Enough After The Six Months To A Year Then We May Have To Increase It For The Following Four Years, Outside City Limits Will Also Receive These Rate Increases. Commissioner Warren Asked We Have To Have These Increases Due To The Mandated Changes That Have To Be Made At The Sewer Plant, Correct? The Mayor Stated Correct, We Have No Choice These Changes Have To Be Made. Commissioner Warren Made A Motion For Approval, Seconded By Commissioner Simpson. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Jordan Voted To Approve. Motion Carried.
8. The Next Item Was Approval to Pay An Invoice From D. A. Wilburn Construction, LLC. For Improvements At The WF Mall. The Mayor Stated We Have Sloan's Dance Studio Out
Nd The Music Is Too Loud For The Renter Across The Way. They Built A Wall On The Front Of The Space To Enclose It All In. Everyone Is Happy Now. Commissioner Stanley 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 Purchasing Trucks For The Sewer Department. The Mayor Stated Charles Was Able To Find Two Used Trucks Here In Town At Ridgeway Auto Sales. The First Truck Is A 2013 Dodge Ram 1500 4dr, Silver With 123,000 Miles For $12,500.00 The Price Was $20,900.00 And We Have A Trade In Allowance Of 2012 Ford F250 And The Total Price Is $12,500.00. The Second Truck Is A 2014 Dodge Ram 1500 4dr, Has 153,000 Miles On It For $20,900.00 And We Will Trade A Truck In For $6,000 Which Is The 2008 Chewy Silverado So The Cost Will Be $15,200.00. Both Trucks They Have At Sewer Plant Are In Pretty Bad Shape. Commissioner Warren Said She Would Like To Trade Them Both In And Get Them Something More Reliable. Commissioner Warren Made A Motion For Approval, 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, CIPS Grants For Lighting At The West Frankfort Fire And Police Departments. Chief Allen Stated That If We Do A Program With Ameren The Lights Will Help Us On Our Electric Bill And Will Help With The Load On The Generator If A Power Failure Should Happen. The Grant Through Ameren Is The Same One Used At The WF Mall And Business Incubator. The Total Bill For Replacing All Fixtures And Lighting Was $8,697.28 Our Total After The Grant Will Be $4,454.80. Commissioner Harkins Made A Motion For Approval, 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, Inc. In The Amount Of $4,342.90 For The Mall Infrastructure Improvements - Contract 1- HVAC C.E. Commissioner Stanley 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 Approval To Pay H.E. Mitchell Construction Cp., Inc. Pay Estimate #3 In The Amount Of $39,776.72 For The West Frankfort Eda Award #06-01-06132 Mall Infrastructure Improvement - Contract 1. Commissioner Simpson Made A Motion For Approval. Seconded By Commissioner Harkins. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Jordan Voted To Approve, Motion Carried.
13. The Next Item Was Approval To Pay An Invoice From Brown & Roberts, Inc. For Construction Engineering In The Amount Of $26,220.75 For The West Frankfort Eda Award #06-01-06132 Mall Infrastructure Improvements Contract 2-C.E. Commissioner Stanley Made A Motion To Approve, Seconded By Commissioner Simpson. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Jordan Voted To Approve. Motion Carried.
14. The Next Item Was Approval To Pay An Invoice From Brown And Roberts, Inc. For Construction Engineering In The Amount Of $565.82 For The Mall Infrastructure Provement Contract 3 C.E. Commissioner Stanley Made A Motion For Approval, Seconded By Commissioner Warren. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Jordan Voted To Approve. Motion Carried.
15. The Next Item Was Approval To Pay An Invoice From Samron Midwest Contracting, Inc. Pay Estimate #3 In The Amount Of $230,402.55 For The West Frankfort Roadway Improvements (Roundabout) – Contract 2. Commissioner Simpson Made A Motion For Approval, Seconded By Commissioner Stanley. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Jordan Voted To Approve. Motion Carried.
16. The Next Item Was Emergency Approval To Purchase A Stainless-Steel V Box Spreader From Woody's Municipal Supply Co. In The Amount Of $15,105.00. Commissioner Stanley Stated We Have Two Choices One That Goes On The Tailgate And Feeds Out Into The Road Is Almost $10,000 But Will Take 8-10 Weeks To Get It And The Other Feeds Out Into The Road, And Then The Other One They Call The V Box Its Recessed In The Bed That Goes Inside The Truck We Can Have In Two Weeks And It Costs $15,000.00 With The Snow Coming I Would Recommend The V Box It Will Last Longer And Is Bigger. Commissioner Stanley Made A Motion For Approval, Seconded By Commissioner Simpson. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Jordan Voted To Approve, Motion Carried.
17. Officer's Report - Fire Report For The Month Of December 2021. Chief Allen Reported They Had 175-Ambulance Calls, 2- Rubbish/Illegal Fires, 2- Brush/Field Fires, 4 Motor Vehicle Accidents, 7 Fire Alarms, 1 Vehicle Fires, 11 Fire Emergency; (Gas Leaks, Power Lines Down), 2 Structure Fires And O Smoke Scares. 4 Mutual Aid Calls. For A Total Of 208 Calls During The Month. The Department Used Approximately 62,500 Gallons Of Water. The Department Collected $43,741.78.00 For December Ambulance Calls. For The 2021 Year The Ambulance Brought In $605,257.00.
Police Report For The Month Of December 2021. Chief Prudent Reported Officers Answered A Total Of 967 Calls For Service. Of Those Calls 18 Were Traffic Accidents, 1 With Injury. Officers Responded To 26 Domestic Disputes, 3 Fights In Progress, 18 Alarms, 4 Intoxicated Persons, 13 Burglaries, 18 Reports Of Criminal Damage To Property, 18 Complaints Of Juvenile Problems, 20 Reported Thefts, And 70 Complaints Of Disorderly Conduct/Disturbances And Made 17 Street Contacts. Officers Conducted 98 Traffic Stops, Issued 30 Citations, 83 Warnings, And 4 Lw-27's. There Were 60 Adult Arrests Made And 6 Juvenile Arrests, Resulting In 81 Criminal Charges Filed. Dispatchers Answered 1,264 Calls. Of Those, 599 Were 9-1-1 Calls, 88 Were Walk In Requests. 967 Were For Police, 208 Were For West Frankfort Fire, 5 Were For Thompsonville Fire/Ems, And 8 Were For Abbott Ems, And 2 For United Ambulance. And For The Month Of December We Collected $1,397.00 In Fines And Fees.
The West Frankfort Police Department 2021 Yearly Activity Report: Officers Answered A Total Of 12,336 Calls For Service. Dispatch Answered A Total Of 15,513 Calls For Service. Officers Conducted 1,325 Traffic Stops, Where They Issued 352 Citations. There Were 362 Adult Arrests Made, And 64 Juveniles, Resulting In 861 Criminal Charges Filed. And For The Year Of 2021 Collected $17,422.00 In Fines And Fees.
Codes Report For The Month Of December 2021. Permits: 2-Building Permits, O-Sign Permits. Rental Properties: 17-Rental Inspections Performed. Case Activity Report ~ 30 Which Includes Doors Tagged Verbal Warnings, Vehicles Tagged, Inspections Of Violations, Inspections, Citations Issued, Letters Sent, Etc.
18. Building And Sign Permits – There Were No Building Or Sign Permits This Time.
19.Mayor's Report ~The Mayor Stated That He Is Thankful We Live In A Small Town, Everyone Knows Who Everyone Is, When I See The National News And See What’s Going On In All These Cities And What Law Enforcement Is Dealing With, I Just Want Our Department Know That We Support Them.
Also, Kuddos To Brown & Roberts The Project Out By The WF Mall The Roadway Out By Taco Bell And Around Looks Like Its Pretty Much Finished. Then They Have The Road By Mach 1 They Are Making Some Headway Out There. They Are Also Dumping Dirt Over There By Surgical Appliances Building, That's For The Right In And Right Out. Mr. Roberts Stated This Is One Of Many Stages They Are Doing To Get Ready For The Roundabout. We Know There Will Be Some Delays Eventually With The Weather But They Have Made Great Progress. The Mayor Stated He Thinks Its Very Important To Make Sure That The Businesses Along The Route Of Construction Have Access In And Out Of Their Businesses. Between Rt 37 And 1-57 They Are Putting In New Storm Drains, Curbs And Sidewalks To Finish That Project That Was Started On The East End Of Town This Past Summer. With Progress There Comes A Lot Of Hardship So There Is Going To Be A Lot Of Construction Going On For The Next Two Years.
Commissioner Comments:
Commissioner Harkins Stated That His Guys Do Stay Really Busy For Such A Small Town, And They Do A Good Job.
Commissioner Simpson Asked Chief Allen How Many Operating Ambulances Do We Have Now? Chief Allen Stated Two. The One We Ordered Is Still A Year Out For Delivery To Us. I’m Just Going To Say With All These Bills We Have To Pay, We Are Fortunate To Have The Money. We Are Thankful For
All The Grants To Help Cover The Cost Of A Lot Of These Items.
Commissioner Stanley Stated That The Guys Have Pretty Much Got All The Limbs And Trees Picked Up From The Storm We Had. We Will Start Taking Down Christmas Decorations
Tomorrow And Get Those All Put Away.
Commissioner Warren I Commend The Sewer Department For Finding A Couple Good Used Vehicles Instead Of Trying To Buy New Ones. They Are Working On Keeping The Pumps Running. The Water Department Has Been Working Hard On Sunday Repairing A Line. Everyone Is Working Hard And We Are Trying To Save Money.
20. Audience Questions Or Comments: There Were No Questions Or Comments.
21. With No Further Business To Be Discussed, The Meeting Was
Adjourned On A Motion By Commissioner Harkins At 6:45 P.M.
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