North Egypt News

City of West Frankfort City Council met Feb. 8.

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 January 25th, 2022 Council Meeting. Commissioner Simpson Made A Motion To Approve, Seconded By Commissioner Harkins. 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 $206,774.64. 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. This Item Was A Continued Meeting On Friday, February 11th At 3 P.M. From The Regular Council Meeting On February 8th, 2022. All Commissioners Were In Attendance. The City Attorney And City Clerk Were Also Present.

The Next Item Was Approval To Accept The Annual Audit For Fiscal Year 2019-2020. Mr. Hickam Who Is Our Auditor; Said That He Will Have The Audit Ready And To Us No Later Than Day. So, We Need To Schedule A Continuance Of This Meeting On Friday Some Time Because It Has To Be Filed By February 15th, 2022. All Commissioners Agreed That Friday At 3 P.M. Would Work Best For Them. So, This Meeting Will Be Continued Until Friday, February 11th, 2022.

The Purpose Of This Continued Meeting Is To Discuss Item #3 From The Regular Meeting On February 8th, 2022. The Next Item Was Approval To Accept The Annual Audit For Fiscal Year 2019-2020. The Mayor Stated Everyone Has A Copy Of The Audit. Deputy Finance Officer Chris Veteto Stated He Went Through It All And Marked The Things That Caught His Eye Either Good Or Bad, So The Council Is Aware Of These Things. One Of The Biggest Things I've Noticed Is We Have Significantly Increased Economic Development. I Did Notice That There Were Some Increases/Decreases In Cost Due To Supply And Demand And Covid. When You Look At Water/Sewer It Shows A Significant Lose Due To The Fact That People Were Not Paying Their Bills Due To Covid And Th Fact That We Could Not Do Shut Offs During That Time. A Lot Of That Billing Was Delayed In Paying It Back But It Is Almost All Caught Up Now. You Should See The Increase Come Back On This Next Year's Audit As They Have Until April To Get Everything Caught Up. We Had Around $130,000.00 In Outstanding Water/Sewer Bills But We Are Now Down To About $6,000.00 In Outstanding Balances. It Is The Deputy Finance Officers Advice That The Council Approves This Audit. The City Attorney Asked Mr. Veteto If He Had Any Idea Why Revenue On Property Taxes Went Down $72,000.00? Me Veteto Explained He Believes Its Because People Were Not Paying Their Taxes On Time Due To Loss Of Jobs And Covid But Believes Those Numbers Will Show In The Next Audit That They Went Back To Normal. The City Clerk Stated It Will Be Noted On The Audit That We Were Late Filing So That Will Be A Ding Against Us, But We Have Corrected That Problem Internally So That Will Not Happen Again. Now That Mr. Veteto Has Been With Us For Over A Year; He Has Implemented New Procedures So We Will Not Be Delayed In Getting This Turned In Time. He Will Be Starting The Process On March 1st, For The Next Fiscal Year And That Will Be Done By The End Of April When We End This Fiscal Year Stated The City Clerk. The Mayor Stated He Would Like To Thank Mr. Veteto; He Has Done A Good Job Since He Was Tasked With The Audit After It Being Taken Care Of By Someone Else. On The Next Audit; Mr. Veteto Has Been Working On It From The Start So All That Stuff Is Going To Be Fine. The City Clerk Stated Even With These Two Audits Out He Doesn't Have Actual Beginning Balances Yet, So He Can Not Close Out The Months. So Even This Year We Have To Get This One Accepted, We Have To Get Another One Done And Then We Will Have Beginning Balances. The Mayor Stated Our Auditor Will Be Here March 1st, 2022 And Anyone With Questions Or That Would Like To Be Here Can Be Here That Day, We Can Make Arrangements For That. He Is Going To Go Over This Report And Talk About Some Things, Mainly The Next Audit That Is Due.

Commissioner Simpson 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 Appointing Members To The City Of West Frankfort Planning Commission. The Mayor Stated The City Has Been Going Through A Lot Of Changes. We've Hired A Full Time Codes Enforcement Officer; We Are Now Using A New Computer Program That Is Now On Our Website. We Have A Lot Of Changes Happening That Are All Good. We Have Contacted Members Of Our Community To See If They Would Be On Our Planning Commission, It Is An Advisory Committee For The City Council. They Make Recommendations On Codes, Etc. They Meet Once A Month On The Third Monday. The People On The Board Are As Follows Matt Brown 4 Year Term Of Brown Furniture Stores, Ryan Patton 4 Year Term Of Insurance. Jeff May 4 Year Term He Is An Executive With Banterra, Curt Avripas 3 Year Term Of Avripas Real Estate, Bethanne Chance 3 Year Term Of Crosswalk, Nicole Moreland 3 Year Term Of Moreland Family, Mike Glodich 2 Year Term Of Glodich Honda Has Been On The Board For Years, Toni Dunning 2 Year Term Is With Southern Illinois Bank, And Malisa Broy 2 Year Term Of Silver Jewels. The Mayor Stated He Is Very Pleased That All Of These Community Leaders Accepted To Help With This. He Said Everyone He Reached Out To Said "Yes". Commissioner Simpson Stated She Liked Seeing The Young Community Leaders Stepping In To Help The City. The Mayor Stated Ive Explained To Them Already They Are More Than Just A Planning Commission; We Have 17 Acres Just North Of Strawberry Meadows With A Pond On It I Would Love If They Could Find Something That We Could Do With That. Plus, All The Parcels Of Land In Front Of The Wf Mall Near Taco Bell That Are Available. Commissioner Simpson 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 Discussion With Possible Action, Regarding The Acceptance Of Bids For The Demolition Of Certain Properties. The Mayor Stated We Have The Court Order To Tear Down One Of These Properties Already That's Deemed Dangerous. That Is The Property At 602 East St. Louis Street. The Other Location At 702 East St Louis Street Is Still In The Courts Hands. So That One We Will Have To Wait On Accepting A Bid. The Only Bid We Received For Both Properties Is From Joplin Salvage.

The Demolition Bid For 602 East St. Louis Street Was $3,000.00. And Again, We Only Had The One Bidder. Commissioner Stanley Made A Motion For Approval, 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 Authorizing Certain Properties Located In The City Of West Frankfort To Be Declared As Surplus Real Estate. The Mayor Stated When We Declared All Of Our Properties Surplus, We Forgot These Five Parcels Out By The Mall. Its The Property Out By Strawberry Meadows. The Parcel Numbers Are 11-23-279-001, 11-23-279-002, 11-23-279-006, 11-23-277 002, And 11-23-277-006. This Way If Anyone Wants To Buy It Or Put In Bids For Them, They Will Be Available. Commissioner Simpson Made A Motion For Approval, Seconded By Commissioner Harkins. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Jordan Voted To Approve. Motion Carried.

8. The Next Item Was Approval To Pay H.E. Mitchell Construction Co., Pay Estimate In The Amount Of $33,001.21 Regarding Eda Award 06-01-06132 - Contract 1. Commissioner Stanley Made A Motion For Approval, Seconded By Commissioner Simpson. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Jordan Voted To Approve. Motion Carried.

9. The Next Item Was Approval To Pay Samron Midwest Contracting, Inc. Pay Estimate In The Amount Of $169,333.32 Regarding Eda Award 06-01-06132 - Contract 2. Commissioner Stanley Made A Motion For Approval, Seconded By Commissioner Warren. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Jordan Voted To Approve. Motion Carried.

10. The Next Item Was Approval To Pay An Invoice From Brown & Roberts, Inc. In The Amount Of $3,097.38 Regarding Mall Structure Improvements - Contract 1. Commissioner Stanley Made A Motion For Approval, Seconded By Commissioner Simpson. 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 $15,107.39 Regarding Mall Infrastructure Improvements - Contract 2. Commissioner Stanley Made A Motion For Approval, 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 A&W Plumbing & Heating, In The Amount Of $1,579.45 Regarding Repairs To The WFBI. We Had Some Problems Out There With Some Toilets. Commissioner Stanley Made A Motion For Approval, Seconded By Commissioner Warren. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Jordan Voted To Approve. Motion Carried.

13. The Next Item Was Approval To Transfer Lake Lot Lease #31 From Ella Curry (Deceased) And Linda Spence, To Linda Spence. Commissioner Simpson Made A Motion To Approve, Seconded By Commissioner Warren. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Jordan Voted To Approve. Motion Carried.

14. The Next Item Was Approval To Transfer Lake Lot Lease #93 From Mary Fann (Deceased) Marc & Patricia Salmo, To Marc & Patricia Salmo. Commissioner Warren Made A Motion For Approval, Seconded By Commissioner Simpson. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Jordan Voted To Approve. Motion Carried.

15. The Next Item Was Approval To Transfer Lake Lot Lease #33 From Shannon Woodworth, To Shannon Woodworth & Tannette Thomason, Commissioner Simpson Made A Motion For Approval, Seconded By Commissioner Warren, Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Jordan Voted To Approve. Motion Carried.

16. Officer's Report

Fire Report For The Month Of January 2022. Chief Allen Reported They Had 201-Ambulance Calls, 2- Rubbish/Illegal Fires, 2- Brush/Field Fires, 3 Motor Vehicle Accidents, 3 Fire Alarms, 2 Vehicle Fires, 7 Fire Emergency; (Gas Leaks, Power Lines Down), 2 Structure Fires And O Smoke Scares. 2 Mutual Aid Calls. For A Total Of 224 Calls During The Month. The Department Used Approximately 74,500 Gallons Of Water. The Department Collected $44,917.73 For Ambulance Calls.

Police Report For The Month Of January 2022. Chief Prudent Reported Officers Answered A Total Of 977 Calls For Service. Of Those Calls 22 Were Traffic Accidents, 1 With Injury. Officers Responded To 32 Domestic Disputes, 4 Fights In Progress, 3 Alarms, O Intoxicated Persons, 8 Burglaries, 11 Reports Of Criminal Damage To Property, 22 Complaints Of Juvenile Problems, 14 Reported Thefts, And 67 Complaints Of Disorderly Conduct/Disturbances And Made 30 Street Contacts. Officers Conducted 87 Traffic Stops, Issued 22 Citations, 87 Warnings, And 6 Lw-27's. There Were 54 Adult Arrests Made And 7 Juvenile Arrests, Resulting In 80 Criminal Charges Filed. Dispatchers Answered 1,198 Calls. Of Those, 616 Were 9-1-1 Calls, 88 Were Walk In Requests. 997 Were For Police, 224 Were For West Frankfort Fire, 15 Were For Thompsonville Fire/Ems, And 5 Were For Abbott Ems, And 3 For United Ambulance. And For The Month Of January, We Collected $2,165.00 In Fines And Fees.

Codes Report For The Month Of January 2022. 

Permits: 1-Building Permits, O-Sign Permits. 

Rental Properties: 14-Rental Inspections Performed. 17~ New Cases Started, And 41 Ongoing Cases Being Worked On Which Includes Doors Tagged, Verbal Warnings, Vehicles Tagged, Inspections Of Violations, Inspections, Citations Issued, Letters Sent, Etc. And For The Month Of January $500.00 In Fines And Fees Were Collected.

17. Building And Sign Permits - There Were No Building Or Sign Permits This Time.

18. Mayor's Report ~The Mayor Stated That He Would Like To Thank All Our City Employees During All This Snow And Ice. Everyone Got Busy Plowing And Cleaning Up All The Snow And Ice. We Ended Up Closing City Hall Thursday And Friday The Employees Took Personal Time, Because The Roads Were Just Too Bad To Be Out If You Didn't Have To Be.

T Understand That Wendy's Have Signed For One Parcel For It, They Will Sign For The Other One Within The Coming Week So They Will Own Both Properties There. It May Take Them Until 2023 To Get It Built And Opened But That Is A Done Deal.

They Have Also Done Some Work On Mad Pricer. They Did Have A Buyer But There Were Some Issues With The Legal Description, So Hopefully Now That The Legal Description On That Property Has Been Fixed Something Will Happen There.

Commissioner Comments: 

Commissioner Harkins Stated That His Guys Do Stay Really Busy But The Guys Take Care Of It Really Well. Im Up There Almost Everyday And See A Lot Of Stuff Going On For Such A Small Town, And They Do An Exceptional Job, Im Extremely Proud Of Them All.

Commissioner Simpson Stated She Saw The Cities New Truck Out On The Roads With The Spreader And Snow Plow And It Was Doing A Great Job. I Would Just Like To Say Roger Stanley Is One In A Million. The Mayor Stated He Was Ata Restaurant On Sunday Having Lunch And A Guy Came Up To Him And Stated "Roger Stanley Is The Best Employee The City Has Down There."

Commissioner Stanley Stated That He Appreciates Larry Presley And All The Street Department Guys, Jim White And The Water Department Guys They All Worked Their Tales Off Trying To Keep Up With The Snow Removal. They Just Kept Plowing And Worked Through Sunday Getting Sidewalks And Parking Lots Cleaned Up.

Commissioner Warren I Commend All The City Employees They Are All Working Hard. They Are All Busy And I Thank Them So Much For All They Do.

19. Audience Questions Or Comments: Tim Hastings Of A Local Newspaper Asked "Is This A Revitalization Of The Planning Commission?" The Mayor Stated Yes, There Had Been One In The Past. But We Have Had Terms Expire, Then Covid Hit So We Had To Hold Off With Meetings, And Now We Have Our Codes Enforcer Who Is Full Time So Now We Have A Renewed Effort To Get Fresh Set Of Eyes And New Perspective. These Are All Business People, Who Live Or Work In Our Community And I'm Looking Forward To Them Bringing Good Ideas In Here. 

20. Mayor Jordan Asked For Approval To Go Into Executive Session To Discuss Contract Negotiations, Personnel, Land Acquisition And/Or Pending Litigation, With Possible Action. For Those Of You Who Aren't Staying We Will Be Having A Special Meeting On Friday, February 11th, At 3 P.M. Commissioner Simpson Made A Motion To Approve, Seconded By Commissioner Harkins. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners Along With The Mayor Voted Yes. Motion Carried. The Council Went Into Executive Session At 6:29 P.M.

21. The Meeting Was Adjourned On A Motion By Commissioner Harkins At 7:10 P.M.

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