City of West Frankfort City Council met Oct. 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 Including The City Attorney And City Clerk.
2. Mayor Jordan Asked For Approval Of The Minutes From The September 27th, 2022 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 The Bills In The Amount Of $156,470.34. 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 To Accept Bids For Demolition Regarding 211 East Clark Street. One Bid Was Received And That Was From Joplin Salvage In The Amount Of $5,500.00. Commissioner Stanley Made A Motion To Approve, Seconded By Commissioner Warren. Roll Call Vote: Commissioners Harkins, Simpson And Stanley And Mayor Jordan Voted To Approve. Commissioner Warren Voted No. Motion Carried.
5. The Next Item Was Discussion, With Possible Action, Regarding Setting The Dates And Times For The Trail Of Treats And For Trick Or Treating. Commissioner Warren Stated Saturday, October 29th Is A Trunk Or Treat At The Park So Id Like To Go With Monday, October 31st. All The Commissioners Were In Agreement They Would Like To Hold It On October 31st. So The Time For Trail Of Treats Is October 31st, 2022 From 3 P.M. To 5 P.M. And Trick Or Treating Is From 5 P.M. To 8 P.M. Only To Houses With Their Porch Lights On. Commissioner Harkins Made A Motion To Approve, Seconded By Commissioner Warren. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Jordan Voted To Approve. Motion Carried.
6. The Next Item Was Discussion, With Possible Action, Regarding The Leasing Of Suite 111b At The West Frankfort Mall. This Is Adrienne Mason Of Country Company The Only Changing Is The Name On The Lease. It Will Be In Her Name Only Instead Of Country Company. The Rent Is The Same As In Years Past. This Is A Two-Year Lease. Commissioner Warren 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 Discussion, With Possible Action, Regarding A First Amendment To Lease Agreement Regarding Suite 108 At The West Frankfort Mall. This Is Just An Extension Of The Current Lease With Sloan's Gymnastics For Two More Years. 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 Of Contractor's Pay Estimate #1 To Midwest Petroleum & Excavating, Inc. For The West Frankfort Water System Meter Replacement - Phase 1. In The Amount Of $22,968.00. Commissioner Warren Made A Motion For Approval, Seconded By Commissioner Stanley. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Jordan Voted To Approve. Motion Carried.
9. The Next Item Was Approval Of Construction Engineering Om Brown & Roberts, Inc. For The West Frankfort - Water Meter Replacement – Phase 1. In The Amount Of $6,693.14. 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 Approval Of Pay Estimate #12 To Samron Midwest Contracting, Inc. In The Amount Of $380,395.12 Regarding Eda Award 06-01-06132 – 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.
11. The Next Item Was Approval To Pay An Invoice From Pinoy Construction, Inc. In The Amount Of $5,100.00 Regarding Stripping Of Streets. 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 Invoice #12 From Brown & Roberts, Inc In The Amount Of $29,918.99 Regarding Engineering Services For Mall Infrastructure Improvements Contract 2 - Ce. 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 Pay An Invoice From Xylem In The Amount Of $8,870.40 Regarding Pump Rental For The Street Department, Commissioner Stanley Made A Motion For Approval, Seconded By Commissioner Simpson. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Jordan Voted To Approve. Motion Carried.
14. The Next Item Was Discussion, With Possible Action, Regarding A Name Change/Lake Lot Lease Transfer For Lake Lot 30e 12 From Chad Spence, Jaime Spence, Cheri Foxworthy And Kyle Foxworthy To Chad Spence, Jaime Spence, And Cheri Foxworthy. 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. Officer's Report ~ Fire Report For The Month Of September 2022. Chief Sailliez Reported That They Had 186-Ambulance Calls, 2 Rubbish/Illegal Fires, 1- Brush/Field Fires, 4 Motor Vehicle Accidents, 1 Vehicle Fires, 7 Fire Emergency; (Gas Leaks, Power Lines Down), 1 Structure Fire And 1 Smoke Scare, 2 Ambulance Calls Turned Over To Mutual Aid Due To No Third Ambulance, 4- Mutual Aid Fire Responses And 1- Missing Juvenile. For A Total Of 210 Calls During The Month. This Month Was Also Hose Testing For The Department, They Tested Approximately 13,375 Feet Of Hose While Answering The Above Calls. The Department Used Approximately 25,000 Gallons Of Water. The Department Collected $33,448.52 For September Ambulance Calls.
Police Report For The Month Of September 2022. Chief Prudent Reported Officers Answered A Total Of 1,479 Calls For Service. Of Those Calls 22 Were Traffic Accidents, 4 With Injuries. Officers Responded To 25 Domestic Disputes, 2 Fights In Progress, 18 Alarms, 2 Intoxicated Persons, 6 Burglaries, 26 Reports Of Criminal Damage To Property, 28 Complaints Of Juvenile Problems, 28 Reported Thefts, And 70 Complaints Of Disorderly Conduct/Disturbances. And Officers Made 30 Street Contacts. Officers Conducted 245 Traffic Stops, Issued 87 Citations, 175 Warnings, And 30 Lw-27's. There Were 75 Adult Arrests Made And 7 Juvenile Arrests, Resulting In 106 Criminal Charges Filed.
Dispatchers Answered 1,791 Calls. Of Those, 578 Were 9-1-1 Calls, 91 Were Walk In Requests. 1,479 Were For Police, 213 Were For West Frankfort Fire/Ems, 8 Were For Thompsonville Fire/Ems, 13 Were For Abbott Ems, And 1 For United Ambulance. For The Month Of September, We Collected $5,675.00 In Fines And Fees.
Codes Report For The Month Of September 2022. Permit: 0-Building Permits, 0-Sign Permits. Rental Properties: 9-Rental Inspections Performed. Case Activity Report ~ 45 Which Includes Doors Tagged Verbal Warnings, Vehicles Tagged, Inspections Of Violations, Inspections, Citations Issued, Letters Sent, Etc. And Brought In $250.00 In Fines And Fees For The Month Of September
16. Building And Sign Permits ~ We Have One Sign Permit. It Is For ENG Tavern LLC Dba Casino Tavern. They Put Up Three Signs One On The Side Of The Front Of The Building, Another Large One Across The Front Of The Building And One At The Rear Entrance. Commissioner Harkins Made A Motion To Approve, Seconded By Commissioner Stanley. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Jordan Voted To Approve. Motion Carried.
17. Mayors & Commissioners Comments The Mayor Stated We Have Began Negotiations With The Laborers Contracts. There Are Six (6) Different Ones. They've Made A Proposal To Us And I've Shared That With The Council. We Will Be Discussing This In The Coming Weeks. The Contracts Expire March 1, 2023 I Would Like To Get Them Approved And Done By The End Of The Year.
We Have To A Planning Commission Meeting We Are Discussing A Really Good Ordinance For Non-Owner Occupied Housing Which Is For Rental Property. In Order To Switch It Over To Be Owner Occupied Property It Is Going To Be A Pretty Big Deal. What We Have To Do Is If You Own Your House And I’ve Used This Example A Lot. My Son Lives In Peoria And Before He Could Sell His House The City Of Peoria Came In And Inspected His House. There Were A Couple Of Things They Needed To Fix Before It Could Be Approved To Sell. Minor Things And Once He Had Those Things Fixed Then He Could Sell It. The City Has The Ability To Inspect Owner Occupied Property. For Us To Do That, It Will Require Quite A Bit Of Work. Not Saying Its Something We Want To Take Up At This Point, But We Are Looking Into It. The Question Is What Do You Do About Someone That Lives In A House, That Owns The House, The Roof Is Falling In? So, What We Are Talking About Doing Is A Maintainnce Ordinance For A Minimum Standard For Housing In Our Town. There Is No Minimum Standard For Houses That Are Not Rented. If You Have A Tarp On Your Roof For Months Or A Year, If You Have Windows Busted Out, Right Now We Can Stop People From Renting Out These Places Until Fixed But We Can Not Stop People From Living In These Places. This Will Be A Monumental Task. We Have Torn Down Twenty-Five Houses In The Last Year. We Are Going To Continue To Talk About This With The Planning Commission. They Would Like For Us To Pursue A Maintainence Ordinance For People That Have Houses That They Live In That Are In Really Bad Condition. Mr. Snell Codes Officer Stated We Have An Issue With Abandoned Houses. I Think Its Partly Because Of This, So When Someone’s House Deteriorates So Bad, What Do They Do? They Just Walk Away From Them, And Those Are The Houses We Are Tearing Down. If You House Is Worth Something You Wont Just Walk Away From It. That's Why We Are Working To Get This Maintenance Ordinance, Also; The Mayor Stated We Are Talking About A Fencing Ordinance. Codes Officer Snell Stated We Are Pretty Close To Getting This Finished.
The Mayor Stated I’m Open To Have A Meeting With Anyone At Any Time With Anyone That Has Questions About Zoning, The Way We Conduct Business As Far As Dealing With People About Permits, Etc. I’m Always Available Just Give Us A Call And We Will Set Up A Meeting.
Also Stated Samron Has Contacted Jim White And Are Starting On Monday Working Back On Douglas Street Towards The Interstate On The North Side Of The Road.
Commissioner Reports
Commissioner Harkins Stated That The Police And Fire Are Doing Ok. They Are Staying Busy As Always. The Police Department Are Close To Having Two New Trucks With A Third One On Its Way That They Have Been Waiting On For Almost A Year. The New Ambulance Is Due To Arrive Here In April 2023.
Commissioner Simpson Stated She Will Just Repeat What Her Husband Said To You (Mayor Jordan) At One Time. "Irest Easier At Night Knowing That You Are The Mayor Of This Town."
Commissioner Stanley Stated The Street Guys Are Staying Busy As Well With Either Concrete Work, Cleaning Up Alleys, Picking Up Trees Etc.
Commissioner Warren Stated In Sewer And Water Is Doing Fine. They Are All Staying Busy.
Audience Comments:
Alan Rich Lives On 10th Street And His Parents Owned This House Since 1968. We Were There Before Neibch Junk Yard And I Would Like To Open Up My Front Window And Not See Cars Sitting Everywhere. That Used To Be A Nice Neighborhood. The Mayor Stated We Have Been In Contact With The Neibch Family. They Are Going To Be Moving A Lot Of Those Vehicles As They Are On City Property. He Has Promised Us He Is Going To Get That Cleaned Up He Has Crushed Two Hundred And Fifty Cars Already And Is Continuing To Clean It Up. We Are Going To Have A Meeting With Him, So If You Mr. Rich Would Like To Come To That Meeting; I Will Make Sure You Know When It Will Be. The Mayor Also Stated We Are Going To Set Up A Time Table As To When He Has To Get This All Cleaned Up. A Lot Of That Is On Neibch Property So Some Of That We Have No Control Over. Mr. Rich Also Stated Something Needs To Be Done About All The Backpackers Coming Through His Property. The Mayor Suggested That He Needs To Call The Police Department Every Time He See's Someone In His Yard. Also Told Him That Police Chief John Prudent Is Here And Would Be Happy To Talk To Him About It After The Meeting.
18. The Next Item Was Approval To Go Into Executive Session To Discuss Contract Negotiations, Union Grievances, Personnel, Purchase And/Or Pending Litigation, As Well As Discuss The Litigation Of Bio-Medical Applications Of Illinois Against The City Of West Frankfort And Others In U.S. District Court Number 3:21 Cv. 487. Commissioner Harkins Made A Motion To Approve, Seconded By Commissioner Simpson. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners Along With The Mayor Voted Yes. Motion Carried. The Council Went Into Executive Session At 6:38 P.M.
19. They Returned From Executive Session At 7:03 P.M. Where They Took No Action. The Mayor Asked For A Motion To Go Back Into Regular Session. Commissioner Harkins Made A Motion For Approval, Seconded By Commissioner Simpson. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Jordan Voted To Approve. Motion Carried.
20.With No Further Business To Be Discussed, The Meeting Was Adjourned On A Motion By Commissioner Harkins At 7:03 P.M.
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