North Egypt News

City of West Frankfort City Council met Dec. 13.

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, The City Attorney And City Clerk Were In Attendance.

2. Mayor Jordan Asked For Approval Of The Minutes From The November 22nd, 2022 Regular 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 $229,483.89. 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 An Ordinance Making The Annual Tax Levy For The City Of West Frankfort, Illinois For The Fiscal Year Commencing On The First Day Of May, 2022 And Ending On The Last Day Of April, 2023. The Levee Is Going To Remain The Same. Ever Since I Have Become Mayor, We Have Raised It 5%. After Careful Evaluation Of Costs And Everything, We Do Not Have To Have An Increase In Taxes To The Community This Year. It Will Remain The Same As The 2022 Year At $2,020,341.38. Commissioner Stanley 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 Approval To Publish 2023 Meeting Dates For City Council, Planning Commission, Lake Committee, Police And Fire Pension Boards And Police & Fire Merit Board. Commissioner Harkins Made A Motion To Approve, Seconded By Commissioner Simpson. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Jordan Voted To Approve. Motion Carried.

6. The Next Item Was Approval To Hire Krystyna Taft As A Full Time Water Clerk Employee. The Mayor Stated She Has Worked For Us As A Contract Employee Since Before Mrs. Levanti Went On Maternity Leave. We Would Like At This Time To Make Her A Full Time Employee With Insurance And Benefits That She Did Not Receive While Being A Contract Employee. 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 The Purchase Of An Extension For The Christmas Tree In The Amount Of $6,075.62 From The Tourism Fund. The Mayor Stated This Will Be A Three (3') Foot Extension On The Bottom Of The Tree. It Will Make The Tree 26 Feet Tall. Commissioner Stanley 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 Discussion, With Possible Action, Regarding A Donation Of $1,500.00 To Redbird Ready. Commissioner Simpson 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 Approval Of A Resolution Of Support Regarding The Application To The State Of Illinois For A Community Development Block Grant. The Mayor Stated This Is For Crosswalk. They Will Be Updating Eleven Houses. Commissioner Stanley Made A Motion For Approval, Seconded By Commissioner Simpson. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Jordan Voted To Approve. Motion Carried.

10. The Next Item Was Approval Of A Resolution Of Support And Commitment Of Local Funds. This Is For The Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) The City Will Commit Funds From Tif In The Amount Of $20,000.00 For Use In Conjunction With Illinois Community Development Block Grant For An Estimated Total Project Cost Of $670,000.00. 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 Submit A Rd Pre-Application For The STP Stormwater Lagoon. Matt Tosh Explained "Rd" Stands For Rural Development. This Is For Water Lagoons At The Plant, They Are Full Of Grit And Tearing Up Aerators. Commissioner Warren Made A Motion For Approval, Seconded By Commissioner Stanley. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Jordan Voted To Approve. Motion Carried.

12. The Next Item Was Approval To Authorize The Mayor And City Clerk To Make Application To, And Sign Necessary Documents For, The Illinois Competitive Freight Program Funds To Continue The 157 & Il 149 Interchange Modification Project. The Mayor Stated This Is A Grant Application We Are Going To Apply For. Mr. Roberts Of Brown & Roberts Stated Yes, This Is To Fund Your Phase One Engineering Costs. We Are Nearing Completion Of That. The Competitive Freight Program Will Fund 80% Of The Phase 2 Of The Interstate Project. They May Go Up To 90% Since It Involves The Interstate. We Have To Turn In The Application And They Base It Off Scoring As To Who Gets The Extra 10%. For Everything To Be Done It Would Cost Around $22 Or $23 Million. We Only Have A Five (5) Week Turnaround To Complete This Application, Get It Turned In To Find Out What It Will End Up Costing The City And Whether Or Not To Proceed With The Whole Project. The Mayor Stated This Is The Burlington Route, From Route 37 Behind The Old Kmart Out To Hwy 149. This Is The Interchange, It Would Utilize The Burlington Railroad Bridge, The North Road Bridge Will Be Removed This Project Has Been In The Works For Over Eight (8) 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.

13. The Next Item Was Approval To Pay Invoice #28 For Phase 1 Engineering Services From Brown & Roberts, Inc. In The Amount Of $19,039.93 Regarding 157 & Il Rt 149 Interchange Modification Phase 1 Engineering. Commissioner Stanley Made A Motion For Approval, Seconded By Commissioner Warren. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Jordan Voted To Approve. Motion Carried.

14. The Next Item Was Discussion Of Bids With Possible Approval Of The Notice Of Intent To Award To Followell Construction Co. Inc. The West Frankfort - Water System Meter Replacement - Phase 2. Bid Opening Was Last Week We Received Bids From Three (3) Companies. Midwest Petroleum $656,000.00 Was The Highest Bid, Followed By Wiggs Excavating $623,825.00 And The Lowest Bid Was From Followell Construction At $566,777.00. Commissioner Warren Made A Motion To Approve, Seconded By Commissioner Simpson. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Jordan Voted To Approve. Motion Carried.

15. The Next Item Was Approval Of Design Engineering Bill #1 From Brown & Roberts, Inc. For The West Frankfort - Water System Meter Replacement - Phase 2. In The Amount Of $65,009.83. Commissioner Warren Made A Motion To Approve, Seconded By Commissioner Stanley. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Jordan Voted To Approve. Motion Carried.

16. The Next Item Was Approval Of A Contractor's Pay Estimate #3 To Midwest Petroleum & Excavating, Inc. For The West Frankfort Water Meter Replacement – Phase 1. In The Amount Of $141,995.00. 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. The Next Item Was Approval Of A Change Order #1 For The West Frankfort - Water System Meter Replacement - Phase 1. There Were Some Additional One Inch Meters Found We Thought They Were 5/8" X 4" So About 10 Of Those Need Replaced. It's A Total Cost Of $5,000.00. Commissioner Warren Made A Motion To Approve, Seconded By Commissioner Stanley. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Jordan Voted To Approve. Motion Carried.

18. The Next Item Was Approval Of Construction Engineering Bill #3 From Brown & Roberts, Inc. For The West Frankfort - Water Meter Replacement - Phase 1. In The Amount Of $12,089.95. Commissioner Simpson Made A Motion To Approve, Seconded By Commissioner Warren. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Jordan Voted To Approve. Motion Carried.

19. The Next Item Was Approval Of Pay Estimate #14 To Samron Midwest Contracting, Inc. In The Amount Of $155,563.21 For Eda Award 06-01-06132 - Contract 2. Commissioner Stanley Made A Motion To Approve, Seconded By Commissioner Warren. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Jordan Voted To Approve. Motion Carried.

20. The Next Item Was Approval To Pay An Invoice From Locis In The Amount Of $8,340.00 Regarding License Support Agreement Membership. This Is For Our Software That We Use For Accounting In The Office. Commissioner Warren Made A Motion To Approve, Seconded By Commissioner Simpson. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Jordan Voted To Approve. Motion Carried.

21. The Next Item Was Approval To Pay An Invoice #14 From Brown & Roberts, Inc. In The Amount Of $21,663.92 For Engineering Service For Mall Infrastructure Improvements Contract 2. Commissioner Stanley Made A Motion To Approve, Seconded By Commissioner Harkins. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Jordan Voted To Approve. Motion Carried.

22. The Next Item Was Approval To Pay An Invoice From Skuta Construction, Inc. In The Amount Of $19,975.00 Regarding The Installation Of A New Sewer Line At The WFBI. Commissioner Stanley Made A Motion To Approve, Seconded By Commissioner Warren. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Jordan Voted To Approve. Motion Carried.

23. The Next Item Was Approval To Pay An Invoice From Johnson's Auto & Truck Repair In The Amount Of $3,764.91 Regarding Repairs To E-3 For The WFFD. Commissioner Harkins Made A Motion To Approve, Seconded By Commissioner Stanley. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Jordan Voted To Approve. Motion Carried.

24. The Next Item Was Approval To Pay An Invoice From Cummins Sales And Service In The Amount Of $1,502.45 Regarding Planned Maintenance For Unit 1 Equipment For The Street Department. Commissioner Warren Made A Motion To approve, Seconded By Commissioner Simpson. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Jordan Voted To Approve. Motion Carried.

25. Officer's Report ~ Fire Report For The Month Of November 2022. Chief Sailliez Reported That They Had 192-Ambulance Calls, 6 Rubbish/Illegal Fires, 11- Brush/Field Fires, 3 Motor Vehicle Accidents, O Vehicle Fires, 14 Fire Emergency; (Gas Leaks, Power Lines Down, Etc.), 5 Structure Fires, 1 Ambulance Calls Turned Over To Mutual Aid Due To No Third Ambulance, 3- Mutual Aid Fire Responses, 2-Automatic Fire Alarms (AFA) For A Total Of 237 Calls During The Month. The Department Used Approximately 10,000 Gallons Of Water. The Department Collected $31,341.67 For November Ambulance Calls.

Police Report For The Month Of November 2022. Chief Prudent Reported Officers Answered A Total Of 1,121 Calls For Service. Of Those Calls 15 Were Traffic Accidents, 1 With Injuries. Officers Responded To 32 Domestic Disputes, 4 Fights In Progress, 9 Alarms, 2 Intoxicated Persons, 6 Burglaries, 18 Reports Of Criminal Damage To Property, 24 Complaints Of Juvenile Problems, 16 Reported Thefts, And 50 Complaints Of Disorderly Conduct/Disturbances. And Officers Made 31 Street Contacts.

Officers Conducted 150 Traffic Stops, Issued 51 Citations, 109 Warnings, And 16 Lw-27's. There Were 58 Adult Arrests Made And 3 Juvenile Arrests, Resulting In 77 Criminal Charges Filed.

Dispatchers Answered 1,530 Calls Of Those, 507 Were 9-1-1 Calls, 81 Were Walk In Requests. 1,121 Were For Police, 243 Were For West Frankfort Fire/Ems, 23 Were For Thompsonville Fire/Ems, 18 Were For Abbott Ems, And 1 For United Ambulance. For The Month Of November, We Collected $2,570.00 In Fines And Fees.

Codes Report For The Month Of November 2022. Permit: 2-Building Permits, 0~Sign Permits. Rental Properties: 5-Rental Inspections Performed. Case Activity Report ~ 18 Which Includes Doors Tagged Verbal Warnings, Vehicles Tagged, Inspections Of Violations, Inspections, Citations Issued, Letters Sent, Etc. And Brought In $175.00 In Fines And Fees For The Month Of October.

26. Building And Sign Permits ~ We Have Two Building Permits. The First One Is For Marion Eye Center At 905 West Main. They Are Doing Renovations To Accommodate A New Business Coming To Town. They Will Be Adding On To The Existing Building Now That They Have Torn Down That House Next Door. Commissioner Stanley Made A Motion To Approve, Seconded By Commissioner Simpson. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Jordan Voted To Approve. Motion Carried.

The Second One Is For Alfred Schach At 905 North Emma. They Are Adding Stand Alone Solar Panels In The Yard. Commissioner Harkins Made A Motion To Approve, Seconded By Commissioner Stanley. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Jordan Voted To Approve. Motion Carried.

27. Mayors & Commissioners Comments~

The Mayor Stated He Was Going To Keep It Brief. Looking Back Thru The Bills, These Are Accomplishments. These Are Things That Are Done. We Are Making Progress We Have Talked For Years About Replacing All The Water Meters In Town. That Project Is Almost A Third Of The Way Done. We Are Going To Start Phase 2 And There Are 3 Phases To That Project. Everything Out In The VF Mall Area Is Now Completed. I’m Proud Of Our Partnership With Brown And Roberts, Inc. And Their Help In Our Community, So I Would Like To Thank Them. This Is Not A Popularity Contest When Your On The Council, You Make Decisions That Will Help Make Improvements To Your Community.

The Next Council Meeting Will Be At 10 A.M. On December 27th, 2022.

Commissioner Reports~

Commissioner Harkins Stated Well You Have Heard The Reports From The Chiefs. As You Can Tell They Do Stay Busy. I’m Up There Almost Every Morning And They Are Doing A Good Job And I’m Proud To Be A Part Of That Group.

Commissioner Simpson Stated She Would Read Her Letter To The Council. “Mayor Tom Jordan, As Of December 28, 2022, I Will Be Resigning From The City Council As Finance Commissioner. It Has Been A Great Honor And Privilege To Sit In The Chair That My Husband Mike Simpson Occupied For The Last 11 Years Of His Life.

The Past 19 Months I Have Been Educated And Amazed At All That Is Involved In Running A City. And I Firmly Believe That City Hall, And All The City Employees, Could Be Labeled The "Dream Team.” Their Work Ethic And Their Compatibility Is Above And Beyond Any Expectation.

I Am Richer In Spirit And Friendship For Such An Awesome Opportunity To Hold Such A Valued Position As Finance Commissioner. Commissioner Mike Simpson Was The Smartest And Wittiest Man I Have Ever Known. Others Will Fill This Chair. No One Will Ever Fill His Shoes.

With Gratitude And Prayers For Continued Growth And Progress For The City Of West Frankfort, I Will Leave This Honored Position As Finance Commissioner.” Marilyn Simpson.

The Mayor Stated I Would Like To Personally Thank You For Your Service. When We Lost Mike There Was A Hole Here, And You Have Done An Outstanding Job. You Added To Us And Were A Voice In The Community And I Just Want To Say Thank You Very Much For Doing That. We Are Going To Miss You. You Are Always Welcome Down Here To Hang Out And Visit With Us. This Will Take Effect The First Council Meeting In January 2023. We Will Talk About This Next Council Meeting.

It's A Blessing To Come To Work We Have A Positive Attitudes Around Here And This Is The Best Group We Have Had Up Here To Work Beside.

Commissioner Stanley Stated He Has Not Been Around That Much So He Didn't Really Have Anything To Say. He Asked Street Superintendent Larry Presley What They Had Been Up To. Mr. Presley Stated They Have Been Cutting Trees Down On St. Louis And North Lincoln Streets.

Commissioner Warren Stated Our Guys Are Working. They Have Been Putting In Meters And I Know They Had A Water Break Last Week By Krogers. The New Water Meter Project Is The Big Thing Right Now. We Haven't Had Too Many Issues With The Installation.

Audience Comments:

There Were No Audience Comments Or Questions.

28. The Next Item Was Approval To Go Into Executive Session To Discuss Contract Negotiations, Union Grievances, Personnel, Sale Of Surplus Property And/Or Pending Litigation, With Possible Action. Commissioner Harkins Made A Motion To Approve, Seconded By Commissioner Stanley. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners Along With The Mayor Voted Yes. Motion Carried. The Council Went Into Executive Session At 6:51 P.M.

29. They Returned From Executive Session At 7:24 P.M. Where They Took No Action. Commissioner Harkins Made A Motion For Approval, Seconded By Commissioner Stanley. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Jordan Voted To Approve. Motion Carried.

30. With No Further Business To Be Discussed, The Meeting Was Adjourned On A Motion By Commissioner Harkins At 7:24 P.M.

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