North Egypt News

City of West Frankfort City Council met March 28.

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. Along With The City Attorney And City Clerk. 

2. Mayor Jordan Asked For Approval Of The Minutes From The March 14th, 2023 Regular 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 $147,870.98. Commissioner Howard 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 A Resolution Appointing A Paid On-Call Volunteer Firefighters To The City Of West Frankfort Fire Department. Chief Sailliez Stated At This Time We Have Two Applications In Front Of Us, To Put On A Trial Period. They Are Tj Willis And Tanner Clark. Commissioner Harkins Made A Motion To Approve, Seconded By Commissioner Howard. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Jordan Voted To Approve. Motion Carried.

5. The Next Item Was Approval Of A Resolution Adopting The Franklin County Multi-Hazard Mitigation Plan. The Mayor Stated Its A 134 Pages And Cover's Everything That Could Ever Happen From Meteor Strikes, Earthquakes, Tornados, Etc. There Is A Lot Of Work That Went Into This Plan. Commissioner Stanley 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 City Providing Scholarships To St. John's Catholic School. The Mayor Stated Thursday Night I Became Aware That There Was A Meeting At St. John's And I Wasn't Really Aware Of What It Was About But I Gained Some Information Later That The School Was Possibly Going To Be Shutting Down Next School Year. We Have Mr. Salina In The Audience Who Is On The School Board As President, So I Would Like For Him To Tell Us What Transpired.

Mr. Salina Stated That Thursday Night March 23rd, 2023 We Had A Meeting With Parents, Staff, Parish And Community Members. It Was A Discussion Due To The Economic Downturn That We Are All Experiencing We Have Noticed A Loss Of Enrollment That Has Continued For The Past Couple Of Years. At The Time Of The Meeting Our Commitments To Come Back To School Was Way Lower Than We Are Accustom To Seeing At That Point And Time. So Much So At That Time, That We Had A Decision To Make Whether 2023-2024 School Year Was A Viable Option. Based On Enrollment Numbers Alone Which Then Leads Into Our Ability To Financially Sustain Ourselves. Since Then, There Has Been Some Commitment Made From Parents Who Had Not Yet Committed, There Has Been Involvement From The Community And There Has Been A Lot Of Interest In Keeping The School Open. We Have Seen Fit To Give Ourselves Go For Next Year But We Have A Lot Of Work To Do To Increase Our Numbers And To Make Sure The Institution That Has Been In West Frankfort Community For 101 Years As St. John's Catholic School Continues To Be Part Of This Community. That's What The Meeting Was About And How To Increase Our Enrollment Or Shut Down.

The Mayor Stated Whenever I Heard About What Was Happening At The School On Friday Morning That Is When I Asked Father Eusebius And Mr. Salina Came Down Here To Discuss What We Could Do To Help The School. The Effort That Goes Into Running That School, The People That Volunteer There, And Of Course The Staff I Just Can't Imagine This Town Without That School. I Always Think Of Our Community As We Have Three Social Sectors You Have Your School Activities, Your Church Activities And Your Family Activities. This Is A Vital Part Of Our Community And As A Mayor I Ask Is What Can We As The City Do? What Can We Do To Help St. Johns School? The Proposal I Came Up With Is That 

We Can Offer Scholarships To Students. What I Would Like To Propose And Again It Is Up To The Council Is; That We Use Gaming Money, And This Is Money That We Get From The Gaming Machines. In 2014 Council Discussed That We Were Going To Set Aside Half The Income From The Gaming Funds For The Youth Of West Frankfort And This Area. I Got This Idea From Mary Jane Chesney Of Mt. Vernon And What It Basically Does Is It Takes Something That's A Negative Im Not Saying Its Illegal But Sometimes It Can Cause Problems, So We Want To Take That Money And Make Something Positive Happen With That. And So, The Council Decided To Set That Money Aside. And Since That Day We Have Invested Over $100,000 Back Into Our Youth. I Have A List Of All Of Those People If Anyone Would Like To See It. I Think That That Is Exactly Where We Should Take This Money From To Give To You For Scholarships. I Would Propose You Tell Us How Many New Students You Have Enrolled With A First Name; Grade Level And We Will Give You A Check Towards Those Students Tuitions Up To $25,000.00. This Helps Fill In The Gap There Are People Out There Who Would Like To Attend School At St. John's But They Just Can't Afford It. It Will Be Up To The School How Much Of The Tuition Will Be Paid From This Fund, The City Will Have Nothing To Do With Deciding Who Gets The Help Or How Much. The City Will Need To Receive A List Of Whether It's A Boy Or Girl And What Grade They Will Be Entering So To Know Who Is Receiving The Scholarships And Then Issue A Check. That Way We Know Who Is Receiving The Help And That It Is Going To A Student. Finance Commissioner Howard Stated He Is Good With That Proposal We Just Need To Make Sure Everything Is Documented, And Follow Procedure.

Father Eusebius Wanted To Say Thank You, For Your Thoughtfulness, Your Love Of Education, We Are Doing This For Our Children. The Highest Investment You Can Make Is On Our Kids. They Are The Future Of Our Generation, Our Family, This Community. For You Mayor Jordan To Even Think Of This And To Call Us Together Is Heart Warming For Me. I Just Want To Say Thank You And Thank You To Everyone Who Is Here In Support Of This Project. As You Have Said The School Has Been Here For More Than 100 Years, And We Are Not Going To

Put Out That Light Here Now, We Just Want The Light To Continue, And Pass It Over To The Next Generation, So That's Why Im So Grateful. We Have A Lot Of The Staff Here Tonight As Well As Parents And The Principal That Has All Worked So Hard To Keep The School Open. We Know The Challenges Of The Times That Stand Before Us And We Are So Grateful And Thank You For Your Support. My Prayer Is That The School Will Continue To Be Here In The Next 100 Years. We Have Had So Many Validictorians That Have Come Out Of That School, So Many Men And Women Of Importance, Integrity And They Have Impacted Society. If We Do Not Catch These Kids Young And Instill In Them Education, Respect, Discipline, Hard Work We Will Lose It. That's Part Of The Reason I Am So Grateful That You Are Doing This For The School. Thank You So Very Much And God Bless You.

Commissioner Stanley Made A Motion To Approve, Seconded By Commissioner Howard. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Jordan Voted To Approve. Motion Carried.

The Mayor Added I Want To Say Something I Did Not Know About Any Of This Until Thursday Night And Only Through One Of My Neighbors Telling Me. I Had Then Heard That Several People Were Attending The Meeting But At That Time I Did Not Know What It Was About. I Just Want To Say I Was Glad That We Were Given The Ability To Step In And Help. Im Glad The City Gets To Help With This. I Hope It Is Very Successful.

7. The Next Item Was Discussion, With Possible Action, A Donation To The Franklin County Dive Team For Their Assistance With The Storm Pump. The Mayor Stated We Have A Pumping Station North Of Town That Has A Huge Pumping System In It And One Of The Pumps Had To Be Rebuilt So When We Retrieved It We Realized The Propellers On The Bottom Of It Were Missing. We Knew They Were Down Inside The Hole And Before The Rebuilt Motor Was Installed; We Needed A Way To Get The Debris Out. The Help Of The Dive Team, Fire Department And Several Other Agencies Helped Save The City A Ton Of Money. They Used It As A Training Exercise And It Saved The City A Lot Of Money. Commissioner Stanley Stated He Was Very Impressed With All The Safety And Work The  Guys Put Into That. We Really Appreciate Their Help So Much! The Mayor Stated I Recommend We Give The Dive Team A $1,000.00 Donation For Help In Cleaning Up Debris Out Of The Tank. If You Have A Piece Of Equipment That You Need To Purchase Later On Please Let Us Know. Commissioner Howard Made A Motion To Approve, Seconded By Commissioner Stanley. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Jordan Voted To Approve. Motion Carried.

8. The Next Item Was Approval Of A Proposed New Collective Bargaining Agreement Between The City And Teamsters Local #50/Sewer Department To Cover The Period Of March 1, 2023 Through February 28, 2026. The Mayor Stated We Have Been In Negotiations With Everyone On All Of These Agreements Listed Below Since November 2022 And Have Reached An Agreement. Commissioner Warren Made A Motion To Approve, Seconded By Commissioner Stanley. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Jordan Voted To Approve. Motion Carried.

9. The Next Item Was Approval Of A Final Draft Of The New Agreement Between The City And City Hall Employees To Cover The Period Of March 1, 2023 Through February 28, 2026. The Mayor Stated This Should Just Be An Agreement, Not A Collective Bargaining Agreement. I Would Like To Explain Why We Are Doing This. For The Last Twelve (12) Years That I've Been Mayor The Non-Union Employees Receive The Same Benefits As The Union Employees. Everything Is The Same Between All City Employees. But What We Did With The Contracts This Year Was The City Decided We Had Been Giving The Fire And Police Department A Longevity Stipend Whenever They Retire. It Wasn't Given To The Sewer, Water, Street Departments, Or Other Employees. The City Felt Like This Should Be Throughout Our Employees. So On All The Union Contracts We Have Added A Longevity Stipend At The End Of Their Service, 10 Years Or More, If They Retire They Get A $12,000.00 Stipend. It Will Be Given To Them Sixty (60) Days After They Retire, So Not To Mess Up Their Imrf. In Order To Make That Permanent And Stated We Had To Make An Agreement, Because People In The Past Have Said Well So And So Told Me I Would Get This When I Retire, And That Person Is Not Here Anymore, It Makes It Difficult. So We Took The Wording Of The Other Contracts That Were Similar To What We Have Done And We Added This Longevity Stipend And The Sick Time. This Is Just An Agreement On What We All Have Agreed Upon. Its Going To Be Signed By All Employees And Then We Will Sign It That Way Its All Written Down And What We Go By. We Could Not Give The Office Employees The Same Benefits Until The Other Departments Approved Their Agreements. That Is Why This Is Happening Now. Commissioner Stanley Made A Motion To Approve, Seconded By Commissioner Howard. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Jordan Voted To Approve. Motion Carried.

10. The Next Item Was Approval Of A Final Draft Of The New  Agreement Between The City And Wfbi And Wf Mall Employees To Cover The Period Of March 1, 2023 Through February 28, 2026. Commissioner Howard Made A Motion To Approve, Seconded By Commissioner Harkins. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Jordan Voted To Approve. Motion Carried.

11. The Next Item Was Approval Of A Final Draft Of The New Agreement Between The City And Deputy  Treasurer/Treasurer Employees To Cover The Period Of March 1, 2023 Through February 28, 2026. Commissioner Warren Made A Motion To Approve, Seconded By  Commissioner Stanley. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Jordan Voted To Approve. Motion Carried.

12. The Next Item Was Approval Of A Final Draft Of The New Agreement Between The City And Department Head Employees To Cover The Period Of March 1, 2023 Through February 28, 2026. The Mayor Stated There Is No Guarantee Here, It States The Salary And Everything They Get. We Are Just Putting In Writing What We Have Agreed To With These Employees. Commissioner Harkins Made A Motion To Approve, Seconded By Commissioner Howard. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Jordan Voted To Approve. Motion Carried.

13. The Next Item Was Approval Of A Final Draft Of The New  Agreement Between The City And Codes Officer To Cover The Period Of March 1, 2023 Through February 28, 2026. The Mayor Stated We Hired Mr. Snell A Year And A Half Ago He Has Done An Excellent Job. And Again, We Are Just Putting In Writing What We Agreed To With Him. Commissioner Stanley 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 Of A Donation Of $4,700.00 To The West Frankfort City Park For Fireworks To Be Paid From The Tourism Fund. The Mayor Stated We Pay Half Of The Amount Of The Fireworks Every Year This Comes From The Tourism Fund. 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 Approval To Pay An Invoice From Witmer Public Safety Group, Inc. In The Amount Of $7,840.00 For A Forcible Entry Door Prop To Be Purchased With Donation Funds From The West Frankfort Fire Department. Chief Sailliez Stated This Is A Full Size Training Prop Specifically For Doors, Barred Windows, Anything That Would Limit Our Ability To Gain Access To A Residence Or Building. This Will Allow Us To Practice Daily. We Have Close To $11,000.00 In The Donation Fund That Comes From Individuals Specifically For The Fire Department. Commissioner Harkins Made A Motion To Approve, Seconded By Commissioner Howard. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Jordan Voted To Approve. Motion Carried.

16. The Next Item Was Approval To Pay An Invoice From Xylem In The Amount Of $41,519.00 The Cost To Replace Pump At The Sewer Department. This Is The Cost Of The Pump The Dive Team Went Down To Make Sure There Was No Debri Left In The Tank. Commissioner Stanley Made A Motion To Approve, Seconded By Commissioner Warren. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Jordan Voted To Approve. Motion Carried.

17.The Next Item Was Discussion, With Possible Action, To Approve A Quote To Replace The Sprinkler Heads At The West Frankfort Outlet Mall. The Mayor Stated The Sprinkler Heads Have Been Going Off On Their Own And When It Does It Discharges All The Water Due To Them Being Old. They Were Installed In 1989 When The Mall Was Built. There Are Approximately 170 Of These That Need To Be Replaced. We Received Two Bids One From L&K Fire Protection Systems $4,428.57 And Another From F.E. Moran, Inc. Fire Protection In The Amount Of $11,525.00. It Was The Mayor's Recommendation To Take The Lower Bid From L&K Fire Protection. Commissioner Stanley Made A Motion To Approve, Seconded By Commissioner Howard. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Jordan Voted To Approve. Motion Carried.

18. The Next Item Was Approval To Pay An Invoice From Ferrell Electric In The Amount Of $4,395.31 Regarding Security Light Upgrade And Adding Additional Lights At The Wfbi. 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. The Next Item Was Approval To Pay An Invoice From Cb&S Certified Balance & Scale And Probe Testing At The Sewer Plant. Commissioner Warren Stated This Is Testing Equipment That We Have To Have For The Epa. Commissioner Warren Made A Motion To Approve, Seconded By Commissioner Howard. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Jordan Voted To Approve. Motion Carried.

20. The Next Item Was Approval To Pay An Invoice From Rock Auto In The Amount Of $1,980.23 Regarding Fuel Tank Purchase For An Ambulance At 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.

21.The Next Item Was Approval Of A Lake Lot Lease Transfer From Brandon And Stacy Sawalich For Lake Lot Lease #35 To Brandon L. Sawalich. Commissioner Stanley Made A Motion To Approve, Seconded By Commissioner Warren. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Jordan Voted To Approve. Motion Carried.

22. Building And Sign Permits -There Were No Building Or Sign Permits. But Codes Officer Snell Stated One Of Our City Attorneys Has Been Working On A Bunch Of Properties For Us. He Has Gotten Us A Judicial Deed On A Property At 1907 E. Garland. This Is A Property That Has Been Abandoned For Several Years, We Have Had Squatters Move In, Tear It Up, Junk Up The Neighborhood. We Finally Have Possession Of It So We Can Secure It And Provide Some Relief For That Neighborhood. Its My Recommendation That We Advertise For Demolition Bids For The Property At 1907 E. Garland. We Just Received The Deed For This On Monday And It Was Too Late To Get It On The Agenda So He Is Asking For Emergency Approval To Advertise For Bids For Demo. Commissioner Stanley Made A Motion To Approve, Seconded By Commissioner Howard. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Jordan Voted To Approve. Motion Carried.

23. Mayor's Report ~ The Mayor Stated That Its Just A Pleasure To Serve The Citizens Of This Community, He Appreciates This Council. We Try To Do Whats Best For The Community, We Have No Motives, We Are Just Trying To Make This A Better Place. It Feels Good To Be Able To Help Out That Is What We Are Here For.

Commissioner Reports:

Commissioner Harkins Stated Im Glad We Got Our Paid-On Call Guys. Fire Chief Sailiiez Stated Also With The Fuel Tank Issue We Are Short An Ambulance. But We Have Been Short An Ambulance For Almost Two Years. The Council Approved A Purchase Agreement In September 2021 To Purchace A New Ambulance For $254,000.00 We Are Still Unable To Get A Chassis For That And Once We Get A Chassis It Will Be Nine (9) Months From That Date Before It Is In Service. We Are To A Point Now Where I Do Not Think We Will See That Ambulance Because The Price Has Gone Up So Much That The Individuals That We Purchased It From Are Going To Say That The Contract Is Null And Void And The Price Will Go Up $100,000.00. So, A $254,000.00 Ambulance Is Now $354,000.00. We Have Been Looking At Other Options To Fix The Bleed So To Speak. We Had A Demo Come Yesterday That The Mayor And Commissioner Came Down To Look At. It's A Viable Option For Us To Get Our Ambulances Back In Service That We Need To Provide To Our Community. I Would Like To Recommend That We Continue To Look At That And See If It's A Viable Option.

The Mayor Stated He Went Over And Spoke To The Dealer On That And I Think He Is Right, Until He Said It Out Loud, I Never Thought Of It. But This Company We Have A Contract With It Is Not In Their Best Interest To Provide That Ambulance To Us At That Price Whenever They Can Build Them Everyday And Sell Them To Someone Else For $100,000.00 More. So We Need To Visit That And Talk About If We Really Do Have An Ambulance Ordered Or If It Is A Pie In The Sky Thing. I Just Want To Let You Know That The City Council Supports The Ambulance/Fire Departments. Unless You Need One And Can't Get One You Don't Know What Its Like. We Will Work On That And See What The Options Are Because We Were Always Under The Impression That This Ambulance Was Coming. I Think After Talking To This Dealer That It Is Probably Not.

Commissioner Howard Stated That He Really Did Not Have Anything To Report.

Commissioner Stanley Stated Larry Has Been Getting The Ditches All Cleaned Out Before This Next Rain Comes In. Also Cleaning Out All The Tiles That Have Been Clogged. The Pump Out At The Sewer Plant Is Ready To Go Again. Street Guys Are Staying Busy And Doing A Good Job.

Commissioner Warren Stated Sewer And Water Are Doing Well. We Are Plugging Along.

Audience Questions Or Comments:

Mrs. Dragovich Stated We Had The Bad Rain Thursday And Friday I Got Up In The Middle Of The Night And I Looked Out The Window And There Is The Street Department Guys. They Were Checking The Ditch Because I Live Down Around A Bad Area That Floods. Making Sure The Ditches Were Cleaned Out And The Water Was Moving As Fast As It Could. She Just Wanted To Say She Appreciates That So Very Much. It Gives Me Pride To Know That I Live In A Town That Cares About The People Who Live Here.

She Also Stated The Police Cars Parked On The Way To Fis School Has Made A Tremendous Effect On The Way People Drive In That Area Now. This Has Really Been A Good Improvement So I Want To Tell Them Thank You As Well.

Mr. Danny Loeh Was In The Audience And Just Wanted Give Us An Update On The Letter He Brought Last Meeting From John Tomczyk. His Parents Actually Got To Go To The Cemetary In Belgium To See Him. Then I Found Some More Information In The Museum He Was In Pearl Harbor In 1941 When It Was Bombed. He Had His Story Hand Written Of What Went Down At Pearl Harbor. Then We Have Another Gentleman That Was Captured By The Japanese And Was A Prisoner Of War Camp For Three (3) Years. The Amazing Thing About It Was He Survived The Bataan Death March. He Gave Us A Breakdown Of What All Happened During That. The Mayor Asked What Are Your Hours Again? Mr. Loeh Stated We Are Open Sundays From 2 P.M.-4 P.M. But They Can Call Me Or Roger Roberts Anytime During The Week And We Will Open It Up For You. We Have Had So Many Donations Coming In The Past Few Weeks For The Military Museum That We Are So Appreciative For. 

Another Lady In The Audience Stated That Her Grandpa Peanut Riddle Has Some Tree's Planted Up On Main Street, But Her Mom Had Cancer About Five (5) Years Ago, Im Sorry This Is My First Time Being Here At A Council Meeting She Stated Tearing Up. My Mother Had Black Mold In Her Bathroom, So She Got A Plumber Who Took Out All Her Plumbing And Copper Piping, Sold It All And Never Fixed It. She Has Not Had Plumbing For Five (5) Years. Is There Anything We Can Do To Help Her Get Plumbing? The Mayor Asked What Is The Address? She Stated South McClelland Street. She Has Been Having A Lot Of Trouble And I Just Don't Have The Extra Money To Help Her. They Just Took It All And Sold It All Her Plumbing. The Mayor Asked Do You Know Who The Plumber Was? His Name Was Donnie That's All I Know She Stated. The Mayor Asked Her To Please Talk To Our Codes Guy Thad After This Meeting And We Will Get Your Information To See What We Can Do.

24. With No Further Business To Be Discussed, The Meeting Was Adjourned On A Motion By Commissioner Harkins At 7:15 P.M.

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