City of West Frankfort City Council met May 23.
Here are the minutes provided by the council:
1. Mayor Arview Called The Meeting To Order At 6:00 P.M. Requesting A Roll Call. All Commissioners, And Deputy City Clerk Were In Attendance. The City Clerk And City Attorney Have Not Been Appointed.
2. The Next Item Was Approval Of The Minutes From The May 9th, 2023 Regular Council Meeting. The Mayor Started Off By Saying Thank You Andrea For Going Through All Those Public Comments I Know That Was A Lot Of Work. Ive Looked Through It, It Looks Pretty Accurate To What I Recall. Commissioner Harkins Made A Motion To Approve, Seconded By Commissioner Stanley. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Arview Voted To Approve. Motion Carried.
3. The Next Item Was Appointment Of A City Attorney. The Mayor Stated As Many Of You May Remember In Our Previous Meeting On May 9th I Presented The Council With My Recommendations, Pursuant To 65ilcs 5/3.1-30-5a And 65 Ilcs 5/10-2.1-4 And While It Is Within My Rights As The Mayor To Change All Of These Appointments, I Chose Instead What I Felt Was A Compromise And I Re-Appointed The Existing Codes Officer, Engineer, Police Chief And Fire Chief. The Other Three (3) Appointments Which The Council Refused To Confirm Are Currently Vacant And Therefor The Three (3) Individuals I Named Would Not Be Replacing Anyone But Merely Filling A Vacancy. Whereas The Commissioners Did Not Feel Inclind To Confirm My Appointments And Whereas These Three Appointments City Attorney, Clerk And Treasurer Are Necessary For The Efficient Operation Of The City Of West Frankfort. I Hereby Once Again Present Appointments To The Council. So, For City Attorney I Hereby Appoint Kathryn Renik Of Drew Law Group. Ms. Renik Meets All The Requirements For The City Attorney Of The City Of West Frankfort As Per City Ordinance 2.24.020 She Is A Regularly Licensed Attorney At Law, Licensed To Practice Her Profession In The State Of Illinois And She Is A Resident Of West Frankfort. So, I Would Entertain A Motion To Appoint Ms. Renik Of Drew Law Group. Commissioner Howard Stated He Would Make A Comment She Is A Resident Of West Frankfort And We Have Not Had A Resident Of West Frankfort Be A City Attorney For Sometime Because I Didn't Know We Had One. In Order Not To Violate Our Ordinance Commissioner Howard Made A Motion To Approve, Seconded By Commissioner Warren. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Arview Voted To Approve. Motion Carried.
The Mayor Stated Per Our Ordinance We Also Have To Issue The Oath For You To Take Office. Ms. Renik Stood And Recited Her Oath.
4. The Next Item Was Appointment Of A City Clerk. The Mayor Stated He Hereby Appoints Nancy Hobson. Nancy Has Worked For The City For A Long Time, I've Not Heard One Negative Thing About Her Performance Or About Her Personally And I Believe She Would Be A Fantastic City Clerk. And So, I Would Entertain A Motion To Appoint Nancy Hobson For City Clerk. Commissioner Stanley Stated I Think The City Clerk We Have Is Doing A Good Job. The Mayor Stated The Office Is Vacant Right Now. Commissioner Stanley Stated Yes, Its Vacant But We Have Someone Who Has Been Doing That Job For A Few Years And I Feel Like That She Ought To Have The Opportunity To Take This Job As The City Clerk. The Mayor Stated Well I Understand That That Is What The Council Has Advised And Would Want To Do. But That Is Not The Appointment Im Making. The Mayor Asked Is There A Motion To Appoint Nancy? Alright Then I'm Left With No Choice But To Temporarily Appoint Nancy Hobson As Per The Illinois Municiple Handbooks Guidelines In Chapter 5, Part 4, Page 127 Which States The Power Of An Appointment May Not Be Delegated By The Mayor To Any Other Person Or Group And The Board Or Council May Not Reserve That Power For Itself And It Also States If The Council Rejects The Appointee And A Vacancy In The Position Arises The Law Provides That The Rejected Appointee Or Any Other Qualified Person May By Appointment Of The Mayor Or President Assume The Position As A Temporary Officer Until The Council And The Mayor Agree On A Permanent Appointee. So Pursuant To 65ilcs 5/3.1-15-20 Which States The Mayor Of The City, President Of A Village Or Incorporated Town Well Actually That Part Is Not Relievant. But According To The Rules From The Illinois Municipal Handbook I Temporarily Appoint Nancy Hobson As City Clerk.
Commissioner Warren Asked When Does Our Lawyer Take Effect? Can She Come Up Here Tonight? The Mayor Stated Yes. Appointed City Attorney Renik Stated From The Crowd She Would Have To Check What She Read Of The Code Prior To Coming Tonight Assuming That Things Might Came Up, After A Roll Is Vacant The Mayor Can Appoint Someone As A Temp Until The Time That They All Come To An Agreement, I Would Have To Double Check The Code Number But That Was The Ruling.
Commissioner Warren Stated We Were Told We Can Make A Motion, And It Says By The Advice And Consent Of The Board That These Appointments Are Made. Ms. Renik Stated That Is True, So After The Mayor Is The Party Who Can Name Someone, It Is By Advice And Or Consent To Fill But The Mayor I Believe Does Under The Code Have The Right To Appoint Someone Just To Be Working Until You Get To That Point. The Mayor Stated I Would Also Reference Because This Is Probably What You Are Referring To Is The Letter That Was Sent To Me, And The Commissioners By Jonathon Cantrell Not Appointed As City Attorney But Providing Advice Anyway. He Said That The Municipal Code Section 3.1 Does Not Apply To Us Because We Are A Commission Form Of Government. For Most Things That Is Correct However In The Case Of Making These Appointments Article 4 Of The Illinois Municipal Code States Clearly That The Council In Its Descretion As Determined By A Majority Vote May Determine The Following Officers City Clerk, Corporation Counsel, City Attorney, Assistant City Attorney, City Treasurer Etc. But The Sentence Right Before That In The Municipal Code States Very Clearly That This Is For Municipalities Of A Population Over 50,000. Im Not Sure What The Current Population Of West Frankfort Is, But I Know That It Is Less Than 50,000. So That Section Of Article 4 Does Not Apply To West Frankfort. So, Then It Defaults To Section 3.1 He Asked Would You Agree With That? Ms. Renik Stated She Would.
Commissioner Howard Asked How Long Is The Temporary Appointment For? Mayor Arview Stated Until We Can Agree. Ms. Renik Stated From What She Read There Is No Set Term Limit But It Would Be My Guess That Its Brought Up Each Council Meeting Until It Is Filled.
Commissioner Warren Stated Since It's Been Done In The Past The Way It's Been Done, Past Practice, And It Says Advice And Consent Of The Board I Would Make A Motion That Andrea Bolen Be The City Clerk. The Mayor Stated That Violates State Law That's A Statute So We Can't Do That. Commissioner Warren Stated So We Have Two Conflicting Attorney Opinions. The Mayor Stated Ok And One Is Our City Attorney And The Other One Is Not. Commissioner Warren Stated The Other One Works For Us On Certain Things. The Mayor Stated Well He Has In The Past. Commissioner Warren Asked The Audience Is His Representative Here Tonight? Commissioner Warren Stated Cantrell Is Out Of Town So His Representative Mr. Owens Was In The Audience. Commissioner Warren Asked Mr. Owens Can You Explain The Difference In What You Guys Came Up With And What Mr. Drews Law Firm Came Up With. Mr. Owens Stated So What Jonathon Come Up With While Going Through That Section. Mayor Arview Stated Its 50,000 And Its In The Sentence Right Before "A" It's A, B, All The Rest Of Those Fall Under That Sentence. Do You Have A Copy Of That? Mr. Owens Stated I Believe One Was Provided To All The Council. Ms. Renik Stated It's The Second Code I Think After The First Memo Page. It's The 5/4-5-4 The Mayor Stated So This Page Here? Ms. Renik Stated Yes. Section 4-5-4 Establishment Of Certain Officers; Police And Legal Departments In Cities Over 50,000. (A) At The First Regular Meeting After The General Election (B) Those Are Sub Headings Under The High Lighted Part There. So, If You Were To Sight 4-5-4a Or 4-5-4b So It Has To Fall Under The 4-5-4 Which States This Is For Cities Over 50,000 People. The Mayor Asked Is There Any Other Discussion On That? Commissioner Warren Stated We Need To Get These Two Attorneys Together And Figure This Out Because One Is Saying Its One Thing And The Other Says Its Another Way. How Can It Be That Different? They Are Reading It Two Different Ways. Commissioner Warren Stated She Didn't Have Anything Against Mr. Drew Or Ms. Renik I Know You Both But. Mr. Drew Asked If He May Speak Katherine And I Have Bothed Looked At It Over Today, Um And Went Through It And The Only Thing I Can Review Is In The Handbook Mr. Cantrell Sites To The Illinois Municipal Handbook Which We Have A Copy Of As Well In It Unfortunately In The Commission Form Of Government It Refers To This Section And Talks About This Form Is Available Only In Cities Or Villages With Fewer Than 200,000 Inhabitants It Says That There In This Book. And That's Correct It Does Apply Under 200,000 Except And I Don't Want To Speak Ill Of Another Attorneys Opinion But In This Instance The Only Thing I Can Presume Is That He Did Not Go Read The Statute, Which Is What You Should Do When You Start With A Law Which Is Why Also I Think Nobody Brought To Your Attention That Your City Attorney Actually Has To Be A Resident Of The City Of West Frankfort Its In Your Ordinance. I Always State Start With The Basics Go Read The Law, Go Read The Ordinances, And Then We Can All Make A Valid Decision From There. And In Us Viewing It When You Read 65 5/4-5-4 You Actually Get The Statute Itself Not From The Book Sighting To You, It Does Say Establishment Of Certain Offices Legal And Police Department In Cities With Over 50,000. I Don't Think That Is In Any Way I Mean That's The Opening Sentence And I Think That Controls The Next Two Sentences. I Think It May Of Just Been An Oversight By Way Of The Book Sights To That But Does Not Say That. I Don't See Any Legal Determination Where You Can Say That Sentence Does Not Apply To (A) And (B). Under Sub Section (B) It Does Refer In Cities Of Over 50,000 That Have Adopted Or May In After Adopt This Article. Then These Other Sections And That's The Police That Those Apply At That Point And Time. So, I Think It May Mearly Be An Oversight And A Very Unfortunate One Because It Turns On The Whole Issue Under The Circumstances. Commissioner Warren Stated So Basically, He Makes All The Appointments Tonight And We Go Along With It? Mr. Drew Stated From A Legal Stand Point You Do Not Have To Go Along With It. To Be Fair As To The Entire Council No You Don't. You Can Not Vote Any Of These Individuals In That Would Be Your Choice To Do. It Does Say These Positions Must Be Filled And Therefore Every Meeting We Will Be Back Here Again And We Will Have To Go Until Someone Is Put In The Position. As A Functional Thing Between All Of You The Mayor And The City Council I Would Strongly Urge Everybody To Go Into Closed Session Which Would Be Perfectly Acceptable To Have A Discussion About Or Have A Special Meeting About Potential Hires And Employees And Have A Frank Open Discussion. Commissioner Warren Stated That's What I Wanted To Do But We Have Not Been Able To Do That, There Is No Listing For A Closed Session On The Bottom Of The Agenda So We Cannot Go Into A Closed Session Therefor We Can Not Speak Publicly Unless We Want To Ruin Someones Reputation Or Hurt Their Feelings Or Talk About Anything. Its Not On The Agenda, It Hasn't Been On The Agenda. Mayor Arview Stated We Can Do That Next Time. Commissioner Warren Stated It Has Always Been On The Agenda But This Has Always Been Done Before For As Long As Our Cities Been Run, All The Sudden We Are Changing Railroad Tracks. Mr. Drew Stated The Statutes Are Pretty Clear As To What They Say They Haven't Changed. Commissioner Warren Asked Does This Have Anything To Do With Home Rule? Mr. Drew Stated Home Rule Has An Effect But It Really Just Reiterates That Actually Allows You To Over Run Those With Your City Ordinance. Your City Ordinances Even Though They Tighter With Some Of These Definitions They Are Different. I Think It Says For The Clerk It Says Advice And Consent But As To The Treasurer It Says Consent, And Then For The Attorney It Says Elected And Consent. It Is Differing Language There Which Is A Little Unfortunate There But I Think Based On The Legal Determination And Not Really Taking Sides, Just From The Legal Stand Point I Think If There Is Not A Concession Or Agreement When The Mayor Puts Someone Forward, I Think That Leaves Us In A Position. I Would Strongly Urge With The Mayor I Believe He Would Be Acceptable For That; I Don't Know For Having A Discussion In Closed Session Where Everyone Can Talk And See If You Could Come To Some Agreement Because Obviously These Positions Are Essential To The Management Of The City. They City Attorneys Job Is To Advise The Entire Council To Bring Some Concession And Maybe Bring Everyone Together. As It Relates To Mr. Cantrell's Letter Which I Have Looked At It Just Appears That It Must Of I Don't Know That The Statute Was Looked At Because Its Pretty Clear When The Portion Of The Statute That He Pulled Out Of The Book And It Is Pulled Out. It Is Taken Out Of Context Is Doesn't Work. Commissioner Warren Asked Can I Have A Response From Mr. Cantrell's Representative? Mr. Tyler Stated Im Only Here On Behalf Of Jonathon He Relayed To Me That The Way He Reached The Decision Because Of The Semi Colon In The Title He Thinks That Subsection (A) Applies Even If You Have Less Than 50,000 Population. The Mayor Stated Well Im Not Sure What Our Recourse Is On That. Mr. Drew Stated Wait Until The Next Meeting With Some Temporary People Working Until You Can Reach An Agreement. I Assume That You Don't Want To Between The Mayor And The Council And Everybody Engage Into A Legal Battle And Money Trying To Flush This Out I Can't Imagine That Would Be A Good Use Of Funds Of The City To Do That. Maybe You Guys Could Talk And Come To Some Sort Of Agreement. Go Into Executive Session And Sort This Out.
The Mayor I Just Want To State I Am Averse To Executive Sessions Unless It Is Like Absolutely Necessary Because Transparency Is A Big Thing For Me. I Feel Like People Need To Hear What You Have To Say. Um But In This Case, We Can Set That Up For Next Meeting.
5. The Next Item Was Appointment Of A City Treasurer. ThisItem Was Tabled Until They Can Talk In Executive Session.
6. The Next Item Was To Adopt An Ordinance Establishing A Budget For Corporate Purposes For The City Of West Frankfort For The Fiscal Year Commencing On The First Day Of May 2023 And Ending On The Last Day Of April 2024. This Item Was Also Tabled. We Had Overlooked That We Have To Actually Have A Ten (10) Day Notice On That Before We Can Actually Do Anything With It.
7. The Next Item Was Approval Of A Resolution For The Hiring Of A Lateral Transfer Police Officer For The West Frankfort Police Department. This Item Was Removed Due To The Officer Declining The Job At 5pm This Evening. So, We Are Back To Square One On That One.
8. The Next Item Was Approval Of A Resolution For The Hiring Of A Full Time Dispatcher For The City Of West Frankfort Police Department. Chief Prudent Stated We Are Currently Running Our 24-Hour Dispatch With Three (3) Full-Time Employees And Three (3) Part-Time. This Would Fill One Of Our Full Time Vacancies The Previous Dispatcher Left To Take Another Position In The Private Sector. I Would Like To Recommend Krystyn Barney Who Is Already A Part Time Dispatcher For Us. Commissioner Harkins Made A Motion To Approve, Seconded By Commissioner Howard. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Arview Voted To Approve. Motion Carried.
9. The Next Item Was Approval To Accept Bids For The Purchase Of Surplus Property. The Mayor Stated The Property Is At 206 East 4th And We Only Received One Bid Of $1,100.00 Was Received From William Shepard. The Minimum Bid Is $1,000.00 And A Deposit Of 10% Was Received. He Is Actually Planning On Putting A House On This Property So That's A Great Thing. Commissioner Stanley Made A Motion To Approve, Seconded By Commissioner Howard. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Arview Voted To Approve. Motion Carried.
10. The Next Item Was Approval To Accept Bids For Demolition.
The Mayor Stated I Would Entertain A Motion To Accept The Low Bid On Each Property. Commissioner Howard Made A Motion To Approve, Seconded By Commissioner Stanley. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Arview Voted To Approve. Motion Carried.
11. The Next Item Was Approval Of An Amendment To Lease With Northland Hearing Centers, Inc. At The West Frankfort Mall. The Mayor Stated This Is Just Amending Their Lease. He Stated He Wasn't Sure What Changed On It. He Asked Commissioner Howard If He Knew? Commissioner Howard Stated No He Did Not Know What The Price Was Before. The Old Lease Was Before I Got Here. The Mayor Stated Its For Suite 103 Extending The Lease From January 1, 2024 And Expiring December 31, 2024 The Total Rent Is $937.60 A Month. Commissioner Harkins Made A Motion To Approve, Seconded By Commissioner Stanley. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Arview Voted To Approve. Motion Carried.
12. The Next Item Was Discussion, With Possible Action, Regarding A Donation To The West Frankfort Public Library For Their Summer Reading Program. The Mayor Stated This Is A Really Good Program As Some Of You Might Know If You Spend Much Time On Facebook I Actually Live Across The Street From The Library. We Spend A Lot Of Time Over There And Enjoy Their Reading Programs. So, I Think This Is A Good Thing To Donate To. So, I Would Entertain A Motion To Donate $2,700.00 That Will Be Made From The Gaming Fund. Commissioner Stanley Made A Motion To Approve, Seconded By Commissioner Howard. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Arview Voted To Approve. Motion Carried.
13. The Next Item Was Discussion, With Possible Action, Regarding The Purchase Of A Replacement Ambulance For The West Frankfort Fire Department. The Mayor Stated This Is Something That We Have Needed For A While Now From My Conversations With Everyone Involved. Our Equipment Is Very Old And We Need To Replace This. It's A Significant Amount But I Do Think That It Is Something We Need To Make Work. If We Don't Have A Fire And Police Department Its Kind Of Hard To Have A City Without Your Safety People. The Amount Is $194,500.00 For A 2022 Ford F-550 Ambulance With Remounted Aev Box. Commissioner Harkins Asked Chief Was That The One That Was Down Here Recently? Chief Sailliez Stated Yes Sir That's The One You Got To Look At. Commissioner Howard Asked Is It Ready To Go As Is? Chief Sailliez Stated Yes, It Is, We Will Just Have To Do Some Required Decal And Lettering For The State Requirements And It Has No Mechanical Issues. Commissioner Harkins Asked And We Are Trading In A-2? Chief Sailliez Stated Yes, It Has Been A Dead Duck For Two Years Now. Glad To Get It Off Of Johnson's Lot Out There. They Are Giving Us $4,000.00 Which Is Enough Money To Pay Off The Mechanics Bill On It And Put A Little Towards The Trade In On The New One. This Is A New Chassis So It Will Come With A Factory Warranty. Commissioner Warren Asked Was There One We Were Waiting On Before? Chief Sailliez Stated So We Are Still Waiting Right At Twenty (20) Months Now For A Chassis Even If We Get The Chassis Today For That It Is Still Going To Be Nine (9) More Months To Build The Ambulance To Go On The Chassis. Commissioner Warren Stated So Are We Obligated To That? Chief Sailliez Stated We Havent Done Anything With That But They Can't Give Me A Time Frame. They Told Me Between January And December We Would Get It And I Asked If That Was 2023 And They Said Between January And December. So, They Can't Even Narrow Down The Year We Will Get It. Im Not Cancelling That Order Yet, Until Im Made To. Commissioner Warren Stated But You Are Able To Cancel It Correct? Chief Sailliez Stated Yes, We Are Past The Point Of Defined Limits Of When It Was Expected To Be Delivered Here To Begin With So Im Sure The Attorneys Here Will Say Since They Breached The Contract For Several Months That Contract Is Null And Void If You Don't Fullfill Your End Of It. Commissioner Harkins Made A Motion To Approve, Seconded By Commissioner Howard. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Arview Voted To Approve. Motion Carried.
14. The Next Item Is Discussion, With Possible Action, Regarding The Use Of The Strand Park, By The Invincible Project For A Concert On June 30, 2023 From 7 P.M.-9 P.M. The Mayor Stated Trevier Minton Is The Promotions Manager And Had Previously Has Had A Couple At The Wf Park Bandshell. They Went Over Really Well. This Is Something For The Kids To Do, People Always Talk About Wanting Things For The Kids To Do And We Want To Encourage Our Kids To Attend. Mr. Minton Stated They Are Trying To Provide An Opportunity For Our Young People An Alternative To The Bar Scene And Show Them There Is A Different Way To Live And Something Else Out There. The Other Thing Is To Show Our Community The Area's We Have Available To Have Events And Bring Awareness So Others Will Use Those Venues. And We Can Have Some Positive, Fun, Family Events. We Were Trying To Help Them Upgrade The Bandshell At The Park. We Will Continue Out There In The Fall After Baseball Season Is Over. With This One We Are Donating To The Beautification Group Of West Frankfort Who Attend To Strand Park And The Flowers Here In Town Would Be The Recipient Of Any Proceeds. The Mayor Stated So Its Helping The Kids, Helping Our Community Making It Look Better. I Know Because I Met With Trevier To Talk About This, We Met At Gambit Coffee Which Is Right Across From The Event. They Love The Idea Because It Can Bring More Business To Them. So, We Are Supporting Local Businesses, Supporting The Community, And Helping The Beautification Committee With The Flowers. The Mayor Stated So What We Are Asking Is To Just Use The Park. They Have Provided The City With Proof Of Insurance Coverage. Commissioner Stanley Made A Motion To Approve, Seconded By Commissioner Warren. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Arview Voted To Approve. Motion Carried.
15. The Next Item Is The Consent Agenda. The Mayor Explained These Are The Normal Things We Do The Paying Of Bills, Paying Invoices, That Sort Of Thing. They Are All Listed Here, Commissioners You Have Them In Your Book So You Can See The Details Of All Of Them.
A. Approval To Pay The Bills In The Amount Of $38,805.47
B. Approval To Pay An Invoice From Coe Equipment Inc. In The Amount Of $1,785.00 For A Vactor-P Jet Rodder Line For The Sewer Department.
C. Approval To Pay An Invoice From Zylem In The Amount Of $4,702.50 For Pump Rental At The West Frankfort Sewer Department.
D. Approval Of An Invoice From Illinois Epa Laboratory In The Amount Of $2,743.92 For Annual Testing For The Water Department. The Mayor Stated This Is A Mistake Not Really Our Mistake But It Isnt An Annual Testing This Is Actually A Six (6) Month Testing So I Would Amend That.
E. Approval Of A Resolution Of Acceptance Of The Proposal To Furnish Materials And Approval Of Award To Illini Asphalt Corp.; And Beelman Logistics Regarding The 2023 Motor Fuel Program Bid Tabulation.
So, I Would Make A Motion To Entertain The Approval Of The Consent Agenda As It Is Written With That Amendment. Commissioner Howard Made A Motion To Approve, Seconded By Commissioner Harkins. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Arview Voted To Approve. Motion Carried.
16. Building And Sign Permits: Codes Officer Snell Stated We Have Two (2) Building Permits.
The First One Is From The New Wendy's We Have Coming. They Are Getting Their Permits In And They Are Starting Construction On That Building July 1, 2023.
Mr. Snell Stated The Second One Is For A Manufactured Home Going On A Lot At 1800 C. Street For A Donna And Leon O'conner. And It Meets All Our Requirments For Housing Code. So, Two New Things In West Frankfort We Have Been Demolishing Things And Now We Are Building Back.
Commissioner Harkins Made A Motion To Approve, Seconded By Commissioner Howard. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Arview Voted To Approve. Motion Carried.
17. Audience Comments:
Commissioner Howard Stated Before We Get Started With This, I Just Want To Ask You When We Got To The Appointments We Quit Because We Are Going To Get Together And Talk. What About The City Clerk? Are You Still Intending For That To Stand For Now? The Reason I Am Asking Is Because Nancy Does The Payroll, And We Would Have To Fill That Position. I Do Not Want That To Get Messed Up. The Mayor Stated He Is Fine Tabling The City Clerk Appointment Until We Can Come To Some Agreement. Commissioner Howard Stated I Just Don't Want Any Confusion In The Office. So, It Was Tabled.
The Mayor Stated We Have A Microphone Up Here I Ask You To Come Forward, State Your Name, And Address Your Concerns In The Microphone. Please Keep Your Comments Brief, Just Like Last Time We Got A Lot Of People Here, Which Im Glad To See By The Way, Thank You For Showing Up. It Shows You Care About The City. But That Means We Don't Want To Be Here All Night Too. So, Keep Comments Brief, And Respectful. I Understand People Are Frustrated About Things But I Think We Can Address Those In A Respectful Manner.
Danny Loeh Stated He Would Like To Remind Everyone Monday Is Memorial Day And There Will Be A Service At The Military Museum To Honor Our Fallen At 11am. Please, Please Come Out And Support Us. My Name Is Danny Loeh And Im Vice Curator Of The Military Museum. We Had St. Johns Come In A Few Weeks Ago And Washed Each One Of Our Monuments Off With Sponges And Their Fathers And Mothers And Pressure Washed Everything. B2n Came Back In And They Came Back And Put New Fascia Trim On The Museum Did Not Charge Us A Thing. They Have Been Good To Us. Im A Caretaker Of Military History, I Sit Up There On Sundays And Watch People Drive By. We Have So Much History From This Town, Did You Realize We Had A Veteran That Was In The Bataan Death March? So Much History, Come By And Look And Check It Out We Would Appreciate It. Thank You All. The Mayor Asked What Are The Hours So People Will Know? Mr. Loeh Stated We Are Open On Sundays From 2 P.M.- 4 P.M. Every Sunday. But I Can Be Contacted Any Time Day Or Night. Bring Your Kids In Come Out And Help Us.
Next To Speak Was William Adams He Stated This Is To The Commissioners. Last Meeting, I Was Talking About You Working With The Mayor Because He Was Elected By The People Of This City Over The Old Regiment. This Fighting Needs To Stop If We Need To As A City, We Can Change It To The City Clerk Can Be An Elected Position Type Situation Referendum Wise Just So There Isnt This Fighting. We Need To Get Past This So We Can Make This City Better For The Future. It Can't Be The Same Ole Way. It's Time For Change And We Need To Take Care Of That. And That's My Prayer To The Commissioners.
The Mayor Stated In The Next Meeting We Will Be Moving Forward On That.
Commissioner Warren Stated Can I Say That I Was Elected And All Of Them Were Elected On The Same Day That The Mayor Was. Mr. Adams Stated That It Wasn't District Wise, There Were Only Four (4) People Who Ran So It Wasn't Any Opposition. Mrs. Warren Stated There Could Have Been Opposition, No One Signed Up To Run. Mr. Adams Stated He Wanted To Learn His City Law Before He Got Involved In The City He Stated. Mrs. Warren Stated Well Anyone Is Welcome To Run Next Time Four (4) Years From Now. We Were The One's That Put Our Name On The Ballot And I Don't Know Mayor Arview. I'm Just Going To Bluntly Say Since We Don't Have Close Session Or Anything I Don't Know The Man. He Is Not Been Holding Office Hours, That's Not Transparent, I Don't Know Where He Is Meeting But I've Been Up Here Almost Every Day And There Has Not Been Any Office Hours. He Is Supposed To Be Here Working. Mr. Adams Stated Well Even If He Isn't Here His Phone Number Is Available. Mrs. Warren Stated That Is Not The Way Government Works. Mr Adams Stated Well If You Need To Contact Him You Can Because He Has To Take Care Of His Family. Mrs. Warren Stated I Know He Proly Has To Have Another Job, Which Is Fine But None Of Us Here Have Met With Him As A Group. We Can Talk To Him, I've Talked To Him Individually Twice, I Think. I Do Not Want To Be Secretive About Anything Cause I'm Not That Way. I Want To Know Why Can't You Throw Us A Name And We Will Throw You One And Lets All Have It Done And Come Out Here And We Will All Be Happy Campers.
Mr. Adams Stated Because The Municipal Code States That He Is The One Who Appoints With The Consent And Approval Of Council. Mrs. Warren Stated That There Is No Discussion Though At All And We Are Allowed To Have A Discussion. We Have The Right To Discuss With Him, But Im Not Trying To Be Mean, Im Just Saying I Know He Works But I Don't Ever See Him. Mr. Adams Stated At The Same Time You Can Have A Discussion With Him Right Here And Say Why I Don't Think This Person Is Qualified. That's Why He Asked If You Have Any Comments. But At The Last Meeting You Guys Didn't Even Discuss Anything. Mrs. Warren Stated We Would Rather Have A Closed Session, Talk To Him Amongst Ourselves. Some Things You Can Not Say In Public It's A Law. Mr. Adams Stated But I Think Because Government In General Has Been Hidden, Not Just West Frankfort. Mrs. Warren Stated Nothing Has Been Hidden. I Have Heard That There Are Meetings That I Don't Know About Because They Are Not Held Here. I Just Don't See Transparency. Mr. Adams Stated We Just Need To Get Passed This Point. Mrs. Warren Stated Yes, We Do. We Need To Have Time To Have A Discussion. The Mayor Stated We Are Just Going In Circles So, Commissioner Stanley Stated It Would Work Out Better If We Could All Work Together And Go Into Executive Session. Commissioner Warren Stated He (Mayor) Is A Nice Man I Know That, I Havent Met With Him And None Of Us Have, That Was A Pledge Office Hours And Transparency And I Would Like To See That.
Next Up Was Vernell Starrick Who Has Lived Here All His Life. A Lot Of Time Im Ashamed Of West Frankfort Because Everybody Should Work Together. I Watched The Last Meeting On Facebook I Was Very, Very Disappointed. I Know You Guys Don't Want To Hear That But That's Just The Plain Truth. I Do Not Sugar Coat Nothing. He Stated Hi Mrs. Warren I Think Your Jacks Wife? She Stated Hi How Are You And Yes, He Is. I Know You Roger Ive Known You For A Long Time And Timmy Too Since He Was Little. He Introduced Himself To Commissioner Howard And Stated I Don't Know You, How Are You? Commissioner Howard Stated Ive Lived Here For Fifty (50) Years. And I Know Jerry I Used To Go To His Church. Ive Heard This Stuff In The Past Of Being Religious Not Religious Don't Want To Mix Religion And Politics It Doesn't Have To Be Religion And Politics Its About The West Frankfort Community. Sometimes You Have To Leave Your Pride At The Door And Work Together. As Far As Everybody Else Up Here Meeting I Came One Day To Meet And Talk To You Commissioner Warren And They Said You Had Already Left And Just So Happened I Seen Tim And Had A Chance To Talk With Him That Was During Business Hours. And Ill Tell You One Thing About Tim Right Here And Im Not Trying To Hit The Old Mayor Hard We Had A Meeting At The Park A Long Time Ago, He Talked To Me For A Bit But Then He Was Done And Just Walked Away And Said He Had Other People To Talk To, I Stated I Wasn't Done Talking, Waited And Waited And He Said That He Was. A Lady In The Audience Stated That Was In The Past And We Don't Care About The Past. Let's Move On. Mr. Starrick Stated Im Making A Point Im Getting To It Ok. Main Point Being That He Was At The Park And He Told Me He Wasn't The Mayor Right Then. He Was On His Time. But You Know Something When You're A Public Official Your That Official All The Time. First Thing I Asked This Guy Is Hey Are You Going To Be The Mayor 24/7 Mayor Arview Stated Yes. I Can't Stand For Nobody Getting Along And Putting All These Excuses Up Because They Can't Make Time.
A Lady In The Audience Said I Was There I Watched The Video Too My Name Is Ida, Hello. I Don't Blame Any Of These Guys Up Here And Mr. Mayor I Went To School With Him. Im Just Saying Any Of These Commissioners Up Here I Would Not Of Went With Any Of The Appointed Because I Wasn't Aquainted With Them At The Same Time. My Thing Is I Think They Would Be Doing The Right Thing By Having A Closed Discussion. Like You Said You Can't Always Bring Everyones Name Up And Do Everything In Front Of Everybody. Some Of That Needs To Be Discussed Behind Closed Doors. Ida Stated She Wasn't Going To Argue With Mr. Starrick.
Mr. Starrick Stated Im Not Arguing With You But You Said Something About That They Did Not Know Who This Man Was. But Everyone Knew Who The Last Mayor Was He Retired From The Fire Department He Got Placed Into That Job For The Last Two Years That The Other Mayor Died And They Needed Somebody. Mayor Arview Stated Ok We Need To Give Other People A Chance. Mr. Starrick Stated Im Sorry. Commissioner Warren Stated You Can't Drag Up The Past. Mayor Arview Stated Ok Who Else Wants To Speak? Mr. Starrick Stated Id Like To Talk To You One On One Sometime. Commissioner Warren Stated No, Im Done. Someone Else Needs A Turn. Mr. Starrick Stated No One Needs To Tell Me To Sit Down. A Lady In The Audience Stated I Told You To Sit Down. The Mayor Stated Ok Listen We Don't Need That Kind Of Stuff From The Audience.
The Mayor Asked Does Anyone Else Want To Speak? Come Forward And State Your Name. No One Else Spoke.
18. With No Further Business To Be Discussed, The Meeting Was Adjourned On A Motion By Commissioner Harkins At 6:56 P.M.
https://www.westfrankfort-il.com/minutes-2023
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