City of West Frankfort City Council met June 13.
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, The City Attorney And Deputy City Clerk Were In Attendance.
2. Mayor Arview Asked For Approval Of The Minutes From The May 23rd, 2023 Regular Council Meeting. Commissioner Harkins Made A Motion To Approve, Seconded ByCommissioner Howard. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Arview Voted To Approve. Motion Carried.
3. The Next Item Was Approval To Go Into Executive Session To Discuss Personnel Appointments. The Mayor Stated This Item And Items #3 And #4 Were Not Needed As They Had Went Into Executive The Day Before. We Did Hear From The City Attorney Who Talked To Brad Cole And We Will Be Discussing This Later On In The Agenda.
4. The Next Item Wasjust Action Taken For The ExecutiveSession. This Was Not Needed As They Went Into Executive Session The Night Before.
5. The Next Item Was A Resolution To Appointment Of Department Heads For The City Of West Frankfort. The Mayor Stated I Feel Like You Guys Can Appoint The Way You Want To. Because I Feel Like We Have Already Appointed The Fire Chief, Police Chief And According To Our Ordinances And State Statutes The Deputy City Clerk And Deputy Treasurer Would Be Hired By The Clerk And The Treasurer Which We Don't Currently Have. So, I'll Leave It Up To The Council On That. I Would Prefer To Go Ahead And Appoint The Street Superintendent As Larry Presley, Water Superintendent As Jim White, And Don Gass As The Wf Mall/Wf Business Incubator Manager. We Currently Do Not Have A Sewer Superintendent So That Will Be Filled When We Do. All Other Positions Will Be Filled When A Decision Is Reached On Appointments. Commissioner Stanley Made AMotion To Approve, Seconded By Commissioner Warren.Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Arview Voted To Approve. Motion Carried.
6. The Next Item Was Appointment Of City Clerk. City Attorney Kate Renik Stated Since We Met Last Night, We Had Left Everyone Know That I Had Tried To Reach Out To Brad Cole But We Had Not Heard Back. I Did Call A Second Time Today And He Did Not Want To Make A Full Siding Choice Just Based Off Of My Summary So He Has Asked That I Send Him Both Sides And He Can Read Those And The Codes We Have Sited And Then Give Us Back An Idea Of What He Thinks. The Mayor Would Like To Postpone Those Appointments Until We Hear Back And Item #6 Until We Hear Back From The Iml. So, We Have A Clear Direction As To How To Proceed.
A Lady In The Audience Asked About The Other Vacancies And That It Was Stated Last Night How Important It Was To Get These Positions Filled So Why Are You Waiting? The Mayor Stated We Currently Have People Working In Those Positions Just Not Fully Appointed To Those Positions. Nothing Is Behind Its Just That We Are Trying To Get These Positions Put In Place So We Can Have A Good Structure. We Want To Make Sure It Is Being Done In The Way It Should. Like We Talked About Last Night Our Codes Are Kind Of Messy We Have A Lot Of Back And Forth And Gray Area. We Want That All Cleared Up And Our City Attorney Is Going To Be Working On That. We Can't Really Clear Those Up Until We Know What We Should Be Doing. We Do Not Want To Make A Decision To Go One Direction If That's Not The Way We Should Be Doing It Legally. It Could Be On The Next Agenda, But If We Don't Hear From Him, We Won't Continue To Put This On The Agenda Until We Do. The City Attorney Will Then Started To Clean Up The Codes. Ms. Renik Stated As Soon I Hear Back From Him, Which He Told Me Not To Call Him Back, And That He Would Get Back To Me As Soon As Possible With His Decision. Commissioner Warren Made A Motion For To Table, Seconded By Commissioner Howard. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Arview Voted To Table. Motion Carried.
7. The Next Item Was Appointment Of City Treasurer. That Item Was Also Tabled Until We Hear Back From The Iml.
8. The Next Item Was Discussion, With Possible Action, On Approval Of An Ordinance Creating A Zoning Board Of Appeals. The Mayor Stated All Of The Other Cities Around Us Have One. For Whatever Reason West Frankfort Does Not. We Have Zoning Ordinances. Now We Have Language To Create A Board Of Appeals. The Purpose Of That Is If Someone Is Running A Business In A Residential Area Or Vise Versa. We May Have To Cite Them For That And Tell Them They Can't Have That Or They Have To Move. This Creates A Board For Them To Be Able To Go To To Say I Want A Variance Of This. The Neighbors Might Not Have An Issue With The Business Being In A Residential Area. This Would Be An Avenue For People To Appeal That Decision And Have That Changed. The Ordinance That Was Written Up There Are Some Changes That Code Officer Snell Asked To Be Made. The Codes Officer Will Be In Charge Of The Zoning So He Will Be The Zoning Administrator. He Wants Language In There Stating That This Isn't For Someone Who Didn't Mow Their Yard Or Things Like That. This Is For Only Zoning Issues. The City Attorney Is Going To Work On Changing That Wording And This Will Be Tabled Until The Next Agenda. A Gentlemen In The Audience Stated That On The Web Page The Map That He Was Able To Pull Up It States That You Can Have A Home Occupation In R1, Is That Considered A Business? Mr. Snell Stated That Home Occupation Is Defined As A Business That You Can't See From Outside The Home. What This Is More Entailling Is That Someone Ha S A Garage They Repair Cars At, Or Running A Construction Business. The Gentleman Asked What About A Dog Bathing Grooming Pet Business? The Mayor Stated The Reason We Have This Is Its A Way To Keep The Police From Getting Phone Calls All The Time From Neighbors To Help Keep The Peace. Codes Officer Snell Stated The Point Of All Of This Is That Just Because I See Things One Way Doesn't Mean That I Am Right There Should Be A Board Over Me To Decide If They Agree With What My Decision Is. They Would Make The Final Decision.
9. The Next Item Was Approval To Accept Bid For The Purchase Of Surplus Property. This Property Is At 605 South Odle, And We Received A Bid Of $1,000.00 From Kyle Stroud. He Is Currently Buying The Property Next To This Lot. Commissioner Stanley Made A Motion For Approval,Seconded By Commissioner Harkins. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Arview Voted To Approve. Motion Carried.
A Lady In The Audience Asked For A List Of All The Surplus Properties. The Mayor Stated Yes, We Have One We Can Print Out Or They Will Be Online Tomorrow. The Minimum Bid Is $1,000.00.
10. The Next Item Was Approval To Hire Seasonal Worker For The Wf Mall And Wf Business Incubator. The Mayor Stated He Had Asked To Get Some Help Mowing And Up Keep, Handiman Work On These Properties. This Is Just Creating The Position To Hire A Temporary Seasonal Worker. Commissioner Stanley Made A Motion For Approval, Seconded By Commissioner Howard. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Arview Voted To Approve. Motion Carried.
11. 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 And To Advertise For Sealed Bids. The Mayor Stated These Will Be Added To The Surplus List The Addresses Are: 511 North Horn, 101 1⁄2 Stewart Street, 702 South Skelton, 704 South Skelton, 805 West St Louis Street, 708 North Palmer. Commissioner Howard Made A Motion For Approval, Seconded By Commissioner Harkins. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Arview Voted To Approve. Motion Carried.
12. The Next Item Was Approval To Advertise For Bids Regarding Certain Properties Located In The City Of West Frankfort Which Have Previously Been Declared As Surplus Real Estate. Those Properties Are 511 North Horn, 101 1⁄2 Stewart Street, 702 South Skelton, 704 South Skelton, 805 West St. Louis Street, And 708 North Palmer. Commissioner Warren Made A Motion For Approval, Seconded By Commissioner Stanley. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioner And Mayor Arview Voted To Approve. Motion Carried.
13. The Next Item Was Approval Of A Resolution For The Hiring Of A Full Time Dispatcher For The City Of West Frankfort Police Department.Rich Bernardini Stated I Believe Chief Prudent Stated At Last Meeting Eighteen (18) Months Ago We Had Six Full Time Dispatchers. Last Week After The Meeting We Now Have Hired Back To Four (4) Full Time Because We Got Down To Three (3) This Will Be Our Fifth (5th). This Guy Is Highly Qualified, Ready To Got To Work, There Is No Training Needed With This One, Very Good Candidate Whom Left Another Job To Come Here. Jamie Hargett Is Really Needed. Commissioner Harkins Made A Motion For Approval, Seconded By Commissioner Stanley. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners An D Mayor Arview Voted To Approve. Motion Carried.
14. The Next Item Was Discussion, With Possible Action, Regarding A Car Show At The West Frankfort Mall On June 17, 2023. The Mayor Stated Cody Yard Is Not Here He Actually Messaged Me And He Is At The Emergency Room. He Was Actually Going To Try To Be Here To Talk About What He Was Wanting To Do. Since He Is Not Here And We've Been Given Some Important Information, Well Actually I Will Be The Neutral Party Here And Will Let The Commissioners Decide How We Want To Deal With This. We Can Either Make A Motion And Vote On It Yes Or No, Table This Until The Next Meeting Since He Isn't Here To Talk Abou It Or We Can Post Pone This Indefinitely Which Takes It Off The Agenda Completely. Commissioner Warren Stated That Due To Pertinent Information From The Police Chief I Would Say We Just Pass On This. She Stated It Needs To Be Cancelled, Due To The Information We Have Received. Which Will Take It Off The Agenda Completely Or Postponed Indefinitely. Commissioner Warren Made A Motion To Cancel, Seconded By Commissioner Harkins. All Commissioners And Mayor Arview Voted To Deny. Motion Carried.
A Gentlemen In The Audience Asked Was There Any Information About Income Or Vendors That Would Bring Business Into The City From Having This? The Mayor Stated The Issue With This Is Not With Having A Car Show It's With The Individual That Is Wanting To Do It. He Has Some Criminal History And Some Issues That Have Been Brought To Light To Us That Would Make Us Hesitant To Allow Him To Have A Car Show. If Someone Would Want To Have A Car Show I Would Absolutely Be All For That Idea. The Reason He Already Started Working On This Is That I Had Already Talked To Him. We Are Trying To Be Careful Here, If Anyone Would Like To Have Something Like This Please Come To Us, We Really Want To See Things Like This Get Started Here. I Was Pulling For Him Until I Got This Information. I'll Go To Bat With The Council On This One That This Particular One Would Not Be A Good Idea. The Gentleman Stated I Would See How It Could Be A Good Idea For Future Reference If They Would Give You Some Type Of Background With Putting On Shows Like This And Have Hosted One Else Where Before. The Mayor Stated If Anyone Wants To Do Something Like This It Is Important And There Are Steps You Have To Go. You Can't Just Decide You Are Going To Do It. You Do Need To Have The Insurance; The City Needs To Be Protected So If You're Going To Do It On City Property You Have To Have Event Insurance And Council Approval. There Are Some Creditability Issues We Need To Address With Those Sort Of Events. We Aren't Just Turning Down A Car Show It Is The Individual Hosting It That Is In Question.
15. The Next Item Was Discussion, With Possible Action, Regarding A Resolution Authorizing An Agreement With Eng Tavern (Casino Tavern) For An Improvement Project Utilizing Tax Increment Financing.
The Mayor Stated What They Are Wanting To Do Is Add A Kitchen. On The Agenda We Were Not Clear, We Have Two Tif Districts We Have Tif One Which Is Basically Main Street Then We Have Tif Two Which Is The Industrial Area. This Would Be Coming Out Of The Tif Two Funds, We Currently Have $739,370.65 Available. The Council Members Agreed To Give Them $50,000 Of The $80,000 Needed For This Project. Commissioner Stanley Made A Motion For Approval, Seconded By Commissioner Warren. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Arview Voted To Approve. Motion Carried.
16. The Next Item Was Discussion, With Possible Action, Regarding The Purchase Of A Software From Eso Solutions, Inc. To Replace The Emergency Reporting Software For The West Frankfort Fire Department In The Amount Of $5,339.72. Chief Saillez Stated This Is For Our Nfirs Reporting System Its To Be Compliant For Grants And For National Reporting. This Is The Software We Record Our Fire, Ems On For The Fema World. The Old Equipment Was Around $6,400.00 A Year. The Eso Is Our Ems Billing Pre- Hospital Software They Came Out With Their Own Software Which Is Compliant With Nfirs Reporting And It's A Cost Savings Of About A $1,000 A Year. We Let The Two Systems Talk To One Another It's Less Work For Us, It's More Efficient And It's Cheaper For The City. Commissioner Harkins Made A Motion For Approval, Seconded By Commissioner Stanley. Roll All Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Arview Voted To Approve. Motion Carried.
17. The Next Item Was Discussion, With Possible Action, Regarding The Purchase Of Software From Central Square In The Amount Of $3,959.75 For The West Frankfort Fire Department.Chief Sailliez Stated This Is So The Computers In Our Dispatcher Center Will Talk To The Software And Will Tranfers All Times And Pertinant Information Over To This Without Someoe Having To Transcribe. They Give It To Us In An Email Now, Then We Have To Go In And Put It All In, This Will Do It Automatically And Transcribe. Commissioner Harkins Made A Motion For Approval, Seconded By Commissioner Howard. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Arview Voted To Approve. Motion Carried.
18. The Next Item Was Discussion, With Possible Action, Regarding The Purchase Of Two Large Thermal Camera's To Upgrade The Old Device From Municipal Emergency Services In The Amount Of $10,096.00 For The West Frankfort Fire Department. Chief Sailliez Stated Right Now We Have One Thermal Camera Which Is On Our Engine, Plus We Have Some Smaller Less Inovative Options. I've Just Sent Those Off For Repairs One Of Them Was Going To Be $1,600.00 For Repairs, And They Cost $1,400.00 New. So, I Told Them Not To Fix It. We Have Tried Three Different Cameras This Was The Most Economic Choice. With This We Will Get Two Large Thermal Cameras For The Engine And Six Hand Held Thermal Cameras To Have On Our Persons. These Are Very High-Tech And Amazing Equipment. So, We Can Get Eight (8) Thermal Cameras For Less Than Half Of What One Of The Larger Thermal Cameras Will Cost. This Will Allow You To See In Low And No Light Situations As Well As Show How Many People Are In A Vehicle Crash With Heat Thermal Detection, To Be Able To Know If Someone Was In An Infant Car Seat. You Will Be Able To Know How Many Occupants To Look For. Also, For Use In Fires To Know How May People Are In A House. Hazardous Material Responses, Pick Up Oil, Different Things Floating On Water On The Surface That The Naked Eye Can Not See. We Would Also Be Using Them In Coordination With The Police Department As Well. Commissioner Howard Made A Motion For Approval, Seconded By Commissioner Harkins. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Arview Voted To Approve. Motion Carried.
19. The Next Item Was Discussion, With Possible Action, Regarding The Approval Of Notice Of Intent To Award To Low Bidder For The West Frankfort - Water System Meter Replacement - Phase 3. Matt Tosh Of Brown & Roberts, Inc. Stated We Opened Bids On June 1st. There Were Two Bidders The Low Bidder Was Followell Construction Out Of Marion, Illinois In The Amount Of $558,777.00 They Are Actually The Winner Of The Phase 2 Meter Project. The Meters Have Arrived And They Are Looking Forward To Getting Started On That. The Project Was Under The Estimated Budget. The Funding Is The Same As The Previous 50% And 50% Low Interest Rate From The Illinois Environmental Protection Agency. Commissioner Warren Made A Motion For Approval, Seconded By Commissioner Stanley. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Arview Voted To Approve. Motion Carried.
20.The Next Item Was The Consent Agenda:
A. Approval To Pay Bills In The Amount Of $95,138.83.
B. Approval Of A Mft Supplemental Resolution For An Additional $3,980.25 For A 2023 Revised Estimate Of Maintenance Costs Of $368,571.83.
C. Removed From The Consent Agenda And Discussed As Item #22 Below.
D. Approval To Pay An Invoice From Johnson's Auto & Truck Repair In The Amount Of $6,500.00 For Engine 3 Computer Update For The West Frankfort Fire Department.
E. Approval To Pay An Invoice From Xylem In The Amount Of $2,169.50 For Pump Rental At The West Frankfort Sewer Department.
F. Approval To Pay An Invoice From Cummins Sales And Service In The Amount Of $3,640.98 Annual Maintenance To Generators For The Street Department.
G. Approval To Pay An Invoice From Derksen Bros. Ag In The Amount Of $18,336.00 Regarding Land Application Of Sludge For The Sewer Dept.
H. Approval To Pay An Invoice From Southern Illinois Drug Task Force In The Amount Of $8,000.00 For Annual Membership For The West Frankfort Police Department.
I. Approval To Pay An Invoice From Midwest Environmental Management Services In The Amount Of $3,120.00 For An Operator Of Record For The Sewer Department.
J. Approval Of Design Engineering Bill #1 From Brown & Roberts, Inc. For The West Frankfort - Water System Meter Replacement - Phase 3.
K. Approval Of Contractor's Pay Estimate #1 To Followell Construction Co., Inc. For The West Frankfort - Water System Meter Replacement - Phase 2.
I. Approval Of Construction Engineering Bill #1 From Brown & Roberts, Inc. For The West Frankfort - Water System Meter Replacement - Phase 2.
M. Approval Of Contractor's Pay Estimate #6 - Final To Midwest Petroleum & Excavating, Inc. For The West Frankfort - Water System Meter Replacement - Phase 1.
N. Approval Of Construction Engineering Bill #6 From Brown & Roberts, Inc. For The West Frankfort - Water System Meter Replacement - Phase 1.
O. Approval Of A Change Order #3 – Final For The West Frankfort - Water System Meter Replacement - Phase 1.
Commissioner Howard Made A Motion For Approval, Seconded By Commissioner Stanley. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Arview Voted To Approve. Motion Carried.
21. The Next Item Was Item "C" Removed From The Consent Agenda And Placed Here To Have A Discussion About It. Approval Of A Resolution To Utilize Rebuild Illinois Funds As Part Of A Local Match For Phase Ii Engineering, Row Acquisition, Phase Ii Engineering And Construction Of 157 & Il 149 Interchange Modifications Including Associated Local Streets. Commissioner Stanley Stated We Received Some Money A While Back For Roads, Sidewalks And Etc. If They Take This Money From Here That Means We Will Not Have That Money To Do What We Wanted To Do In Town From Jackson To Monroe Streets, We Were Going To Be Re-Doing The Sidewalks And Roads. So, If We Give This Money Up Where Is That Money Going To Come From? The Mayor Stated This Rebuild Illinois Funds Is Something That We Received And Its Supposed To Be Used To Rebuild Communities And Used For Our Local Streets And Sidewalks. Il149 Especially At The Interchange There Is Idot Territory Not Local Streets. So, By Using The Money We Are Getting From The State To Be Able To Help Our Streets We Are Not Wanting To Give That Money Back To The State To Fix Their Issues. Commissioner Howard Asked Is This Part Of The Highway Project? Mr. Tosh Stated I Think This Is The Cities Part Of That Highway Project Yes. There Has To Be City Leverage Funds That Come From Some Where To Cover The Cost Of That Project. These Funds Were Part Of The Extra Funds The State Put Out To Rebuild Illinois. I Believe It Was Part Of The Covid Money Each City Got. You Will Have To Choose Where You Are Going To Come Up With These Funds From For The Larger Project. You Just Need To Talk To Mr. Roberts To Find Out Where You Can Get These Funds From. The Mayor Asked For A Motion To Table This Until We See What Funds We Can Use. Commissioner Howard Made A Motion To Table, Seconded By Commissioner Stanley. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Arview Voted To Table. Motion Carried.
22. Building And Sign Permits ~ We Have Two Permits. The First One Is A Building Permit Mark Stevens Is Building A Storage Shed At 1506 East 5th Street. Codes Officer Snell Recommends We Go Ahead And Approve That. Commissioner Harkins Made A Motion To Approve, Seconded By Commissioner Stanley. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Arview Voted To Approve. Motion Carried.
The Second One Is For Sign Permit For Kroger They Are Putting Up A Bigger Sign Out There. It's Part Of Their Project On Revamping The Store. Codes Officer Snell Recommended That We Approve That As Well. Commissioner Warren Made A Motion To Approve, Seconded By Commissioner Stanley. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Arview Voted To Approve. Motion Carried.
23. Officer's Report - Fire Report For The Month Of May 2023. Chief Sailliez Reported That They Had 167-Ambulance Calls, 7- Rubbish/Illegal Fires, 1- Brush/Field Fires, 2 Motor Vehicle Accidents, 2-Fire Alarm, 2-Vehicle Fires, 9 Fire Emergencies; (Gas Leaks, Power Lines Down, Etc.), 3 Structure Fires, 0- Smoke Scares, 2- Mutual Aid Fire Responses, 2- Mutual Aid
Ambulance, 3-Ambulance Calls Turned Over To Mutual Aid. For A Total Of 200 Calls During The Month. The Department Used Approximately 25,000 Gallons Of Water. The Department Collected $63,374.33 For May Ambulance Calls.
Police Report For The Month Of May 2023. Rich Bernardini Filling In For Chief Prudent Reported Officers Answered A Total Of 1,323 Calls For Service. Of Those Calls 16 Were Traffic Accidents, 1 With Injuries. Officers Responded To 32 Domestic Disputes, 6 Fights In Progress, 22 Alarms, 2 Intoxicated Persons, 5 Burglaries, 11 Reports Of Criminal Damage To Property, 17 Complaints Of Juvenile Problems, 24 Reported Thefts, And 52 Complaints Of Disorderly Conduct/Disturbances. And Officers Made 35 Street Contacts. Officers Conducted 289 Traffic Stops, Where They Issued 62 Citiations, 267 Warnings, And 15 Lw-27's. There Were 61 Adult Arrests Made And 10 Juvenile Arrests, Resulting In 87 Criminal Charges Filed. Dispatchers Answered 1,919 Calls.
Of Those, 1,269 Were 9-1-1 Calls, 74 Were Walk In Requests. 1,323 Were For Police, 198 Were For West Frankfort Fire, 10 Were For Thompsonville Fire/Ems, 5 Were For Abbott Ems, And 2 For United Ambulance. For The Month Of May, We Collected $3,815.00 In Fines And Fees.
Codes Report For The Month Of May 2023. Permit: 1~Building Permits, 1-Sign Permits. Rental Properties: 8~Rental Inspections Performed. Case Activity Report~ 46 Which Includes Doors Tagged Verbal Warnings, Vehicles Tagged, Inspections Of Violations, Inspections, Citations Issued, Letters Sent, Etc. The Codes Department Brought In $424.30 For Permit Fees For The Month Of May.
24. Mayors Report ~ The Mayor Stated I Some People Have Had Some Questions When I First Came In Particularly About The Facebook Streaming Live And The Technological Issues We Might Have With It, I Know It's No Where Near Perfect But My Wife Is Doing A Fantastic Job With It, We Are Doing The Best We Can And I've Heard A Lot Of People Saying Good Things About It. So Im Glad We Made The Decision To Go Ahead And Do It Even If We Have Some Issues. We Do Have A Podium Coming As Well For The Public To Use To Ask Questions And Talk To The Council. It Will Make It Easier For The Recorder To Hear You As Well As The Audience If You Use It. As Far As The Appointments Go, We Are Going To Make Progress, I Promise. It Will Take Some Time But We Will Get There.
25. Commissioner Reports ~ Commissioner Harkins Stated Fire And Police Departments Are Busy For A Small Town. Im Thankful That We Have Another Dispatcher But We Need More. Our New Ambulance Will Be On The Road Soon. Commissioner Harkins Asked Chief Sailliez When Do You Think It Will Be Road Ready? Chief Sailliez Stated He Talked With The State Today About Some Of The Requirements On Decals They Got Me Those Answers This Afternoon, Waiting On A Reply Back From Decal Company. As Soon As The Equipment Comes In, We Are Getting It Installed, Radios Are Installed, The Narcotics Lock Is Installed, The Computer Was Ordered Yesterday. I Would Like To Say Within Three Weeks We Will Be Ready For Inspection.
Commissioner Howard Stated He Was Going To Report On The Cities Long Term Debt. We Have A Total Of $1,492,799.00 In Debt. Mr. Howard Stated He Is Going To Go Through What That Is And Explain It The Best He Can. Dour Long-Term Debt That Is Not Associated With The Water Or Sewer Is The Incubator Building. The Balance On That Note Is $366,200.00 And It's At 2.95% Interest Rate. We Have One Note For The Fire Truck Its Down To $44,797.00 And Thats At 2.95% Interest Rate. Then We Have A Dump Truck The Balance On That Is $133,717.00 And It's At 2.15% Interest Rate. That S A Total Of $545,714.00 We Call General Fund Debt. Payable Out Of General Fund Revenue. The Sewer Has We Are Very Fortunate In That What We Have Out There Is Illinois Environmental Protection Loans In The Balance On Those Are We Have One Loan We Got In 2007 And The Amount Of $250,205.00 And Its Ar 2.50% Interest. We Have Another Loan That Was Taken Out In 2009 Its Balance Is Currently $102,477.00 And Its At 2.50% Interest. One That Was Taken Out In 2011 $54,970.00 It Is At 0% Interest. These Are All Iepa Loans. Then Another One That Was Taken Out In 2012 The Balance On It Is $153,667.00 Originally Interest At 1.25%. They Actually Loaned Us $463,894.00 Initially And Forgave $119,700.00 Of It. The Final One We Had At The Sewer Dept Was Taken Out In 2015 For $644,837.00 Originally And We Got $366,004.00 Forgiven And The Current Balance On That Is $183,910.00 At An Interest Rate Of 1.95% For A Total For The Sewer Is $745,132.00. I Guarantee You That There Are Not Too Many Towns That Have A Brand-New Sewer Plant With That Low Of Debt. In The Water We Have Again All Iepa Loans A Lot Of These Loans Were To Meet Their Requirements. They Loaned Us Money At A Lower Rate In Order To Meet Their Requirements. We Have One Loan That The Current Balance Is $23,924.00 Its At 2.50% And Another One For $63,166.00 And Its At 2.50%, Another One For $23,242.00 Of Which Originally $68,656.00 Was Forgiven From The Original Balance Of $92,916.00 Its At 1%. Then We Also Have Another Loan That Was Originally $319,251.00 And $222,719.00 Of That Was Forgiven Making The Current Balance On It $92,621.00 And Its At 1% So Our Total Water Debt Is $202,953.00. And The General Fund Debt Is $544,714.00 For A Total Of $1,492,799.00 And That Is My Report.
Commissioner Stanley Stated The Guys Are Mowing A Lot Of Fields, Ditches, Putting In Sidewalks, Cutting Down Dead Trees On Our Properties, And Getting Ready For Road Work To Start Oil And Chipping. They Are All Keeping Pretty Busy Right Now.
Commissioner Warren Stated She Is Sewer, Water And Buildings. The Water Guys Were Out Doing The Julie's Today For Some Work That's Coming Up Soon. The Sewer Department Is Working They Have Taken Sludge Out So Everything Runs Smoothly Out There. Also On The Lakes, We Had A Lake Committee Meeting Last Month And We Have One This Thursday If Anyone Owns Lake Property Or If You Just Want To Come And Find Out About The Lakes, We Talk A Lot About Things That Need To Be Fixed Or Done Out There. We Are Working On Getting All Of It Mowed. If You're Fishing Out There You Need To Buy A Permit Here At City Hall For Your Vehicle To Be Out There. Everything Is Working Smooth So Far In All My Departments.
The Mayor Stated I Forgot To Mention July 1st, Is The Fireworks At The Wf Park For 4th Of July. The 4th Of July Falls On A Tuesday So They Will Be Doing Them On The 1st At Dark.
Commissioner Warren Asked To Say One More Thing. Concerning The Veteran's Military Museum Depot. I Would Like To See If We Could Discuss Buying Some Siding Or Something Like That? The Mayor Stated I Think That Would Be A Great Idea. Commissioner Warren Stated It's Very Special To Us And Has Been Here For A Long Time. I Would Like The City To Purchase Some Siding For It.
26. Audience Comments:
Danny Loeh, He Brought Another Piece Of History In To Share With The Audience. He Stated That Museum Means A Lot To Me. But That Museum Is A 118 Years Old, It Was Built In 1904. It Was Donated To The City In 1988 John Simmons Got It Donated. There Is So Much History In There To The Ones That Have Never Been There, Shame On You. It's An Honor For Me To Work There. We Are Working On Trying To Fix Up The Outside It Has Been Painted Over So Many Times In The Last 118 Years. Any Help That Anyone Can Give Putting In Bids On The Siding It Would Be Very Much Appreciated. I'll Be Getting Bids For The Siding And All That For The Next Meeting. Come By And See Us Any Sunday From 2 P.M.To 4 P.M. Corner Of Main And Anna.
A Lady In The Audience Since The City Is Working On All The Sidewalks On Main Street To Beautify Our City Bu,T I Was Wondering If Us In The Residential Area That Have Kids Could Get Our Sidewalks Redone. I Have Seven (7) Of Them. They Can't Really Play Outside Because People Go Down Our Street Like Crazy. The City Has Actually Put A Sign Up That Says Slow Down Children Playing. So I Was Wondering If Some Money Will Be Spent Off Main Street To Do Sidewalks In Other Areas Of The Town? Our Whole Neighborhood Has A Problem With This, We All Have More Than Four Children And There Are No Sidewalks To Keep People From Running Through Your Yards. Is There Nothing That Can Be Done In That Particular Area? Commissioner
Stanley Asked What Is Your Address? She Replied Poplar Street And Dorris. The Lady Stated As A Community We Would Like Some Way To Keep Our Kids Safe, We Can't All Put Up Fences And What Not. If They See A Sidewalk, They'll Tend To Maybe Avoid It. The Mayor Stated That Might Be Two-Fold Issue One That We Can Look At Getting Some Improvements On There And Also Get Some More Police Presence Out There. Commissioner Stanley Stated You Are Right On The Road There I'll Come By And See What The City Can Do.
I'm A Land Owner Next To Hucks And They Just Recently Bought Two Lots Next To Them And Im In The Little House With The Copper Roof. I Know About Their Expansion Im Wanting Hucks To Put Up A Fence Along The Alley. Ask Yourself If You Own A Home In Town Would You Want A Casino, Liquor Store Or A Drug House Situated Right Next To You? That's What I Deal With Every Night. At Night Time That Whole Neighborhood Is Like Cock Roaches. Because You Only See Them At Night. Im Not Trying To Stop Huck's From Building, What I Want Is A Separation And I Think A 6 Foot Vinyl Fence Along The Alley Would Help. I've Talked To The Codes Officer And He Showed Me A Proposed Idea For Their Building They Are Wanting To Put Parking All The Way Around And Im Assuming They Want To Turn My Alley Into A Road. I Don't Want The Traffic Through There Because The Only Way To Access My House, Is To Go Into The Alley. It's Literally Off The Alley. I Know They Will Be Submitting A Proposal Pretty Soon So Im Just Asking The Council To Propose Something That Helps Me Retain My Property Value. That House Is Five (5) Years Old. When I Built It; It Was In A Residential Neighborhood. Im Just Asking When They Come To You If The Fence Is Not On There Plans Then Please Ask Them To Put One Up. Codes Officer Snell Stated This Will Be Something We Talk To The Zoning Board About. We Don't Have A Requirement In Our Codes So That Will Be Talked About. The Gentlemen Stated I Just Want A Separation. The Mayor Stated We Will Talk To Them And Make A Deal With Them.
Danny Loeh Stated He Would Like To Look Into Putting The Veteran's Military Depot Onto The State Registry As A History Building. The Mayor Stated He Would Look Into Getting That Put On The Next Agenda.
27. With No Further Business To Be Discussed, The Meeting Was Adjourned On A Motion By Commissioner Harkins At 7:22 P.M.
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