North Egypt News

City of West Frankfort City Council met July 11.

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 June 27, 2023 Regular Council Meeting. Commissioner Harkins Made A Motion To Approve, Seconded By Commissioner Warren. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Arview Voted To Approve. Motion Carried.

3. The Next Item Was Approval Of The Minutes From The July 6, 2023 Special Meeting. Commissioner Howard Made A Motion To Approve, Seconded By Commissioner Stanley. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Arview Voted To Approve. Motion Carried.

4. The Next Item Was Approval To Go Into Executive Session To Discuss Contract Negotiations, Personnel, And/Or Pending Litigation, With Possible Action. Mayor Arview Stated We Have Some Things To Talk About That We Are Going To Vote On Later So We Need To Have Some Discussions About That. Commissioner Harkins Made A Motion To Approve, Seconded By Commissioner Howard. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Arview Voted To Approve. Motion Carried.

5. The Next Item Was Approval Of A Motion To Return To Open Session At 7:05 P.M Where No Action Was Taken. Commissioner Harkins Made A Motion To Approve, Seconded By Commissioner Howard. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Arview Voted To Approve. Motion Carried.

6. The Next Item Was Discussion, With Possible Action, Regarding Personnel Issues Discussed During Executive Session. Was To Appoint Mike Moreland To The Police & Fire Merit Board. Commissioner Harkins Made A Motion To Approve, Seconded By Commissioner Stanley. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Arview Voted To Approve. Motion Carried.

7. The Next Item Was Approval Of Retroactive Pay For Additional Duties Performed By The Deputy City Clerk And Deputy Treasurer During The Time Period May 1, 2023-July 1, 2023. Mayor Arview Stated The Deputy City Clerk And Treasurer Have Basically Been Doing The Duties Of These Jobs Since May 1st, 2023. They Will Be Receiving Additional Pay For The Work That They Have Been Doing. There Are Other Issues That Will Be Discussed In The Future For Other Personnel. We Aren't Ready To Bring Those Up To The Board At The Moment. Contigent On You Calculating The Figures I Would Approve This. Commissioner Howard Made A Motion To Approve, Seconded By Commissioner Stanley. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Arview Voted To Approve. Motion Carried.

8. The Next Item Was Approval Of A Resolution Of An Office Manager For City Hall. Mayor Arview Stated We Have A Resolution To Appoint Jessica Levanti To The Position And She Will Serve From July 11, 2023 To July 1, 2024. A Stipend Of $11,000 And Some Change Is To Be Paid To Her On A Yearly Basis. Commissioner Howard Has Come Up With Some Of The Duties Of The Office Manager. They Would Field Calls When People Are Sick, If We Have To Close Due To Inclement Weather, That Sort Of Thing. Commissioner Stanley Made A Motion To Approve, Seconded By Commissioner Warren. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Arview Voted To Approve. Motion Carried.

It Was Learned After The Meeting That Commissioner Howard Had Mistakenly Given The Wrong Amount For The Office Manager It Has Since Been Changed To $8,840.00 For A Year.

9. The Next Item Was A Resolution To Appoint Zoning Board Members. Mayor Arview Stated We Created The Zoning Board At Our Last Meeting, So We Are Now Naming Those Members Now. The Zoning Board Of Appeals The Purpose Of That Is If There Is A Zoning Issue Or Someone Is Running A Business In A Residential Area Or Vise Versa They Would Obviously Be Fined For That, They Would Not Be Allowed To Do That, But This Gives Them The Opportunity To Appeal That Decision, They Go Before The Board, The Board Would Then Give Recommendation To The City On Whether Or Not We Should Give Them A Variance On That Violation. The Members That Have Agreed To Be On The Board Are As Follows: Gina Weeks; Chairman, Michael Bonner, Heather Carrol, Jon Raby And Debbie Ricci. They Will Serve For Five (5) Years From The Date Of Appointment. Commissioner Stanley Made A Motion To Approve, Seconded By Commissioner Warren. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Arview Voted To Approve. Motion Carried.

10. The Next Item Was Approval To Accept Bids For The Purchase Of Surplus Property. The Property We Received Bids For Is

~511 North Horn We Received One Bid From Jack & Abbey Hance In The Amount Of $1,010.00

~101 1⁄2 Stewart Street Which Is Only A Half Lot With A Minimum Bid Of $500.00 As It Can Only Be Used As An Empty Lot. We Received Three (3) Bids One From Leon Russell In The Amount Of $3,500.00; James Green In The Amount Of $525.00 And Greg Galli In The Amount Of $1,357.00. Leon Russell Was The High Bidder And Approved To Buy This Lot.

~702 S Skelton There Were No Bids On This Property.

~704 S Skelton There Were No Bids On This Property.

~805 West St. Louis We Received One Bid On From Jerry Ray In The Amount Of $2,800.00.

~708 N. Palmer There Were No Bids Received.

~816 W. Worden Street We Received One Bid On From Jesse Carmichael In The Amount Of $1,000.00.

~818 W. Worden Street We Received One Bid On From Jesse Carmichael In The Amount Of $1,000.00.

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

11. The Next Item Was Approval To Accept Bids For Demolition.

The Mayor Stated These Are Properties We Have Advertised For Bids We Received Bids From Joplin Salvage And Burbank Transport.

The Houses Are 511 South Russell A Bid Of $3500.00 From Joplin Salvage And A Bid Of $4,900.00 From Burbank Transport. Joplin Salvage Was Approved As The Low Bidder.

The Next House Is At 809 E. St. Louis We Received Bids Of $5750.00 From Joplin Salvage And A Bid Of $5,450.00 From Burbank Transport. Burbank Transport Was Approved As The Low Bidder.

The Last House Is At 409 N. Madison A Bid Of $3750.00 From Joplin Salvage And A Bid Of $4,900.00 From Burbank Transport. Joplin Salvage Was Approved As The Low Bidder. Commissioner Harkins Made A Motion For Approval, Seconded By Commissioner Stanley. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Arview Voted To Approve. Motion Carried.

12. The Next Item Was Approval To Accept Recommendation To Dismiss A Defendant In The Opioid Lawsuit. The Mayor Stated He Briefly Explained This On Facebook. But For Those That Do Not Know There Is A Nationwide Opioid Lawsuit There Are A Lot Of Pharmaceutical Companies Named. One Of The Companies Named Turns Out They Don't Really Have Any Money So A Lot Of Plaintiff's In Those Cases Are Electing To Drop That Defendant So We Can Move On With The Lawsuit. This Does Not Change The Amount Of Money We Get From The Lawsuit Because They Did Not Have Any Money Any Way. Quest Pharmaceuticals Is The Defendant To Be Removed. Commissioner Howard Made A Motion For Approval, Seconded By Commissioner Warren. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Arview Voted To Approve. Motion Carried.

13. The Next Item Was Discussion, With Possible Action, Regarding Bids For Vinyl Siding For The Military Museum. The Mayor Stated Danny Loeh Brought Us Three Bids One From Mausey, Inc. Out Of Creal Springs In The Amount Of $11,500.00; B&M Siding Solutions LLC In The Amount Of $16,327.00; And Sharper Edge Construction In The Amount Of $14,978.27. The Low Bidder Was Mausey, Inc. Commissioner Howard Asked Where The Money Was Coming From Either Tif Or General Fund? Deputy Treasurer Chris Veteto Stated General Fund To Be Safe. Commissioner Warren Made A Motion For Approval, Seconded By Commissioner Stanley. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Arview Voted To Approve. Motion Carried.

14. The Next Item Was Discussion, With Possible Action, Regarding The Purchase Of An Air Conditioner For The Wit And Wisdom Building. The Mayor Stated This Is A Building Owned By The City. The Had To Purchase This Before This Meeting So They Are Asking For Some Help On It Stated Commissioner Stanley. $6123.00 Is The Amount They Would Like To Donate. Commissioner Stanley Made A Motion For Approval, Seconded By Commissioner Howard. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Arview Voted To Approve. Motion Carried.

15. The Next Item Was Discussion, With Possible Action, Regarding Bids Received For The Installation Of Ada Doors For City Hall. The Mayor Stated This Was Brought Back Up Because The Winning Bid Last Time Was For One Set Of Doors Not Both. The New Cost From Marion Glass Was $8,000 Which Doubled The Price And The Cost From Shoemaker Is $6,500. So, We Are Going To Award It To Shoemaker. 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 Approval Of A One-Year Contract With Archivesocial In The Amount Of $7,975.45 For Maintaining FOIA-Related Electronic Communications. The Mayor Stated This Is A Company That Reached Out To Us Regarding The Website, Social Media, Pretty Much Anything That We Have That Is Electronic Communication Is Subject To FOIA. The Problem Is Even Facebook Those Places Do Not Take Responsibility For That If It Just Disappears. So We Need To Have Some Kind Of A Backup System. There Are Several Other Communities That Use These Guys And They Had Nothing Bad To Say About Them. After The One Time Set Up Fee It Will Be $6,975.45 Per Year For Unlimited Account Coverage. Up To 3,500 Records Per Month. Commissioner Howard Made A Motion For Approval, Seconded By Commissioner Warren. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioner And Mayor Arview Voted To Approve. Motion Carried.

17. The Next Item Was Discussion, With Possible Action, Regarding The Purchase Of A Laptop From Sinc, Inc. In The Amount Of $794.99 For The Water Department Superintendent. Commissioner Warren Made A Motion For Approval, Seconded By Commissioner Stanley. 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 A Squad Car For The School Resource Officer In The Amount Of $36,007.00 Using The Gaming Tax Revenue Funds For The West Frankfort Police Department. The Mayor Stated We Have Found An Alternate Way To Accomplish This Same Goal. Commissioner Harkins Is Going To Talk The Chief Prudent About The Ideas We Have For That. If We Need To Bring This Back To The Council, We Will Do That Next Meeting. Commissioner Warren Made A Motion To Table, Seconded By Commissioner Harkins. All Commissioners And Mayor Arview Voted To Table. Motion Carried.

19. The Next Item Was Approval To Pay And Invoice From McBride Mack Sales And Service, Inc. In The Amount Of $25,807.37 For The Engine On The 1998 International Truck For The Street Department. Commissioner Stanley Made A Motion For Approval, Seconded By Commissioner Howard. 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 $19,561.70

B. Approval Of To Pay An Invoice To Skuta Construction, Inc. In The Amount Of $2,125.00 For Jetting Lines For The Sewer Department. Commissioner Warren Made A Motion For Approval, Seconded By Commissioner Harkins. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Arview Voted To Approve. Motion Carried.

21.Building And Sign Permits ~ We Have Two Permits. The First

One Is A Demolition Permit Bill Whittington Is Demolishing An Out Building To Be Removed From Property To Enhance View/Value. The Property Is Located At 314 East 6th Street.

The Second One Is For Building And Sign Permit David Vachata At 608 South Locust. Codes Officer Snell Recommended That We Approve Both Of These.

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

22. Officer's Report ~ Fire Report For The Month Of June 2023. Chief Sailliez Reported That They Had 151-Ambulance Calls, 3- Rubbish/Illegal Fires, 3- Brush/Field Fires, 2 Motor Vehicle Accidents, 1-Fire Alarm, 1-Vehicle Fires, 14 Fire Emergencies; (Gas Leaks, Power Lines Down, Etc.), 0- Structure Fires, 2- Smoke Scares, 2- Mutual Aid Fire Responses, 2- Mutual Aid Ambulance, 7-Ambulance Calls Turned Over To Mutual Aid. For A Total Of 188 Calls During The Month. The Department Used Approximately 3,000 Gallons Of Water. The Department Collected $47,445.67 For June Ambulance Calls.

Police Report For The Month Of June 2023. Chief Prudent Reported Officers Answered A Total Of 1,323 Calls For Service. Of Those Calls 14 Were Traffic Accidents, 0 With Injuries. Officers Responded To 43 Domestic Disputes, 1 Fight In Progress, 16 Alarms, 4 Intoxicated Persons, 6 Burglaries, 19 Reports Of Criminal Damage To Property, 14 Complaints Of Juvenile Problems, 26 Reported Thefts, And 43 Complaints Of Disorderly Conduct/Disturbances. And Officers Made 25 Street Contacts. Officers Conducted 335 Traffic Stops, Where They Issued 60 Citations, 300 Warnings, And 19 Lw-27's. There Were 60 Adult Arrests Made And 1 Juvenile Arrest, Resulting In 73 Criminal Charges Filed.

Dispatchers Answered 1,839 Calls.

Of Those, 795 Were 9-1-1 Calls, 94 Were Walk In Requests. 1,323 Were For Police, 183 Were For West Frankfort Fire, Were For Thompsonville Fire/Ems, 12 Were For Abbott Ems, And 2 For United Ambulance. For The Month Of June, We Collected $3,235.00 In Fines And Fees.

Codes Report For The Month Of June 2023. Permit: 1~Building Permits, 1-Sign Permits 1-Demolition Permit. Rental Properties: 6-Rental Inspections Performed. Case Activity Report ~ 26 Which Includes Doors Tagged Verbal Warnings, Vehicles Tagged, Inspections Of Violations, Inspections, Citations Issued, Letters Sent, Etc. The Codes Department Brought In $100.00 For Permit Fees For The Month Of June.

23. Mayors Report~

The Mayor Stated I Do Not Have A Whole Lot To Report On. I Know We Have A Couple Of Different Issues That We Are Working Out. One Is Getting The Gate Unlocked At The Old Lake. We Have Someone Who Volunteered To Do Both And He Is Locking It But Not Unlocking It Early Enough. I Will Be Getting With Him To See What We Can Get Worked Out. The Other Thing Is The Trash. I Didn't Communicate Well Enough To Say That The Trash Service Was Not Going To Be Delayed Because Of The Fourth Of July So I Apologize For Not Getting That Out Sooner. Ill Do Better In The Future.

24. Commissioner Reports-

Commissioner Harkins Stated Police And Fire Departments Are Still Doing Their Jobs. All Of Our Equipment Is Running Right Now. Both Departments Are Doing Fine.

Commissioner Howard Stated A Lot Of People Have Asked Questions At Different Times About The Mall. Our Treasurer Made This Report For Me, That In The Fiscal Year That Just Ended April 30, 2023 We Took In $179,569.91 From Rent, And The Expenditures For The Year Were $101,963.68 So We Actually Gained $77,606.23. A Lot Of People Have Questions About The Mall Costing The City Money, Well No It Isn't Right Now. We Are Actually Making Money Off Of It. WPS Is In The Process Of Renewing Their Lease, And We Have Had Other Inquiries From Businesses Wanting To Rent Space Out There.

Commissioner Stanley Stated He Does Not Have A Lot To Say Because He Has Not Been Around Much. Superintendent Presley Stated They've Been Busy Doing Concrete Work, Sidewalks, Patching And Getting Ready For Motor Fuel. They Are All Keeping Pretty Busy Right Now. Commissioner Stanley Stated Larry's Last Day Is Friday, July 14th, 2023 He Is Retiring So We Are Going To Be Losing A Good Man. We Are Going To Miss Him And Wish Him Congratulations.

Commissioner Warren Stated The Sewer Is Working, And Asked The Water Superintendent How The Water Department Was Going And He Stated Everything Was Going Good. We Are Working On Some Things Out At The Lake A New Sign Has Been Installed. Cut Some Bushes Back From The Sign At The Old Lake. Working On The Trash Problem Out There With People Dumping Instead Of Paying To Have It Hauled Off. Waiting On The Lights To Be Installed. The IDNR Is Talking About Restocking The Fish In The Lake And Would Like To Talk To The Mayor And Myself.

25. Audience Comments:

Danny Loeh, Stated He Would Like To Thank The City Council And Mayor For Helping Us With The Military Museum. Its Going To Help Us A Lot To Preserve Our History. Its 119 Years Old And We Need Your Help To Get It On The Historical Registry. There Are Only Three (3) Of Those Structures Like That Made Out Of Wood In Existance In Illinois. Mr. Loeh Also Would Like The City To Re-Asphalt The Parking Lot.

Isabelle Heyder Stated She Would Like To Know What We Are Going To Do About The Jr. Wrestler Program. It Has About 60 Kids, Boys And Girls, They Need A Building. If They Have A Tournament, It Will Bring People In To Eat, And Shop In West Frankfort. So, She Would Like To Know Where We Are On That?

Mayor Arview Stated We Did Discuss It In The Executive Session The Council Seems To Think The Coleman Rhoads Building Would Require Too Much Repairs And They Would Not Be Able To Fix It Up. So We Are Going To Look At Other Options. But We Do Want To Help Them Out. The Mall Is A Possibility. Mrs. Heyder Stated They Will Pay Extra For The Extra Custodial Duties This May Require. They Will Keep It Clean The Kids Will Be Disciplined And Its Girls And Boys. This Is Not School Related. But Does Help Feed The School Program. She Asked The Mayor Do You Know When You Guys Will Make A Decision? She Stated I Believe The Mayor Has Met With Coach Herrington? The Mayor Stated Yes I Have, I Understood From Him That The Mall Would Be Too Far For Some Of These Kids To Walk To. Mrs. Heyder Stated That Issue Has Been Resolved. I Think We Were All In Agreement About The Mall We Just Have To Figure Out Where They Can Go. We Have A Couple Of New Businesses Interested In Spots Out There As Well So We Will Need To Get With Don Gass The Mall Manager. I Also Want To Say Thank You To The Police Department They Are Always Busy.

Kristi Bussler Who Is The Director Of Franklin County Senior Services Which Includes The Wit And Wisdom. I Would Like To Thank You For Your Support. She Stated She Has Been There About A Year And Half And We Have Made Some Tremendous Changes Over There. We Have Redone The Interior A Lot Of New Equipment Through The Federal Surplus Donation Program. What The Franklin County Services Does Is Every Month We Prepare And Serve 7000- 8000 Meals For Seniors Over The Age Of 60. We Have 300 Clients On Our Homebound Meal Delivery That Receive A Daily Nutritious Meal That's Approved By The Illinois Department Of Aging Guidelines. We Also Provide Transportation Services To Seniors That Do Not Have Access To Transportation. In June We Provided 176 People With Transportation We Take Them To Cancer Treatments, Shopping, The Bank. Or We Go As Far As Carbondale, Marion Or Mt. Vernon As Long As I Have The Staff To Do That. I Appreciate The Support Of The City Council And The Mayor, Thank You.

26. With No Further Business To Be Discussed, The Meeting Was Adjourned On A Motion By Commissioner Harkins At 7:49 P.M.

https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5e4320cfbb00196160c23a75/t/64c2d1abb4e78059a278bbc4/1690489259702/July+11%2C+2023+Council+Meeting.pdf