North Egypt News

City of West Frankfort City Council met Aug. 8.

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 City Clerk Were In Attendance.

2. Mayor Arview Asked For Approval Of The Minutes From The July 25, 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. Mayor Arview Asked For Approval Of The Minutes From The August 1, 2023 Special Council Meeting. Commissioner Howard Made A Motion To Approve, Seconded By Commissioner Stanley. Commissioner Warren Abstained From Voting Because She Was Absent The Day Of This Meeting. Roll Call Vote: Three Commissioners And Mayor Arview Voted To Approve. Motion Carried.

4. The Next Item Was Approval Retroactive Pay For Additional Duties Performed By The Codes Officer/Zoning Administrator During The Time Period Of May 2023-July 2023 As Well As Increasing His Pay Going Forward For Being The Zoning Administrator. Commissioner Howard Made A Motion To Approve, Seconded By Commissioner Harkins. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Arview Voted To Approve. Motion Carried.

5. The Next Item Was Approval Of A Resolution Authorizing The Hiring Of An Employee To The Street Department. This Is For John Sturgeon Who Has Passed His Probationary Period. Commissioner Stanley 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 Approval Of A Resolution Appointing Department Heads Within The City Of West Frankfort. The Mayor Stated These Are For The Positions We Recently Filled. Michael Bonner For Street Superintendent, Andrea Bolen For City Clerk, And Chris Veteto For City Treasurer. Commissioner Stanley Made A Motion To Approve, Seconded By Commissioner Warren. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Arview Voted To Approve. Motion Carried.

7. The Next Item Was Approval Of A Resolution With Easy Coin Laundry, Llc. For Redevelopment Of Certain Property Utilizing Tax Increment Financing Located In The City Of West Frankfort, Illinois. This Is Just The Approving Of The Resolution Of The $50,000.00 Previously Approved At The Last Meeting. Commissioner Stanley Made A Motion To Approve, Seconded By Commissioner Howard. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Arview Voted To Approve. Motion Carried.

8. The Next Item Was Discussion, With Possible Action, Regarding Bids Received To Purchase A Jockey Pump And A Replacement Flygt Pump For The Street Department. This Item Was Tabled Until More Bids Have Come In.

9. The Next Item Was Discussion, With Possible Action, Regarding The Als360 Asset Management Program For The West Frankfort Fire Department. Chief Sailliez Stated This Was The 10 Year Program For $124,000.00 A Year. That Gives Us New Equipment Now And New Equipment In Year Five, Then The Option To Purchase The Five-Year-Old Equipment At The End Of The 10 Years For $94,000.00. This Would Get Us By For Another Two Years Until The Equipment Is Out Of Service And We Renew With Another Plan. Commissioner Howard Had Me Contact Stryker To See What The Cost Was To Purchase The Equipment Outright And That Total Was $324,890.91. This Was Without The Power Stair Chairs And A Couple Of Other Items. This Will Get Us By With A Portion Of The Als360 Whether It Be An Emergency Purchase To Get Us Going Again As Opposed To The Whole Als360 Plan.

The Mayor Stated The Number One Question For Me Is Can We Afford This? The Second Thing Would Be Comparing Leasing The Equipment Or Buying It Outright. The Stryker Rep Stated The Big Thing With Als360 Is That You Always Have New Equipment By Year Ten We Want To Make It Attractive Enough For You To Renew Your Agreement Again. The Fixed Cost Will Allow You To Budget What You Will Be Spending Every Year Even Though The Cost Of The Equipment Will Go Up You Are Locked Into That Fixed Price. We Have Had A Price Increase Of 10% Over The Last Three Years, We Actually Use An Increase Of 4% Normally Every Year. If You Do That Over The Course Of Ten Years Over The Buyout Your Still Ahead A Significant Amount Of Money By The Time The Buyout Comes. With That Said At Year Five We Are Taking All The Equipment Out And Replacing It With New Equipment Again. If A New And Improved Version Of Equipment Comes Out You Will Get The New Improved Version Over The Old Version As A Replacement When We Exchange Those Items Out. It's A Lease Program At The End Of Ten Years You Would Save Money Verses Purchasing This Equipment And Replacing It Year Seven As You Would Do When The Lifespan Of This Goes Out. Waterloo And Carbondale Illinois Are Now Using This Program.

Commissioner Stanley Asked Commissioner Howard If He Has Investigated This To See Where The Money Can Come From? Commissioner Howard Asked If There Was A Shorter Lease We Can Sign? The Stryker Rep Replied Unfortunately No. We Do Have A Rider In The Agreement Stating That If For Some Reason The City Decides Later On That We Can Not Do This, There Is An Out. Commissioner Warren Stated If That Happens You Will Come And Take Back All The Equipment, Correct? He Said Yes That Is Correct. Chief Sailliez Stated Our Equipment Is Out Of Date And No Matter What We Do I Think Our Legal Department Would Advise Us To Do Something. Commissioner Stanley Asked What Is The Budget For The Fire Deparmtent? Chief Sailliez Stated $1.2 Million. I Understand Both Avenues More Money Will Be Coming Through The Gemt Program That We Signed Up For If We Lease It As Opposed To Owning The Equipment. We Need A New Engine, Another Ambulance In Four Years, This Is Just Those Game Plan Steps To Budget To Allieviate The Unfunded Liabilities Of Ten Years Down The Road. If There Are Other Plans Or Avenues, I Can Take Please Let Me Know. The Stryker Rep Stated Your First Payment On Als360 Is No Due Until 30 Days Post Delivery Of The Last Item. So, We Are In A Time Frame Where Our Lead Times Are Extremely Long Right Now, I'd Say Ten To Twelve Weeks Is The Soonest I Would Expect These. They Don't Come In A Week Later Like They Used To. The Mayor Stated That Lead Time Will Be The Same No Matter Which Option We Go With. The Stryker Rep Stated The Life Expectancy Of This Equipment Is Seven Years And Then You Will Need To Buy New Again. No Matter If You Buy Or Lease The Products Stryker Will Be The One Taking Care Of The Equipment If Something Breaks Or Has Something Wrong With It. Commissioner Howard Stated Its Too Bad That Its All Going Down At The Same Time, I Wish We Could Of Stagard This Out. We Do Not Have To Do This Tonight He Stated. Commissioner Warren Stated Isnt This Price Good Until September 2023? Chief Sailliez Stated That's Correct. Commissioner Warren Stated We Just Need To Know What The Cost Is Going To Be For Some Of These Other Projects Like The Pumps Before We Go And Spend All This Money. Mayor Arview Stated We Need To Do Something So Maybe We Can Wait Until We Get The Dollar Amount On The Pumps And Then Move Forward With The Als360. They Are Both Crucial Items To Have. Chief Sailliez Stated I Understand The Money, But We Just Signed Up For A Gemt Program That Is Going To Bring In Over $400,000.00 And We Are Worried About Where The Money Is Going To Come From. We Are The Only Department In The City That Has Brought To You A Way To Offset Our Budget And To Be Self Sufficient And To Provide Everything And We Are Still Getting Told That We Don't Have Money? Commissioner Howard Stated As I Told The Chief The Other Day, I Want To Do Whatever We Have To Do 1. Is To Protect Our Employees And 2. Is The Automatic Cpr Machines That Save Lives That's Important To Me. But For Right Now Until We Look Further Into The Money, I Would Recommend We Table This. Commissioner Howard Made A Motion To Table, Seconded By Commissioner Stanley. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Arview Voted To Table. Motion Tabled.

10. The Next Item Was Discussion, With Possible Action, Regarding The Installation Of A Keyless Entry System For City Hall. The Mayor Stated This Was Discussed A While Back And Never Brought To The Council. We Had Some Security Issues In The Past With People Coming In The Building. It Was In The Past But Could Happen Again So We Want To Take Precautions. We Aren't Sure Who All Has A Key To The Back Door So We Are Going To Know Going Forward. We Received Two Bids One Was From Dave's Locksmith Here In Town For $675.00 And We Had Another One From Adt That Was Going To Cost Us Anywhere From $1,600.00-$3,000.00 And Would Have A Monthly Service Fee. So, We Would Like To Go With The Low Bidder Dave's Locksmith For $675.00. Warren 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 Discussion, With Possible Action, Regarding Declaring A Property Located At 207 N. Monroe Street As Surplus Property. The Mayor Stated I Have Investigated That At A Previous Meeting Last Year This Was Already Declared Surplus. So, We Don't Actually Have To Do That And We Had A Bid At The Time Which Was The Only Bid And Matt Donkin Superintendent Of Schools Had Gotten Ahold Of Mayor Jordan And Asked To Hold On To The Property Until The High School Decided How They Wanted To Buy It But That's Been Over A Year Ago And Nothing Has Progressed On That. Honestly, We Have A Copy Of A Record Of The Minutes From June 28, 2022 At That Time We Had Received A Bid Of $1,200 From Carissa Mazzara Who Is In The Audience Tonight. So, He Would Entertain A Motion To Let Her Buy That Lot. Commissioner Stanley Asked What About The Bid I Gave You Tonight? Mayor Stated That They Turned It In Too Late They Should Have Placed One Before The Meeting In June 28, 2022. The Time Frame For The Bids Was Before That. Commissioner Stanley Stated They Were Told Not Bid On That, The City Was In An Agreement With The School. So, No Bids Were Being Accepted. The City Attorney Advised The Council That This Is The First She Has Seen This. She Would Think That We Would Have To Allow For Current Bids If The Time Has Run, But At This Time Im Not Sure If You Can Just Accept That One Or Open It Up For Others To Bid. I Would Say Declare It Surplus For Now And Do It The Standard Way You Usually Do For Surplus Properties. Codes Officer Snell Stated We Always Put A Sign Up When Something Is Available For Bids, I Put That Sign Out And Then The Next Day It Was Decided That They Were Going To Look Into This Agreement With The High School, So I Was Told To Remove The Sign. The Process Was Kind Of Meddled With Not Everyone Got A Chance To Bid. I Agree With The City Attorney To Put It Back Up And Let Everyone Bid On It. Mayor Arview Stated We Will Need A Motion To Advertise For Bids Again. Commissioner Stanley Made A Motion For To Approve, Seconded By Commissioner Warren. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Arview Voted To Approve. Motion Carried.

12. The Next Item Was Approval Of Contractor's Pay Estimate #2 To Followell Construction Co., Inc. For The West Frankfort - Water System Meter Replacement - Phase 2. In The Amount Of $90,456.00. Commissioner Warren Made A Motion For Approval, Seconded By Commissioner Stanley. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Arview Voted To Approve. Motion Carried.

13. The Next Item Was Approval Of Construction Engineering Bill #2 From Brown & Roberts, Inc. For The West Frankfort - Water System Meter Replacement - Phase 2 In The Amount Of $10,955.12. 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 Approval Of Construction Engineering Invoice From Brown & Roberts, Inc. For The 157 & Il Rt 149 Interchange Modification Phase 1 Engineering Invoice #32 In The Amount Of $18,208.80. 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 The Consent Agenda:

A. Approval To Pay Bills In The Amount Of $107,705.92.

B. Approval Of To Pay An Invoice To Kody's Asphalt Paving & Sealcoating In The Amount Of $5,200.00 For Asphalting The Alley Behind Marion Eye Center. C. Approval To Pay An Invoice From Greater Egypt Regional Planning & Development Commission In The Amount Of $1,964.25 Regarding Appropriation For July 2023 To June 2024.

D. Approval To Get And Appraisal On 228 East Main To Put It Up For Sale.

E. Approval To Pay An Invoice From Novacom In The Amount Of $2,547.90 For Installation Of Radios In The New Ambulance For The WFFD.

F. Approval To Pay An Invoice From Tham Signs Inc. In The Amount Of $7,254.48 For Installation Of Wrap And Decals On The New Ambulance For The WFFD.

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

16. Building And Sign Permits ~ We Had No Permits This Time.

17. Officer's Report ~

Fire Report For The Month Of July 2023. Chief Sailliez Reported That They Had 152-Ambulance Calls, 1- Rubbish/Illegal Fires, 1-Brush/Field Fires, 6-Motor Vehicle Accidents, 4-Fire Alarms, 2-Vehicle Fires, 18 Fire Emergencies; (Gas Leaks, Power Lines Down, Etc.), 0- Structure Fires, 3-Smoke Scares, 4-Mutual Aid Fire Responses, 0-Mutual Aid Ambulance, 2-Ambulance Calls Turned Over To Mutual Aid. For A Total Of 193 Calls During The Month. The Department Used Approximately 3,000 Gallons Of Water. The Department Collected $39,283.11 For July Ambulance Calls.

Police Report For The Month Of July 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 Citiations, 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, 7 Were For Thompsonville Fire/Ems, 12 Were For Abbott Ems, And 2 For United Ambulance. For The Month Of July, We Collected $3,235.00 In Fines And Fees.

Codes Report For The Month Of July 2023. Permit: 2~Building Permits, 0~Sign Permits. Rental Properties: 16~Rental Inspections Performed. Case Activity Report ~ 25 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 July.

18. Mayors Report~

The Mayor Stated We Are Making Progress With A Lot Of Things We Have A Lot Of Moving Parts; I Feel Like Im Juggling A Lot And I Have To Change Directions Multiple Times A Day. It Is Good Stuff, Positive Movement. We Have Starbucks And We Are Still Moving Forward On That, Wendy's Is Still Developing In Town. I Think Its Kind Of Neat Because We Are Going To Have A Restaurant; The Redbird Diner On The East End Of Town, In The Middle Of Town Wendy's And The West End We Will Have Starbucks. We Met With Dceo Today And Talked About Some Opportunities For Grants To Help Us Out With Some Of These Projects And The Water They May Have Some Opportunities There So That Will Help Out. Overall Things Are Looking Good.

19.Commissioner Reports~

Commissioner Harkins Stated The Fire Department Is Breaking That New Ambulance In. Nothing Is Not Being Used In That Department. The Police Department Is Gearing Up For School To Start This Friday. We Got The Car For The New S.R.O. Officer. Chief Prudent Stated Its Here And We Are Getting The Equipment In It Now. It Won't Be Ready For The Beginning Of School But Hopefully In A Couple Of Weeks. We Got Him All Signed Up Today And Sworn In, Andrea Did A Great Job.

Commissioner Howard Stated We Are Starting To Look Into Some Grants For Things And There May Be Some Money Available For. Mr. Bonner As You Know We Are Looking Into A Grant With Us Army Corp Of Engineers. Maybe We Can Find A Grant For Ambulance Stuff As Well. I Never Like To Turn Down Free Money.

Commissioner Stanley Stated Michael Is Keeping The Water Pumped Out And They Are Doing A Lot Of Road Work. We Just Hired A New Guy And He Is Doing A Good Job. Michael Bonner Street Superintendent Stated We Are Bushhogging, Getting Ready For Oil And Chipping On Monday We Are Keeping Busy. Commissioner Stanley Stated We Are Looking At Getting Concrete For The New Pole Barn In Before Winter Time.

Commissioner Warren Stated The Water Is Working, They Are Out Fixing A Break Right Now. Everyone Is Working. We Have Had Lake Issues But A Lot Of People Are Asking Questions On West Frankfort Talk And I Tried To Answer Those. It Just Takes Time To Get All The Issues Fixed And We Will Eventually. There Was Some Issues With The Gate Not Being Open That One Morning But We Will Work This Out Better The Next Time. The Mayor Stated He Wasn't Able To That One Day So Next Time We Will Make Sure Someone Else Does It When Someone Isnt Available. Commissioner Warren Stated There Will Be Another Lake Meeting Next Thursday August 17, 2023 At 6pm At City Hall.

20. Audience Comments:

Danny Loeh, Showed The Council A Picture And Said This Is The Kind Of Things We Are Protecting, We Are Losing So Much Of Our History. Gold Star Day Is Coming Up At Duquoin State Fair Grounds August 27th, 2023. He Has Been Invited To Set Up At The Fair And Take Some Material To Showcase The Museum And Show Them What We Have Here In Town. He Also Wanted To Say Thank You To Roger And The City For What They Did For The Musuem In Getting It Asphalted. It Looks Like A Showcase. Thank You All I Appreciate Your Help. Im Working Getting A Grant From The Government To Help Restore The Museum. When He Gets That Information, He Will Pass It On To Everyone To See If We Can Get Some Help And Free Money!

21. The Next Item Was Approval To Go Into Executive Session To Discuss Contract Negotiations, Union Grievances, Personnel, Sale Of Surplus Property And/Or Pending Litigation, With Possible Action. 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. At 6:54 P.M. 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. The Next Item Was Approval Of A Motion To Return To Open Session At 7:37 P.M. Where No Action Was Taken.

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

23. With No Further Business To Be Discussed, The Meeting Was Adjourned On A Motion By Commissioner Harkins At 7:38 P.M.

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