North Egypt News

City Of West Frankfort City Council Met Oct. 10.

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 Were In Attendance Including, The City Attorney And City Clerk.

2. Mayor Arview Asked For Approval Of The Minutes From The September 26, 2023 Regular Council Meeting. Commissioner Harkins Made A Motion To Approve, Seconded By Commissioner Howard. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Arview Voted To Approve. Motion Carried.

3. The Next Item Was Approval Of A Proclamation Declaring October 20, 2023 And October 21, 2023 As Lion's Club Candy Days. Commissioner Stanley Made A Motion To Approve, Seconded By Commissioner Warren. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Arview Voted To Approve. Motion Carried.

4. The Next Item Was Approval Of An Ordinance Vacating A Certain Alleyway Lying Adjacent To And South Of Lots 9,10, And 11 And North Of Lot 8; All In S.E. Horrell's East Side Addition To Frankfort Heights Now West Frankfort, Il. Lying Within The Pin 12-20-402-012. Codes Officer Snell Stated, This Is An Alley That Has Never Existed, It Is A Plot Of Grass Between Frank Cope's Properties, He Owns Both Sides Of The Alley. The Mayor Stated No Utilities, And The City Would Not Have Any Use For It In The Future. Commissioner Stanley Made A Motion To Approve, Seconded By Commissioner Warren. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Arview Voted To Approve. Motion Carried.

5. The Next Item Was Approval Of An Ordinance Authorizing The Sale Of Surplus Personal Property Owned By The City Of West Frankfort, Illinois. The Mayor Stated This Is A Bunch Of Items That We Have Had In Various Locations, We Will Be Having An Auction On November 4th 2023 To Sell These Items. We Are Calling This A Surplus Property To Be Able To Sale These Items. 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 Approval Of An Ordinance Declaring Certain Real Estate Owned By The City Of West Frankfort As Surplus Public Real Estate And Authorizing Its Sale. The Mayor Stated We Are Also Going To Have A Lot Of The Properties That The City Currently Owns, And Needs To Get Rid Of For Sale At The Auction. Commissioner Howard 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 Proposed New Collective Bargaining Agreement Between The City And Laborers Local 773/Dispatchers To Cover The Period Of March 1,2023 Through February 28,2026. The Mayor Stated He Gave All Of The Commissioners A Copy Of The Contract. Before The Meeting Started, Commissioner Howard Noticed That This Contract Had Some Discrepancy In It. Something That Was Changed In Some Of The Other Contracts And Did Not Make It Into This Contract. We Are Going To Table This Item For Now, We Will Discuss This In Closed Session, And Hopefully Have The Finalized Version At Our Next Meeting. We May Need To Call A Special Meeting For This, Because We Do Need To Get This Approved, But We Need To Make Sure We Do It Right First. This Item Was Tabled Until A Decision Is Made After Discussion.

8. The Next Item Was Approval To Sign A Contract With Bulldog Trash Services To Extend Our Contract Until 2028 And Include Containers For Residents With A Rate Increase. The Mayor Stated We Discussed This Last Meeting, And Tonight We Are Approving That We Agree With The Contract. Commissioner Howard Made A Motion To Approve, Seconded By Commissioner Stanley. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Arview Voted To Approve. Motion Carried.

9. The Next Item Was Approval Of A Resolution Authorizing An Agreement With The Storage Vault, Llc For Phase 2 Of A Redevelopment Project Utilizing Tax Increment Financing. The Mayor Stated This Will Come Out Of Tif Two, Which Covers Main Street And Down Highway 37. 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 Discussion, With Possible Action Regarding A New Water Tap Fee For All In And Out Of Town Residence. Water Superintendent White, Stated Currently We Charge $550.00 For In Town Service, And $600.00 For Out- Of-Town Service For A New Tap, Meaning If We Have To Hook Up For A New Service That Has Not Had Service There Before. Prices Have Changed We Are Getting Billed For $868.72 For A 3/4 Inch Service And $1,215.36 For A 1 Inch Service. Commissoner Warren Recommends That We Charge $850.00 For A 3/4 Inch Service And $1,200.00 For A 1 Inch Service For In Town Residence. We Will Have To Look Into The Out-Of-Town Costs That We Are Getting Billed For. She Said This Does Not Have Anything To Do With The New Meters, That Was Used With Different Money. This Is Due From The Cost Of Materials Going Up That We Are Being Billed For. Commissioner Warren Made A Motion To Approve, Seconded By Commissioner Howard. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Arview Voted To Approve. Motion Carried.

11. The Next Item Was Discussion, With Possible Action, Regarding Plumbing Repairs Needed At The Wit & Wisdom Senior Center In The Amount Of $21,000.00. The Mayor Stated This Is A Building The City Owns, And It Needs New Plumbing. We Will Use Tif Money From Tif Two To Fix The Repairs. The Executive Director Of Wit & Wisdom, Kristi Bussler Stated The Original Bid Was $46,000 Worth Of Work That Needs To Be Done. She Procured A Usda Grant For $25,000.00, That Will Be Applied To The Repair Costs. Commissioner Stanely Made A Motion For Approval, Seconded By Commissioner Warren. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Arview Voted To Approve. Motion Carried.

12. The Next Item Was Discussion, With Possible Action, Regarding The Purchase Of Equipment From Sinc In The Amount Of $2,843.05 For A New Microphone System For The Council Meeting Area. The Mayor Stated This Includes Labor, Microphones, And All Of The Equipment That Connects The Microphones To The Sound System. Commissioner Stanely Made A Motion For Approval, Seconded By Commissioner Harkins. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Arview Voted To Approve. Motion Carried.

13. The Next Item Was Approval To Pay Invoices From Xylem In The Amount Of $12,628.20 Regarding Pump Rental And Accessories For The Street Department. Commissioner Stanely Made A Motion For Approval, Seconded By Commissioner Howard. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Arview Voted To Approve. Motion Carried.

14. The Next Item Was Approval To Pay Invoice From Odum Concrete Inc. In The Amount Of $11,178.00 Regarding Concrete For The Street Department Building Floor. Commissioner Stanley Made A Motion For Approval, Seconded By Commissioner Warren. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Arview Voted To Approve. Motion Carried.

15. The Next Item Was Approval To Advertise For Bids For The City Of West Frankfort-Stp Uv Disinfection Project. The Mayor Stated This Is A Requirement From The Epa. Matt Tosh Is With Brown And Roberts; He Stated The Funding For The Project Is A Dco Grant And An Iepa Grant Loan, They Finally Have Authorization From Dco To Proceed. Commissioner Howard 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 Approval Of Contractor's Pay Estimate #2-Final To Midwest Petroleum & Excavating, Inc. For The West Frankfort- Country Club Road Sanitary Sewer Extension In The Amount Of $4,621.00. Commissioner Warren Made A Motion For Approval, Seconded By Commissioner Stanley. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Arview Voted To Approve. Motion Carried.

17. The Next Item Was Approval Of A Change Order #1 - Final For The West Frankfort-Country Club Road Sanitary Sewer Extension To Decrease The Contract Amount $6,416.00. Commissioner Warren Made A Motion For Approval, Seconded By Commissioner Stanley. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Arview Voted To Approve. Motion Carried.

18. 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 3 In The Amount Of $36,948.40. Commissioner Warren Made A Motion For Approval, Seconded By Commissioner Howard. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Arview Voted To Approve. Motion Carried.

19. The Next Item Was Approval Of Construction Engineering Bill #2 From Brown & Roberts, Inc. For The West Frankfort- Water System Meter Replacement-Phase 3 In The Amount Of $3,416.55. Commissioner Howard Made A Motion For Approval, Seconded By Commissioner Warren. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Arview Voted To Approve. Motion Carried.

20. The Next Item Was Approval Of Contractor's Pay Estimate #4 To Followell Construction Co., Inc. For The West Frankfort-Water System Meter Replacement -Phase 2 In The Amount Of $3,861.00. Commissioner Warren Made A Motion For Approval, Seconded By Commissioner Howard. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Arview Voted To Approve. Motion Carried.

21. The Next Item Was Approval Of Construction Engineering Bill #4 From Brown & Roberts, Inc. For The West Frankfort- Water System Meter Replacement - Phase 2 In The Amount Of $1,930.91. Commissioner Warren Made A Motion For Approval, 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 Change Order #1 For The West Frankfort - Water System Meter Replacement - Phase 2 To Increase The Contract Amount $8,100.00 And Increase The Contract Time By 50 Calendar Days. Matt Tosh Stated This Is An Increase For Some Unforeseen On Some Of The Larger Meters. They Are Expecting To Reduce $30,000.00 To $35,000.00 At The End Of The Project. Jim And His Guys Have Been Taking Care Of A Lot Of The Issues With The Small Meters Themselves, There Was Bid Items Set Up For The Contractors To Do It But The City Water Deparent Have Been Taking Care Of Those For Savings For The City. Commissioner Warren Made A Motion For Approval, Seconded By Commissioner Howard. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Arview Voted To Approve. Motion Carried

23. The Next Item Was Approval For The Lion's Club To Hold Their Annual Candy Day Roadblock On Friday, October 20th From 4:00 P.M. To 6:00 P.M. And Saturday, October 21st From 8:00 A.M. To 2:00 P.M. At The Intersection Of Route 149 And Highway 37. Commissioner Harkins Made A Motion For Approval, Seconded By Commissioner Stanley. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Arview Voted To Approve. Motion Carried

24. The Next Item Was The Consent Agenda:

a. Approval To Pay Bills In The Amount Of $70,586.47.

b. Approval Of To Pay An Invoice From Novacom In The Amount Of $2,379.99 For A Solar Panel Kit To Power Camera's For The Police Department. Commissioner Howard Made A Motion For Approval, Seconded By Commissioner Harkins. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Arview Voted To Approve. Motion Carried.

25. Building And Sign Permits Building Permit For Starbucks. Codes Officer Snell Stated Everything Looks Good, The Only Thing We Are Missing Is A Parcel Number But We Won't Have That Until They This Building Permit Approved So They Are Able To Close On The Property. The Mayor Stated As Far As He Knows, They Are Still Planning On Getting This Done By The End Of The Year. Commissioner Harkins Made A Motion To Approve, Seconded By Commissioner Warren. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Arview Voted To Approve. Motion Carried.

26. Officer's Report ~ Fire Report For The Month Of September 2023. Chief Sailliez Reported That They Had 153-Ambulance Calls, 11- Rubbish/Illegal Fires, 3-Brush/Field Fires, 2-Motor Vehicle Accidents, 5-Fire Alarms, 0-Vehicle Fires, 11 Fire Emergencies; (Gas Leaks, Power Lines Down, Etc.), 2- Structure Fires, 1-Smoke Scares, 2-Mutual Aid Fire Responses, 0-Mutual Aid Ambulance, 12-Ambulance Calls Turned Over To Mutual Aid. For A Total Of 203 Calls During The Month. The Department Used Approximately 50,000 Gallons Of Water. The Department Collected $38,759.20 For September Ambulance Calls.

Police Report For The Month Of September 2023. Chief Prudent Reported Officers Answered A Total Of 1,249 Calls For Service. Of Those Calls 21 Were Traffic Accidents, 2 With Injuries. Officers Responded To 33 Domestic Disputes, 2 Fight In Progress, 13 Alarms, 1 Intoxicated Persons, 9 Burglaries, 28 Reports Of Criminal Damage To Property, 43 Complaints Of Juvenile Problems, 29 Reported Thefts, And 47 Complaints Of Disorderly Conduct/Disturbances. And Officers Made 12 Street Contacts. Officers Conducted 197 Traffic Stops, Where They Issued 80 Citiations, 140 Warnings, And 21 Lw-27's. There Were 71 Adult Arrests Made And 7 Juvenile Arrest, Resulting In 102 Criminal Charges Filed.

Dispatchers Answered 1,630 Calls.

Of Those, 619 Were 9-1-1 Calls, 145 Were Walk In Requests. 1,249 Were For Police, 202 Were For West Frankfort Fire, O Were For Thompsonville Fire/Ems, 9 Were For Abbott Ems, And 1 For United Ambulance. For The Month Of September, We Collected $2,770.00 In Fines And Fees.

Codes Report For The Month Of September 2023. Permit: 3-Building Permits, 2-Sign Permits. Rental Properties:

9-Rental Inspections Performed. Case Activity Report ~ 35 Which Includes Doors Tagged Verbal Warnings, Vehicles Tagged, Inspections Of Violations, Inspections, Citations Issued, Letters Sent, Etc.

27. Mayors Report~

The Mayor Stated All Businesses Inside City Limits Will Need To Have That Business Registered With The City. This Will Help If Any Legal Or Environmental Issues Occur That Way, We Know That A Business Is There. If The City Does Not Know That A Business Is There, It Could Cause Some Liability Issues With The Business And The City. The Fees To Register Are $10.00 For Existing Businesses, $25.00 For New Businesses, Renewal Fees Are $10.00 Per Year. For Any Business That Are Currently Exsiting And Are Not Regisitered We Could Impose Penalites, But We Are Doing A Moratorium On The Penality Until The End Of October 2023.

The Mayor Wanted To Discuss The Public Indecency, And Obscenities That Has Been Posted On Facebook Pictures Of People Holding Signs In Costumes, And Etc. This Can Not Happen In West Frankfort. This Is Not A Violation Of Free Speech; The Supreme Court Has Said That There Are Limits On These Kind Of Things And It Is Based On The Area You Are In. The City Does Have The Right To Inforce This And We Will Be Inforecing It.

If You Own A Business And Are Having Difficulties Staying Open, Reach Out To The City And We Can See If There Is Somehting That The City Can Help With.

Commissioner Reports~

Commissioner Harkins Stated The Fire Department's New Ambulance Is Back, But Has Not Been Reinspected Yet Since It Was Out For More Then Ten Days. Chief Sailliez Is Waiting To Hear Back From The State. New Equipment Came In Today, Now They Will Call To Get Them Installed In All Three Ambulances.

Everyone At The Police Department Are Doing Alright, Chief Purdent Stated They Are Doing The Written Test Tonight For Hiring, So Hopefully By The End Of The Month We Will Have Our Hiring List. He Has Reserved Two Posts In The January Academy At The South Western Illionois College For New Hires.

Commissioner Howard Stated He Heard From Kathy Evans, Who Is Writing Some Grants For Us, She Has Found A Grant That Would Pay For Fifty Five Percent Of The Cameras That We Are Needing To Get For The Police And Emergencey Personal. He Will Need Figures Of The Costs From The Chiefs. This Grant Will Pay For 55 Percent And The City Will Be Responsible For Forty Five Percent. Public General Knownledge The People We Have Working In The Office Are Doing A Good Job.

Commissioner Stanley Stated His Guys Did A Good Job Cleaning Main Street Up For The Parade, And Then Went Back The Next Day And Swept All Of The Candy Up That Had Not Got Picked Up. They Are Now Back Doing Their Everyday Thing, And He Appreciates All Of Their Hard Work.

Commissioner Warren Stated Water And Sewer Are Doing Well They Are Working Hard, And Doing Call Outs In The Evenings As Needed. Jim White The Water Supervisor Stated They Are On Book Three Of Five Under Phase Three, Getting Closer To The End Of The Project.

Audience Comments:

Danny Loeh Stated The Museum Is Looking Out Standing. He Is Working With The High School About Setting Up A Program To Bring Students Over For Tours. Also Working With Southern Illionois Paper And The Marion Star In Marion To Do Some Advertising For The Museum. If Anyone Has Ripped And Torn Flags, They Can Bring Them To The Museum, And He Will Take To Have Them Destoried.

Kristi Bussler The Executive Director At The Wit & Wisdom Senior Center, Thanked The City Council For Their

Support.The Last Fiscal Year They Served Eighty-Eight Thousand Meals To Mostly Home Bound, And Low-Income Seniors. They Have Been Awarded By The Illiois Department On The Aging Governor's Reward, She Invited The Mayor And City Council To Come When They Accept The Award.

Susan Dragovich Stated She Found Out That Our National Guard Armory Is Closing Down In A Couple Of Years, And Asked If The City Can Do Anything To Keep Them Here In West Frankfort. The Mayor Stated He Will Reach Out To Them.

28. The Next Item Was Approval To Go Into Executive Session To Discuss Contract Negotiations, Personnel, And /Or Pending Litigation. The Mayor Stated They Will Not Be Making Any Decisions During Or Afterwards. At 6:44 P.M. Commissioner Harkins Made A Motion To Approve, Seconded By

Commissioner Howard. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Arview Voted To Approve. Motion Carried.

29. The Next Item Was Approval Of A Motion To Return To Open Session At 7:31 P.M. Where No Action Was Taken.

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

30. With No Further Business To Be Discussed, The Meeting Was Adjourned On A Motion By Commissioner Harkins At 7:32 P.M.

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