North Egypt News

City of West Frankfort City Council met Oct. 24.

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 October 10, 2023 Regular Council Meeting. 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 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 That This Item Will Be Tabled, Some Of The Commissioners Have Not Had A Chance To Review This Agreement. Also, We Have Been In Contact With The Attorney For The Dispatchers And The F.O.P. That We Are Probably Going To Have Ready To Present For Next Meeting. This Item Was Tabled.

4. The Next Item Was Approval Of A Zoning Variance For 706 North Lincoln Street. The Mayor Stated This Is For B & J Construction. The Zoning Board Of Appeals Have Approved This Variance, With The Agreement Of Building A Fence. This Will Allow Them To Continue Business Where They Arelocated As Long As They Meet The Time Frame They Were Given. Commissioner Stanley Made A Motion To Approve, Seconded By Commissioner Warren. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Arview Voted To Approve. Motioncarried.

5. The Next Item Was Discussion, With Possible Action, Regarding A Consulting Contract With Retail Strategies In The Amount Of $130,000.00 Paid Over Three Years. The Mayor Stated The First Year Would Be $50,000, The Next Two Years Would Be $40,000 Each. They Presented At The Iml Conference That I Attended, And Had A Lot Of Good Information. They Completed A Gap Analyisis For The City, And Went Over With Me All Of The Opportunites The City Could Have. They Will Actively Solicit Businesses To Come To West Frankfort, And Will Work With Our Economic Developer. Some Of The Buildings Around The Interstate, Are Not That Attrative, Would Be One Of The First Things They Would Be Looking At. They Would Try To Get Ahold Of The People Who Own Them To See If They Would Want To Sale, If They Are They Would See What Business Would Want To Go There. Majority Of Them Will Come Out Of Tiff Two. Commissioner Stanley Stated I Would Like To Get Introduced To Them And Hear From Them What Their Plans Will Be. Commissioner Howard Stated Some Of Other Businesses Have Bought Property, And Have Tried To Get Companies To Come Here And Have Not Had Any Success. Commissioner Warren Asked Do We Keep Paying Even If We Don't Get Something, Or How Long Will They Keep Trying? The Mayor Stated We Would Be Obligated For The Three Years Regardless How It Turned Out. Mayor Stated That We Could Table This Item And I Will Get Ahold Of John Tiedt To See If They Could Meet With The Council To Discuss Further What They Will Be Doing. This Item Was Tabled.

6. The Next Item Was Discussion, With Possible Action, Regarding Changes Of The Tif Agreement With Starbucks. The Mayor Stated He Had Some Email Conversation With Our City Attorney, There Are Some Issues We Will Need To Talk About. The City Attorney Stated She Recommends The Council Would Want Time To Talk Prior To Voting On This. The Mayor Stated They Will Address These Concerns In Closed Session Tonight, And Then Next Meeting We Will Vote. This Item Was Tabled.

7. The Next Item Was The Consent Agenda:

A. Approval To Pay Bills In The Amount Of $45,915.42.

B. Approval To Pay An Invoice From B&J Constuction, Llc In The Amount Of $23,238.61 For Replacing Roofs At 222 And 228 East Main Street.

C. Approval To Pay An Invoice From The Liberty Mutual Insurance In The Amount Of $1,787.44 For A Deductible Insurance Claim.

D. Approval To Pay An Invoice From Arview Plumbing Company In The Amount Of $1,838.57 For Damages To Two Sewer Lines Due To Damages Caused By A Frontier Boring Machine.

E. Approval To Pay An Invoice From Brannan Hydraulic Service In The Amount Of $1,915.00 For Repairs To The New Gmc 8500 Street Department Truck.

Commisoner Howard Stated I Have A Question About The B&J Invoice When They Torn The Roof Off Of The Wrong Building, Are They Wanting Us To Pay For Both? Commissioner Stanley Stated This Is For 228 E Main St., The One They Messed Up On, And Came Back And Roofed 222 E Main St., The Difference Is 228 E Main St. Is A Shorter Building Than 222 E Main St. They Are Charging Us For 222 E Main St. And Half Off Of 228 E Main St. Commissioner Howard Understood It Better Now.

Commissioner Warren Asked About The Arview Plumbing One Since That Had To Do With Frontier Hitting A Line. The Mayor Stated Andrea And I Have Talked About This, And We Will Approve The Payment To Arview Plumbing, But We Will Hold Off On Actually Writing The Check, Since The Payment Will Come From Frontier. The City Clerk Stated She Has Contacted Frontier They Have A Copy Of The Bill, There May Be Other Charges They Will Get Later On. Commissioner Warren Made A Motion For Approval, Seconded By Commissioner Howard. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Arview Voted To Approve. Motion Carried.

8. Building And Sign Permits ~ Codes Officer Snell Stated The First One Is For A Manufactured Home Going In At 1101 E Oak St, For Amber Mize. The House Will Be Rotated Side Ways, The House Will Be Facing A Different Street Than The Address Due To The Lot Size. Commissioner Harkins Made A Motion To Approve, Seconded By Commissioner Warren. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Arview Votedto Approve. Motion Carried.

The Second One Is For A Portable Storage Shed Behind The Residence On 214 W 6th Street For Barbara Burkitt. Commissioner Howard Made A Motion To Approve, Secondedby Commissioner Stanley. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Arview Voted To Approve. Motion Carried.

The Third One Is For A Ground Mount Solar System Behind J&S Pharmacy For Joyce Fogleman. Code Officer Snell Stated In The Past We Have Always Done Solar Sysyems As Accessory Structures, Since We Don't A Have Direct Permit For Them. This One Will Cover A Larger Area Than Usual, About Twenty-Six Hundred Square Feet Of Solar Basically Taking Up An Entire Lot. It Mets Everything, We Need To Do, But I Recommend The City Needs To Create A Permitting System That Directly Covers This. A Representive With Aes Solar, Timothy Serle, Stated This Will Be Designed To Off Set All Of The Energy, Including The Clinics That Are Also Inside The Building, It Is All Metered In One Meter. The Business Will Have $10,000 Of Annual Savings. Codes Officers Snell Stated Some Of The Question Is Not Necessarily That Is Good, We Think It's A Great Thing, It Is More About Its Surrounding Places, This Is On The Edge Of A Commercial Zone, With The Houses Surrounding It. I Will Be In Contact With The Company To See What We Can Do. The Council And The Mayor Agreed With Thad. This Item Was Tabled.

9. Mayors Report~

Mayor Arview Stated Since Our Next Meeting Is After November 11th, He Wanted To Remind Everyone That November 11th Is Verterns Day.

The City Is Having A Public Auction On Saturday, November 4th, 2023 At 10 Am. This Is Be Located At The Business Incubator Out West Of Town.

If You Have Questions About The Letter From Homefield That Was In The Mail, They Are The Aggregator The City Uses For Our Energy To Get Us The Best Rates. I Recommend On

Not Opting Out Of This, But You Can Opt Out If You Would Like.I Just Want To Let Everyone Know That This Is A Legitimate Business That The City Works With.

Commissioner Reports~

Commissioner Harkins Stated The Police And Fireman Are Busy Tonight As You Can See, They Are Not In Attendance. The Police Chief Is Doing Hiring Interviews Tonight. Both Departments Are Staying Busy. When 1-57 Shuts Down West Frankfort Knows It, We Just Need To Be Careful Driving When This Happens.

Commissioner Howard Stated I Just Want To Let Everyone Know That We Have Been Trying To Get An Auditor, And There Is A Shortage Of Auditors. Infact The State Is Giving Us A Ninty Day Extension Because They Know There Is A Shortage. I Have Contacted Three Firms; I Have Already Been Turned Down By Two, And The Third One Is Contemplating. I Am Hoping That They Say They Will Atleast Say They Will Come Give Us A Proposal. The Second Thing I Wanted To Point Out That Is There Was A Graph Handed Out Last Meeting That Showed The Fire Department Had Seventy Percent Of Their Budget Was Already Spent. I Would Like To Point Out That They Had To Do An Emergency Spending Of An Ambulance That Cost $194,500.00, If You Take That Emergency Expenditure Out Of There, They Are Back Around Fifty Five Percent Or So Like We Would Expect Them To Be. I Just Wanted To Let The Public Know That Is Why The Fire Department Looks Like They Are Spending A Lot. We Had To Replace An Ambulance We Had No Choice.

Commissioner Stanley Stated I Know Micheal And His Guys Are Busy Doing Everything, Limbs, Sidewalks, Ditches, Painting The Parking Lot At The Veteran's Military Museum, Helping The Police Department Out And Everyone Else That Needs Them. They Are All Doing A Great Job.

Commissioner Warren Stated Water And Sewer Are Wokring And Keeping Busy. High School Had A Break The Other Day, And They Got Called Out Early In The Morning.

We Had A Lake Meeting Thurday Night There Was Only Two People There, No New Issues They Asked About Lights And A Posted Speed Limit Sign On The Bridge I Told Them That Takes Time. We Are Taking A Break Our Next Meeting Will Be In March,2024.

10. Audience Comments:

Danny Loeh Showed The Council A 1821 Black Powdered Pistol That Was Brought Into The Museum, It Is One Of The First Of Its Kind That Had Interchangeable Parts. He Stated He Had The Police Cheifs Approval To Bring This Here. I Have Been Working With The Junior High And High School We Will Be Talking Together On Thursday About Doing Tours For The Students. I Have A Lot More Items That Is Being Brought Into The Museum. November 11th Is Veterans Day, The Museum Will Be Opened, Our Service Will Be A 11 A.M., Everyone Is Welcomed To Come. I Want To Thank The Street Department For Painting The Parking Lot, It Looks Great.

11. The Next Item Was An Emergency Approval Item, Approval To Advertise For Bids For The City Of West Frankfort- Burton Subdivision Sanitary Sewer Extension. This Item Was Not On The Agenda, We Added It After It Was Posted. The Mayor Stated, This Is To Help Starbucks Expand The Sewer Where They Are Going To Be. Commissioner Howard 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 Approval To Go Into Executive Session To Discuss Contract Negotiations, Union Grievances, Personnel, Sale Of Surplus Property And/Or Pending Litigation. 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 6:29 P.M. Commissioner Harkins Made A Motion To Approve, Seconded By Commissioner Warren. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Arview Voted To Approve. Motion Carried.

13. The Next Item Was Approval Of A Motion To Return To Open Session At 7:10 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.

14. With No Further Business To Be Discussed, The Meeting Was Adjourned On A Motion By Commissioner Harkins At 7:11p.M.

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