North Egypt News

City of West Frankfort City Council met Feb. 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 Were In Attendance Including, The City Clerk.

2. Mayor Arview Asked For Approval Of The Minutes From The January 23,2024 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 To Accept Bids For The Purchase Of Surplus Property. The Mayor Stated Bids Are For 401 N. Horn St., 407 N. Horn St., 411 N. Horn St., And 314 N. Horn St. We Have Bids For $1,000.00 For Each Property. 314 N. Horn St. Is From Finally Home Properties And Rental, The Other Three Properties Are From Gregory Dean Weeks Family Land Trust. These Are The Only Bids We Had On These Properties; I Entertain A Motion To Approve Those Bids. Commissioner Stanley Made A Motion To Approve, Seconded By Commissioner Warren. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Arview Voted To Approve. Motion Carried.

The City Attorney Showed Up In The Middle Of Item #4

4. The Next Item Was Approval Of A Proposed Wage Reopener Agreement Between The City And The Laborers' Local Union No. 773 For The Street And Water Departments To Cover The Period Of March 1, 2024 Through February 28, 2025. The Mayor Stated Effective March 1, 2024 Will Be An Additional $1.00 Per Hour Wage Increase, And Wage Openers Again On March 1, 2025. We Have Discussed This With The Union, And Have Already Came To An Agreement On It. This Is Just Approving The Agreement We Have Already Made. Commissioner Howard Made A Motion To Approve, Seconded By Commissioner Stanley. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Arview Voted To Approve. Motion Carried.

5. The Next Item Was Approval Of A Resolution Promoting Jonathon Horrell As Captain Of The City Of West Frankfort Fire Department. Chief Sailliez Stated As You Can See Jonathon Is In Attendance Tonight, We Have Been Running The Promotion Process Since, Go Back A One Hundred And Twenty Or So Days. We Had All Five Componets Of The Process Completed, Jonathon Was The Only One Who Met The Requirements For Promotion. He Has Been Filling In As A Temporary Appointment More Than A Year Now, Due To The Vacancies Of The Captains Position Whether It Was For Retirement Or Captian Jeffords Deployment. Jonathon Has Been Doing A Great Job, And Like I Said He Has Met All Of The Requirements Set Forth In The Contract And State Statutes Without Any Hesitation I Would Make A

Recommendation With The Police And Merit Board's Recommendation To Promote Johnathon Horrell As Captian. Commissioner Harkins Made The Motion To Approve, Seconded By Commissioner Warren. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Arview Voted To Approve. Motion Carried.

The Mayor, And All Of The Council Members Congratulated Jonathon Horrell. Chief Sailliez Invited Jonathon And His Family Up And Stated This Is A Stair Step In The Fire Service We Have Different Colored Hats, You Wear A Different Hat For A Different Job. Jonathon Is Moving Up To Be A Red Hat, And The Shield In Front Says Captain. Congratulations On Promotion.

6. The Next Item Was Approval Of A Resolution By The City Council Of West Frankfort To Recommend The Proposal Of The Board Of The Frankfort Community Park District To Place A Referendum Before The Voters Of The Frankfort Community Park District On The March 19, 2024 General Election Ballot Regarding A Question Requesting That The Constituents Approve A Base Tax Increase To The Frankfort Community Park District's Annual Assessment Toward Maintenance And Operation Of The City Park. The Mayor Stated Basically They Are Asking The City Council To Give Our Approval To Place This On The Ballot For The Voters. From The Reading Of This The Proposition Is "Shall The Limiting Rate Under The Property Tax Extension Limitation Law For The Frankfort Community Park District, Franklin County, Illinois, Be Increased By An Additional Amount Equal To 0.0875% Above The Limiting Rate For Levy Year 2022 For The Purpose Of Operating And Maintaining The Frankfort Community Park Aquatic Center & Activities Center And For Other Park Purposes, And Be Equal To 0.5300% Of The Equalized Assessed Value Of Taxable Property Therein For Levy Year 2024?" This Is The Proposition They Want To Be Placed On The Ballot. The Mayor Asked Is The Year Supposed To Be 2022 And Not 2023? City Attorney Stated This Is What They Have On The Flyer I Thought It Would Be Rasied From The Prior Year And They May Not Have Assessed So It Should Be 2023? The Mayor Stated Yes. Commissioner Howard Stated It Should Be Above The Rate For The Year 2022. Mike Eberhart Stated Yes To Be Assessed In The Year 2024. Mr. Eberhart Came Up And Spoke He Stated I Have Been A Member Of The West Frankfort Community Park Board Since 2004, I Serve As The Secretary Treasurer Of The Board. We Have Been Hit Hard By The Increase Of Minimum Wage And A Lot Of The Increase Costs These Days. This Is An Increase Basically To Our Authorized Assessment Level Because Of The Caps We Had To Go Through Referendum To Get It Through. What I Am Here Mainly To Do Is Ask You To Vote On March 19th, 2024, If You Love Your Park Vote Yes. I Brought A Representation Of The Lighting We Replaced; We Invested A Lot Of New Lighting Through Our General Fund Mainly. The New Lighting Improved The Park A Bunch, We Have Received A Lot Of Complements. I Want To Thank The City Council For Doing This, I Know I Have Put You Through A Lot Of Maneuvers And Possibly Some Costs. I Also Want To Thank You For Your Continious Support Of Candy Cane Lane, I Know The City Takes Care Of The Light Bill For Them. They Have Done Everything They Can Do To Use Led Lights, And Volunteer Labor To The Extent Possible. They Have Been A Very Little Impact To The Park As Far As Cost Is Concerned. But It Sure Has Drawn A Lot Of Traffic To West Frankfort. Commissioner Howard Stated Is This Going To Be On The Ballot We Are Just Saying Whether We Want To Encourage People To Vote. The Mayor Stated Yes, Basically It Would Be A Vote Of Endorsement From The City For This. Mr. Eberhart Stated We Have Asked The County For Their Support Too; I Have Not Seen The Resolution To That Effect Yet Or The Proclamation (Whatever You Want To Call It). That Flyer Back There On The Table And What You Have In The Minutes Is Pretty Much Exactly How It Will Appear On The Ballot. Commissioner Stanley Stated Are We Voting To Put It On The Ballot? The Mayor Stated Yes To Endorse To Put It On The Ballot. The City Attorney Stated Somethings Were Left Out That We Were Explained About In Our Meeting That Made It Sound Like It Was A Huge Draw. I Think He Talked About The Costs To Keep The Lights On At The Aquatic Center And Some Of Your Plans. Mr. Eberhart Stated The Increased Enery Cost Has Been A Big Problem, We Use Anywhere From $9,000.00 To $13,000.00 Worth Of Power Every Month. We Are Looking Into Solar; I Have Had A Lot Of Advice For And Against Solar. According To The Sales Representatives We Could Save Up To 75% Of Our Bill. It Would Help If You Encourage Everyone To Go Vote On March 19th, 2024. Chief Sailliez Asked Is This Just To Support Operations Or Support An Approvement Plan Plus Operations? Mr. Eberhart Stated We Have No Hidden Agenda As Far As Where The Additional Funds Are Going, Simply To Help Us Meet Our Budget. Chief Sailliez Stated So Operational? Mr. Eberhart Stated Basically Operation And Maintenance. Commissioner Warren Stated There Is A Note On Here That Says A Home That Is Appraised For Approximatley $100,000.00 That It Might Be $30.00 On The Taxes. Mr Eberhart Stated Yes If It Is Appraised For That Much Each Year Would Be $30.00. Your Park District Taxes Are Like All Your Other Taxes, They Can Vary From Year To Year. There Is No Way We Will Collect All What You Assess, Some People Does Not Pay Taxes And It Never Comes To 100% Of What You Levied We Estimated About 80% To 90% That We Will Collect. We Are Our Own Individual Taxing Body Thanks To The Referendum Back In 1948 That The City Established The Park Board To Manage That One Hundred And Eighteen Acres. It Has All Been Annexed To The City So We Are Able To Have Police And Fire Protection Throughout The Park. The Mayor Asked Do We Have A Motion To Approve Placing This On The Ballot? The City Attorney Stated It Would Not Be Approving To Place On Ballot Since It Is Already On The Ballot. It Would Be Supporting It Being On The Ballot. Commissioner Stanley Made A Motion To Approve, Seconded By Commissioner Howard. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Arview Voted To Approve. Motion Carried.

The Mayor Stated On March 19th, 2024, It Will Be Up To The Voters To Decide If We Actually Have This. Also, Something Else That Was Brought Up In The Meeting We Had A Few Days Ago, This Is The Primary And Maybe You Don't Necessarily Vote In The Primary, You Can Still Go To The Ballot And Vote On The Park District And Not Vote For Any Canidate Or Anything Else. I Want To Encourage You To Get Out And Vote.

7. The Next Item Was Approval Of A Resolution To Greg Murphy A Private Individual For Expansion Of Spero Family Services For Redevelopment Of Certain Property Located At 216 E. Main St. Utilizing Tax Increment Financing Located In The City Of West Frankfort, Illinois. The Mayor Stated The Recommendation From Jake With Moran Development Was Between $6,000.00 And $10,000.00. We Need To Decide What Amount We Want To Approve. Commissioner Howard Stated I Have Been There And Seen What He Has Done, And I Am All For It, It Is Going To Keep Both Buildings Occupied. He Has A Long-Term Lease With Spero. I Will Make A Motion We Give Him The Full $10,000.00. Commissioner Howard Made A Motion To Approve, Seconded By Commissioner Harkins. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Arview Voted To Approve. Motion Carried.

The Mayor Stated I Just Want To Add A Comment I Have Spoken To The People Over At Spero Before And One Of The Things That They Felt Like When They Came To West Frankfort Is They Didn't Have Enough Space To Be Able To Do All Of The Programs That They Have Available. This Will Allow Them To Have More Flexibilty And The Freedom To Add More Programs To What They Are Already Offering.

8. The Next Item Was Approval Of An Ordinance Updating The Requirements For Selling Property At The West Frankfort City Lake. The Mayor Stated What This Would Be Is, The Seller Would Be Required To Have A Survey Done At Their Expense To Know Where The Property Lines Actually Are. Some People May Be On Someone Elses Property With Out Even Knowing, That Is An Issue We Have Been Running Into. Debbie Petkas Is On The Lake Committee And Spoke We Know There Is A Survey Needed, That Is Not The Issue. A Few Things People May Be Alittle Upset With Is Paying For A Survey, Because In The Past (It's Been Several Years Ago) We Worked With An Individual That Completed Survey's For Free. We Have Some Of These People Get To Benefit Of Having It Done For Free, And Now You Are Telling Other People They Have To Pay For It Could Be A Promblem. Another Problem Could Be, These People Do Not Own The Property At The Lake They Lease It, Yet They Still Have To Pay Real Estate Taxes On This Property. They Already Have That Expense, And If You Tack On To That Paying For A Lease. Maybe You Can Work That Out, Maybe There Is Some Way You Can Divide It. The Biggest Problem Is Doing A Survey One At A Time Only When Someone Sells Their Property. That Will Only Survey A Certain Area, If It Is An Area That We Do Not Have An Aerial Survey, Like We Do On A Lot Of Properties You Can See The Lines And All. Somebody Could Say The Line Is Here, Who Is To Say If It Really Is. If The Survey Is Done And The Property Is Sold, Possibly The Neighbor Could Lose A Foot Of Property And They Don't Know Until After The Fact. When They Find Out It Could Be Too Late And That Could Cause A Problem For The City If They Do Not Know Whats Going On. Another Thing That Might Happen Is (Which Is What Happened In The Past) A Survey Was Done That No One Had To Pay For When They Were Selling Their Property, There Was A Dock That Was Found Out To Be On Neighbors Property. A Lot Of The Lots Are At An Angle Or Pie Shaped, Luckily, They Were Working With Their Neigbors And Came To A Decision. If You Do It One At A Time, And Your Not On Good Standing With Your Neighbor, You Might Not Tell Them And They Could Lose A Piece Of Their Property. If There Is An Acutal Building Or Dock On That Property, And They Do Not Find Out Until The New Owners Move In What If The New Owners Decide To Tear Down That Building Or Dock. The Person Who Paid For It, And Put It Up, Could Cause A Real Issue. I Know In Town There Are Certain Laws Protecting People, What Will We Do Then. The Only Way You Are Going To Be Able To Do This Fairly Is To Do A Survey All At Once And Everyone Sees Where The Lines Are. That Way Everyone Can See Where The Lines Are Before They Have To Sell Their Property. Someone Could Sue The City Saying I Have Paid For This And Now The Survey Is Saying It Is Not Mine. Are You Going To Have Guidelines To Go By? Are You Going To Use The Aerial Map Veiw, That We Have Seen And That Shows Some Of Them? Or Start From Sratch? Luckily, I Know My Place Out At The Lake, There Is Lines Unless They Change It. I Know There Are A Lot Of Others That Are Not Sure Where Their Lines Are. This Is A Suggestion Is Since We Know There Is Already A Fued Out There Until You Figure Out How To Do This Without Causing The City To Be Sued, If There Are Anymore Fueds You Do Not Have To Renew Their Lake Lot Lease Until They Get Their Survey Done. The Mayor Stated An Option We Do Have Is We Could Table This, If We Feel Like Is Not What We Want To Do At This Point. I Will Leave That Up To The Council. Someone From The Audience Stated In 2015 We Purchased Out There And The Bank Required Us To Have A Survey. The Sky View Was Put On Here In Dotted Lines, And A Surveyor Went Out And Showed Where The Lines Are. It Was Not The Same As The Sky View, You Could Have Major Issues. We Found Out That Our Lot Was Smaller Across The Lake Front It Was About Twenty Feet Less. Fortunately, They Went To Both Neighbors And They Agreed With What Was Going To Happen And There Was No Problems. The City Clerk Stated We Have Had Issues In The Past Already And They Have Worked It Out, The Surveyor Himslef Went Out To The Neighbors And They Had To Sign Off On It So Everyone Agreed On The Property Lines. Everyone Was Aware Of What Was Going On When It Was Happening, No One Was Left Out. The Person We Have Been Using To Survey Knows To Talk To Everyone That Is Around That Property He Is Surveying. But There Is A Ton Of Issues Out There And The City Can Not Be Responsible For Everything Out There. To Me As A Home Owner, Like She Said When She Bought Her Property The Realtor Should Have Done The Survey So She Know Exactly What You Are Buying Before Hand. The Sky View Lines On Gis Does Not Match, And The County Will Tell You That. I Have Been Down There For Hours Talking To Them, And Requiring A Survey When You Sell Your Property Was The Simplest Way, They Had Told Us To Do To Figure Everything Out. Ms. Petkas Stated, But The Problem Is For Most Of Us Who Have Been Out There Forever, Are You Going To Tell Us Who Has Had A Lease Out There For The Last Thirty Years To Do That. The City Clerk Stated No Because You Do Not Plan On Selling Your Property. We Are Requiring This Only If You Are Selling Your Property. That Way We Do Not Have Fueds Going On With Their Neighbors That We Can Not Control Since We Do Not Have The Markings From Years Ago When They Were Set. Ms. Petkas Stated Im Not Saying Do Not Do The Survey, I Know There Are Issues, Im Just Saying Before You Jump In You Really Need To Let The People At The Lake Know. Get Their Imput On This, The Majority Of The People Out There Live Out There Not Just Cabins. Commissioner Warren Stated The City Clerk Has Been Out To The County A Lot, And We Have Had Issues With People Getting Their Bank Loans Because Of The Survey And Property Lines. This Is What Was Suggested By The County. Are You Talking About A Lake Committee Meeting? The Notices Were Sent Out In December That Is Was A New Requirement. Ms. Petkas I Am Just Concerned What This Could Cause. The City Attorney Stated, Since I Have Started, I Have Seen Several Problems At The Lake And Still Have Some We Are Trying To Solve. I Don't Know What The Best Way To Do It Is, It Is Hard To Argue With The County Since That Is What They Deal With. What I Can Say Legally Is, There Needs To Be A Survey Done At Some Point But It Would Be Up To The Council How You Want To Handle It. A Gentleman Spoke I Have Been Out At The Lake Twenty-Six Years, And When I Moved In My Neighbors On Both Sides Showed Me The Property Lines. The Property I Owned Was Growed Up, I Cleaned, Built A Garage On It, Planted Grass Seed All The Way To The Lake. What Do You Do With Something Like This, When Someone Tells You Where The Property Lines Are For Twenty-Six Years. The City Clerk Stated We Know One Person Their Property Line Went Through Their Cabin; They Came To An Agreement With Their Neighbor The Cabin Line Moved. They Now Have All Their Property, And The Neighbors Property Was Shaped Alittle Differently They Didn't Have Much Lake Front But They Agreed To It And Signed Off On It. The Mayor Stated I Think We Have Reached The Limit Of Discussion On This, What Are We Wanting To Do. Commissioner Howard Stated Are You Wanting To Have A Lake Committee Meeting First Before We Decide? Commissioner Warren Stated The Next Meeting Is The Third Week Of March, Maybe Some Lake Residents Can Come Out And Give Us Their Opinion. I Am Willing To Listen To Them If Everyone Is Fine With Tabling This. The Mayor Said Yes, We Will Table This Item For Now.

9. The Next Item Was Approval Of An Ordinance Authorizing An Amendment Of Existent Lakeshore Leases At The Time Of The Assignment Of The Lease Or At The Time Of Refinancing Of Outstanding Mortgage Or At Time Of Signing A New Mortgage. The City Attorney Stated Their Was A Prior One Done In 2012, This Just Adds Time To The Lease That Way The Bank Can Do The Loans. The Mayor Stated This Ordinance Supplements The Ordinance Tj2-45 Adopted August 28, 2012, To Allow For The Automatic And Immediate Extension Of The Lease Term, But Keeps Tj2-45 To Allow For Any Additional Need To Apply To The City Council For An Extension Of Thirty-Six Years As Needed For Financing Or Refinancing Purposes. Commissioner Warren 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 Approval Of An Ordinance Creating A Fencing Regulation, For Construction Use And Maintenance Of Fencing And The Permit Process For Residential Areas Of The City Of West Frankfort, Illinois. Codes Officer Snell Stated This Has Been Over A Year In Progress, What This Regulates Is Materials People Can Use For Their Fences. They Are Not Going To Be Able To Go To Their Brothers Barn That Fell Down And Use The Metal For A Fence In Their Front Yard. They Will Not Be Able To Use A Bunch Of Broken Pallets Stacked Up And Call It A Fence. It Is Going To Regulate How Far Out The Fence Sticks Out From A Corner Blocking Traffic Views. It Is An Effort To Up Property Values And Make It Look Nicer Around Town. The Mayor Stated You Looked Up From Different Cities Ordinances To Get The Language Pretty Much The Same. Mr. Snell Stated Yes This Came From Several Different Cities. This Was Voted On By Our Planning Commission And They Have Approved It As Well.Commissioner Harkins 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 Approval Of An Ordinance Amending Certain Types Of Liquor Licenses. The Mayor Stated With The Closure Of The Elks We Do Not Have Any Clubs In West Frankfort Anymore. We Have A License Type Class C License That Doesn't Have Anyone Utilizing It. But We Do Have Some Businesses That Want To Be Video Gaming Lounges, Basically They Are There Specifically For Video Gaming Purposes. Obviously, They Do Need A Liquor License In Order To Do That. This Particular One Said They Would Have Things Like Wine, And Craft Beer. It Will Not Be A Bar Type Of Establishment.Since Clubs Are A Thing Of The Past Now A Days, The Easiest Way To Do This Is To Redefine The Class C License From Club License To A Video Gaming Lounge License. Also, It Had In The Club License, People Could Buy Packages And Take Them With Them. We Have Taken That Out, There Will Be No To Go Sells Or Anything Like That. We Have Narrowed It Down To Specifically For Video Gaming Lounge. I Would Entertain A Motion To Change That License Designation, So We Can Approve Licenses For Lounges. We Would Not Be Changing The Number Of License We Are Allowing; It Is Just Redefining. Commissioner Warren 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 Of An Ordinance Requiring That All Polices Officers Must Be U.S. Citizens. The Mayor Stated I Have Talked About This Previously To The Council. Illinois Have Passed A Law That Police Officers Do Not Have To Be U.S. Citizens. We Are A Home Rule City, We Can Make Our Own Rules For That Sort Of Thing. We Have Talked About This With Our City Attorney And She Found Out We Can Do This. I Entertain A Motion To Require All Of Our Police Officers Be U.S. Citizens. Commissioner Stanley Made A Motion To Approve, Seconded By Commissioner Harkins. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Arview Voted To Approve. Motion Carried.

13. The Next Item Was Discussion, With Possible Action, Regarding Approval Of A Liquor License For The Savage Time Llc/Dba: The Diamond Lounge Owned By Gregory Broy. The Mayor Stated Gregory Broy Came To The Planning Commission Presented His Business Plan. He Wants To Create A Video Gaming License At 106 S. Jackson St. Mr. Broy Was In Attendance Tonight And The Mayor Asked You Have Purchased The Building Already, Right? Mr. Broy Stated Yes. This Would Fill A Spot For A Class C License, And We Would Have Three Spots Left.Commissioner Howard Made A Motion To Approve, Seconded By Commissioner Stanley. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Arview Voted To Approve. Motion Carried.

14. The Next Item Was Approval Of A Memorandum Of Understanding Agreement Between The City Of West Frankfort, Illinois And Local 2402 Of The International Association Of Firefighters, Asl-Cio, Clc. Chief Sailliez Stated What This Is, In The Last Contract They Adopted Additional Language For Promotion Eligibiliy Registers And On Section 10.11-4 Rating Factors And Weights To Be Considered For Promotin, A Candidate Testing Before Promotion For Captain Must Compile An Aggregate Score Of 70% Or More From The Componets Of The Promotional Process. They Also Have A Minimum Score Of 70% On The Written, What We Found With Trail And Error On This Last Promotional Process Was The 70% Aggregate Score Was Very Difficult To Achieve. We Do Not Feel That Moving The Written Score Should Be An Option We Ran Some Numbers And Lowering The Aggregate Score To A 64% Would Be A More Acheviable, Creditable Outcome. The Union Proposed To Eliminate The 70% Aggregate, And The City Has Countered With 64%. This Has Also Been Accepted By The Union As Well.Commissioner Harkins Made A Motion To Approve, Seconded By Commissioner Warren. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Arview Voted To Approve. Motion Carried.

15. The Next Item Was Discussion, With Possible Action, Regarding An Ordinance Agreement With Frontier For Residential Installation Of Fiber Optic Cable For The City Of West Frankfort. The Mayor Stated We Are Going To Table This Item. The City Attorney Stated We Are Still Talking To Their Lawyers. The Mayor Stated We Still Have More Negotiations Before We Vote On That. This Item Was Tabled.

16. The Next Item Was Discussion, With Possible Action, Regarding An Agreement With Apptegy For The Creation And Design Of New Website And App For The City Of West Frankfort. The Mayor Stated They Approached Me Awhile Back Wanted To Help Us With Updating Our Website And Giving Us An App. They Did A Presentation With Me, And Then I Brought In Commissioner Warren, Codes Officer, And City Clerk We Were Able To See What It Is That They Want To Offer Us, It Is Pretty Amazing. When I Spoke To The Guy Blake Meyer, He Showed Me An App For A City They Didn't Do And One That They Did Do And It Far Exceeds Anything I Have Seen Previously. The Best Thing About This Is We Are Currently Paying $600.00 A Month For Just Our Website, That Is $7,200.00 A Year. Apptegy Quoted Us $7,795.00 Or Something Like That. The City Clerk Stated It Is Basically Equivalent To What We Are Paying Right Now Plus A $1,000.00 One Time Designing Fee.The Mayor Stated It Is Very Comprarable Within Just A Couple Of Hundred Dollars We Are Doing Now, And Will Include An App. We Will Be Able To Do Push Notifications, Whoever Has The App We Can Send Out Info About Boil Orders, Road Closures, Ect. Our People Will Be Able To Know Things Right Away. The Franklin County Sherrif, Actually Made An App Similar To This, And Its Great To Be Made Aware Of Things. Apptegy Would Do The Design For The Website, They Would Work With Us To Put On What We Want To Put On. Commissioner Warren Stated It Is Very User Friendly. We Can Give Department Heads The Authority To Put Out Notifications Or Add Things To The Website For Their Individual Departments. We Did Look At Another Company And It Wasn't Even Competitive In My Opinion, It Was Around $4,000.00 Just For An App And Did Not Include Our Website.Our School Uses This Apptegy Program. I Enterain And Recommend We Approve This Agreement With Them. Commissioner Warren Made A Motion To Approve, Seconded By Commissioner Stanley. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Arview Voted To Approve. Motion Carried.

17. The Next Item Was Discussion, With Possible Action, To Set A Flat Rate Fee For A Permit For All Fishing Tournaments To Be Held At The West Frankfort Lake. The Mayor Stated What This Will Do Is, It Will Allow The Person Holding The Tournament Would Pay For The Permit, That Way The People Participating In The Tournament Would Not Have To Individually Have To Get A Sticker To Be Out At The Lake. It Would All Be Covered Under This Tournament Permit Just For The Time Of The Tournament. Commissioner Warren Stated The Fee Will Be $100.00. The Tournament Director Will Have This Permit With Them Incase There Is A Question About Them Not Having A Sticker. This Is For A One Time Thing, The Day Of The Tournament. The Mayor Stated They Will Be Required To Have A Permit From The State, Because The Idnr Also Requires Permits For Having Tournaments. Commissioner Warren Stated To Get A City Lake Tournament Permit We Will Need A Copy Of Drivers License Of The Club Organizer, Copy Of State Permit, And Permit Fee Of $100.00. Commissioner Warren Made A Motion To Approve, Seconded By Commissioner Stanley. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Arview Voted To Approve. Motion Carried.

18. The Next Item Was Approval To Pay An Invoice From Cirma (Counties Of Illinois Risk Management Agency) In The Amount Of $387,910.00 Regarding Annual Coverage From December 1, 2023-2024 Year. Commissioner Howard Made A Motion To Approve, Seconded By Commissioner Harkins. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Arview Voted To Approve. Motion Carried.

19. The Next Item Was Approval Of A Donation Of $8,000.00 To Be Divided As Follows To The Following Clubs At The West Frankfort High School- Youth & Government Club $3,000.00, The Educator Rising Club $3,000.00, And The Beta Club $2,000.00 To Be Paid From The Video Gaming Fund. The Mayor Stated We Have Had A Lot Of Clubs Coming To Us Asking For Donations, And We Felt Like Instead Of Individually Doing These, It Would Be Beter To Give One Donation To The School To Go To These Clubs As They Feel Like Is Necessary. We Met With Matt Donkin, He Let Us Know What Their Needs Were, He Had Met With The Clubs Previously And Then Came To Us And Said What The Needs Were. We Alredy Gave Donations To A Couple Of Other Clubs That Are Not Listed Here. What We Came Up With Is Giving A Donation Of $10,000.00 A Year Not Saying We Are Agreeing To This Every Year. But For This Year We Felt Like A Total Donation Of $10,000.00 Would Be Good, We Have Already Given $2,000.00, So That Left $8,000.00 And This Is What Mr. Donkin Felt Like Would Be A Good Disbursement Of The Money. Commissioner Stanley Made A Motion To Approve, Seconded By Commissioner Howard. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Arview Voted To Approve. Motion Carried.

20. The Next Item Was Approval Of An Invoice From Weeks Chevrolet Gmc In The Amount Of $5,775.58 For The Replacement Of A Transmission On A 2016 Chevy Silverado For The Street Department.Commissioner Howard Made A Motion To Approve, Seconded By Commissioner Stanley. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Arview Voted To Approve. Motion Carried.

21. The Next Item Was Approval To Pay An Invoice From The Illinois Epa Laboratory In The Amount Of $2,880.00 For Chemical Analyses From Water Samples For The Water Department. Commissioner Warren 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 Discussion, With Possible Action, Regarding A Quote From Glodich Honda On A 2023 Honda Pioneer 520 W/ Snowplow In The Amount Of $9,915.00 For The Sewer Department. Commissioner Warren Stated They Have Told Me The Reason They Are Wanting This Is Because All The Spraying And Work They Do Outside They Were Using One Of The Employee's Four-Wheeler For That. I Do Not Think It's A Great Idea For Them To Use That. I Am Going To Say This Will Be Used For The Sewer And Water Department, And Anyone Who Needs To Use It, Since It Will Not Be In Use At All Times. It Has A Place To Carry The Chemicals They Need So They Can Go Around The Lagoon, And Ditches. It Will Make It Easier And Be A City Coverage. It Will Be A 2024 Not A 2023, But Will Be At A 2023 Price, It Will Be A Couple Of Months Before They Can Get It. 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. The Next Item Was Approval To Transfer Lake Lot Lease #11 E 1⁄2 From John Reach To John And Holly Reach, And Mindy Reach. Commissioner Warren Made A Motion To Approve, Seconded By Commissioner Stanley. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Arview Voted To Approve. Motion Carried.

24. The Next Item Was Approval To Transfer Lake Lot Lease #93 From Marc & Patricia Salmo To Marc & Patricia, Cory And Adam Salmo. Commissioner Howard Made A Motion To Approve, Seconded By Commissioner Stanley. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Arview Voted To Approve. Motion Carried.

25. The Next Item Was The Consent Agenda:

A. Approval To Pay Bills In The Amount Of $127,785.85. B. Approval To Pay An Invoice From Utility Pipe Sales Co. In The Amount Of $1,518.83 For Supplies For The Water Department.

C. Approval To Pay An Invoice From Door Doctor Of Si,

Inc. In The Amount Of $1,937.00 Regarding Replacement Of Garage Door For The Street Department.

D. Approval To Pay An Invoice From Franklin County Emergency Management In The Amount Of $2,500.00 Regarding Emergency Management Special Operations Contribution.

Chief Sailliez Asked Is Item D Our Contribution To Nixle? The City Clerk Stated Commissioner Howard Stated Yes, Emergency Management Special Operations.

Commissioner Howard Made A Motion To Approve,

Seconded By Commissioner Stanley. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Arview Voted To Approve.

Motion Carried

26. Building And Sign Permits Code Officer Snell Stated The First One Is A Solar Permit For James O'connor At 819 W. Lindell St. This Will Be A Roof Top Solar That Will Be Put In, And It Meets All Of Our Codes. I Recommend We Go Ahead And Approve It. Commissioner Harkins Made A Motion To Approve, Seconded By Commissioner Warren. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Arview Voted To Approve. Motion Carried.

The Next Permit Was For A Commercial Building Out At The Plaza It Will Be For Kroger Gas Station That Is Coming Soon. This Will Be A Kiosk Type Gas Station; It Will Not Be Maned Like Casey's And Places Like That. There May Be An Attendent, But Not An Actual Store. This Will Be Pretty Large; It Does Meet All Of Our Codes. I Recommend We Approve That. Commissioner Warren Made A Motion To Approve, Seconded By Commissioner Stanley. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Arview Voted To Approve. Motion Carried.

The Next Permit Was For A Solar Permit From A Company That Has Been Doing Quite A Bit Of Them In Town Already. This Will Be For Ronald Black At 2016 E. Elm. This Meets All Of Our Requirements; I Recommend We Approve This One As Well. Commissioner Howard Made A Motion To Approve, Seconded By Commissioner Harkins. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Arview Voted To Approve, Motion Carried.

The Next Permit Was For A Metal Garage Kit A Company Is Going To Come In And Do It For Gary Hood At 1909 E. Charles St. He Owns Quite A Bit Of Property There, And Just Wants Another Place To Park His Stuff, And Keep Things Nice. I Recommend We Approve This.Commissioner Harkins Made A Motion To Approve, Seconded By Commissioner Stanely. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Arview Voted To Approve. Motion Carried.

The Last Permit Was For Something I Received Today, A Permit For A Temporary Camper Permit For William Nolan, He Has A Camper Parked Here In Town. He Is Here Tonight, I Told Him He Would Need To Appear To Show Good Cause, Since Our Ordinance States You Will Need To Show Good Faith And His Reason For Parking A Camper And Living In It In Town. The Reason This Was Brought To Me Was Someone Had Complained Where The Camper Was, I Showed Up And Its Being Powered From A Vacant Home Intown. Mr. Nolan Stated My Parents Got Into An Accident Last Week In Texas, And We Just Got Back This Morning I Got The Notice And Came Up Here. I Have Contacted Some Camp Grounds And It Seems That It Is Off Season Or Something. The Camper Is

Winterized, Has All The Stuff I Need. I Have Moved The Camper From 311 E. Poplar St. And Parked It On 1903 E Cleveland St. Mr. Snell Stated That Is Where His Parents Live And They Also Own A House On Poplar Street, I Have Already Talked To Him About This, That I Would Rather It Be Parked On Cleveland St. Since The One On Poplar Is A Vacnt Home. Unless He Is Parking It On Poplar To Fix Up That House, That Would Be Showing Good Faith. But Since He's Moved It To Cleveland To Take Care Of His Parents, I Don't See An Issue. The Mayor Stated Just To Clarify It Will Be For Two Months, Right? Mr. Nolan Stated Yes. The Mayor Stated The Reason Why I Am Asking Is Because I Have Had People Ask Me If They Can Put A Camper On Their Property While They Are Going To Build Their House, And It Will Have To Be A Short Period. Mr. Nolan Stated I Am A Landscaper In New York And My Season Starts In April It Will Be Six To Eight Weeks For Them To Recover. I Was Over On Poplar Fixing Water Lines. I Have It Plugged Into The Electric Right Now. Commissioner Stanley Made A Motion To Approve, Seconded By Commissioner Warren. Roll Call Vote: All

Commissioners And Mayor Arview Voted To Approve. Motion Carried.

Commissioner Howard Had To Leave At This Point, He Stated His Grand Daughter Is Being Honored At The Gym And I Can Not Miss That.

27.Officer's Report

Fire Report For The Month Of January 2024. Chief Sailliez Reported That They Had 167-Ambulance Calls, 3- Rubbish/Illegal Fires, 1-Brush/Field Fires, 0-Motor Vehicle Accidents, 6-Fire Alarms, 2-Vehicle Fires, 4 - Fire Emergencies; (Gas Leaks, Power Lines Down, Etc.), 6- Structure Fires, 2-Smoke Scares, 4-Mutual Aid Fire Responses, 1-Mutual Aid Ambulance, 2-Ambulance Calls Turned Over To Mutual Aid. For A Total Of 198 Calls During The Month. The Department Used Approximately 25,000 Gallons Of Water. The Department Collected $38.621.76 For November Ambulance Calls.

I Will Note 4 Of The 6 Structure Fires Were From Space Heaters. We Have Stressed That At Previous Meetings, Fortunatley No Fatalities Of Those Structure Fires Of Human Lives.

Also, To Note We Are Down An Ambulance, We Are In The Process Of Getting Quotes To Get It Fixed, Remount, To Purchase New, And How Long Will It Take For All Of This. Most Of The Salesman Are Telling Us The Price Is Good For Thirty Days And You Can Not Get Anything For Two Years But Let's Sign A Contract And Go For It. Our A3 Is A 2012 With 230,000 Miles On It Needs A New Motor. And Then You Still Have A Twelve Year Old Ambulance With A New Motor But Everything Else Is Twelve Years Old With 230,000 Miles On It. The Best Option Tenatively Speaking Is To Be Drop A New Motor In It And Get It On The Fast Track To Be Remounted On A New Chassis Within Eighteen Months To Two Years.

Commissioner Stanley Asked Did You Get Your Fire Truck Back Yet? Chief Sailliez Stated We Are Still Waiting On Parts.

Police Report For The Month Of January 2024. Chief Prudent Reported Officers Answered A Total Of 1,126 Calls For Service. Of Those Calls 11 Were Traffic Accidents, O With Injuries. Officers Responded To 30 Domestic Disputes, 4 Fights In Progress, 14 Alarms, 0 Intoxicated Persons, 5 Burglaries, 10 Reports Of Criminal Damage To Property, 23 Complaints Of Juvenile Problems, 15 Reported Thefts, And 39 Complaints Of Disorderly Conduct/Disturbances. And Officers Made 9 Street Contacts. Officers Conducted 133 Traffic Stops, Where They Issued 37 Citiations, 120 Warnings, And 16 Lw-27's. There Were 60 Adult Arrests Made And 11 Juvenile Arrest, Resulting In 86 Criminal Charges Filed.

Dispatchers Answered 1,380 Calls.

Of Those, 603 Were 9-1-1 Calls, 119 Were Walk In Requests. 1,126 Were For Police, 196 Were For West Frankfort Fire, 6 Were For Abbott Ems, And 1 For United Ambulance. For The Month Of November, We Collected $3,370.00 In Fines And Fees.

Codes Report For The Month Of January 2024.Codes Officer Snell Reported Permit: 11-Building Permits, 2-Sign Permits, 4-Solar Permits. Rental Properties: 6~Rental Inspections Performed. Case Activity Report~ 36 Which Includes Doors Tagged Verbal Warnings, Vehicles Tagged, Inspections Of Violations, Inspections, Citations Issued, Letters Sent, Etc.

Commissioner Warren Read Some Of The Water Report. Water Department Has Been Busy, They Have Done Repairs With The Service Lines, Put In New Meters, And Water Samples. They Had 44- Disconnects, 36- Connects, 24- Reconnects, 91- Julie Locates, 32- New Accounts Collected $2,060.00, Water We Used Purchased From Rend Lake Is A Total Of 25,585,257 Gallons Of Water For A Total Of $59,116.09. We Still Have The Lowest Water Rates Around.

I Hope Everyone Is Enjoying Their New Trashcans They Got, I Know I Have Enjoyed Mine.

28. Mayors Report~

The Mayor Stated I Am Happy To Report They Are Breaking Ground For Starbucks, I Know That A Lot Of People Say They Do Not Have The Money For It, Or People In West Frankfort Do Not. Some People In West Frankfort Do, But They Are Right Off The Interstate. They Are Not Thinking About Selling To People From West Frankfort, They Are Thinking About Selling To People That Is On The Interstate Between Chicago And Nashville. I Am Happy To Tax Their Sales Tax Dollars For West Frankfort.We Have Coffee Shops Down Town, If You Want To Spend Your Money Local That Would Be Great Too. I See Starbucks Going In That Location As A Really Good Thing. We Have Got Some Interest From Other Business Because Of Starbucks Going In. Wendy's Is Doing Great We Had Their Ribbon Cutting, And Went Good.

Commissioner Reports-

Commissioner Harkins Stated I Wish Things Were Looking Up At The Fire Department, Since They Are Down Two

Ambulances. The Guys Are Still Doing A Great Job With What They Got. The Police Are Staying Busy, We Had A Little Problem Over The Weekend That They Handled Very Good, It Could Have Been Worse. The City Is Blessed With Our Departments. The Mayor Stated I Agree We Have The County's Finest With All Of Our Departments.

Commissioner Stanley Stated My Guys Are Back On The Streets Repairing All Of The Pot Holes, They Have Been Working On A Project Behind Mccords Market, They Have Problems Back There With The Drainage. But The Guys Will Get It Straightened Out.

Commissioner Warren Stated Water And Sewer Are Working And Staying Busy, Fixing Breaks, Putting In New Connections, And Helping People With Sewer Problems.

Regarding The Lake Committee It Will Be The Third Thrusday Of March If You Want To Come.

The Third Week Of The Month Is Bulk Item Pick Up Day, You Can Set Those Items Out On Your Regular Trash Day. This Is Next Week Starting February 19th, 2024. You Can Look At Our Website For The Calendar And What They Will Take On Those Days.

Audience Comments:

Danny Loeh Stated I Have Been Working With The Schools, Saint Johns School Made Valentine's Day Card For The Veterans And I Delivered Them To Veterans At The Hospital. I Have Meet With Jerry Walmak From 773, He Is Going To Come Down And Fix Somethings For Us. I Have A Personal Announcement; I Have Been Asked To Take Over The Curator Job At The Military Museum. I Appreciate All The Help You All Do.

29. The Next Item Was Approval To Go Into Executive Session To Discuss For Discussions Pursuant To 5 Ilcs 120/2(C) (11) And 5 Ilcs 120/2 (C) (5). The Mayor Stated 5 Is Purchase Property And 11 Is Litigation. The Mayor Stated They Will Not Be Making Any Decisions During Or Afterwards. At 7:24 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.

30. The Next Item Was Approval Of A Motion To Return To Open Session At 7:50 P.M. Where No Action Was Taken.

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

31. With No Further Business To Be Discussed, The Meeting Was Adjourned On A Motion By Commissioner Harkins At 7:53 P.M.

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