North Egypt News

City of West Frankfort City Council met April 9.

Here are the minutes provided by the council:

1. In The Absence Of The Mayor, Commissioner Howard 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. Mayor Arview Was Not In Attendance.

2. Commissioner Howard Asked For Approval Of The Minutes From The March 26, 2024, Regular Council Meeting. Commissioner Harkins Made A Motion To Approve, Seconded By Commissioner Stanley. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners Voted To Approve. Motion Carried.

3. The Next Item Was Approval Of The Minutes From The Special Council Meeting Held On March 28,2024. Commissioner Harkins Made A Motion To Approve, Seconded By Commissioner Warren. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners Voted To Approve. Motion Carried.

4. The Next Item Was Approval Of A Resolution For The Old King Coal Committee To Sponsor Their Annual Old King Coal Parade On Saturday, May 11, 2024 At 2 P.M. Commissioner Howard Stated The Detour Will Go From Ida St. To Poplar St. From East And West, And From Lincoln St. To Poplar East And West. In Other Words, Main St. Will Be Closed Down For The Parade. I Entertain A Motion To Approve This Resolution. Commissioner Stanley Made A Motion To Approve, Seconded By Commissioner Warren. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners Voted To Approve. Motion Carried.

5. The Next Item Was Approval Of A Donation To The Old King Coal Committee In The Amount Of $10,000.00 From The Tourism Fund. Commissioner Howard Stated As Of Today, The Total Amount We Have In The Tourism Fund Is $21,109.38. Is This Something We Have Done In The Past? Commissioner Stanley Stated Yes For That Same Amount. Commissioner Stanley Made The Motion To Approve, Seconded By Commissioner Harkins. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners Voted To Approve. Motion Carried.

6. The Next Item Was Approval Of An Ordinance Creating Rules And Regulations For The Use Of Parks, Streets And City Owned Properties For The City Of West Frankfort, Illinois. Commissioner Howard Stated This Has Been Gone Through By Our Police Chief, Codes Officer, And Our City Attorney. Is There Anything Special Anyone Would Like To Discuss? The City Clerk Stated This Is For Use Of Any Of Our Parks In Town, They Will Have To Book It Through The City Clerk For Any Type Of Event. Commissioner Howard Stated There Will Be A Permit Issued, And A Deposit Required. The Deposit Amount Is $200.00, If They Clean Up After The Event They Will Get The Deposit Back. Incase The City Has To Clean Up For Them No Deposit Will Not Go Back To Them. Another City Had This Ordinance, And We Adopted It And Made A Few Changes Where We Thought Was Necessiary. I Would Entertain A Motion To Adopt This Ordinance. Commissioner Warren Made A Motion To Approve, Seconded By Commissioner Harkins. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners Voted To Approve. Motion Carried.

7. The Next Item Was Approval Of An Ordinance Amending Chapter 8.24.250 Burn Bans For The City Of West Frankfort, Illinois. Commissioner Howard Stated Basically What This Ordinance Does Is Give The Fire Chief The Ability To Declare It Is Dangerous And To Institute A Burn Ban In The Corporate Limits, And The Unincorporated Areas Of The Franfort And Denning Townships Pursuant To The Fire Protection Agreements. The City Attorney Stated This Is Very Close To What We Had Except It Was All Within The City Council, Which They Meet Every Two Weeks. This Gives The Fire Chief Who Was Actually There To Be Able To Act Sooner. Chief Sailliez Stated The Old Ordinance Had It Verified That We Had It Advertised In The Daily American For Two Weeks, The Ordinance Really Needed Updated. This New Ordinance Gives The Flexibilty Of The Fines, Whether It Was Malicious Or Accidental, If We Had To Use Multiple Resources, We Can Now Charge For That With A Burn Ban. Commissioner Harkins Made A Motion To Approve, Seconded By Commissioner Stanley. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners Voted To Approve. Motion Carried.

8. The Next Item Was Discussion, With Possible Action, Regarding Approval For A Tent Revival To Be Held On The Wf Mall Grounds May 3rd & 4th, 2024. Commissioner Howard Stated Now That We Have Passed An Ordinance That Says What They Have To Do To Use City Property, They Would Have To Abide By Those Rules. Commissioner Warren Stated What About The Other Kinds Of Things That Could Go On Out There With Religious Groups, If We Allow One, Will We Have To Allow All Of Them? Commissioner Howard Stated I Will Let The Attorney Answer This, But It Is My Understanding We Could Not Keep People Out Just Because We Do Not Agree With Their Political Or Religious Views. The City Attorney Stated Anyone Who Will Be Within The Rules. At This Moment I Do Not Think These People Knew They Had To Do A Permit And All Of The Rules. I Do Not Think You Can Actually Vote On It, Until They Can Get With The City Clerk To Check To See If They Fit With These Rules. If They Are Not Here, We Do Need To Reach Out To Them And Let Them Know. Commissioner Howard Stated We Will Table This Item For Now. This Item Was Tabled.

9. The Next Item Was Discussion, With Possible Action, Regarding The Amendment Of An Ordinance Appointing The Deputy Chief Of Police. Commissioner Howard Asked Chief Prudent If He Wants To Speak About This. Chief Prudent Stated To Be Honest With You, I Have Not Talked To The Mayor. He Said There Will Be Some Change To This. I Know I Turned In My Notice Of Retirement Last Month, And I Am Going To Start Burning Some Time In July And Probably Moving Forward. I Think This Was Going To Be Put Into Place To Appoint Someone To Do The Day To Day Things, And Make Decisions While I Am Not There. Commissioner Howard Stated And There Is No One At This Point? Chief Stated No, The Ordinance Was Created Back When Chief Irwin Was Brought In. They Created This Position For Then Chief Talluto To Be Deputy Chief Of Police. This Position Has Not Been Filled Since Deputy Chief Talluto Retired. Commissioner Stanley Asked Is It Something We Need? Chief Prudent Stated, Yes, I Think So. We Have Captains, Who Do The Same Thing And Make Decisions As Well. But Like I Said I Am Going To Be Gone, Im Going To Try To Utilize My Time, I Do Not Want To Put A Burden On The City With A Payout. Having That I Will Probably Be Gone More Than I Am Here. 

Commissioner Stanley Asked Does That Mean We Need To Hire Another Police Officer, Or Do You Have One To Move Up? Chief Prudent Stated We Have One Spot Still Opened From Jeff Tharp's Retirement, And We Had Captain Bernadini Put In His Notice Of Retirement As Well. We Do Not Necessarily Have To Hire For This Position, We Can Have Some One Step In And Fill That Role. Commissioner Stanley Asked, Are We Going To Hold Off Then? Commissioner Warren Stated Maybe Until He Talks With The Mayor. The City Attorney Stated The Mayor Had Said This Was To Get  Things Going, You Would Not Be Naming Someone At This Moment. You Are Just Going To Change The Wording Of What Is Their Now. As Of Now The Wording Was To Be Appointed By The Mayor With The Advice And Consent Of The City Council.

This Just Moved To The Chief Since He Knows His Crew. This Does Not Change How The Actual Chief Would Be Named After Your Finished. That Will Stay With The Same To Be Named By The Mayor With The Advice And Consent Of The Council. We Also Checked With Our Union Lawyer To Make Sure There Would Not Be A Problem With Pay And With Things There. At This Moment If You Choose To Vote And Pass You Are Not Actually Naming Someone, You Are Just Giving The Chief Rights To Name Someone. Commissioner Warren Asked Chief Prudent Is This Something You Need To Talk To The Mayor More About, Or Are You In Agreement? Is This Somebody That Could Be In Training, Not Necessarily Hiring For A New Position But To Be Training? Chief Prudent Stated Yes, I Do Not Have Any Problems With It. I Just Wasn't Sure Exactly What The Changes Were. Commissioner Howard Asked So You Haven’t Seen This Yet? Chief Prudent Stated No, Other Than What Kate Said. The Wording Is Good, Because At Some Point, We Will Need To Move Forward With That. Commissioner Stanley Stated Do We Need To Wait Until The Mayor Gets Back To Discuss This More? 

Commissioner Howard Stated That Is Up To You Guys.

Commissioner Warren Stated, We Have Worked Without A Deputy And Haven’t Needed This. You Also Have People To Step Up When You Are Gone. Chief Prudent Stated Yes, But I Have Also Been Here, This Does Not Add To The Minimum Manning, There Is No Pay Raise, This Is Only Because Moving Forward I Am Not Going To Be Around Much. This Will Also Allow Me To Show Someone The Daily Duties Of The Police Chief And What Needs To Be Done. Commissioner Stanley Stated Right Now Is That Where Your Captains Come In And Take Your Place? Chief Prudent Stated Yes, Right Now The Captains Handle The Day To Day Stuff When I Am Not There. Commissioner Howard Stated I Entertain A Motion To Approve. Commissioner Harkins Made A Motion To Approve, Seconded By Commissioner Warren. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners Voted To Approve. Motion Carried. 

10. The Next Item Was Discussion, With Possible Action, Regarding Approval Of An Agreement With Empirical Training Solutions LLC. For All Public Works Departments To Sign Up For An Employer-Based CDL Training Program At A One Time Cost Of $3,900.00. Commissioner Howard Stated For Those Of You Who Are Like Me, CDL Is So They Can Drive The Heavier Bigger Trucks. Commissioner Warren Stated That Will Train Everyone That Needs To Be Trained By A City Qualified Person, Instead Of Going To Rend Lake For However Long It Takes There And Missing Work. Street Superintendent Bonner Stated It Is Equipping Us With The Tools, Books, And Videos. Moving Forward With The Way Illinois Is Right Now, This Will Help Us Get People Quicker To Hire And Not Have To Mess With It As Much. Commissioner Howard Asked Is Everyone That Is Already Hired Now Licensed So They Can Use The Equipment? Mr. Bonner Stated Yes Everyone Is Licensed Now, But It Is Hard To Find People That Already Have It. We Can Not Hire Them With Out It. Commissioner Warren Stated Sometimes We Have Interviewed And Found A Good Candidate, But They Didn't Have The CDL, They Did Not Have The Money To Get One. Commissioner Stanley Stated Rendlake Charges Around $5,000.00 Plus Takes Four To Six Weeks. Mr. Bonner Stated This Will Cover All Departments, Anyone In Public Works That Needs A CDL. The City Attorney Stated, Michael And I Talked After I Sent This, He Said That The City Does Have All Of The Things That They Will Need For The Time To Train. Micheal Will Get The Full Rules Before They Set Something Up. Commissioner Stanley Made A Motion To Approve, Seconded By Commissioner Warren. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners Voted To Approve. Motion Carried.

11.The Next Item Was Discussion, With Possible Action, Regarding Jurisdiction At The West Frankfort Lake. The City Attorney Stated We Should Let Thad Give His Summary. I Feel Like He Was The One Who Really Started This, And This Will Help Us. Codes Officer Snell Stated This Came About, Because I Had Received A Complaint That I Am Not Going To Talk About In An Open Meeting. I Was Looking Into Our City Code When It Came To The West Frankfort Lake, There Is Nothing That Gives Me The Right To Enforce Codes At The City Lake. I Have The Right To Enforce Codes In Town, Certain Codes As They Are Written. The Way The Code For The City Lake's Is Written, It Requires You At This Point To Hire Or Appoint Lake Police. Obviously, That Can Be Amended, Things Can Be Done To Give Anyone That Authority. If You Want To Appoint Police Officers That Can Be Done, If You Want To Give Me That Authority That Can Be Done By Amending The Code. It Is Your Pleasure As To What You Would Like To Do. I Will Say I Have Been Here For About Two And A Half Years And This Is The First Complaint I Have Had. I Have No Doubt That Once I Start Enforcing One, There Will Be Some Others That Will Pop Up. I Am Good With It Either Way You All Decide. I Do Know As It Sits Now The County Takes Care Of All Of Their Police Work. But Since It Is Our Property, We Can Enforce Our Code On How We See Fit. The City Attorney Stated This Is So You All Can Be Made Aware And Start To Think. I Do Not Think We Are At A Point Where The Mayor Was Going To Ask For A Vote, This Was More Of To See If Anyone Else Has Thoughts. Chief Prudent Stated I Know There Had Been Times, That We Had Went Out There Whether It Was The New Or Old Lake We Have Done Some Law Enforcement Out There. The Sheriff's Department Does Handle It Because It Is So Far Out Of Our Normal Jurisdiction. I Do Not Have A Problem With Thad Doing Things Out There. If He Needs Our Assistance, Just Like It Is In Town We Will Assist Any Way We Can. I Do Think It Will Be Good For Him To Have The Capability Since He Already Does It Here In Town, To Do It Out There As Well. Commissioner Howard Stated In Fact, The Letter I Am Looking At Says Talk, And See If We Can Get Something Together To Bring Up At The Next Meeting. I Am Not Going To Ask For Any Action On This Item. 

12. The Next Item Was Discussion, With Possible Action, Regarding The Purchase Of A Corporate Table For The St. John's Catholic School Springtacular. Commissioner Warren Asked Have We Done That In The Past? Commissioner Howard Stated Not To My Knowledge. What I Can Say Is We Did Already Give Them Like $20,000.00 Last Year. Commissioner Warren Stated My Opinion Is We Gave All Of The School's Money To Cover Book Rent, ECT. I Know Their Fund Rasier Is Good For Their School, Im Not Sure Where They Put The Funds Towards Or Where It Goes. Commissioner Howard Stated I Am Not Even Sure If The City Should Even Be Doing This. Commissioner Stanley Asked Is This Something We Should Be Doing Or Not Do? The City Attorney Stated It Is School On One Hand, And That It May Fall In Where You Have Given Money For Things With Kids Prior, But Besides That It Is Up To You All. Commissioner Warren Stated Specifically Last Time We Gave Them Money, They Had To Put A Child's Name On The Account For The Money Like The Other Schools Did. I Would Say This Is Not Appropriate. I Do Not Want To Hurt Any Of The Schools, But This Is Tax Payers Money And I Want To Be Accountable For It. Commissioner Howard Stated The Check Is Already Written, But Not Given To Them Yet We Can Always Void The Check If You Want To Do That. No Motion Was Made. This Item Was Denied.

13. The Next Item Was Discussion, With Possible Action, Regarding An Agreement With Solar Simplified. Commissioner Howard Stated I Was Questioning This And The Attorney Indicated That This Agreement Says They Would Pay Us $50.00 Per Enrolled Customer. We Are Not Sure That This Is Appropriate. Commissioner Warren Stated  Does This Mean They Are The Only Company That Could Come In? The City Attorney Stated I Did Not Have This Before The Meeting, If This Is Something You Would Want Me To Look Into More I Can. Commissioner Stanley Stated I Agree With That. Commissioner Howard Stated Alright, We Can Table This Item For Now. This Item Was Tabled.

14. The Next Item Was Discussion, With Possible Action, Regarding The Purchase Of Brush Truck For The West Frankfort Fire Department. Commissioner Howard Stated I Did Not See All Of These Bids Until I Got Here. Chief, Do You Want To Talk A Little Bit About Them? Chief Sailliez Stated These Are Not Bids, They Are To See Where You Are At. This Is From An Online Dealer He Has A Local Office Somewhere. This Just Shows You The Current Market Pricing Right Now. I Put In Three New Ones And One Used One, The New Ones Were Just The Ones He Had In Stock That Were Available. They Are About $200,000.00 Ready To Go. The Used Ones Are At Least $70,000.00. What We Were Asking For Was For The Chassis Of A New One To Put Our Old Pump, Old Tank, Our Firefighting Equipment On It, And A Flat Bed On It. That Was Priced Around That $70,000.00 Mark. Weeks Bid Was Just Shy Of $73,000.00, They Are Looking At Their Bid Again To See If They Can Knock More Off. Captain Jeffords Got One Bid; I Believe Was $66,000.00 From An Out Of Town Dealer. Most Likely We Would Like To Stay In Town If We Could. This Is Just Showing You Guys Where You Are At, Last Time You Guys Said You Did Not Have Enough Information. This Is Just More Information. The Mayor Sent Me One, It Was A 2006 It Looked Like It Was From The Forestry Service. With The Used Stuff We Are Just Going To Be Getting Someone Elses Problem, They Would Not Get Rid Of It If It Is A Good Functioning Unit. Why Would They And Pay Full Price For A New One. There Has Got To Be An Issue That Was Dealt With Or Something. I Would Be Leery Of Buying Something That Is Seventeen To Eighteen Years Old. Commissioner Howard Asked If We Buy This Chassis What Are The Additional Costs? Chief Sailliez Stated You Have The Work Bed, Some Tool Boxes We Do Not Know Which Ones We Need Yet Because We Do Not Know How The Skid Load From What We Have Will Fit On Which Bed, Decals, And Radio Equipment. Commissioner Warren Asked Is The Radio Equipment You Use Now Not Compatible With The New Vehicle? Chief Stated The One In The Brush Truck Now Is Probably Older Than I Am, And Will Not Be Compatible With The New Digital Manufacturing. Commissioner Stanley Stated I Know You Are Against Buying A Used Truck, But The Way I Am Looking At It Is If You Buy A New Truck And Put All Of That Stuff On It In The Winter Months It Does Not Even Get Out Of The Building. Chief Stated It Pulls Our Utv For Off Road Searches. Commissioner Stanley Asked What Do You Use The Red Dodge For? Chief Stated It Is A Half Ton It Is Not Rated To Pull It. Commissioner Stanley Found One For Chief To Look At. Chief Stated This Is A One Ton, This Does Not Meet The Weight Rating We Need. It Needs To Be A Ton And A Half 4500 Or Above. There Are Cheaper Trucks Out There I Am Not Going To Dispute With You, But When You Are Looking At Meeting The Weight Rating And Everything To Be Compliant, It Is More Expensive. Commissioner Warren Stated So We Are Basically Looking At The One From Weeks. Chief Stated Like I Said Weeks Is Trying To See If They Can Get It To Match The One That Was Not In The Area. Commissioner Howard Stated This Would Not Be Paid For Until The Next Fiscal Year. I Am Hoping We Get That Extra Money Coming In Soon From Gemt That We Signed Up For Possibly An Extra $400,000.00 In A Year. Chief Stated It Could Be Ten To Twelve Weeks Build Time Before It Is Delivered To The Dealer Ship. Commissioner Warren Asked Would The Brush Truck You Have Now Be Able To Be Used As A Back Up Truck? Chief Stated Not For Us Because We Are Taking Everything Off Of It. It Will Be Surplus Property, Any Department Is Welcomed To It But You Are Running On Chance Though. Commissioner Howard Stated I Entertain A Motion. Commissioner Harkins Asked What Kind Of Motion? Chief Asked Can You State It For The Weeks Bids, Unless They Come Back With A Cheaper Bid Then We Can Take The Cheaper Bid. Commissioner Harkins Stated That Would Be A Motion I Would Like To Make, Is To Stay With Weeks And Wait On A Cheaper Bid Possibly. Commissioner Howard Stated We Have A Motion To Authorize A Purchase Of A Truck From Weeks.

Commissioner Stanley Asked Have You Figured A Way To Pay For It Yet? Commissioner Howard Stated We May Have To Finance It; I Do Not Know That Yet. We Do Have The Money In The Account Right Now. Commissioner Stanley Stated So You Are Looking At The Truck That Is Around $71,000.00 And Trying To Get It Cheaper. Chief Stated Yes, It Is $71,328.00 They Are Trying To Shave Off As Much As They Can To Get Close To The $66,000.00 Mark That The Other Quote Was At. Commissioner Stanley Stated Then Are You Looking At Another $5,000.00 Or More To Get Everything Transferred? Chief Stated I Would Say Probably Another $5,000.00 For A Bed, And Probably $5,000.00 For The Rest Of The Other Things. Commissioner Stanley Stated So You Are Looking At Another $10,000.00 On That Truck. Commissioner Warren Asked How Come It Does Not Have A Bed On The Truck? Chief Stated It Is Just The Chassis, A Frame And A Cab To Mount A Work Bed On It. Commissioner Warren Stated So The Water Holder Thing You Have Will Slide Onto That. Chief Stated No You Get A Flat Work Bed, Then Put Tool Boxes On And The Firefighting Skid Will Slide Onto The Bed. Commissioner Harkins Made A Motion To Approve, Seconded By Commissioner Warren. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners Voted To Approve. Motion Carried.

15. The Next Item Was Discussion, With Possible Action, Regarding Take Action Today Onebox Program. Commissioner Howard Stated With The Advice Of Our Attorney We Are Going To Table This For Now, Until We Get A Couple Things Worked Out With That. This Item Was Tabled.

16. The Next Item Was Approval Of An Invoice From Clintech In The Amount Of $7,885.20 For The Repair On The Zoll Unit # 7190 Cardiac Monitor For The Fire Department. Commissioner Howard Stated As The Chief Told Me Earlier, They Did Not Know It Was Not Working Properly Until They Came For An Annual Inspection. I Entertain A Motion To Pay This Bill. Commissioner Harkins Made A Motion To Approve, Seconded By Commissioner Warren. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners Voted To Approve. Motion Carried. Chief Stated Just A Side Note On That, This Was The Main Part Of The Computer In The Monitor. A New Monitor Is Around $42,000.00 So We Went With The Repair Bill On It Instead Of Replacing.

17. The Next Item Was Approval To Purchase And Transfer Lake Lot Lease # 97 From Robert And Marilyn Parks To Raymond Kopplin Revocable Trust And Tammy Kopplin. Commissioner Warren Stated Is All Of The Paper Work Valid, And Everything Is In? The City Clerk Stated Yes, We Are Just Waiting On McCollum Real Estate To Finish Their Part Of It. Commissioner Howard Stated As Far As You Know, Everything Is, Ok? The City Clerk Stated Yes. Commissioner Howard Stated I Entertain A Motion To Approve That.

Commissioner Stanley Made A Motion To Approve, Seconded By Commissioner Warren. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners Voted To Approve. Motion Carried.

18. The Next Item Was The Consent Agenda:

A. Approval To Pay Bills In The Amount Of $44,015.15.

B. Approval To Pay An Invoice From Civic Plus, LLC. In The Amount Of $1,536.1 For Annual MUNICODE Supplementation.

C. Approval To Pay An Invoice From Ray O'herron In The Amount Of $1,777.6 Regarding The Purchase Of Two Ballistic Vests For The Police Department.

D. Approval To Pay An Invoice From Crane Grantworx In The Amount Of $1,500.0 For Assisting The City Grant Writer On A Firefighter's Grant.

Commissioner Howard Stated Is There Anything On Here That You Want To Discuss? Commissioner Harkins Asked Chief Prudent What Do We Do With The Old Vest? Chief Prudent Stated These Are For Our New Hires By Contract We Have To Provide Them. They Only Have A Five Year Warranty On Them. They Say They Can Get Worn Down Due To The Sweat And Daily Wear And Tear On Them. Commissioner Howard Stated The Invoice From Crane Grantworx, Our Grant Writer Had Asked Us, If She Can Get Someone To Help Her Because There Was A Deadline On A Grant And She Was Not Going To Be Able To Meet It With Out Some Additional Help. We Had Told Her Yes To Get It Written, We Thought It Was More Important To Get It Written And To Get It Submitted On Time Rather Missing It. Chief Sailliez Stated In Fifteen Days We Will Know. Commissioner Stanley Asked They Are Working On A Grant For What? Commissioner Howard Answered A Firetruck. Commissioner Howard Stated I Entertain A Motion To Approve The Consent Agenda, If There Are No Further Questions. Commissioner Harkins Made A Motion To Approve, Seconded By Commissioner Warren. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners Voted To Approve. Motion Carried 

19. Building And Sign Permits ~ Code Officer Snell Stated The

First Eight Are Solar Permits They Are All Similar, And Submitted By The Same Company Lgcy Power. This Company Has Done A Lot Of These In Town. I Recommend We Approve All Of Them. Commissioner Howard Stated We Will Approve All Eight As A Packaged Group Instead Of One By One.

The First One Is For Charles Wilson At 808 E. Elm St. For

Roof Mounted Solar.

The Next Permit Was For Tiffany Tindall At 2204 E. Clark St. For Roof Mounted Solar.

The Next Permit Was For Megan Hannel At 1305 E. Elm St. For  Roof Mounted Solar.

The Next Permit Was For John Bertetti At 202 S. Kennedy Dr. For Roof Mounted Solar.

The Next Permit Was For Ava Clark At 306 N. Crawford For Roof Mounted Solar.

The Next Permit Was For Charles Sailliez At 601 N. Mulberry 

St. For Roof Mounted Solar.

The Next Permit Was For Alexander Lee At 1001 W. 6th St. For Roof Mounted Solar.

The Next Permit Was For Albert Fiegel At 601 N. Horn St. For  Roof Mounted Solar.

Commissioner Howard Stated I Entertain A Motion To Approve All Eight Permits. Commissioner Harkins Made A Motion To Approve, Seconded By Commissioner Stanley.

Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners Voted To Approve.

Motion Carried.

Codes Officer Snell Stated The Next Two Are From The Same Applicant, They Are Demolition Permits. These Are From A Structure Fire That Happened, And Damaged The Structure Next To It. The Same Guy Has Applied To Demolish Both Of Them For The Owner Who Owns Both Properties. I Recommend We Approve These Permits To Have Them Removed. I Think There Will Be Some Issues We Will Deal With After The Approval Happens But We Do Need To See Those Removed. Commissioner Howard Stated I Entertain A Motion To Approve Both Permits.

The Next Permit Was For Divine Rentals Ryan Dixon At 607 S. Sunnyslope For Demolition Of A Burnt Structure.

The Last Permit Was For Divine Rentals Ryan Dixon At 605 S. Sunnyslope For Demolition Of A Burnt Structure.

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

20. Officer's Report -

Fire Report For The Month Of March 2024. 

Chief Sailliez Reported That They Had 195-Ambulance Calls, 13- Rubbish/Illegal Fires, 14-Brush/Field Fires, 1-Motor Vehicle Accidents, 5-Fire Alarms, 1-Vehicle Fires, 4 - Fire Emergencies; (Gas Leaks, Power Lines Down, Etc.), 2- Structure Fires, 0-Smoke Scares, 5-Mutual Aid Fire Responses, 1-Mutual Aid Ambulance, 4-Ambulance Calls Turned Over To Mutual Aid. For A Total Of 245 Calls During The Month. The Department Used Approximately 25,500 Gallons Of Water. The Department Collected $56,880.33 For March Ambulance Calls. Our Monthly Almost Went With What We Spent Tonight For Us.

Police Report For The Month Of March 2024. 

Chief Prudent Reported Officers Answered A Total Of 1,101 Calls For Service. Of Those Calls 25 Were Traffic Accidents,0 With Injuries. Officers Responded To 20 Domestic Disputes, 2 

Fights In Progress, 15 Alarms, 1 Intoxicated Persons, 5 Burglaries, 12 Reports Of Criminal Damage To Property, 17 Complaints Of Juvenile Problems, 22 Reported Thefts, And 32 Complaints Of Disorderly Conduct/Disturbances. And Officers Made 13 Street Contacts. Officers Conducted 129 Traffic Stops, Where They Issued 33 Citations, 121 Warnings, And 8 Lw-27's. There Were 50 Adult Arrests Made And 8 Juvenile Arrest, Resulting In 68 Criminal Charges

Filed. 

Dispatchers Answered 1,363 Calls. 

Of Those, 541 Were 9-1-1 Calls, 115 Were Walk In Requests. 1,101 Were For Police, 218 Were For West Frankfort Fire, 6 Were For Abbott Ems, And 1 For United Ambulance. For The Month Of November, We Collected $2,375.40 In Fines And Fees.

Codes Report For The Month Of March 2024.

Codes Officer Snell Reported Permit: 4~Building Permits, 1~Sign Permits,6~ Solar Permit. 10~ Building And Zoning Reviews For Those Permits. Rental Properties: 8~Rental Inspections Performed. Case Activity Report ~ 32 Which Includes Doors Tagged Verbal Warnings, Vehicles Tagged, Inspections Of Violations, Inspections, Citations Issued, Letters Sent, Etc.

Commissioner Howard Asked The Street Superintendent If There Was Anything He Wanted To Say. Mr. Bonner Stated We Have Been Busy Doing Concrete, Patching Holes, Cutting Trees, And Brush.

21.Mayors Report~

The Mayor Was Not Present At This Meeting.

Commissioner Reports~ 

Commissioner Harkins Stated Chief Our Boys Are Getting Closer With Finishing School Aren’t They? Chief Prudent Stated Yes April 26th, Then They Will Have Eight To Ten Weeks Of Field Training. They Should Be On Their Own On The Streets The 1st Of July. I Believe The Fire Department Is Holding Our Own. Do We Have Someone Leaving For The Service? Chief Sailliez Stated Not That I Am Aware Of. Chief Prudent Stated I Have One Of My Guys Going He Is Going To Be Deployed In January. Chief Sailliez Stated They Took The Ambulance This Week To Start On The Motor, And Then The Other Two Are Still Going. We Have A Liquid Spring Issue With A1, Parts Have Been Ordered. When The Back End Goes To Lower It Is On Independent And One Of The Boards Went Out. We Have Wired It To Where They Are Direct, They Will Be Uniformed Now. Commissioner Warren Asked Chief How Has The Fire Hydrant Situation Been Going? Chief Stated We Are Just Now Starting Again Because The Weather Is Getting Nicer. We Went From Thanksgiving Until Now, With All Of The Cold Weather We Did Not Want The Guys Out On A Break.

Commissioner Howard Stated I Will Give The Finance Report The Only Thing I Wanted To Let Everyone Know Including My Self, This Year So Far In The General Fund Our Expenditures Have Exceeded Our Revenue By $627,000.00. Obviously, That Can Not Go That Way Forever, When I Hesitate Sometimes About Do We Have To Do This Or Do We Have To Do That, This Is Kind Of Why. I Know We Have Had Some Special Emergency Things That Has Came Up That We Had To Do. But I Just Wanted To Let Everyone Know, We Need To Watch Our Spending And Not Spend Money We Do Not Have To. Commissioner Stanley Stated Micheal Said Pretty Much Everything That They Have Been Doing. They Put A New Side Walk In At The Museum, That Is Looking Good. He Is Keeping His Crew Busy With Everything. He Is Doing A Great Job.

Commissioner Warren Stated Sewer Is Working, We Are Getting Ready For The Big Project Update Out There. Changing From Chlorine To Blue Lights For The Sanitation. This Is Will Be A Year Long Project That Will Start Soon. They Are Keeping Busy Doing Test Samples. Water Is Doing Good. I Will Read Some Of The Water Report. They Have Done Repairs To 3⁄4” Services, New Services, Meter Valves, New Meters, 42 Chlorine Sampes Taken Daily, 31 Disconnects, 41 Connects, 148 Julie Locates, We Were Bill For A Total Of 17,590,633 Gallons Of Water We Purchased From Rendlake 

For A Toal Of $40,728.46. The City Of West Frankfort Used 17,010,633 Gallons, South Tower 580,000 Gallons. The Water Is Flowing, Everything Is Working We Are Collecting Fees And Everything Is Smooth Right Now As Far As I Know. So Far, We Sold 150 Lake Permit Stickers For The New And Old Lake.

Audience Comments:

Danny Loeh Stated I Want To Thank Roger And Michael For The Concrete It Is Looking Good. We Have Had Kids Come Up To The Museum, In Fact I Have Two More Groups Scheduled Tomorrow. I Had A Marine Veteran Group Come In Saturday They Were Amazed Of What We Had. Our Small Museum Has Over Five Thousand Items In It. I Have Been Picking Up Donations From People That Goes Towards Flags. I Do Have One More Request If I Can Get The Street Department To Put Up The Matthew Vosbin Sign Up. I Have Found Out We Can Not Put It On Main Street, That Has Been Named Bruce Fasol Way All Down 149. The Concrete Wall That Is By The Monuments In The Grass If We Could Put A Pole In With The Sign On It.

Marcia Raubach Stated I Just Want To Thank The City For Their Continued Support Of Old King Coal. I Did Have A Question For Michael I Have Been Seeing The Side Walk Being Replaced In Front Of The Museum, That Is Not Going To Continue On Is It? He Stated No You Are Fine. She Stated Great I Just Wanted To Make Sure It Would Not Mess Up The Bricks. We Will Be Here Next Meeting To Have The Mayor Sign The Proclamation, And The Whole Committee Will Be Here To Thank The City.

Sharon Ossig Stated With Number Five On The Agenda, We Do Activities On Short Street At Coal Miners Memorial Park Where We Have A Small Stage There. We Have Had Craft Fairs, And Talent Contests There. Do We Have To Get A Permit Everytime We Want To Have An Event There. The City Attorney Stated Yes You Will Need To Get With The City Clerk And She Will Decide If It Falls Into That. Ms. Ossig Stated Now The Big Question Is Old King Coal Falls On Poplar Street. Codes Officer Stated A Lot Of That Is Regulated In This Ordinance, I Do Not Know About Issuance Of A Permit, The Point Of The Ordinance Is To Give Some Rules And Regulations On That Not So Much To Hinder Anyone Doing Anything. The City Attorney Stated I Believe It Said Things Done By The City Or Local Businesses I Think Were The Two That Wavied Fees.

Commissioner Warren Asked Did We Have Any Issues Yesterday With The Eclipse? Chief Sailliez Stated We Responded In Benton To Help Out They Had A Structure Fire. Chief Prudent Stated We Had A Lot Of People In Town, The Park Was Full We Did Not Have Any Issues. The Traffic Issues Was When People Were Leaving Town It Was Backing Up, But No Accidents Happened.

22. The Next Item Was Approval To Go Into Executive Session To 

Discuss For Discussions Pursuant To 5 ILCS 120 /2 (C) (1), And 5 ILCS 120 /2 (C) (11), And 5 ILCS 120 /2 (C) (5). Commissioner Howard Asked Do We Have Any Reason To Go Into Executive Session Tonight? Commissioners Stated No.

23. With No Further Business To Be Discussed, The Meeting Was

Adjourned On A Motion By Commissioner Harkins At 7:01 P.M.

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