North Egypt News

City of West Frankfort City Council met June 25.

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 June 11, 2024 Regular Council Meeting. Mayor Arview Stated I Entertain A Motion To Approve Those. 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 The Special Meeting Minutes From June 19, 2024. Mayor Arview Stated I Entertain A Motion To Approve Those. Commissioner Howard 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 To Adopt An Ordinance Establishing A Budget For Corporate Purposes For The City Of West Frankfort For The Fiscal Year Commencing On The First Day Of May 2024 And Ending On The Last Day Of April 2025. Mayor Stated We Had A Budget Review Hearing At 5:30 P.M., There Were No Questions Or Comments From The Public On That. I Entertain A Motion To Approve That. If There Are Any Questions From The Commissioners, We Can Ask Those After We Have A Motion And Second. Commissioner Howard Made A Motion To Approve, Seconded By Commissioner Harkins. No Questions Were Made By The Commissioners. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Arview Voted To Approve. Motion Carried.

5. The Next Item Was Approval Of A Resolution Authorizing The Hiring Of Police Officers For The City Of West Frankfort. Police Chief Prudent Stated This Is A Request For An Anticipatory Hire, Captain Bernardini And Myself Are Retiring The First Week Of March. We Are Also Losing Officer Jeffords To Deployment In January For A Full Year. This Hire Would Allow Us To Get Our New Officer's Into The Academy Early, Get Them Out With A December Graduation Date, And Then Have Them On The Street Just After Officer Jeffords Leaves And Just Prior To Us Being Off The Books. They're The Only Two Candidate's We Have On The Hiring List And We Have The Approval Of The Merit Board. The Mayor Stated For The Sake Of Transparency Me And Commissioner Harkins Did Meet With Chief Prudent Today. He Asked Deputy Chief Clint Willis, Is Trent Your Son? Deputy Chief Willis Stated Yes. The Mayor Stated Just To Clarify The Deputy Chief According To Our Ordinances Does Not Have Any Sort Of Disciplinary Powers, The Chief Does. The Chief Will Still Be With Us As He Is Using Some Time During This Year. Giving A Chance For Clint To Get A Feel For The Office Of The Chief. It's All A Year Out Is My Point, This Does Not Violate Any Nepotism Because He Does Not Have Any Supervisor Or Disciplinary Powers Over These Officers, I Just Wanted To Clarify That If There Were Any Questions About That. I Would Entertain A Motion To Approve Hiring These Two Officers, Trent Willis And Tanner Clark. Commissioner Harkins Made A Motion To Approve, Seconded By Commissioner Warren. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Arview Voted To Approve. Motion Carried.

6. The Next Item Was Approval To Accept Bids And Award Projects For Demolition.

                                 Joplin Salvage   Heck's Excavating 

1001 E. Clark St.-     $3,800.00          $7,500.00 

609 E. St. Louis St.- $4,800.00          $7,000.00 

2309 E. Elm St.-       $5,500.00          $9,000.00

301 E. 4th St.-          $5,500.00          $7,500.00 

The Mayor Stated Joplin Salvage Is The Lowest Bid For All Four Properties. I Would Recommend And Entertain A Motion To Approve The Bids From Jopline Salvage. Commissioner Stanley Made A Motion To Approve, Seconded By Commissioner Warren. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Arview Voted To Approve. Motion Carried.

7. The Next Item Was Approval Of The Opioid Litigation Update.

The Mayor Stated I Want To Make The Commissioners Aware This Is Something We Have Attorney-Client Privilege With This Litigation, It Is Not Something We Can Actually Discuss In Open Session. We Did Previously Discuss This, Kate Did Inform Us About This. I Would Entertain A Motion To Approve The Opioid Litigation Update. A Vote Of Yes Would Be To Follow The Suggestion In Here. A Vote Of No Would Be To Decline 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.

8. The Next Item Was Approval To Accecpt The Updated Employee Handbook For All The City Of West Frankfort Employees. The Mayor Stated I Was Glad To See A Lot Of Input On This. That Means People Are Taking It Seriously And Looking Through It And Making Sure That It's Right.

There Is Always Going To Be Something, Which I State Early On In The Hand Book, A Situtation That We Didn't Think Of And Don't Consider This An Exhaustive Manual Of Everything You Can Or Can't Do Working For The City. It Can Be A Growing Document Too. We Can Always Amend And Add Policies To It. We Have Spoken With Different Union Representatives For The Different Unions That We Have, None Of Them Had Any Issues With It. Talked To Different Department Superintendents, Everything Seems To Fits With What We Need To Do. Some Of The Policies In There Are Copies From State Law, Things We Have To Have In There. Other Things Are Things I Found From Other Cities That Seem To Work Well For Them, And Some Of Them Are From Our Employee Hand Book That Was Never Approved, Things Have Changed Over The Years, Which I Had To Update Some Of It, Some I Had I Used Word From Word Out Of The Old Handbook. I Would Entertain A Motion To Approve The Updated Employee Handbook For All The City Of West Frankfort Employees. Commissioner Howard Made A Motion To Approve, Seconded By Commissioner Stanley. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Arview Voted To Approve. Motion Carried.

The Mayor Stated The Way That Will Work For The Employees, We Will Get Copies Printed For Everyone And Workout A Schedule To Come To City Hall. The Front Page Will Have To Be Signed By Our City Clerk, Our Human Resources Manager, And Myself. The Back Page Would Be You Signing That You Received It. Once You Acknowledged That You Received It Then You Get The Signed Copy Of It. That Is One Way We Can Keep Control Of The Document, If You Have A Copy And It Does Not Have Signatures On It, It Will Not Be A Legitimate Copy.

9. The Next Item Was Approval To Enter Into A Monthly Agreement For Management And Other Administrative Services Between The City Of West Frankfort And Midwest Environmental Management Services, Llc. Commissioner Warren Stated Michele Sirena Passed The Test To Become The Supervisor But We Are Going To Keep This Group For A Short Time, Maybe A Couple Of Months To Help Him With Some Reports That Are Done Once A Year, And On An As Needed Basis Before He Takes Over Completely. The Mayor Stated The Rates In The Letter, Six Hours A Week Plus Truck And Gas At $130.00 An Hour. $780.00 Emergency Rate If They Have To Be Called In, $150.00 An Hour. Like She Said, This Is An As Needed Basis, It Says Six Hours A Week And It May Change Over Time As Mr. Sirena Gets More Comfortable With The Duties. We Will Evaluate It As We Go. Commissioner Warren Stated We Want To Stay Safe With The Epa And Make Sure It Is All Done Correctly. The Mayor Stated I Applaud Mr. Sirena For Being Straight Forward, Saying I Am Not Sure If I Am Ready To Take On The Fuill Responsibility Of That. This Is A Big Responsibility To Take On, This Will Help Him Out To Have A Smooth Transition. Commissioner Warren Made A Motion To Approve, Seconded By Commissioner Stanley. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Arview Voted To Approve. Motion Carried. 

10. The Next Item Was Approval To Enter An Agreement Regarding The Introduction To Nexamp ~Community Solar Anchor Tenant Subscription For City Owned Properties. 

The Mayor Stated Is Your Recommendation Kate To Table This For Now? The City Attorney Stated They Do Have A Rep Here Who Was Planning A Plan. We Have Talked A Little, He Is Going To Check On One Or Two Things, We Will Have To Hear Back For A Final. Nexamp Representative Stated I Do Have An Update On A Couple Items. We Changed The Plan A Little Bit, When I Was Here Last On The 9th Of May We Talked About The Malls Accounts And How That Fits Into Our Plan. We Also Needed Some Information From Chris On Updated Bills To Get The Sizing Correct. I Was Able To Go Back To Nexamp And Negotiate With Them Kind Of A Plan A And Plan B. Contract Language Needs To Be Redone, We Will Work On That Together. Plan A- Is Still The Same, Twenty-Year Term For The City Owned Accounts. I Was Able To Go To Bat For The City Of West Frankfort With Nexamp And Say We Do Not Want The Mall Accounts Included In That Because We Don't Know The Future Of That. They Were Gracious Enough To Give Us The Medium Size Subscription For That, They Are Able To Put The Mall On A Three-Year Rolling Term For The Same Amount Of Discount. I Have The Sales Pieces; This Is The Anchor Tenant Agreement, That Is Everything The City Has Under Management Minus The Mall Account, That Comes To One Point Three Million Kilowatt Hours. It Deviated A Little Bit From Last Time We Were Here. That Agreement, $18,000 In Savings Year One, Over The Twenty-Year Term It Just Averages To Just Under $22,000 In Savings. (Terms And Savings Summary Sheet From Them Will Be In The Books If Need To Be Looked At) The Mall Has About Three Hundred And Twenty Thousand Kilowatt Hours Of Usage Under Subscription. It Is A Three Year Small Commercialterm, Much Less Of A Contract. It Is A Rolling Three Year Term. The Flexibility Of The Three-Year Term Is Ideally What We Like To See With The Mall Accounts If That Were To Ever Change Hands Or Sell, We Could Void That Contract Out At The Time It Sells And Or We Could Cancel At The Three-Year Term. The Mall Will Need To Be Renewed Every Three Years. Once We Get Some Language Fixed, And Have The Attorney Approval I Will Be Happy To Get This Moving Forawrd For You. The Mayor Stated We Will Table This Item Until We Can Get The Language Right To Vote On The Agreement. This Item Was Tabled.

11. The Next Item Was Approval Of An Ordinance Vacating Certain Alleyways In The Area Of Elm Street And Jefferson Street To Franklin County Public Housing Authority. The City Attorney Stated I Have Been Sending Emails To Chris Ely, He Is Working To Get Legal Descriptions. I Just Want To Make Sure It Is Right. This Item Was Tabled.

12. The Next Item Was Approval Of An Ordinance Vacating Certain Alleyways In The Area Of Charles Street And Summers Street To Franklin County Public Housing Auhtority. This Item Was Tabled. Same Reasoning As Previous Item.

13. The Next Item Was Approval Of An Ordinance Authorizing The Purchase Of Surplus Real Estate - 222 East Main Street, Parcel # 12-19-311-008 To Keith & Emily Jones. Mayor Stated We Had Approved The Sale; We Now Have The Ordinance For The Sale. I Would Entertain A Motion To Approve This Ordinance. 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 An Ordinance Right Of Way Agreement With Windstream For Installation Of Cable On 205 West 9th Street. The Mayor Stated I Have The Full Agreement; It Is Very Along And Kate Has Looked It Over And With Her Recommendation I Would Entertain A Motion To Approve An Ordinance Right Of Way Agreement With Windstream For Installation Of Cable On 205 West 9th St. Commission Howard Stated This Is The Party That Was Here Last Meeting, Right? The Mayor Stated Yes. Commissioner Howard Made A Motion To Approve, Seconded By Commissioner Harkins. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Arview Voted To Approve. Motion Carried.

15. The Next Item Was Approval Of An Ordinance Right Of Way Agreement With Terrazon For Installation Of Fiber Optic Cable For The Unit #168 School District. The Mayor Stated They Were Here Last Time As Well. The City Attorney Stated They Had Sent Their Plan Over, And Micheal Is Supposed To Be Checking. The Mayor Stated This Item Will Be Tabled.

16. The Next Item Was Approval Of An Ordinance To Repeal Chapter 5.32 Entitled Foreign Fire Insurance Companies Under The West Frankfort Code Of Ordinances. The Mayor Stated We Will Do The Motion And Second Then We Can Discuss If Anyone Has Questions. To Give You Some Background, January 1st Of Last Year The State Passed A Law That Takes The Two Percent Fire Fund, The Two Percent Fire Board Took All Of The Control And Any Connection With Municipalities. A Lot Of Cities I Noticed, I Was Looking Up Different Ordinances And A Lot Of Them Are A Little Behind On Getting This Updated As We Are Too. This Is Repealing That Entire Chapter From Our Code Of Ordinances To Follow The State Laws. I Believe The Way You Had It Worded Kate Is That We Are Still Going To Mention In There The Foreign Fire Insurance Board But That It Is Controlled By The State Law. The City Attorney Stated We Took Out Our Whole Prior Code But In Here We Said We Will Follow Those, Because We Have No Power. But Just So It Is Clear That Is What We Are Going To Follow. The Mayor Stated It Does Apply To Home Rule Municipalities Too, It States In The Public Act That They Passed That Home Rule Municipalites Do Not Have Any Say On Changing That. We Have To Do This To Follow State Law. Commissioner Harkins Made A Motion To Approve, Seconded By Commissioner Howard. Commissioner Warren Asked The Two Percent Money That They Spend On Things, Somebody Else Will Approve Things From Now On? The Mayor Stated Yes, The Way It Has Been Is We Do Not Have The Say On Approving It, But We Would Have To Write And Sign The Check. Now They Have Changed It, And That Is Not The Case Anymore. It Takes Away The Responsibility On Us, Since We Do Not Have Control Of It Anyways. They Have Their Own Treasurer And Secretary, The Board Is Made Up From Members From The Fire Department. No Other Questions Were Made. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Arview Voted To Approve. Motion Carried.

17. The Next Item Was Discussion, With Possible Action, Regarding The Transfer Of Ownership And Control Of The "2 Percent Fire" Account With Banterra Bank To The Foreign Fire Insurance Board. The Mayor Stated The Bank Account For The Two Percent Fire Fund Is Under The Access And Control Of The City. Since We Just Passed The Last Item, We Need To Transfer The Ownership And Control Of The Account To Foreign Fire Insurance Board. I Was Hoping Someone Was Here From The Board To Explain. Commissioner Warren Asked Why Is It Called Foreign? The Mayor Stated If An Insurance Company Is Not Incorporated In Illinois, Then What Happens Is The Premiums They Collect For Fire Insurance Which Is Really Homeowners Insurance, Two Percent Of There Collected Premium Goes To This Fund. They Are Taxing Insurance Companies That Are Not In Illinois And They Call That Foreign. Commissioner Harkins Made A Motion To Approve, Seconded By Commissioner Stanley. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Arview Voted To Approve. Motion Carried.

The Mayor Stated What I Was Hoping, Is That Someone Would Be Here To Help Explain To Us Who Exactly We Would Be Transfering This Too. Commissioner Harkins Stated The Fire Chief Was Here And Got Called Out On An Emergencey Call.

18. The Next Item Was Approval To Pay An Invoice From Derksen Bros. Ag In The Amount Of $22,287.00 For Sludge Land Application For The Sewer 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.

19. The Next Item Was Approval To Pay An Invoice From Johnson's Auto & Truck Repair In The Amount Of $37,702.56 For A New Engine For The A-1 Ambulance For The Wffd. The Mayor Stated This Was An Issue That Captain Jeffords Had To Deal With Last Week, He Got Ahold Of Me And Commissioner Harkins And Howard To Explain That They Had Found That The Engine Was Completely Shot And Needed To Be Replaced. They Were Replacing The Turbo And Found A Piece Of It Had Lodged Into The Engine Its Self.

Commissioner Harkins 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 To Pay An Invoice From Skuta Construction, Inc. In The Amount Of $8,200.00 For Replacement Of Manhole On Douglas & Lindell Street For The Sewer 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.

21.The Next Item Was Approval Of A Lease Agreement Between The City Of West Frankfort And Novacare For Use Of Property Located At 326 East Main. The Mayor Stated They Are Already Leasing This Property. We Had Discussed This Previously; They Now Have Agreed To Our Counter For The Rent Of $10.00 Per Rentable Square Foot For The Five-Year Initial Term Which Would Be March 1, 2025 Through February 28, 2030 With Two Thousand One Hundred And Forty-Eight Rentable Square Feet On The First Floor. I Entertain A Motion To Approve This Agreement. Commissioner Howard Made A Motion To Approve, Seconded By Commissioner Warren. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Arview Voted To Approve. Motion Carried.

22. The Next Item Was Discussion, With Possible Action, Regarding Approval Of A Donation Towards The Back-To- School Bash Being Organized By Jessica O'daniel From The Gaming Fund. The Mayor Stated Last Year We Donated $2,500.00, I Would Recommend And Entertain A Motion To Donate $2,500.00 Again This Year. Commissioner Stanley Made A Motion To Approve, Seconded By Commissioner Warren. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Arview Voted

To Approve. Motion Carried.

23. The Next Item Was The Consent Agenda:

a. Approval To Pay Bills In The Amount Of $159,648.15.

b. Approval To Pay An Invoice From Cummins Sales And Service In The Amount Of $4,934.33 Annual Maintenance To Generators For The Sewer Department.

c. Approval To Pay An Invoice From Cummins Sales And Service In The Amount Of $2,174.96 Annual Maintenance To Generators For The Sewer Department.

d. Approval To Pay An Invoice From Cummins Sales And Service In The Amount Of $2,662.53 Annual Maintenance To Generators For The Sewer Department.

e. Approval Of A Resolution And Acceptance Of The Proposals To Furnish Materials And Approval Of Awards To Illini Asphalt Corp., And Beelman Logistics Regarding The 2024 Motor Fuel Program Bid Tabulation.

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

Building And Sign Permits 

Codes Officer Snell Stated The First Permit Is For A Solar Permit For Charles Leach At 1206 W. Oak St. I Have Reviewed The Permit From Lgcy Power, I Recommend We Approve This. Commissioner Harkins Made A Motion For Approval, Seconded By Commissioner Warren. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Arview Voted To Approve. Motion Carried.

The Second Permit Is For John Hutson At 716 N. Parkhill St. End Of Last Week I Seen This Project Going On Without Having A Permit. I Did Issue A Stop Work Order On That. I Inspected It While I Was There, And Had Some Issues With The Way It Was Built. Mr. Hutson And I Have Discussed Somethings On Fixing The Project. I Still Have Some Concerns With This Project, Commissioner Stanley Came And Looked At It With Me Too. The House Lacks A Foundation As It Is Built Right Now, It Is An Addition To The House. I Have Some Issues With The Way It Has Been Framed At This Point. He Did Submit A Plan On How To Fix It, But I Still Have Issues With That Plan. I Do Not Think At This Point I Recommend To Approve This. This Is The City Councils' Choice Obviously. I Feel Like It Would Be Different If He Was An Insured And

Bonded Outfit Doing This Project. Mr. Hutson Is Here If He Wants To Come Up And Explain A Little Bit Further. Commissioner Stanley Stated When We Were There Looking At It, And Discussed With Him What Needed To Be Done, He Said He Would Do Those Items. If We Hold Up And He Gets All Of That Done, We Can Go Back And Inspect It. Mr. Snell Stated, The Thing Is We Would Have To Approve The Plan As It Is Now. Mr. Hutson Stated I Have A New Plan To Explain. Mr. Snell Stated In This Case Since He Has A New Plan Other Than What I Have, The Only Thing We Could Do Is To Table This Item And Talk About It Again. That Will Give Me Time To Review The New Plan.

24. Mayors Report~

Mayor Arview Stated I Did Post On The App; About Different Firework Displays In The Area. West Frankfort Parks Fireworks Will Be July 6, 2024 At Dusk. We Did Have Some Questions From Different Individuals Asking Why We Were Not Doing The Fireworks On The 4th. Just To Clarify We As A City Does Not Control The Date Or Times For These Types Of Events, We Approve Them And Donate To Them. If Anyone Would Like To Have An Event On The 4th Just Let Us Know And We May Aprrove It And Donate To Help You Out.

Please Download The City Of West Frankfort's App, To Stay

Inform On Updates.

Commissioner Reports~

Commissioner Harkins Stated I Am Going To Be Glad To Get That Other Ambulance In Service, We Need It Bad. We Are Getting More Police Officers Which Is Much Needed.

Commissioner Howard Stated For Those Of You Who May Be Interested We Have Our Treasurer's Report For The Month Of May.Do Not Let It Confuse You, If You Look At The First Column Is The Same As The Second May Is Our First Month Of Our Fiscal Year, So It Is The Same As The Current Month. We Have An Operating Budget Available As Well, You Can Check With Our Treasurer, And We Can See About Putting It Online.

Commissioner Stanley Stated The Guys Have Started The 9th

Street Side Walk Project; They Have Been Busy With That. In Between We Are Still Pick Up Limbs From The Storms.

Commissioner Warren Stated Water And Sewer Are Working Hard Doing Their Usual Stuff. The Street Department Has Been Doing Work At The Lake With Trees Down, And I Appreciate That. We Had A Lake Meeting, There Was Not A Whole Lot To Talk About. Our Next Lake Meeting

Will Be In September.

I Did Have A Question About The Treasurers Report, I Am Just Curious Why There Is No Names Or Check Numbers Attached To This In Some Of These Places. For Example, There Is A $15,000.00 Check But No Name Of Who It Went To. The Treasurer Stated This Is The Debits And Credits Straight From The Bank, Our Vendor Distribution List Is In The Back Which Will Tell You Who We Paid And The Details.

25. Audience Comments:

Danny Loeh Stated I Want To Thank You All For Coming To Our Service That We Had On Memorial Day For Matthew Vosbin, It Went Really Good. I Want To Thank The City For Putting The Sign Up For Us And The Sidewalk Looks Great. I Have Had Several Tours With The Kids From The Schools. I Have Been Working On A Little Mission Personally, Collecting Money Donations For Socks, Underwear, An T- Shirts For Homeless Veterans. The V.A. Services A Lot Of Veterans From All Over. If You See A Veteran Thank Them.

26. The Next Item Was Approval To Go Into Executive Session Pursuant To 5 Ilcs 120/2(C) (1), 5 Ilcs 120/2 (C) (5/6), And 5 Ilcs 120/2 (C) (11). We Will Not Make Any Action During Or After Executive Session. You Are Free To Leave, You Do Not Have To If You Do Not Want To. At 6:53 P.M. 

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

27. With No Further Business To Be Discussed, The Meeting Was Adjourned On A Motion By Commissioner Howard At 7:56 P.M. 

https://www.westfrankfort-il.com/documents/city-government/minutes/2024-meeting-minutes/596157