North Egypt News

 City of West Frankfort City Council met Aug. 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 Attorney And City Clerk.

2. The Next Item Was Approval Of Agenda For City Council Meeting On August 13th, 2024. Mayor Arview Stated I Need A Motion To Approve The Agenda For This Meeting.

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

3. The Next Item Was Approval To Go Into Executive Session For Discussions Pursuant To 5 ILCS 120/2 (C)(1), 5 ILCS 120/2(C) (5/6) And 5 ILCS 120/2(C)(11). Mayor Arview Stated I Entertain A Motion To Go Into Executive Session At 6:04 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.

4. The Next Item Was Approval To Return To Open Session At 6:55 P.M. Commissioner Harkins Made A Motion For Approval, Seconded By Commissioner Warren. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Arview Voted To Approve. Motion Carried.

5. Mayor Arview Asked For Approval Of The Minutes From The July 23, 2024 Regular Council Meeting. 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. Mayor Arview Asked For Approval Of The Minutes From The August 1st, 2024 Special Council Meeting. The Mayor Stated If The Commissioners Had A Chance To Review Those Minutes, And There Are No Changes To Be Made, I Entertain A Motion To Approve. Commissioner Howard Made A Motion To Approve, Seconded By Commissioner Stanley. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Arview Voted To Approve. Motion Carried.

7. The Next Item Was Discussion, With Possible Action Regarding Consideration Of An Application For Participation In West Frankfort Façade Improvement Grant Program For The Diamond Lounge. Tyler Broy Stated I Have Been Working Hard On My Building And Hoping To Be Open By Next Month. I Have Put A Lot Of Time And A Lot Of Money Into Making It Nice. It Will Be The Nicest And Most Unique In Southern Illinois. Once I Finish The Flooring And Get New Windows Over The Next Few Weeks. I Am Hoping To Get Some Signage, The Closer I Get The More My Savings Have Been Depleted Which Is Starting The Battle With Wants And Needs. The Grant Would Be Able To Help With That. I Have The Inside Done And I Would Like To Move To The Outside. Mayor Arview Stated Your Estimated Project Cost Would Be $8,500? Tyler Stated Yes, There Are A Lot Of Things I Am Back And Forth On Wants Verse Needs. I Have A Window Unit Air Conditioner; I Would Like To Get Central Air. It's A Small Building, It Doesn't Feel Bad But I Am Afraid Once I Get The Machines In There It's Going To Be Hot And I Don't Want People To Be Uncomfortable. The $8,500 Would Cover The Windows, A Sign, And A New Awning. I Am On A Little Bit Of A Hump, If There Was A Way To Put Railing To Make It Handicap Accessible Too. Mayor Arview Stated What We Have Recommended From Our Economic Developer Is For Fifty Percent Of The Total Project Cost, Not To Exceed $2,500. I Am Asking For A Motion To Approve The Fifty Percent And To Not Exceed The $2,500. Commissioner Stanley Made A Motion To Approve, Seconded By Commissioner Warren. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Arview Voted To Approve. Motion Carried.

8. The Next Item Was Discussion, With Possible Action Regarding The Purchase Of Squad Cars For The Police Department. Deputy Police Chief Clint Willis Stated Chris Is Going To Run Some Numbers And I Haven't Got To Talk To Him. However, Finding These Dodge Chargers That Match Our Fleet Is Not Easy. They Are Hard To Come By, When They Are

On A Lot, They Go Fast. Weeks Was Unable To Get Us Anything. We Were Able To Track Down Six In Harrisburg At Jim Hayes. We Spoke With Them; They Gave Us A Bulk Price And They Put Those Cars On Hold. They Are 2023 Dodge Chargers. We Spoke With You Guys About The Possibility Of Financing Instead Of Outright Buying. Just Taking One Of Our Cars In July For Repairs Was Around $3,500 And It Is Not Worth $1,000. We Have Another One Sitting Out At Johnson's Needing Extensive Work, I Told Them To Hold On It Because I Don't Want To Waste The Money But We Need Vehicles For The Guys To Patrol. That's Where We Are At Right Now. Mayor Arview Stated These Are Replacing Vehicle We Have Now? Deputy Chief Stated Yes. Mayor Arview Stated What Happens To The Vehicles We Have Now? Deputy Chief Stated That Would Be Up To The City. The Equipment That We Can Still Use Like The Sirens, The Lights, And The Radios Can Be Put In The New Vehicles. I Would Love To Use What We Can Out Of The Cars But At Some Point, Find A Grant To Update Our Radio Systems To Go All Digital. You Could Scrap Them, Some Of The Ones That We Can Eventually Save We Could Take The Markings Off And Do A City Auction. Mayor Arview Stated To Recoup Some Of The Cost. I Know You Have To Drive Them Hard Sometimes So They May Not Retain Their Value That Well. Commissioner Stanley Stated All The Lights And Sirens Can Go On The New Ones, There Is No Issue With Those? Deputy Chief Stated With The 2010 Vehicles You Can Barely Hear Them Turning. You Would Hate To Put Something Like That On A Brand-New Car. More Or Less The Mics, The Sirens, Lights In The Front And Back, If They Still Work, We Will Use Whatever We Can. The Overhead Light Bars Are Outdated. Some Of Them Were Recycled From Previous Cars And They Are Well Past Their Time. Mayor Arview Stated You're Thinking We Wouldn't Have To Install Brand New For All Six Vehicles. Deputy Chief Stated I Am Not Sure How Much The Inside Of The Dodge Charger Changed, Might Be Able To Use The Console And The Cage In The Back. Mayor Arview Stated I Know They Vary, What Years Do We Have Now? Deputy Chief Stated We Currently Have Two 2010's And Three 2012's All Exceeding Over A Hundred Thousand Miles And We Have One That Is 2015. Once We Get Past Those, We Then Are Back To A 2018 And Newer And Those Have Not Given Us Any Problems. It's That Bottom Six That Keep Giving. Mayor Arview Stated I Had Asked If You Had Any Other Quotes And You Explained To Me That We Did Get Another From This Esu Pursuits, But It Is A Lot More Than What J.P. Had Initially Sent To Us. Deputy Chief Stated In The Quote We Got If We Had To Equip The Vehicle. If We Order The Stuff And Do It Ourselves It's Going To Be $4,000. If You Get It From Some Of These Other Companies It Would Be Almost $14,000. That Would Be A Big Savings If We Did It That Way. Commissioner Howard Stated We Will Have To Finance Them. My Concern Is Are We Going To Be Able To Get These Vehicles If We Wait? Deputy Chief Stated He Agreed When We Expressed Our Interest In Them, He Stated I Would Move Them Off The Lot And Put Them On Hold. Commissioner Howard Stated From My Understanding, They Do Not Make These Anymore? Deputy Chief Stated No They Do Not. Commissioner Warren Stated If You Didn't Buy Them And Went To A Truck Or Something Instead Of A Sedan, It Would Be A Lot Of Money. Deputy Chief Stated A Truck Or Durango. Commissioner Howard Stated Twice As Much. Commissioner Howard Made A Motion To Approve, Seconded By Commissioner Harkins. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Arview Voted To Approve. Motion Carried.

9. The Next Item Was Discussion, With Possible Action Regarding The Purchase Of A Bed For The Brush Truck For The Fire Department. Mayor Arview Stated Chief I Asked You To Bring To The Two Percent Board And You Said That They Said No. Fire Chief Sailliez Stated Correct, With The Purchase Of The Radio Upgrade, The Digital Repeater, And The Station Alerting System They Spent Almost Fifty Thousand Dollars Already This Year. It Does Not Meet Criteria For A Capital Budget Item. A Certain Percentage Of That Money Has To Go To Certain Things. Mayor Arview Stated I Thought It Was A General Fund. Chief Sailliez Stated It Has To With Maintenance And Upkeep. They Can Buy A Hose But They Are Not Supposed To Buy Vehicles. There Are Certain Limitations On It. Commissioner Stanley Stated There Are More Bids On Beds. Chief Sailliez Stated The One I Initially Submitted Was Discounted Down A Little Bit And No Sales Tax And $1,300 For Installation And It Came Out To $9,295. I Have Other Pictures And Quotes. He Is The Only Dealer Around Within An Hour And A Half That I Have Found. I Looked On The Internet As Much As I Could, That Is Where I Got The Additional Pricing. Mayor Arview Stated The $9,295.00 Includes The Boxes? Chief Sailliez Stated Yes. To Carry Our Chainsaws, And Flappers, And Backpacks, And Different Things. If We Don't Have The Boxes, That Stuff Will Get Stolen Or Fall Off Or Deteriorate From Weather. Commissioner Stanley Stated Can You Look At One Of These Beds Right Here And Put The Boxes On The Side? Chief Sailliez Stated Yes, But Then We Would Be Four To Five Thousand Dollars In Aluminum Boxes That Are Weather Tight. Commissioner Stanley Stated It Wouldn't Cost That Much To Buy Them Boxes From Rural King To Put On The Side Of That. Chief Sailliez Stated Rural King Doesn't Have The Long Ones That Fit The Shovels And That Fit On The Bed That Would Still Fit Our Tank On The Inside. Commissioner Stanley Stated What I Am Looking At Is That We Bought The Truck And Now We Need The Bed, We're Looking At How Much? A Hundred Thousand Dollars? Chief Sailliez Stated It Was $68,500 For The Truck And If We Review The Minutes, I Presented With The Chassis Would Be This Much And We Needed A Bed, Lighting, And Decals. I Laid That Out And It Was Going To Be Less Than A Hundred Thousand And That's Where We Stood When We Voted On The Chassis. Commissioner Stanley Stated You Talked About The Two Percent, If We Went Half On That Bed. Commissioner Warren Stated We Can't Use The Two Percent. Mayor Arview Stated They Wouldn't Buy Any Equipment At All? Commissioner Stanley Stated They Bought A Zero-Turn Mower With It. Chief Sailliez Stated To Mow The City Lot. Commissioner Stanley Stated I Don't Want To Get Out Of Hand Here But What Did That Cost? Chief Sailliez Stated I Think It Was $4,500 From Glodich In Town. Commissioner Stanley Stated For What You Have To Mow I Don't See How A Zero Turn Would Come In Handy Down There. Commissioner Warren Stated We Have Already Purchased The Truck So We Will Have To Do Something. Mayor Arview Stated There Is No Question, We Have To Buy A Bed For It. Commissioner Stanley Stated I Was Just Questioning Some Of The Stuff We Keep Buying. Commissioner Warren Stated My Personal Opinion, For A Brush Truck We Are Not Going To Use Very Much, We Are Spending A Lot Of Money But It's A Done Deal On The Truck So We Have To Make It Usable. You Can't Just Find Used Trucks Like That, That Will Hold That Much Water And Go Through A Field. Mayor Arview Stated My Question For You Chief, Does This Fit In Your Projected Budget? Chief Sailliez Stated Yes, I Was Expecting Twelve To Fifteen Thousand For A Bed When I Was In The Initial Process. Mayor Arview Stated I Share Some Of Rogers Concerns When I Look At Our Budget And Revenue Is Not Matching Expenses. Chief Sailliez Stated I Don't Have The Exact Numbers In Front Of Me From The New Budget For What The Equipment Was. But I Know For New Equipment We Had $375,000 In It. We've Allotted For Some Of That Was In Case We Got A Grant To Match And We Don't Know If We Are Getting A Grant. Mayor Arview Stated That Is Another Part Of The Issue. Commissioner Howard Stated Out A Curiosity, Obvious Looking At It There Is A Difference. From The Same Company They Have Some That Are Different Prices. Chief Sailliez Stated That's All About The Options On It. Some Are All Steel, All Aluminum, Some Of Them Have Weather Tight Compartments, Some Don't Have Top Compartments, Some Of Them Have The Recessed Lights That Won't Get Ripped Off, Or Attached Lights. There Are A Couple Thousand Option For Beds. This Is A 2022 Model That Is Still On The Lot And Discounted. I Put One Comparable To 2024 Model And It Was Almost Four Thousand Dollars More. Commissioner Harkins Made The Motion To Approve, Seconded By Commissioner Warren. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Arview Voted To Approve. Motion Carried.

10. The Next Item Was Approval To Apply For Financing Of The 2024 Ram 4500 Brush Truck For The Fire Department With Banterra Bank. Commissioner Howard Made A Motion To Approve, Seconded By Commissioner Harkins. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Arview Voted To Approve. Motion Carried.

Commissioner Howard Stated Hey Chief, Do We Have The Title Yet? Chief Sailliez Stated They Might Have Sent It Off, I Brought All The Paperwork That I Had Signed.

Commissioner Howard Stated The Reason I Was Asking Is Because The Bank Will Want It For Financing It.

11. The Next Item Was Approval Of A Resolution Appointing Authorized Signers For Loan Documents For The Brush Fire Truck For The Fire Department Through Banterra Bank. Mayor Arview Stated This Allows Me And Andrea To Sign For That Loan. Commissioner Howard Made A Motion To Approve, Seconded By Commissioner Harkins. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Arview Voted To Approve. Motion Carried.

12. The Next Item Was Approval Of A Resolution Authorizing The Utilization Of Tif Funds To Pay For The Project Cost In The Amount Of $79,577.94 For The Property At 300 East Main Street. Mayor Arview Stated It Needs A Lot Of Work And It Is A City Owned Property. We Can Get That One Hundred Percent Funded Through Tif. We Are Leasing The Building; The Lessee Found A Lot Of Things That Need To Be Repaired. As Good Landlords, It Is Our Responsibility To Make Those Repairs. It Is Not To Make It Look Pretty, It's The Roof And Things Like That, That Need To Be Fixed. Commissioner Howard Made A Motion To Approve, Seconded By Commissioner Stanley. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Arview Voted To Approve. Motion Carried.

13. The Next Item Was Approval Of A Resolution Of The Mayor's Appointments To The City Of West Frankfort Fire Pension Board For A Three-Year-Term. Mayor Arview Stated Nancy Hobson And Chief Sailliez, Your Terms Expired So This Is Renewing Those Terms. I Would Entertain A Motion To Approve Those Appointments. Commissioner Harkins Made A Motion To Approve, Seconded By Commissioner Warren. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Arview Voted To Approve. Motion Carried.

Mayor Arview Stated When Is The Next Meeting For That Because I Have To Have A Letter For That. Chief Sailliez Stated For Pension, We Just Had One Two Weeks Ago. I Think We Will Have A Special Meeting In Two Months And Then We Will Have Our Regular Meeting.

14. The Next Item Was Discussion, With Possible Action Regarding An Amendment To The Parking Ordinance. Mayor Arview Stated We Discussed This, We Heard You And Heard The Response From The Public About The Ordinance. We Want To Make It Better And I Had Written Up An Amendment To It But It Does Have A Few Holes In It That We Have To Fill. We Are Just Going To Table This For Now. Hopefully We Will Have Something In The Near Future To Present To Them In That. I Will Be Meeting With The Street Commissioner, Superintendent, And Codes Officer To Alleviate Some Of The Concerns. This Item Was Tabled.

15. The Next Item Was Approval Of An Ordinance For A Revised Right Of Way Agreement With Terrazon For Installation Of Fiber Optic Cable For The Unit #168 School District. Mayor Arview Stated The City Attorney Brought Some Information To Us In Our Executive Session. There Is An Item In The Agreement That Seems Like We Wouldn't Be Able To Enforce That Anyway Because It's Left To The State. City Attorney Stated That Is Something We Have To Check With Our Code. From The Way Chris Reads It, The Less They Fall Into A Certain Group. We Did Take It Out For The Last Group. Mayor Arview Stated We Have Taken It Out Before And The State Had Their Own Regulation As Far As The Telecom Tax. That Is Something We Need To Look At. I Guess I Will Leave That To The Council To Decide Whether We Want To Table It Or Vote On The One We Have In Front Of Us? Commissioner Howard Stated I Make A Motion That We Strike The Municipal Tax Portion Contract With Terrazon. Mayor Arview Stated What We Are Voting On Is To Amend The Agreement. Once We Vote On That Then We Will Vote On The Agreement Itself. Commissioner Howard Made A Motion To Approve, Seconded By Commissioner Stanley. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Arview Voted To Approve. Motion Carried.

Mayor Arview Stated Back To Number 15 We Now Have The Amended Agreement So Do I Have A Motion To Approve The Agreement As It Stands With The Amendment? Commissioner Warren Made A Motion To Approve, Seconded By Commissioner Stanley. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Arview Voted To Approve. Motion Carried. 16. The Next Item Was Discussion, With Possible Action,

Regarding The Sale And Potential Application For Tif Funds For The Property At 222 East Main Street. Mayor Arview Stated How Much Can We Speak To Out Here Kate? City Attorney Stated There Were Bids Taken And Accepted, This Is Discussions That They Had To See If We Could Come To A Final Thing. This Would Be A Vote To Approve The Terms That Were Discussed. Mayor Arview Stated I Would Need A Motion To Approve The Terms Of The Agreement We Had Discussed In Executive Session. Neil Swain Stated Excuse Me, I Made An Offer To The Guy That Wants Money Back On The $28,000 You're Asking. I Will Put It In Writing And I Can Write You A Check Tomorrow. If You Could Think About That Please. The Realtor Will Not Talk To Me Right Now. Mayor Arview Stated We Will, That Was Brought Up And Under Consideration. We Are Going To Respond To The Potential Buyer That We Had Approved The Bid For. We Had Negotiated Terms And Get Back With Them. Commissioner Warren Stated The Honorable Thing Is To Honor The Person Looking At It And Put The Bid In On Time. Neil Swain Stated I Didn't Know It Was Available Until Friday. Mayor Arview Stated We Are Under An Obligation To Them; I Can't Go Into Details On What The Terms We Want To Send Back To Them Are Until Things Are Decided. We Are Not Wanting To Lose Any Money On It Either. We Will Keep You In Mind. I Entertain A Motion To Approve The Terms We Discussed In Executive Session.

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

17.The Next Item Was Discussion, With Possible Action, Regarding The Approval Of An Ordinance Implementing A Municipal Grocery Retailers' Occupation Tax And Municipal Grocery Service Occupation Tax For The City Of West Frankfort. Mayor Arview Stated I Put The Proposed Ordinance On The Website And Added A Submit Feedback, I Plan To Do That With Any Ordinances Like This. To Let People Know What We Are Enforcing And Putting Into Place. I Do Want To Speak To This, We Have A Lot Of Feedback On It. I Think Some People Are Not Understanding It Correctly. The State Already Charges One Percent On Groceries, That Money Comes To Municipalities. Whatever City You Buy Your Groceries In And You Pay That One Percent Tax, That Money Goes To The City You Bought Them In. Two Years Ago, I Believe The Governor Or Legislator Decided To Put A Moratorium On That Tax. They Didn't Charge It But They Still Paid The Municipalities. Because The State Is Not Taking The Hit When They Do That, The Municipalities Are. The State Understood They Needed To Stimulate The Economy, That Is Why They Removed It But Then Went Ahead And Paid The One Percent To The Municipalities. Now In Governor Pritzker's Last Budget, The Grocery Tax Is Not In There At All. It's Not A We're Going To Pay The Municipalities Anyway; It's Just Completely Gone. The Municipalities Are Hit. The Illinois Municipal League They Lobby Our State Government On Behalf Of The Municipalities. They Went To The State And Said That Is Not Fair To Do That To The Cities Who Can't Afford That. For Us It Is $250,000 A Year. That Is A Lot. That Is A Big Part Of Our Budget. We Can't Afford To Take That Hit If The State Is Not Going To Do It Then What The IML Asked Was At Least Allow Cities To Implement Their Own Tax To Compensate For That Difference. That Is What This Ordinance Is. It Will Not Go Into Effect Until January 1st, 2026 Which Is When The State Tax Comes Off. At The Store You Won't See A Difference In What You're Paying Now. Someone Had Brought Up That People Are In Poverty And Can't Afford This. There Are Programs Already In Place To Help People With That, For Instance The Link Card. If You Buy Groceries With The Link Card You Don't Pay That Tax Anyway. For Most People That Live Around Here That Are In That Kind Of Poverty. You Didn't Pay It Before And You're Not Going To Pay It Now, Nothing Will Change There. This Is Just Making Us Whole From What The State Has Put In Place. With That Being Said, We Did Talk About It A Little Bit And I Did Want To Intentionally Make It Discussion With Possible Action In Case There Was Something Where We Don't Necessarily Have To Approve It But After Conversations, I Am Recommending That We Go Ahead And Approve This Ordinance To Where It Would Be Effective January 1st, 2026. Replacing What The State Is Taking Away. Commissioner Warren Stated There Is A Deadline. Mayor Arview Stated Yes, We Have To Enact The Ordinance By A Certain Amount Of Time In Order To Have It Work For 2026, Otherwise There Will Be A Gap In There And Like I Said, That Would Be A Lot Of Money To Lose Out On. People Want Us To Fix Roads And Sidewalks, We Want To Do Those Things Too. We Cannot Do It If We Don't Have The Money To Do It. This Is Our Way Of Making Sure We Don't Lose Money And Are Able To Do Those Things For You. Do I Have A Motion To Approve This Ordinance? Commissioner Howard Made A Motion To Approve, Seconded By Commissioner Harkins. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Arview Voted To Approve. Motion Carried.

18. The Next Item Was Discussion, With Possible Action, Regarding The Approval Of An Ordinance Regulating Public Camping Within Corporate Boundaries And Other Actions In Connection Therewith For The City Of West Frankfort. Mayor Arview Stated The Ordinance Itself Is From IML, Right? Codes Officer Snell Stated It Was Created. I Don't Think We Have It Completed Yet But I Will Fill Everyone In On What We Are Trying To Accomplish. The Camping Situation, People Living Places Has Been A Big Topic In Town. We Are Trying To Find A Way To Combat That And Where We Want It To Be. I Think We Are Having Some Problems At This Point To Implement It Correctly, I Don't Think We're There Yet With It. We Are Trying To Find A Way To Get Things Better. Mayor Arview Stated That Is Good. I Am Having Technical Issues With My Phone So I Am Not Able To Put It On Facebook So People Would Know We Are Going To Be Talking About Them Before We Implement Them. We Do Have A Problem With That, I Had Gentleman Message Me On Facebook And Ask Me If It Was Legal For Someone To Camp In His Yard. Well, No That Is Trespassing. It Is Rampant, It Is A Problem. It's Not Just Us, That Is Why The IML Came Up With An Ordinance For It Because Other Cities Are Facing The Same Problems. Kate Had Some Concerns And Wanted To Make Sure We Do Not Over Step And Do It The Right Way. Commissioner Warren Stated, Is That Right? Can They Just Walk Into Your Yard And Camp There? Mayor Arview Stated No, It Is Not Legal. Codes Officer Stated This Ordinance Is More For Public Property And Things Like That. There Might Be Away To Go About It Outside Of That Ordinance. There Is More Discussion Needed. This Item Was Tabled.

19. The Next Item Was Discussion, With Possible Action, Regarding Bids From Sinc For Installation Of A Video Conference System In The Council Meeting Area. Mayor Arview Stated Andrea Didn't Get A Chance To Tell You, The Two Different Things. They Are Going To Put In A Camera For Us To Be Able To Do Our Meetings And They Will Also Assist Us With The Conference Room Back There So The System They Have, We Don't Have To Have The Laptop Hooked Up And Wires Hanging Everywhere. They Will Do The Av And The Whole Thing For Us To Do The Zoom Meeting Back There. That's What The Two Different Bids Are For. Bid Number 10904 For $2,698.05 Is For The Conference Room And Bid Number 11630 For $1,306.74 If For Putting The Camera Out Here That Would Allow Us To Stream Automatically And The Audio Would Be Better. I Would Entertain A Motion For The Total Amount For $4,004.79. Commissioner Howard Stated How Often Do We Have Video Conferences? Mayor Arview Stated We Have Attorney's And Anything Where You Might Have With Our Website And App, Insurance Meetings, And Training. I Did Get A Previous Quote But It Was More Than That With The Other Company. That's When We Talked To Sinc, They Are Already Doing Our I.T. Stuff And They Could Do This For Us. Commissioner Warren Made A Motion To Approve, Seconded By Commissioner Stanley. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Arview Voted To Approve. Motion Carried.

20. The Next Item Was Discussion, With Possible Action, Regarding Bid For Murals To Be Painted On City Owned Property. Mayor Arview Stated This Is From A Local Painter, He's Wanting To Do Some Work For Us. He Gave Us Some Mock Up Ideas. One Is For $15,000 And The Other One Is For $10,000. He Is Wanting $25,000 For Both. Mural On The East Wall Of Jefferson And Main And The North Facing Wall Of The Fire House. Commissioner Howard Stated I Don't Think We Can In Any Situation But Jefferson And Main Is For Sale. If The New Owner Wanted To Do It Then Is Would Be Between Them. Chief Sailliez Stated Keep In Mind, We Just Spent $32,000 Painting The Fire House Two Years Ago. Commissioner Warren Stated We Don't Need To Spend The Money On That, I Know The Art Would Be Great. It Would Be Beautiful. Mayor Arview Made The Motion To Approve. Seconded By Commissioner Stanley. All Commissioners Voted To No. Motion Failed.

21. The Next Item Was Discussion, With Possible Action, Regarding A Sponsorship Package With The Birds Nest Wggh Radio. Mayor Arview Stated We Did Last Year For Them. He Is Broadcasting The Games And Things Like That. Mayor Arview Made A Motion To Approve. Seconded By Commissioner Warren. Mayor Arview Stated What Benefit Have We Got From This? If We Were A Commercial Business That Would Be Different Because That's Advertising. That's Not How The City Works. Commissioner Howard Stated It Is A Private Business And It Shouldn't Be An Ongoing Helping Private Businesses. Mayor Arview Stated I Think The Initial Was To Get Him Off The Ground And Support A Local Endeavor. We Have A Motion And Second, A Vote Of Yes Will Be To Approve Advertising And A Vote Of No Would Be To Not Approve It. Mayor Arview Voted Yes. All Commissioners Voted No. Motion Failed.

22. The Next Item Was Approval Of An Invoice From Aquatic Control In The Amount Of $4,000 For Maintenance To The Pumps For August And September 2024 For The Street Department. Mayor Arview Stated Mike Had Already Talked To Us About This But For The Public's Awareness, What Is This? Mike Bonner Stated If This Passes To Have This Company Come Out From Indiana To Treat The Algae Growing Out There. These Guys Think They Can Get It Under Control And Continue A Yearly Deal With Them To Keep Our Pump Running Correctly. 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 Approval Of Design Engineering Invoice #3 For The Downtown Streetscape Project, Section 18- 00060-00-Sw. Mayor Arview Stated We Talked About This Before, We Have The Street Scape We Did A Couple Years Ago With This Sidewalks And Lights. This Is Just Continuing That For Two Blocks More. This Is Just Another Invoice For Engineering On That. Do I Have A Motion To Approve That Invoice? Commissioner Stanley Made A Motion To Approve, Seconded By Commissioner Warren. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Arview Voted To Approve. Motion Carried.

24. The Next Item Was The Consent Agenda:

A. Approval To Pay Bills In The Amount Of $223,603.58.

B. Approval To Pay An Invoice From Ameren In The Amount Of $1,542.19 For Damage Repairs On 5th And Emma Street For The Water Department. Commissioner Stanley Stated We Have To Realize When You Make A Julie, You Have Fourteen Days To Do It. If You Don't Do It In Time You Have To Get It Re-Julied. If We Clip Something Then We Have To Pay For It.

C. Approval Of Addendums To The Handbook For The Employees Of The City Of West Frankfort. Mayor Arview Stated To Let The Commissioners Know, If You Looked At Your Books Previously, This Is Updated In There Now. There Is An Additional Addendum. Once It Is Approved, We Will Hand It Out To The Department Heads And They Can Give It Out And They Can Witness It. D. Approval Of An Invoice From Evoqua Water Technologies For Maintenance On The East Clarifier In The Amount Of $1,744.33 For The Sewer Department. Commissioner Warren Made A Motion To Approve, Seconded By Commissioner Howard. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Arview Voted To Approve. Motion Carried

25. Building And Sign Permits ~ Code Officer Snell Stated I Gave You A List Of All The Solar Permits That Have Been Submitted. We Have Had A Few More Solar Companies Come In The Last Month. I Have Thirteen On Here. We Are Waiting For More Information On One Of Those, It Doesn't Have Fees Attached To It, If You Look On Your List, We Are Not Voting On That One. I Think It Would Be Appropriate To Approve All Of Solar Permit's At Once. They Meet Our Solar Requirements And Ordinance. All The Builders Have Been Checked And They Are Registered. They Have Shown Proof To Do Business In The State. My Recommendation Is That We Approve All Of The Permits I Have Complete Information For. Mayor Arview I Will Clarify Just In Case Someone Is Wondering. When We Say The Word Permit And The Word Solar So You Understand, These Are Not Solicitation Permits. These Are Permits For Them To Put Them On Their Houses. 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 Next Permit Is A Demolition Permit At 207 W 6th Street For A Blake Crowell. He Is Demolitioning An Old Garage On His Property. The Second One Will Be A Demolition Permit For The School District. The House Is Already Gone. It Is Located At 702 E St. Louis Street. Commissioner Stanley Made A Motion To Approve, Seconded By Commissioner Harkins. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Arview Voted To Approve. Motion Carried.

26. Officer's Report -

Fire Report For The Month Of July 2024: Chief Sailliez Reported That They Had 204-Ambulance Calls, 4-Rubbish/Illegal Fires, 1-Brush/Field Fires, 1-Motor Vehicle Accidents, 4-Fire Alarms, 0-Vehicle Fires, 4 - Fire Emergencies; (Gas Leaks, Power Lines Down, Etc.), 3- Structure Fires, 0-Smoke Scares, 4-Mutual Aid Fire Responses, 3-Mutual Aid Ambulance, 8-Ambulance Calls Turned Over To Mutual Aid. For A Total Of 236 Calls During The Month. The Department Used Approximately 25,000 Gallons Of Water. The Department Collected $74,684.74 For July Ambulance Calls. Also, With My Report This Time I Submitted The Yearly Total On The Ambulance Revenue So We Can See The Trend Over The Last Three Months Has Gone Up. That Is The G.E.M.T. Money Reflecting. I Am Working With The Consulting Group And G.E.M.T., Accumed, And The Billing Company To Try Get Us A Better Report So We Know How Much We Exactly Got. As Of The Middle Of June To End Of June, She Can Confirm That We Have Gotten A $125,000 Of G.E.M.T. Money Coming In. That Is Additional Money We Didn't Have Coming In Last Year And Our Billing Has Gone Up As Well. More Money Is Coming In, I Know We Are Spending More Money But The Fire Department Is Doing Their Part In Bringing In More Money.

Police Report For The Month Of July 2024: Deputy Chief Willis Reported Officers Answered A Total Of 1,531 Calls For Service. Of Those Calls 19 Were Traffic Accidents, 1 With Injuries. Officers Responded To 43 Domestic Disputes, 3 Fights In Progress, 16 Alarms, 4 Intoxicated Persons, 16 Burglaries, 10 Reports Of Criminal Damage To Property, 9 Complaints Of Juvenile Problems, 27 Reported Thefts, And 39 Complaints Of Disorderly Conduct/Disturbances. And Officers Made 22 Street Contacts. Officers Conducted 299 Traffic Stops, Where They Issued 63 Citations, 235 Warnings, And 18 Lw-27's. There Were 62 Adult Arrests Made And 2 Juvenile Arrests, Resulting In 81 Criminal Charges Filed.

Dispatchers Answered 1,924 Calls.

Of Those, 600 Were 9-1-1 Calls, 141 Were Walk In Requests. 1,531 Were For Police, 236 Were For West Frankfort Fire, 11 Were For Abbott Ems, 1 For Benton Fire, And 4 For United Ambulance. For The Month Of July, We Collected $3,870.00 In Fines And Fees.

27. Mayors Report~

The Mayor Stated We Have Had A Lot Of Feedback About Different Ordinances And The Solicitation Thing. The Purpose Of These Ordinances Is Not To Try And Infringe On Anyone's Rights. You Have Constitutional Rights; We Are Not Trying To Infringe On That. We Really Do Want To See West Frankfort Become A Better Place. I Have Had Several People Say West Frankfort Is Not Marion. It's Not But We Have Potential To Improve From Where We Are. If We Throw Up Our Hands And Say Well, This Is Just What West Frankfort Is, Some People Use Derogatory Terms When Referring To West Frankfort. I Don't Want To See That; I Want People To Have Pride In The Town They Live In. That Is What These Ordinances Are For, They Are Not To Hurt Or Hinder Anyone. They Are To Try To Improve The City. I Genuinely Believe That Everyone Who Works For The City Has The Same Goal In Mind. I Just Want To Go On The Record To Say That While We May Have A Difference In Opinion On How To Go About Things And What To Enforce And Not To Enforce, We All Have The Same Goal In Mind And Together We Can Make These Improvements.

Commissioner Reports~

Commissioner Harkins Stated You've Heard The Police And Fire Report. The Equipment We Appreciate. We Need It And It Will Be Used. I Guarantee You That. Other Than That, I Feel Like The Departments Are Doing An Excellent Job.

Commissioner Howard Stated We're Still Working Hard To Get This Audit Done. It Is Driving Me Insane; It Is Driving All Of Us Insane. We Take Two Steps Forward And Then One Back It Seems. We Are Trying. We Are Going To Have To Do The Best We Can To Keep Our Expenses As Low As We Can Without Hurting Departments That Have Things They Have To Do. We Will Have To Try And Not Spend Any Discretionary Funds For The Time Being Until We Can See Better Where We Are Because We Do Have Less Money Now Than We Did A Couple Years Ago. Which Means We Spent More Than We Took In. We Are Going To Try To Cure That.

Commissioner Stanley Stated The Street Department Guys Have Worked Their Tails In The Heat And Everything Else Getting That Sidewalk Out On 9th Street I Think One More Pour On Thursday And Put Some Guard Rails Up Close To The Road. They Have Worked Really Hard. I Am Proud Of Them.

Commissioner Warren Stated They Take A Lot Of Water Samples And Chlorine Samples And We Are Staying Perfect, As Close To As We Can. Michael, Do We Have Anything That Is Going On Major With The Sewer Department? Michael Stated No. Everything Is Going Well. The Water Department Is Working Hard, They Have Done A Lot Of Repairs And Testing. I Did Want To Say The Week Of August 19th Is The Bulk Trash Pickup Week For The Garbage. You Can Place Stuff Out There, You Can't Have Any Hazardous Waste, Construction, Or Yard Waste. That Will Be On Your Actual Pick-Up Day For Trash For Next Week. I Am Also Over The Lakes, So The Lake Meeting We Don't Have This Month. We Took A Couple Months Off. The Third Thursday Of September We Will Meet Here At 6:00 P.M. If Anyone Is Interested In Coming To A Meeting. Regarding The Audit, We Really Need To Get That. That Is Serious. The Sewer Plant Has A Project And We Cannot Afford To Lose That Because We Are Committed. We Need To Get A Meeting Date Set Up And Figure Out Some Problems And How We Are Going To Fix It If We Are Not Going To Have The Audit. Mayor Arview Stated I Will Say, I Have Been In Contact With The Auditor Just Hoping That Would Speed Things Up. They Have Been Sending Me Some Feedback And Things Back. I Have Passed It On To Chris. We Are Making Progress; It Is Just Taking Time.

Audience Comments:

My Name Is Doug And I Live At 507 N. Anna Street. For The Last Two Years Straight, I Have Been Approved For The Grant, I Am In Need. Last Year, Families That Need Help More Than Me And Got Priority, I Understood That When It Was Explained To Me. This Year, I Was First On The List And They Were Going To Come In April And Do This To My House. We Are Going To Help You Out. I Have Done Work When I Thought I Was Getting The First Grant, I Tore Out My Bedroom Floor And Crawled Under My House Because I Don't Have A Crawlspace. For Seven Months So They Would Have Something To Work Around And I Had To Pour My Own Foundation To Lift My Own Wall Because My House Is Sinking. I Was Supposed To Get The Work Done In April And Nobody Showed Up Or Called. I Waited Till The Middle Of May And They Said It Was An Audit Problem. They Said Someone Is Dragging Their Feet Doing The Audit And That There Were Issues And They Would Have Josh Call Me Back. Josh Never Called Me And I Showed Up Today And They Recommended Coming To The Meeting. If It Doesn't Happen Soon, In A Certain Time Frame Because They Could Lose This Grant And Then I Am Out Of Help. I Can't Afford The Work They Were Going To Do. I Am Disabled And I Can Only Do What I Can Do, I Tore Myself Up Doing It. Commissioner Warren Stated Is That Grant Still On The Table? Doug Stated Yes, But They Said It Could Be Taken Away At Any Moment. I Need An Electrical Upgrade And All I Have Is A Window Unit, I Don't Have Heating. I Get By But It Sucks In The Winter. Mayor Arview Stated I Am With You And That Is What We Are Talking About. It Is Holding Up A Lot Of Grants. A Lot Of Federal Money And That Is Why Myself And Keith Have Been On With Them To Get It Sped Up. What Are They Missing? What Are They Needing? We Will Continue To Pressure Them. You Can Be Sure Of That. It's Not Just You, It's Also City Projects And Things We Have To Purchase And We Can't Because Of This. I Wish I Could Tell You More And I Will Keep Pressuring Them For More Answers And We Will Do Everything In Our Power That This Doesn't Happen Again. I Know This Doesn't Help You In Your Immediate Situation. I Wish I Could Do More To Help That Situation. We Switched To Them, There Was A Previous Auditor That Would Delay And Delay Then They Told Us They Wouldn't Be Able Do The Audit For Us. That Is Why We Switched Companies, Expecting That This Company Could Get It Done Faster. Doug Stated From Other People's Understanding Is That It Is You Guys Dragging Your Feet. Mayor Arview Stated Is It Not, I Checked Into That And Wanted To Make Sure. That Is Why I Called The Auditor Myself. What Is Holding This Up? There Are Some Documents They Have Asked For Clarification On And Administrative Type Stuff. The Auditor Told Me The She Felt Like The City

Met What We Needed To Do To Get The Audit Done.

Mike Roberts Stated I Know You Didn't Touch On It In Your

Report But We Did Get Some Good News A Couple Weeks

Ago. Phase One Engineering For The Interstate Project

Was Approved. That Is A Milestone We Have Been Working On

For A Couple Of Years. That Was A Big Step. We Had Kick Off

Meeting For The Phase Two Part Of It, On The Engineering Side. We Have A Little Hiccup Here That We Need To Talk About. In 2022, The City Did Solicitation For Engineering Projects And We Have A Retainer Agreement With You.

Project Changes Scope Towards The End Of Phase One, They Added The Project Will Be Replacing The North Road Bridge With A New One. That Encompasses A Lot More Structural Engineering That We Don't Do. The Fees For Phase Two Engineering Rose Above What We Could Do. The Requirement With IDOT Puts Us In A Position Where We Need To Do Another Request For Qualification, It Has To Go Through The Procurement Procedure. You Already Have A Procedure In Place. Not A Lengthy Process, By The End Of September We Should Get That Done.

28. With No Further Business To Be Discussed, The Meeting Was Adjourned On A Motion By Commissioner Harkins At 8:15 P.M.

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