North Egypt News

City of West Frankfort City Council met Sept. 24.

Here are the minutes provided by the council:

1. Mayor Arview Called The Meeting To Order At 6:00 P.M. Requesting A Roll Call. All Commissioners Were In Attendance Including, The City Attorney And City Clerk.

2. The Next Item Was Approval Of The Agenda For The City Council Meeting On September 24th, 2024. Mayor Arview Stated On Items Four, Seven, And Eight I Will Be Asking For An Amendment To Change That From An Ordinance To A Resolution. That Is On The Advice Of Our Attorney, We Will Be Amending Those. I Entertain A Motion To Approve The Agenda For This Meeting. Commissioner Harkins Made A Motion For Approval, Seconded By Commissioner Stanley. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Arview Voted To Approve. Motion Carried.

3. Mayor Arview Asked For Approval Of The Minutes From The September 10th, 2024 Regular Council Meeting. Mayor Arview Stated I Entertain A Motion To Approve The Minutes. 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 Of The Minutes From September 16th, 2024 Special Council Meeting. Mayor Arview Stated If There Are No Amendments Or Changes To Those, I Entertain A Motion To Approve. Commissioner Stanley Made A Motion To Approve, Seconded By Commissioner Warren. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Arview Voted To Approve. Motion Carried.

5. The Next Item Was Approval Of Mayoral Appointments To The City Of West Frankfort Parking Commission. Mayor Arview Stated Per Our Attorney To Amend That To Say The Approval Of A Resolution For The City Of West Frankfort Appointing Parking Commission. We Have An Ordinance Establishing A Parking Commission, Which They Would Be In Charge Of Determining Parking Ordinances And Rules. With Our Parking Ordinance, The People I Am Going To Be Appointing Were A Part Of This Discussion. We Do Have For A Term Of One Year, Two Years, Three Years, Four Years, And Five Years. The Attorney And I Have Discussed This And We May Be Amending This Ordinance At Some Point But For Now What I Would Like To Set Up Is To Appoint Roger Stanley, The Commissioner Of Public Works For The Term Of Two-Year Term, Codes Officer Thad Snell For A Five-Year Term. The Street Superintendent Michael Bonner, The Water Superintendent Jim White, And The Sewer Superintendent Michael Serena. These Are All The People That Would Be Involved With Anything Going On With The Streets And Sidewalks, Therefore Parking. They Would Be The Commission That Would Discuss Any Future Amendments Or New Ordinances Regarding Parking And Then They Can Present Their Findings To The Council For Us To Vote On As A Whole. With Those Names, I Would Entertain A Motion To Appoint These Individuals To The Parking Commission. Commissioner Howard 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 Of A Resolution To Appoint Hart, Cantrell & Thompson Law Firm To Represent The City Of West Frankfort As Our Attorneys. Mayor Arview Stated At The Special Council Meeting We Appointed Jonathan Cantrell But He Is Very Busy So He Has Offered The Use Of His Entire Firm, I Appreciate That. We Are Changing The Appointment That We Made To Include The Entire Law Firm. Do We Have A Motion To Approve That Appointment? Commissioner Stanley Made A Motion To Approve, Seconded By Commissioner Howard. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Arview Voted To Approve. Motion Carried.

7. The Next Item Was Approval Of A Resolution For A Release Of Lien Of Memorandum Of Understanding With The W.F. School District. Mayor Arview Stated This Is For 702 E. St. Louis Street And 602 E. St. Louis Street. Commissioner Howard Stated This Would Be So They Can Get Deeds To The Property? Mayor Arview Stated Yes. Commissioner Howard 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 Approval Of An Ordinance Creating A Lake Board For The City Of West Frankfort. Mayor Arview Stated Amending That To Approval Of A Resolution Creating A Lake Board For The City Of West Frankfort. This Would Create The Board That Would Be Over Both, The Old And New Lake. The City Attorney Stated The Idea Is To Appoint A Temporary Board That Would Meet A Handful Of Times Or How Ever Many The Board Feels Is Necessary. The Board Would Come Back To The City Council With A List Of Their Recommendations Which May Or May Not Include Changing The Ordinances That Govern The Use Of The Old Lake And New Lake. We Will Probably Establish A Permanent Lake Board To Help With That. I Really Looked Closely At The Ordinances That Govern The Use Of The New Lake, There Is A Lot Of Outdated Stuff In There That Does Not Apply In Today's World. I Think A Full Rewrite Is A Good Idea. Mayor Arview Stated Some Of The Issues We Have At The Old Lake, This Presents A Mediary Like We Have For Other Things. We Do Have A Lake Committee That Meets Regularly But They'll Take Months Off. It's Sort Of An Impromptu Group, They Don't Have An Official Agenda Or Anything Like That. They Come Together At City Hall For Communication And Pass Thing On To Me Or Linda If We Show Up. This Way, It Presents An Official Arm Of The City To Be That Voice To Make Recommendations To The Council. There Are Five Positions At This Time, I Don't Have Anyone In Mind Except For Linda Warren To Chair The Lake Board. We Will Work Out More Details Of This Like We Did With The Ada Coordinator. We Are Creating This Board In Our Ordinances So We Can Flesh Out The Details And As We Go, We Will Have More And More Involved With It. 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 Approval Of A Resolution Authorizing Certain Properties Located In The City Of West Frankfort To Be Declared As Surplus Real Estate. Mayor Arview Stated This Would Be 1001 E. Clark Street, 301 E. 4th Street, 2309 E Elm Street. Codes Officer Snell Stated It Should Be 609 E. St. Louis Street. Mayor Arview Stated The Best Way To Do That Is To Make A Motion To Amend This Resolution. Then We Go Through The Vote On That And Then We Vote On The Resolution When It's Done. The City Attorney Stated Yes, I Agree We Can Do That. Commissioner Howard Stated So It's 609 E. St. Louis Street? Codes Officer Stated 2309, We Still Have A Pending Demolition Case On It. Commissioner Howard Stated I Make A Motion To Amend This Resolution That Parcel Number Three Be Altered To Say 609 E. St. Louis Street. 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 Now We Need A Motion To Approve The Resolution With The Amendment. Commissioner Howard Made A 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 Of An Ordinance Of Permanent Easement Agreement At The West Frankfort City Lake. Mayor Arview Stated This Is For Lot 67a And Lot 67b. The City Attorney Stated If There Are Any Questions About That Ordinance, I Can Address Them. Essentially, It Is A Lot That Is Being Sold That Will Be Land Locked If Not For A New Easement. The County Is Requiring This Easement. Commissioner Howard Made A Motion To Approve, Seconded By Commissioner Warren. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Arview Voted To Approve. Motion Carried.

11. The Next Item Was Discussion, With Possible Action, Regarding An Agreement For Tax Increment Allocation Redevelopment Professional And Consulting Services Between The City Of West Frankfort, Illinois, And Moran Economic Development, Llc (Residential Agreement). Mayor Arview Stated This Is Our Residential Tif Agreement, Moran Handles Our Tif Districts. They Presented This Agreement For Them To Be Able To Start The Feasibility Study And Go Through The Process In Establishing A Residential Tif. We Call It That But It Is Just A Tif. It Doesn't Matter Where It's At But, In This Case, It Will Be In A Residential Area To Assist With Development Of Light In Residential Areas In West Frankfort. The Last Page Is The Area We Are Talking About, I Just Wanted To Get Our Feet Wet With It And See How It Works Out. If It Works Well, Then We Can Start To Include Other Areas Of West Frankfort. This Is The North West Part Of Town, It's One Of The Hardest Hit Areas Of The Lowest Property Values. It Is A Prime Spot To Do Something Like This And Moran Agreed. They Will Have To Go Through A Long Process In Establishing A Tif. This Just Gets Us Started On That Process. Commissioner Howard Stated Hopefully Prevent Us From Having To Tear Down Houses In The Future And They Can Be Refurbished. Mayor Arview Stated Before Any Home Owners Get Too Excited, Tif Always Requires Some Investment From The Owner Of The Property. This Is Not A One Hundred Percent Grant. Hopefully It Will Be A Big Help Towards Those Things. Commissioner Howard Made A Motion To Approve, Seconded By Commissioner Warren. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Arview Voted To Approve. Motion Carried. 

12. The Next Item Was Approval Of A Consideration Of Request For Payment #1 Re: Starbucks Tif Redevelopment Agreement. Mayor Arview Stated This Is Also With Moran But A Different Tif. Commissioner Howard Stated This Is Per Our Agreement, Right? Mayor Arview Stated Yes. 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 Discussion, With Possible Action, Regarding A Car Show To Be Held At The Wit & Wisdom Senior Center On October 27th, 2024. Mayor Arview Stated This Is Being Put On By Wit & Wisdom, Not An Individual. They Have Submitted All Of The Required Insurance Documents And Things Like That. Commissioner Warren Made A Motion To Approve, Seconded By Commissioner Stanley. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Arview Voted To Approve. Motion Carried.

14. The Next Item Was Approval To Pay An Invoice From Iworqs In The Amount Of $7,200.00 For Yearly Subscription Program For The Codes Department. Codes Officer Stated This Tracks My Cases, My Permitting, And The City Licensing. Commissioner Howard Stated This Is An On-Going Subscription? Mayor Arview 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 To Select The Consulting Engineer For Phase Ii Of Design Engineering, Land Acquisition Services, Environmental Mitigation Services And Related For 1-57 & Rt 149 At Winery Road And Other Local Roads Associated With The I-57 &Rt 149 Interchange Modification. Mayor Arview Stated Including Work Associated With The Burlington Route Road Way, Connection From Route 37 To Cleveland Street, To Route 149 At Winery Road, And Other Local Roads Associated With The I-57 & Route 149 Interchange Modification. On The Window Over There, If You Have Not Heard About This And Like To See Where It Is. We Had To Advertise For This And Get Bids For Qualifications And Statements Of Interest. We Only Received One From The Lochmueller Group. I Entertain A Motion To Approve This. Commissioner Howard Made A Motion To Approve, Seconded By Commissioner Warren. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Arview Voted To Approve. Motion Carried.

16. The Next Item Was The Consent Agenda:

A. Approval To Pay Bills In The Amount Of $195,235.10. B. Approval To Pay An Invoice From American Response Vehicles In The Amount Of $1,571.79 For Power Inverter For A-1 For The West Frankfort Fire Department. C. Approval To Pay Invoice From Johnson's Auto & Truck Repair In The Amount Of $1,753.57 For The Repairs Made To A-1 For The West Frankfort Fire Department.

Mayor Arview Stated Once You've Had A Chance To Look These Over. I Would Entertain A Motion To Approve The Consent Agenda As Presented. If There Is One You Want To Separate And Talk About Individually, We Can Do That. Commissioner Howard Stated The One Bill From Drew Law Group For $10,479.50. The City Attorney Stated This Was Brought To My Attention; I Haven't Had A Chance To Look At It Closely. My Understanding Is That There Was A Bill Submitted And Then Later A Second Bill Submitted Saying We Missed These Charges And These Charges Amount To About Additional $10,000. My Instinct Is That It's Exactly What We All Think It Is, Something That Is Driven By Anger Or Spite, I Am Not Sure. Here Is Your Decision You Have To Make And I Am Fine With The Decision You Make Either Way. You Can Refuse To Pay The Increased Amount. The Response May Be A Small Claims Lawsuit And If There Is A Small Claims Lawsuit, I Am Happy To Defend It. It's One Of Those Fifty-Fifty Calls, The Person Who Submitted This Would Have To Show Up In Court And Explain All Those Charges. A Judge Would Decide, There Would Be No Jury In Small Claims. A Judge Would Decide Whether Or Not They Are Fair, Reasonable, And Should Be Paid. The Timing In The Way It Was Submitted, Judges Are Human Beings, They Would Certainly Raise An Eyebrow, It's A Fifty-Fifty Call. Mayor Arview Stated With More Time, Would You Have A Better Idea? The City Attorney Stated No, I Think That Would Be The End Result. My Recommendation Is Pay The Initial Amount And Then See What Happens. If They Decide To Do Something About It, Change Positions, Or Negotiate It. It's Not Common For Law Firms To Do This, I Will Put It That Way. To Send A Bill And Then Say Oops We Missed $10,000 Worth Of Charges In The Last Two Months. It's Hard To Believe. Commissioner Warren Stated Was There An Itemized List Of Oopsies? Mayor Arview Stated Yes. Commissioner Howard Stated So Just Withhold Payment And See What He Does? The City Attorney Stated I Would Pay The Undisputed Amount, The Initial Amount. I Can Send A Letter About These Concerns About These Other Amounts And We Are Not Going To Pay Them Until You Provide More Information To Support Those Charges Or Explain How They Were Missed. Mayor Arview Stated We Need A Motion To Separate Item A From The Consent Agenda. Commissioner Harkins Made A Motion For Approval, Seconded By Commissioner Warren. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Arview Voted To Approve. Motion Carried.

Mayor Arview Stated We Need To Amend That Motion Of Approval To Pay Bills In The Amount Of $195,235.10 To $184,755.60. That Would Exclude Drew's $10,479.50. Commissioner Howard Made A Motion For Approval, Seconded By Commissioner Stanley. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Arview Voted To Approve. Motion Carried.

Mayor Arview Stated Now We Have The Consent Agenda; We Have The Two Remaining Items. If There Are No Changes To Those Or If We Need To Separate Those. We Need A Motion To Approve The Consent Agenda. Commission Warren Stated I Make A Motion To Approve The Consent Agenda. Commissioner Warren Made A Motion For Approval, Seconded By Commissioner Harkins. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Arview Voted To Approve. Motion Carried.

17. Building And Sign Permits ~ Codes Officer Snell Stated We Have Three Permits Today. The First Permit Is For A Garage Going Up At 301 W. 7th Street. They Meet All Of Our Setbacks And They Are Going To Build It Themselves. Meets All Of Our Ordinance And Requirements, I Recommend We Get This Approved. Commissioner Harkins Made A Motion For Approval, Seconded By Commissioner Howard. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Arview Voted To Approve. Motion Carried. 

The Next Permit Is A Demolition Permit For B&J Construction At 605 N. Madison St. For Demolition Of The House. I Recommend We Approve That Demolition Permit. Commissioner Howard Made A Motion For Approval, Seconded By Commissioner Stanley. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Arview Voted To Approve. Motion Carried.

The Next Permit Is For 207 N. Douglas St. For A Solar Permit. I Recommend We Go Ahead And 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.

18. Mayors Report~ Mayor Arview Stated I Don't Know What It Is Sounding Like On The Stream, The Microphone Is Going To The Speaker And My Phone Picks Up The Audio Too And It Sometimes Creates An Echo. We Had Sinc Out Here Today, We Are Hooked Up To Cameras And It's Ready To Go. We Just Didn't Have Enough Time To Test It And Get It All Going. By Next Meeting We Should Be On The New System. There Should Be No Audio Problems. I Am Excited About That.

Commissioner Reports~ 

Commissioner Harkins Stated One Of My Firemen Are Back, Gaston. He Is Doing Okay. Any Update On Jason Yunker? Deputy Police Chief Willis Stated He Will Be Off At Least Another Week. Commissioner Harkins Stated Any Update On Our Body Cameras? Deputy Police Chief Willis Stated The Cameras Are Up And Working, We Are Still Working On The Redaction Part. That Is Between Motorola, And I Need To Speak To Chief Prudent Because I Know He Had Been In Contact With Them If There Is Anything I Need Do To Speed This Process Up. Commissioner Harkins Stated Estimated Time Of Arrival Of Using Them? Deputy Police Chief Willis Stated First Of The Year It Becomes Mandatory.

Commissioner Howard Stated There Is A Treasures Report, If Anyone Is Interested In Seeing That It Can Be Provided By Our City Clerk Or City Treasure. I Finally Found Out What The Holdup Is On The Audit. Our Treasurer Is Working On That Diligently. We Should Have In A Week Or So Everything So We Can Get That Finished Up.

Commissioner Stanley Stated Mike Bonner Is Home In Bed He Was Up All Night With That Rain. Had All The Guys Working With The Backup Of Water And Had A Little Issue With The Backhoe. We Are Down A Backhoe Right Now So We Will Be Investigating What We Need To Do To Get It Replaced. I Think The Guys Did A Great Job; They Worked Their Butts Off All Night. I Am Proud Of Them.

Commissioner Warren Stated I Am The Building And Grounds But We Didn't Have Anything To Do With It. The Mad Pricer Is Coming Down, It's In Progress. Recently The Mayor And I Discussed Forming An Official Lake Committee To Help Deal With Issues At Both, The New And The Old Lakes. We Already Have An Informal Group Of Lake Residents That Come To Monthly Meetings To Enlighten Us On Any Issues That Need Addressed. We Meet Monthly And They Are Very Helpful. Due To Several Serious Issues And Events At The Old Lake We Need To Review Our Management Of These Lakes. We Need To Review And Possibly Update The Ordinances. This Update And Review Will Clarify Our Duties Of The Codes Officer. A City Lake Board Would Also Be Able To Clarify Rules For Hunting. I Know Deer Hunting Season Is Coming Soon. The Duck Hunters Have A Lottery; I Am Just Wondering With This Committee We Could Talk About Proposing A Deer Hunting Lottery At The Lakes. Also, Would Like To Suggest It Be Archery Only Because There Are Residents Close To The Property And Bullets Fly. I Think It Is A Good Idea To Look Into This And Have A Committee. Also, Out Here At The City Dump Site, That Will Be Closed To The Public. Completely Off Limits. That Is A Police Firing Range And It's City Property. We Do Not Want Anybody On That Property Until We Decided Exactly What We Are Going To Do. We've Had Some People Wanting To Do Things Out There And We Just Can't Allow It Right Now. We Need To Keep The Police Safe Right Now. They Do Not Need Bullets Or Arrows Flying At Them. You Cannot Get On Any Property Owned At The City Dump Site And The Firing Range North Of Town. It Is Against The Law. We Have To Take Care Of Some Serious Issues That We Have Had With Some People And Keep Everyone Safe. This Is Until Further Notice.

19. Audience Comments:

Mayor Arview Stated I Will Remind Everyone You Have Five Minutes And Not To Go Back And Forth. State What You Need To Say And Then Let The Next Person Have Their Turn. If You're In Any Way Considered Out Of Order, We Can Stop You. Danny Loeh Stated This Is Just A Small Example Of What Has Been Brought To The Military Museum. This Is A Purple Heart From World War I. Vernell Stacey Was His Name. He Didn't Get It Until 1936. He Passed Away In 1952 At The V.A. Hospital. These Are The Kind Of Things We Are Trying To Conserve And Take Care Of. It Is Very Important To Me. I Spend A Lot Of Time At The Museum. I Have Been Working With School Kids, I Met With East Central High On Tuesday Or Wednesday. I Still Plan On Meeting With Other Schools Including Benton. If I Can Get Marion Involved, I Am Going To Work With Marion Too. We Have So Much History There, You Have All Heard Me Every Time I Am Up Here. We Are Losing Our History. People, We Are Losing It. If It Wasn't For Some People, There Are Several Articles We Wouldn't Have. I Cannot Preach Enough How Important This Is. Things Are Looking Good At The Museum. Our Doughboy Was Fixed. 773 Is Coming Back Later This Fall To Paint And Sand Blast The Walls Of The Monument. We Will Be As Good As Washington. We Have New Sidewalks Thanks To Roger And His Crew. We Have Four Thousand Items In There And I Had More Brought In To Me Today. It Is Unbelievable. Tina Rose Was In The Audience And Stated Your Attorney Has Given Me A Notice That Says Two Different Things. It Says I Am Not To Make Any Changes Or Corrections And I Am To Make Changes And Corrections. Which Negates Both Situations. The Permit That I Put In Was Simply To Correct The Situation. He Did Not Present It Tonight Nor Did He Give Me My Refund. How Am I Supposed To Keep In My German Shepard? How Am I Supposed To Correct What You're Asking Me To Correct In This Letter, If You Revoked The Permit And Haven't Agreed To The New One? The City Attorney Stated Just For The Council Benefit, Ms. Rose Recently Filed A Motion. In The Lawsuit She Filed It Discusses The Fence Issue. I Am Advising The Council Not To Make Any Statements In Response To Her Statements Just In Order To Inadvertently Binding The City And Making The City Liable. We Are Still Waiting To Hear From The Insurance Company As To What They Are Going To Do With The Case. Tina Rose Stated I Understand Your Perspective As Their Attorney But You Also Told Me In This Letter To Make Those Corrections But I Don't Have The Permit To Make Those Corrections. That Is What The New Permit Is About; To Make The Corrections You Asked Me To Make. I Am Going To Feel Like This Is A Retaliation. The City Attorney Stated I Do Not Grant Permits. Tina Rose Stated This Guy Here, I Have Applied Correctly The Way The City Asks You Send In Your Drawing. The Only Reason Why It Is Over On That One Side, Because I Had Spoken With The One Neighbor And He Told Me It Was Okay To Hook On To His Fence. That Drawing Was On The Original Permit. I Found Out Later, After We Started Building It, He Is Not The Landlord. He Is Renting, I Thought He Was The Home Owner And He Gave Us His Permission. We Immediately Stopped. The Mesh Is There To Protect That Man's House While I Am Putting That Wood Part There. There Is Nothing That Has Been Incorrect Except That One Section And That Was Because Of A Misunderstanding With The Neighbor. I Still Need To Enclose An Area For My Dogs Or I Am Going To Feel Like The City Is Liable If My Dogs Get Out And God Forbid, Jump On The Two-Year-Old Next Door. These Are Canine Retired German Shepards. The City Attorney Stated I Don't Mean To Be Difficult Ma'am; I Advised The Council Not To Speak. Tina Rose Stated I Understand That But At Some Point, There Has Got To Be Somebody That Is Responsible For Saying Okay Go Fix Your Fence. The City Attorney Stated Can I Finish My Sentence, Please? I Am Going To Give You Some Free Legal Advice. Number One You Just Admitted Two Different Ways Your Fence Violated The Permit. Then You Said The City Might Be Liable If Your Dogs Get Out. You Will Be Liable If Your Dogs Get Out. Please Take Whatever Precautions You Can. Tina Rose Stated The Mesh Thing Is Temporary. We Are Still In The Process Of Building The Fence. I Wanted To Protect That Man's Siding, We Put That There Temporarily While We Are Building. That Is Not An Incorrect Thing. The Only Thing That Was Incorrect On My Drawing Is The Adjoining Of The Fence From A Misunderstanding With The Neighbor Who Said He Owned It, But He Does Not. The Renter Does Not Have A Problem With Me Joining Up. At Some Point The City Will Have To Take Responsibility For All The Things Going On In My Neighborhood. The Things Going On In My Neighborhood Are Not My Fence. If I Am Legally Responsible To Maintain My Dogs In A Confined Space, Then I Have To Build That Confined Space.

20. 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) At 6:45 P.M. Commissioner Harkins Made A Motion For Approval, Seconded By Commissioner Howard. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Arview Voted To Approve. Motion Carried.

The Mayor Stated We Will Not Be Making Any Decisions After Executive Session. You Are Free To Leave.

The City Attorney Stated Whether You Get The Appraisal Before Or After, It Doesn't Really Matter. At Some Point You Do Need To Get That Property Appraised, Then You Will Get A Number. If It's Worth One Hundred Thousand Dollars And Then You Can Only Sell It For At Least Eighty Percent Of The Appraised Value. You Can Sell It Any Way You Want At That Point. You Can Hire A Realtor And Pay Them A Commission As Long As You Get At Least Eighty Percent. That Is One Method. The Other Method Would Be To Publish A Notice In The Newspaper Once A Week, For Three Consecutive Weeks. Each Notice Will Say We Are Selling This Piece Of Property, You Can Put A Minimum Bid In There If You Want To. Buyers Have To Submit Sealed Bids. The Sealed Bids Will Be Opened During A City Council Meeting In Front Of The Public. You Will Announce The Highest Bidder And You Approve It By An Ordinance. Commissioner Howard Stated Is That A Resolution? The City Attorney Stated That Is An Ordinance But You Can Do A Resolution To Say These Are Surplus Properties When You're Going To Get An Appraisal. The Expenses Of It Can Work Two Different Ways, The Cost Of Publication Has Become So High That If You Go The Other Method Of Publishing Three Times, You Would Probably Be Spending Five Hundred Dollars On The Publication Fee For The Newspaper. Then Your Meeting Might Last A Little Longer Because You Are Opening Bids. Sometimes I Put In The Notice, Bidders Can Show Up And Competitively Raise Their Bids During The Meeting. You Could Have Two People In A Bidding War, Never Seen It Happen But It's Possible. You Have A Significant Expenses That Way With Publication. The Other Thing, If You Are Doing These Properties Where It Has Been Demolished And You're Paying For An Appraisal. They Are About Five Hundred Dollars For A Cheap Little Residential Property. If You Could Package Them Together And Have An Appraiser Do Five Properties At Once. I Am Sure You Would Save Money Because The Appraiser Might Not Charge You Much More, It Might Be Better To Do It That Way. The Flip Side Of That Coin Is That Smaller Towns That I Represent, When They Sell These Vacant Lots, Sometimes The High Bid Is Two To Three Hundred Dollars. Sometimes They Put A Minimum Bid Of Five Hundred Or Minimum Bid Thousand Dollars, Sometimes You Will Get One For Five Hundred And One Dollar. That Might Be Your Winning Bid. It Is A Pain In The Butt To Jump Through These Hoops But It's In The Statue So You Don't Have A Choice. Hanging On To The Property Is Bad Too, You May End Up Paying Property Tax. When You Sell Them, Even If It's For Very Cheap, They Are Going To Be Taxed In The Future And You Get A Small Piece Of Property Tax. The City Clerk Stated We Have Ten On The List Right Now, Besides The Two We Added Tonight. Commissioner Howard Stated We Have  Had Some Trouble With Some Getting Some Of Them Sold. Nobody Wants Them. The City Attorney Stated Some Towns Will Wait Until One Of The Neighbors Might Say I'll Go Ahead And Buy To Have A Bigger Yard. With Franklin County, We Have Had Some Issues There At The Treasurer's Office. They Are The Ones Who Have To Prove When We Send The Form That Says You Should Not Be Taxing The City For This Piece Of Real Estate. Most Of The Time They Will Zero Out The Tax Bill. You Don't Pay The Taxes But You Are Paying My Office To Do The Work To Reach Out To Them. There Are Certainforms That We Have To Fill Out. The City Clerk Stated We Were Doing That; We Were Taking The Pictures Of Before And After. The City Attorney Stated You Can Do Them Yourselves. The Best Thing To Do Is Sell Them As Quickly As Possible. If You Can't Find Anybody To Buy, You Could Say A Minimum Bid Of A One Hundred Dollars To Get Buyers That Way. Commissioner Howard Stated If We Do The Second Way You Talked About, We Don't Have To Do The Eighty Percent. The City Attorney Stated Correct. You Don't Have To Get An Appraisal At All. The Fee You Would Be Paying Would Be The Cost Of The Appraisal Or The Cost Of The Publication. Royalton Didn't Have A Lot Of Money And They Didn't Want To Spend The Money To Tear Down A Building So Their Notice Said Minimum Bid For Twenty Dollars And You Have To Tear Down The Building. You Have To Get The Owner To Give You A Deed In That Case. Mayor Arview Stated There Is No Alternative With The Notification Like On A Website? It Has To Be In The Newspaper? The City Attorney Stated It's Not Good Enough, Anyone In The County. The Franklin County Gazette Or The Southern, Those Are Your Two Options. Commissioner Howard Stated The Southern, I Think It Is Printed Somewhere In The Metro East Now, They Don't Print In Carbondale Any More. The City Attorney Stated I Don't Think They Printed It At All. That Is A Good Question, I Don't Know If That Counts. The Statute States The Newspaper Circulated In Your County. They Need To Update The Statutes And These Publications. Commissioner Stanley Stated At One Time, If Someone Wanted To Build A House On It, We Would Give Them Property. The City Attorney Stated You Could Put In Your Notice That The Minimum Bid Is Zero Dollars But You Agree To Build A House On It. The Problem Is, Are You Going To Sue Someone For Not Being Able To Get A Mortgage On It. It's Kind Of Hard To Enforce.

21. The Next Item Was Approval To Return To Open Session At 7:27 P.M. Commissioner Howard Made A Motion For Approval, Seconded By Commissioner Harkins. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Arview Voted To Approve. Motion Carried.

Mayor Arview Stated Do We Want To Do These Individually Or All Together? The City Attorney Stated You Can Do Them All Together. The Other Thing I Meant To Ask In There, That's Probably Within The Annual Appropriations Expenses. It Doesn't Even Have To Be An Emergency Purchase, The Motion Could Be Both, To Pay These Invoices Which Are Part Of The Prior Appropriations But Pay Them On An Emergency Basis. Mayor Arview Stated I Will Read These Amounts For The Commissioners They Are $4,533, $14,158.00, And $14,818. Commissioner Howard Stated Two Of Them Are For The Squad Cars And The Other One Is For Tuition For Training. Mayor Arview Stated The $14,818. 00 Is For The Tuition. Do I Have A Motion To Approve These Emergency Purchases? Commissioner Harkins Made A Motion For Approval, Seconded By Commissioner Stanley. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Arview Voted To Approve. Motion Carried.

22. With No Further Business To Be Discussed, The Meeting Was Adjourned On A Motion By Commissioner Harkins At 7:37 P.M.

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