North Egypt News

City of West Frankfort City Council met Oct. 8.

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 October 8th, 2024. Mayor Arview Stated I Entertain A Motion To Approve The Agenda For This Meeting. Commissioner Harkins Made A Motion For Approval, Seconded By Commissioner Warren. 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 24th, 2024 Regular Council Meeting. Commissioner Stanley Made A Motion To Approve, Seconded By Commissioner Howard. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Arview Voted To Approve. Motion Carried.

4. The Next Item Was Discussion, With Possible Action, For Approval Of An Application For A Liquor License. Mayor Arview Stated This Is A New Individual Who Purchased Nifty Swifty. We Can't Transfer A Liquor License. We Can Operate On The Assumption That It Is This Individual Named Harjinder Singh That Is Going To Be Managing The Store. If We Find Out Later That It Is Different, We Can Always Revoke It And Then Have Them Reapply Under A Different Name. Commissioner Howard Made A Motion To Approve, Seconded By Commissioner Stanley. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners Voted To Approve Except Commissioner Warren And Mayor Arview. Motion Carried.

5. The Next Item Was Discussion, With Possible Action, Regarding Setting The Dates And Times For The Trail Of Treats And For Trick Or Treating. Mayor Arview Stated It Will Be Thursday, October 31st, 2024 From 3:00 P.M. -5:00 P.M. For The Trail Of Treats And Trick Or Treating Will Follow From 5:00p.M. – 8:00 P.M. Commissioner Warren Made A Motion To Approve, Seconded By Commissioner Stanley. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Arview Voted To Approve. Motion Carried. 

6. The Next Item Was Discussion, With Possible Action, Regarding Approval For The Franklin County Edge Program To Hold Fright Night Flicks Drive In Movie On The W.F. Mall Grounds November 2nd & November 3rd, 2024 Mayor Arview Stated This Is A Fund Raiser For The Edge Program Which Is A School Program For Young Entrepreneurs. They Are Planning To Play It Against The Building Of The Mall. They Will Park Facing North. They Will Have Their Own Porta Potties And The Insurance To Cover It. I Think It Is A Great Idea. I Entertain A Motion To Approve That. Commissioner Harkins 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 To Accept A Proposal For Coverage From Gallagher & Basset Regarding Cyber Insurance For The City Of West Frankfort, Effective December 1st, 2024 To November 30th, 2025. Mayor Arview Stated The Cost Is $6,543.00. Commissioner Howard Stated Is This A Renewal? Mayor Arview Stated Yes. Commissioner Howard Made The 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 Establishing A Public Works Department. Mayor Arview Stated There Was A Resolution Passed By The City Council In 2012 Requesting A Move Toward The Creation Of A Public Works Department. They Were Looking To Possibly Eliminate The Three Departments And Incorporating Them All Into One Department. The Ordinance Would Create A Supervisory Department. The Street, Water, And Sewer Would Still Exist. Their Union Contracts Are Still Valid, Nothing Changes There. They Would Just Be Under The Umbrella Of Public Works Department. This Is Just Formalizing It As A Department. The City Attorney Stated The Ordinance Had Some Inconsistencies Regarding Who Is In Charge Of Appointing The Three Superintendents, This Clarifies That It Is The City Council. Mayor Arview Stated I Feel Like The Appointing Of The Department Heads Should Be A Council Decision, Not Just One Person. Commissioner Howard Made A Motion To Approve, Seconded By Commissioner Stanley. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Arview Voted To Approve. Motion Carried.

9. The Next Item Was Approval Of An Ordinance Establishing No Hunting On Any City Owned Property Except As Authorized By Ordinance. Mayor Arview Stated We Have An Ordinance That Allows Duck And Goose Hunting At The Old Lake. Nothing Else In Our Ordinances Allows For Hunting On City Property. We Do Have Issues With Public Safety That Have Been Brought To Our Attention. This Will Put Into Our Ordinance That Unless We Have An Ordinance Allowing For Hunting On City Owned Property, It Will Not Be Allowed. This Does Allow For Us To Create An Ordinance To Allow Hunting In A Limited Capacity Or However We Decide To Do 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.

10. The Next Item Was Approval Of An Ordinance Establishing That No UTV/SXS Trail Riding On City Owned Property. Mayor Arview Stated Some People Are Out There All Hours Of The Night. Trash Being Thrown Out And Things Are Getting Torn Up. We Have To Nip That In The Bud. We Have To Make A Stand And Say No UTVS Or Side By Sides On City Owned Property. People Are Allowed To Go Out There To Fish As Long As They Have Their Sticker But We Will Not Be Able To Allow Trail Riding. Commissioner Harkins 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 Approval To Accept A Quote Received From Dukes In The Amount Of $11,506.92 Regarding Foaming Root Control For The Sewer Department. Commissioner Stanley 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 For Payment Of An Invoice From Fleet-Fab In The Amount Of $3,674.29 For Emergency Lighting And Siren Package For The New Brush Truck For The West Frankfort Fire Department. Commissioner Harkins Made A

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

13. The Next Item Was Approval Of Design Engineering Invoice #5 From Brown & Roberts, Inc In The Amount Of $5,400.89 For The Downtown Streetscape Project, Section 18-00060-00-Sw 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 The Consent Agenda:

The City Attorney Stated I Sent A Letter To Mr. Drew Like We Discussed At The Last Meeting. He Did Respond And Said To Check With Miss Renik Because She Did The Billing For It. I Spoke With Her. We All Here Misread The Bill, We Thought It Was $10,000 In New Charges But It Was Only About $2,069.00. It Said New Charges Because It Was Including The Recent Month. At This Point I Recommend You Pay It. Commissioner Howard State I Make A Motion To Amend Item 13-B To Say $10,479.50. Commissioner Howard Made A Motion To Approve, Seconded By Commissioner Warren. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Arview Voted To Approve. Motion Carried

A. Approval To Pay Bills In The Amount Of $209,441.37 

B. Approval To Pay Of An Invoice Drew Law Group In The Amount Of $10,479.50 For August Billing Of The Law Office.

C. Approval To Pay Invoice From Johnson Controls Security Solutions In The Amount Of $1,843.29 Regarding Quarterly Fire & Security At The West Frankfort Mall. Commissioner Warren Made A Motion To Approve, Seconded By Commissioner Howard. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Arview Voted To Approve. Motion Carried

15. Officer's Report ~

Fire Report For The Month Of September 2024. Chief Sailliez Reported That They Had 163-Ambulance Calls, 13-Rubbish/Illegal Fires, 1-Brush/Field Fires, 1-Motor Vehicle Accidents, 8-Fire Alarms, 8-Vehicle Fires, 8 - Fire Emergencies; (Gas Leaks, Power Lines Down, Etc.), 3- Structure Fires, 0-Smoke Scares, 2-Mutual Aid Fire Responses, 1-Mutual Aid Ambulance, 2-Ambulance Calls Turned Over To Mutual Aid. For A Total Of 202 Calls During The Month. The Department Used Approximately 122,000 Gallons Of Water. The Department Collected $44,525.73 For September Ambulance Calls.

Police Report For The Month Of September 2024. Chief Prudent Reported Officers Answered A Total Of 1,443 Calls For Service. Of Those Calls 27 Were Traffic Accidents, 1 With Injuries. Officers Responded To 19 Domestic Disputes, 6 Fights In Progress, 12 Alarms, 3 Intoxicated Persons, 10 Burglaries, 16 Reports Of Criminal Damage To Property, 23 Complaints Of Juvenile Problems, 32 Reported Thefts, And 48 Complaints Of Disorderly Conduct/Disturbances. And Officers Made 20 Street Contacts. Officers Conducted 242 Traffic Stops, Where They Issued 58 Citations, 188 Warnings, And 11 Lw-27's. There Were 60 Adult Arrests Made And 3 Juvenile Arrests, Resulting In 87 Criminal Charges Filed.

Dispatchers Answered 1,778 Calls.

Of Those, 538 Were 9-1-1 Calls, 140 Were Walk In Requests. 1,443 Were For Police, 161 Were For West Frankfort Fire, 7 Were For Abbot Ems, And 3 For United Ambulance. For The Month Of September, We Collected $2,080.00 In Fines And Fees.

16. Mayors Report~ The Mayor Stated IDOT Closed The Exit Ramp Starting Yesterday For Five Days. Some People Complained There Wasn't Signage To Let Them Know. I Just Want To Clarify That Is Not The City. That Is IDOT. We Do Not Have Control Of That, We Are Just Subject To Their Control Of The Project. October 12th, 2024 Is When It Should Open Back Up.

Commissioner Reports~ 

Commissioner Harkins Stated Fire And Police Department Are Doing A Good Job. 

Commissioner Howard Stated I Think We Are On Track. We Received An Email From The Auditors Saying They Are Moving Forward. Just To Let You Know, Through The Month Of July We Have Spent $150,000 More Than We Have Taken In, In The General Fund.

Commissioner Stanley Stated The Water Boys Are Keeping Busy. Mike Is Back On Sidewalks And Michael Has The Sewer Department. Everyone Is Busy And Doing Their Stuff.

Commissioner Warren Stated Mad Pricer Is Down. That Is A Change. During The Last Rains, We Had A Couple Of Issues. Some Were Leaking But Not Too Bad. My Problem Really Is The Lake. I Am Sorry It Has Come To This But It Is For The Good Of Everybody. We Do Have An Inspection Of The Damn This Week Too.

Audience Comments:

Ryan Ridgeway Stated I Own Property That Butts Up To The Old Lake. I Have Hunted There For Thirty Years. I Understand You Have To Make Rules For The Hunting And I Complied. I Did Have One Deer Stand Out There On The Property And I Took It Down. Last Night I Heard They Are Taking Deer Stands First Thing In The Morning. I Heard Them Down There And My Other Deer Stand Was Taken. This Stand Is Close To The Property Line. My GPS Show It's On My Property And Thads Showed It's On Yours. That Should Tell You Right There If It's That Close To The Property Line, You Shouldn't Have Messed With My Deer Stand. I Complied. You Have My Number; I Have A Business In West Frankfort. Everyone Knows Who I Am. You Have A Meeting Tonight About Approving The Ordinance But Then You Take Deer Stands Down This Morning, Yesterday, Or Before? Do You Think That Was Right? Could We Have Had This Meeting And Then Gave People A Couple Weeks' Notice Instead Of Taking Everything Down. Maybe There Was A Better Way To Go About That. I Got My Stand Out Of The Back Of Thad's Truck But Broke. The Bolts Are Taken Out Of It But He Gave It Back. Now What? Maybe Take More Caution About Taking Stuff Down That Is Close To An Edge Line. I Am Putting My Stand Back Up And Taking The No Trespassing Signs Down On My Property.

Justin Bower Stated I've Been Hunting The Lake For Thirty Years Out There Too. I Heard Rumors About This Change Happening But I Never Seen Anything Officially Announced. I Was Hesitant In Taking My Stands And Cameras Down. I Did Reach Out; I Left A Message Trying To Confirm. I Found Out At 9:00 P.M. Last Night From Someone That Is Not Affiliated With The City That They Were Taking Deer Stands Down. I Do Work For A Living; I Took Half The Day Off To Get My Stands Down Only To Find Out That Three Deer Stands And One 

Camera Are Missing. A Camera That Was On A Property Line With A Farmer. My Question Is, How Do I Get My Personal Property Back? Up Until This Ordinance Was Passed It Was Allowed To Hunt Out There To My Understanding. There Are Not Any Trespassing Signs Posted. No Official Announcement That Stands Were Being Taken Down. I Tried To Meet Up With Thad. I Left A Note On His Truck With My Number To Please Call Me. I Think This Was Handled Poorly. I Hope You Can Rectify It. I Understand The Safety Concerns.

The Time Line Could Have Been Much Better.

Mayor Arview Stated That Is In The Ordinance Regarding Collecting The Public Property. You Can Speak With Thad About It After The Meeting. 

Loren Collins Stated I Spoke With Mike Bonner About Two Weeks Ago Getting Riprap For Along The Big Ditch, By 201- 203 West 7th Street. We Have Some Wash Away From Time To Time. This Last Rain Took Off Three To Three And A Half Feet Of Our Neighbor's Property And It Is About A Foot Away From The Fence I Put In. There Is About Three And A Half Loads There, You Are Welcome To It To Finish Out That Side.

Mayor Arview Stated I Want To Say Thank You To Everyone For Being Cordial. I Know These Are Sometimes Hot Topics. Commissioner Warren Stated Some Of Our People Knew About This But Have We Advertised Or Can We Advertise For It? Codes Officer Snell Stated It Has Always Been An Ordinance Of No Hunting At The Lake. The Ordinance That Was Passed Tonight Was To Add The Northern Property. We Are Clarifying All Of City Owned Property.

Kevin Yates Stated I Should Have The Right To Go There Just As Well As Anybody Else. A Lot Of People Go Out There Fishing And They Can't Get To Where They Are Going Because They Don't Have A Boat. They Use A Four-Wheeler.

Commissioner Warren Stated They Are Ruining It For You Guys. The Dangerous Things That Have Happened Recently Have Caused All Of This. Mayor Arview Stated Illinois Regulates Parks And Allows Hunting On Different Properties. You Can Go Swim At Sandusky Beach But You Can't Shoot A Gun Out There At People, You Can't Go Hunting Out There, And You Can't Put A Deer Stand Out There. There Are Limits Of What Public Property Means. That Doesn't Mean It Is Your Individual Property, You Can't Do Whatever You Want With It. It Means It Is Property That Is Supported By Public Taxes. Some People Will Take It To That Extreme, Some People Are Treating It Like It's Their Personal Property. Commissioner Warren Stated It's A Safety Thing. Mayor Arview Stated We Have The Lake Boared That People Can Come To. Most Of Them That Come To That Meeting Are The New Lake Residents But It Is Not Limited To That. Commissioner Warren Stated It Has Been Ever Third Thursday And We Only Get Lake Residents Coming. Mayor Arview Stated With This Lake Boared, It Would Be Like A City Council Meeting But It Will Be Just About The Lake Issues.

Then We Can Allow The Public To Bring Up Some Ideas For Solutions, We Hear A Lot Of The Problems But There Are Limited Solutions To The People Who Discuss It, Like Myself And Thad. Until We Can Come Up With A Permanent Solution, If We Have To Shut It Off. Once The City Becomes Aware Of A Problem Out There, We Have To Act. Otherwise, Someone Gets Sued And It's Going To Be Us. When We See Something On Facebook Doing Stuff They Are Not Supposed To Do At The Lake. You Cannot Condone That But At The Same Time, We Don't Know About It Then We Won't Be Able To Stop You. If Advertised It, Now It's An Issue That Needs To Be Addressed. I Don't Expect This To Be A Permanent Deal. But It Will Be There Until We Can Figure Out The Best Way To Deal With This.

17. 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) And 5 ILCS 120/2(C)(21). Mayor Arview Stated This Is To Discuss Employment, Purchase And Sale Of Property, Litigation And Closed Meeting Minutes. We Will Not Be Taking Any Action During Or Afterwards. At 6:49 P.M. Commissioner Harkins Made A Motion To Approve, Seconded By Commissioner Stanley. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Arview Voted To Approve. Motion Carried.

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

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

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

Adjourned On A Motion By Commissioner Harkins At 7:51 P.M.

https://core-docs.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/documents/asset/uploaded_file/4697/CWF/4967419/October_8__2024.pdf