North Egypt News

City Of West Frankfort City Council Met Dec. 10.

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. Approval To Make Changes Of The Agenda. The Mayor Stated We Do Have One Amendment To Make. It Is Item Number Four On The New Agenda. Approval Of A Resolution On The Appointment Of A City Treasurer. We Already Hired Her, And Said We Were Going To Appoint Her At This Meeting. I Need A Motion To Add This Item To The Agenda. Commissioner Howard Made A Motion To Approve, Seconded By Commissioner Stanley. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Arview Voted To Approve. Motion Carried.

3. Approval To The Agenda As Amended. Commissioner Harkins 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 The November 26, 2024 Regular Council Meeting. Commissioner Harkins Made A Motion To Approve, Seconded By Commissioner Howard. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Arview Voted To Approve. Motion Carried.

5. The Next Item Was Approval To Accept Bids And Award Projects For Demolition. The Mayor Stated The Properties Are 702 W. St Louis St. And 411 N Parkhill St. We Only Have One Bid For Each Of Those From Joplin Salvage. 702 W St. Louis Bid Was $5,500.00, 411 N Parkhill Bid Was $6,500.00. Do I Have A Motion To Approve Both Bids From Joplin 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.

6. The Next Item Was Approval Of A Resolution Of The Appointment Of City Treasurer. The Mayor Stated I Am Making The Appointment To Abra Phillips. She Has A Lot Of Experience In Non-Profit And Municipal Related Type Things. 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 Approval Of An Ordinance Authorizing An Amendment To Lease Agreement With Northland Hearing Centers, Inc. At The Wf Mall. The City Attorney Stated You Can Either Table This Item Or Skip It Over Entirely. They Had Sent Us A Letter Exercising Their Option To Extend It. They Would Send Us Some Language To Sign And Agree. The Mayor Stated We Will Table This Until Next Meeting.

This Item Was Tabled.

8. The Next Item Was Approval Of An Ordinance Creating A Zoning Variance For 506 N. Walnut Street, West Frankfort, Illinois. The Mayor Stated I Was At The Meeting With The Zoning Board Of Appeals, They Did Recommend A Variance For This Property. The Codes Officer Also Recommends. This Is For A Carport; The Set Back Wasn't Enough Off Of The Property. But With Talking With The Zoning Board, They Came To An Agreement: One Foot From The City Right Of Way. Also, With The Stipulation If She Moves The Carport Goes With Her. This Is Not A Permanent Variance. Commissioner Stanley Made The Motion To Approve, Seconded By Commissioner Warren. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Arview Voted To Approve. Motion Carried.

9. The Next Item Was Approval Of An Ordinance Making The Annual Tax Levy For The City Of West Frankfort, Illinois, For The Fiscal Year Commencing On The First Day Of May, 2024 And Ending On The Last Day Of April, 2025. The Mayor Stated We Did Have Some Changes, One Issue We Had Was We Have Less Money Than We Used To Have. Part Of That Is Because, Our Costs Have Gone Up, And We Haven’t Actually Increased The Tax Levy. It Is Not A Huge Increase; This Is What We Are Allowed To Do. It Will Offset A Lot Of The Expenses That We Have Had. This Will Be For The Up Coming Year. Commissioner Howard Made A Motion To Approve, Seconded By Commissioner Harkins. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Arview Voted To Approve. Motion Carried.

10. The Next Item Was Approval For The City Clerk To Use The Approved Records Disposal Certificate And Have The Company Stericycle Shred It To Destroy Old City Hall Files. The Mayor Stated We Have A Lot Of Old Files That We Need To Get Rid Of. This Company Will Come In And Shred Them For Us. Commissioner Stanley 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 Pay An Invoice From Locis In The Amount Of $10,648.00 Regarding License Support Agreement Membership. This Is The Software We Use For Our Computer System, Includes Utility Billing, Accounting, Payroll, Etc. 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 To Pay An Invoice From Dana Safety Supply, Inc. In The Amount Of $5,250.00 For New Cages For New Police Cars. 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 To Pay An Invoice From Rend Lake College In The Amount Of $3,725.00 For A Semester Of Paramedic Program For Zachary Worthen Of The Fire Department. Commissioner Harkins 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 Hire Lauterbach & Amen To Get Accounting Records Current From The Period Of May 2023, To May 2024 For The New Treasurer. The Mayor Stated I Do Want To Clarify, Lauterbach & Amen Are The Ones Who Does Our Audit. They Have A Separate Department, They Offered To Help Us Out Because We Had Some Issues With Some Of Our Accounting Files Trying To Get Everything Current. That Has Been Part Of The Delay On Our Audit In The Past. Through This Department That Is Not Connected They Are Able To Help Us To Get Things Current For The Next Audit. Instead Of Throwing This All On Our New Treasurer, They Offered To Help Us Out With That. Commissioner Howard Stated At This Point I Do Not Have Any Other Options. This Is Something I Feel Like We Have To Do. We Have Lost Grants And Things Because Things Not Being Right. We Need To Get It All Right. They Were Supposed To Send Me An Engagement Letter, Which I Haven’t Received Yet. At This Point We Don't Necessarily Have To Approve An Amount, Just Need To Approve To Hire. He Thinks It Is Somewhere Around Fifty Thousand To Get It All Up To Date For A Whole Year. 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. The Next Item Was Approval Of Contractor's Pay Estimate #2 To Haier Plumbing & Heating, Inc. In The Amount Of $154,687.50 For The West Frankfort - STP Effluent Disinfection. Matt Tosh Stated This Will Be From The EPA Loan Portion, That Has Both Fundings. It Has The DCO Grant And The IEPA. This Bill Here Will Be Requested From The IEPA Grant/Loan. Commissioner Stanley 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 Approval Of Construction Engineering Bill #2 From Brown & Roberts, Inc. In The Amount Of $13,323.22 For The West Frankfort - STP Effluent Disinfection. Mr. Tosh Stated This Is The Same Deal Like The Other Item. Commissioner Stanley Made A Motion To Approve, Seconded By Commissioner Howard. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Arview Voted To Approve. Motion Carried.

17. The Next Item Was The Consent Agenda:

A. Approval To Pay Bills In The Amount Of $367.287.65 B. Approval To Of An Invoice From Accumed Group In The Amount Of $3,176.80 For October Billing Service.

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. Building And Sign Permits ~ The Mayor Stated Our Codes Officer Is Not Here To Discuss This But, I Spoke With Him About These Permits He Recommends Approval On All Three. One Of The Permits Is Approval For The Building Permit For The Carport That We Just Approved The Variance For. We Will Approve All Of Them At Once.

Martha Innis-403 E. Elm Solar Permit

Marilyn Arnett-506 N. Walnut St. Building Permit

Danny Ramey- 1013 Michael Lane Building Permit.

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. Officer's Report ~ Fire Report For The Month Of November 2024. Chief Sailliez Reported That They Had 157-Ambulance Calls, 3- Rubbish/Illegal Fires, 1-Brush/Field Fires, 0-Motor Vehicle Accidents, 2-Fire Alarms, 0-Vehicle Fires, 10 - Fire Emergencies; (Gas Leaks, Power Lines Down, Etc.), 1- Structure Fires, 0-Smoke Scares, 2-Mutual Aid Fire Responses, 1-Mutual Aid Ambulance, 8-Ambulance Calls Turned Over To Mutual Aid. For A Total Of 185 Calls During The Month. The Department Used Approximately 10,000 Gallons Of Water. The Department Collected $104,285.35 For November Ambulance Calls.

Police Report For The Month Of November 2024. Deputy Chief Willis Reported Officers Answered A Total Of 1,201 Calls For Service. Of Those Calls 22 Were Traffic Accidents, 0 With Injuries. Officers Responded To 27 Domestic Disputes, 5 Fights In Progress, 16 Alarms, 2 Intoxicated Persons, 12 Burglaries, 14 Reports Of Criminal Damage To Property, 22 Complaints Of Juvenile Problems, 16 Reported Thefts, And 35 Complaints Of Disorderly Conduct/Disturbances. And Officers Made 1 Street Contacts. Officers Conducted 183 Traffic Stops, Where They Issued 64 Citations, 122 Warnings, And 21 Lw-27's. There Were 47 Adult Arrests Made And 8 Juvenile Arrest, Resulting In 56 Criminal Charges Filed.

Dispatchers Answered 1,488 Calls.

Of Those, 529 Were 9-1-1 Calls, 94 Were Walk In Requests. 1,201 Were For Police, 185 Were For West Frankfort Fire, 5 Were For Abbott Ems, And 2 For United Ambulance. For The Month Of November, We Collected $2,845.00 In Fines And Fees.

Codes Report For The Month Of November 2024. Codes Officer Snell Reported Permit: 5~Building Permits, 0~Sign Permits. 2~ Solar Permits. Rental Properties: 5~Rental Inspections Performed. Case Activity Report~ 15 Which Includes Doors Tagged Verbal Warnings, Vehicles Tagged, Inspections Of Violations, Inspections, Citations Issued, Letters Sent, Etc.

20. Mayors Report-

The Mayor Stated Candy Cane Is Opened, Make Sure To Drive Through It. I Want To Wish Everyone A Merry Christmas. Business Registrations Are Due December 31st 2024. Ten Dollars A Year To Renew.

Commissioner Reports~

Commissioner Harkins Stated Both Departments Are Doing Good.

Commissioner Howard Stated I Am Very Excited To Have Our New Treasurer. I Am Disappointed We Have To Spend A Bunch Of Money To Get Our Records Up To Date. I Wish We Did Not Have To Do That, But I Do Not Have Any Other Option.

Commissioner Stanley- The Sewer Superintendent Stated The Construction At The Plant Is Going To Be Done At The End Of This Month, Then The Next Step In The Process Will Start. The Water Superintendent Stated We Had A Strike On A Water Line Last Thursday, A Boaring Company Hit A Line. We Got It Fixed. The Street Superintendent Stated The Guys Have Been Busy Making Sure The Christmas Lights Are Working For The Parade, And Busy Doing Daily Things.

Commissioner Warren Did Not Have Anything To Report.

Audience Comments:

No Audience Comments.

21.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), 5 ILCS 120/2 (C)(11) And 5 ILCS 120/2 (C)(21). The Mayor Stated They Will Not Be Making Any Decisions During Or Afterwards. At 6:26 P.M. Commissioner Howard Made A Motion To Approve, Seconded By Commissioner Stanley. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Arview Voted To Approve. Motion Carried.

22. The Next Item Was Approval Of A Motion To Return To Open Session At 7:32 P.M. Where No Action Was Taken.

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

23. With No Further Business To Be Discussed, The Meeting Was Adjourned On A Motion By Commissioner Harkins At 7:32 P.M.

https://core-docs.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/documents/asset/uploaded_file/4697/CWF/5144377/December_10__2024.pdf