North Egypt News

City of West Frankfort City Council met Jan. 14.

Here is the agenda 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 Of The Agenda. The Mayor Stated We Do Have Two Items To Amend. Consent Agenda Item C Should Be May 2022 To May 2024. Also, We Need To Add Item E, Our Codes Officer Asked To Add Something We Need To Do Right Away. Approval To Advertise For Bids For Demolition At 714 E. 8th St. I Would Entertain A Motion To Amend The Agenda With Those Two Items. Commissioner Howard Made A Motion To Approve, Seconded By Commissioner Harkins. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Arview Voted To Approve. Motion Carried.

3. The Next Item Was Approval Of The Agenda As Amended. Commissioner Warren Made A Motion To Approve, Seconded By Commissioner Stanley. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Arview Voted To Approve. Motion Carried.

4. The Next Item Was Approval Of The Minutes From The December 26, 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.

5. The Next Item Was Approval Of A Resolution To Approve The Hiring Of Two Firefighters For The West Frankfort Fire Department. The Mayor Stated They Were Already Hired; This Is The Resolution Indicating That. Commissioner Harkins Made A Motion To Approve, Seconded By Commissioner Howard. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Arview Voted To Approve. Motion Carried.

6. The Next Item Was Approval To Pay Invoice From Ray O'herron In The Amount Of $6,247.37 Regarding The Purchase Of Six Body Armor Vests And Six Vest Carriers For The Police Department. Commissioner Harkins Made The 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 The 2025 Mft Local Public Agency General Maintenance Estimate Of Maintenance Costs In The Amount Of $50,618.00. Commissioner Howard Made A Motion To Approve, Seconded By Commissioner Stanley. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Arview Voted To Approve. Motion Carried.

8. The Next Item Was Approval Of A Resolution For Maintenance Under The Illinois Highway Code Regarding The 2025 Mft Program In The Amount Of $60,000.00. Commissioner Stanley Made A 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 The 2025 Mft Maintenance Engineering Agreement. Commissioner Howard 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 The Phase Ii 1-57 At Il149 Interchange Engineering Service Agreement. The Mayor Asked Mr. Roberts To Mention How Things Are Going On The Project, Because I Know The Roundabouts Are Done And All Of That Sort Of Thing. Mike Roberts Stated The Round Abouts Are Really Not Our Project. Phase I Engineering Is Complete, Phase Ii Is The Next Step. It Will Probably Be An Eighteen To Twenty-Four Month Process To Get That Done. This Approves That Your Local Manages Rebuild Illinois Money. You Have That Local Money In Place That Is Eighty Percent Federal Funded And Twenty Percent Local Match Commissioner Warren Stated I Was Wondering About The Water Run Off, They Were Talking About They Were Not Going To Be Making Changes In The Runoff Six Hundred And Twenty Seven Feet South Of North Road, I-57 Runs Off Down Into That Big Ditch There. A Representative From Lochmueller Stated Basically What We Did There Was That The Drainage Design Has Been Set From The Phase I. They Did A Preliminary Design To Determine Where The Water Is Supposed To Go. The Detail In That Scope Was Reiterating What Was In Phase I Design Of Where Things Are Going To, What Is Going To Be Done, And What Is Not Included. Commissioner Warren Asked The Changes That Your Making Won't Add To The Water, Because It Does Flood There. The Representative Stated No That Is All Addressed In Phase I That IDOT Approved. Commissioner Warren Asked Is It Going To Be Like A Cul-De-Sac There Also? I Was Wondering How The People In Our Neighborhood Are Going To Be Able To Get In And Out. Mr. Roberts Stated Yes, There Will Be An Access Road. The Map Is Hanging Up Inside City Hall. Commissioner Howard Made A Motion To Approve, Seconded By Commissioner Stanley. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Arview Voted To Approve. Motion Carried.

11. The Next Item Was Approval Of Design Engineering Invoice #8 For The Downtown Streetscape Project, Section 18-00060-00-Sw. Commissioner Warren Made A Motion To Approve, Seconded By Commissioner Stanley. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Arview Voted To Approve. Motion Carried.

12. The Next Item Was The Consent Agenda:

A. Approval To Pay Bills In The Amount Of $957,118.11. 

B. Approval To Pay An Invoice From Lauterbach & Amen, LLP In The Amount Of $4,000.00 For April 30, 2023 — Progress Billing For Audit To Be Paid Out Of Police Pension Fund.

C. Discussion, With Possible Action, To Hire Locis To Get Accounting Records Current From The Period Of May 2022 To May 2024 For The New Treasurer.

D. Approval Of Addendum 6 To Update The Employee Handbook.

E. Approval To Advertise For Bids For Demolition At 714 E 8th St. 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. Building And Sign Permits ~ The Mayor Stated Thad Is Not Here Tonight To Explain, But He Did Not Indicate Any Issues With It.

Building Permit For A Garage For Gayle Stone At 402 E 6th St.

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

14. Officer's Report ~

Fire Report For The Month Of December 2024. Chief Sailliez Reported That They Had 201-Ambulance Calls, 4- Rubbish/Illegal Fires, 1-Brush/Field Fires, 4-Motor Vehicle Accidents, 4-Fire Alarms, 2-Vehicle Fires, 10 - Fire Emergencies; (Gas Leaks, Power Lines Down, Etc.), 1- Structure Fires, 0-Smoke Scares, 6-Mutual Aid Fire Responses, 6-Ambulance Calls Turned Over To Mutual Aid. For A Total Of 239 Calls During The Month. The Department Used Approximately 15,000 Gallons Of Water. The Department Collected $15,526.49 For December Ambulance Calls.

Accumed Merged With Another Company That Is Nation Wide For Our Ambulance Revenue And Billing Process. I Deposited Myself With Abra A Little Over $20,000.00 In The Last Week. The Numbers Will Be Skewed For A Couple Of Months With The Merger The Way The Payments Are Coming In To The City And Not Accumed. Fire Report For The Year Of 2024: 1962-Ambulance Calls, 225- Lift Assists, 35-Brush/Field Fires, 101- Illegal Burns, 15- Motor Vehicle Accidents, 47-Fire Alarms, 8-Vehicle Fires, 157- Fire Emergencies; (Gas Leaks, Power Lines Down, Etc.), 28- Structure Fires, 13-Smoke Scares, 125-Mutual Aid Fire Responses, 9-Misc. Category Fire Responses. For A Total Of 2,727 Calls During The Year Of 2024.The Department Collected $723,636.51 For The Year Of 2024.

Police Report For The Month Of December 2024. Deputy Chief Willis Reported Officers Answered A Total Of 1,198 Calls For Service. Of Those Calls 23 Were Traffic Accidents, 2 With Injuries. Officers Responded To 25 Domestic Disputes, 3 Fights In Progress, 26 Alarms, 3 Intoxicated Persons, 7 Burglaries, 7 Reports Of Criminal Damage To Property, 10 Complaints Of Juvenile Problems, 12 Reported Thefts, And 31 Complaints Of Disorderly Conduct/Disturbances. And Officers Made 9 Street Contacts. Officers Conducted 203 Traffic Stops, Where They Issued 48 Citations, 150 Warnings, And 13 Lw-27's. There Were 48 Adult Arrests Made And 2 Juvenile Arrest, Resulting In 60 Criminal Charges Filed. Dispatchers Answered 1,466 Calls. Of Those, 536 Were 9-1-1 Calls, 79 Were Walk In Requests. 1,198 Were For Police, 244 Were For West Frankfort Fire, 11 Were For Abbott Ems, And 2 For United Ambulance. For The Month Of December, We Collected $1,940.00 In Fines And Fees.

Police Report For The Year Of 2024: Officers Answered A Total Of 15,621 Calls For Service, Conducted A Total Of 2,423 Traffic Stops, Where They Issued 614 Total Citations, There Were A Total Of 738 Adult Arrests And 63 Juvenile Arrests.

Dispatchers Answered A Total Of 19,245 Calls. For The Year Of 2024 We Collected $32,115.40 In Fines And Fees.

Codes Report For The Month Of December 2024. Permits: 1-Building Permits, 0~Sign Permits. 5~ Solar Permits. Rental Properties: 15~Rental Inspections Performed. Case Activity Report ~ 34 Which Includes Doors Tagged Verbal Warnings, Vehicles Tagged, Inspections Of Violations, Inspections, Citations Issued, Letters Sent, Etc.

15. Mayors Report~ 

The Mayor Stated We Did Issue A Disaster Declaration For A Clean Up For The Storm. I Worked With Ryan Buckingham. This Allows Us To Be Able To Get County Resources To Help Clean Up Some Of This Stuff That Are Overwhelming Our City Workers. They Are Working Tirelessly; I Appreciate Everything Everybody Does That Works For The City. This Will Help Get Us Some Assistance. Also, As Part Of That We Have In Our Ordinances About Fires That You Can Not Burn/ Have Bonfires Unless It Is Allowed By Us. Part Of The Disaster Declaration, We Are Allowing That With A Reasonable Size. I Left That Up To Chief Saillez. Chief Stated What We Told Everybody On Our Facebook, It Depends On The Size Of Debris, We Still Are Not Going To Allow Two Foot Diameter Logs To Smolder For Two Weeks Or Anything Like That. We Will Be A Little Bit More Lenient On What Is Allowed To Burn. The Mayor Stated I Imagine The County Is Also Overwhelmed And Trying To Get To These As Fast As They Can. Ryan Wanted To Make Sure I Mentioned, This Is In No Way Saying We Should Have Responded Sooner Or Something Like That. What We Are Talking About Is The Clean Up. When The Snow And Ice Happen, Yes It Was An Inconvenience. It Wasn't Like A Tornado Or An Earthquake Type Situation. Power Down Is Terrible Especially When It Is Cold Out, Ect. But It Wasn't To The Point Where We Would Have To Have A Disaster Declared At The Time It Was Going On. In Order To Get The Assistance Of Mutal Aid For Clean

Up, We Had To Issue That Disaster Declaration.

Commissioner Reports~

Commissioner Harkins Stated You Heard The Reports From The Fire And Police, For A Town Our Size We Had A Busy Year. They Have Done A Great Job.

Commissioner Howard Stated Part Of Our Consent Agenda Was, We Made Arrangements With Our Software Company To Come In And Help Us Get The Books Completely Straightened Out. That Is Going To Start Immediately. Our New Treasurer Is Working Hard On Getting Stuff Straightened Out Also.

Commissioner Stanley Stated I Appreciate The Street, Water, And Sewer Department Doing What They Did Helping Out With The Snow And Ice.

Commissioner Warren Stated I Appreciate Them To, Because I Am Over The Lakes, Salt Was Put Out There And That Helped Everyone Out There. We Have Had An Issue At The Old Lake. People Who Are Watching This, Needs To Realize You Can Not Ram Through The Gate When Its Up Or Drive Across The Levy. We See Marks In The Snow Where People Have Been All Over The Place Out There. I Realize It Is Fun, But Someone Is Going To Get Hurt, And We Are Going To Be Spending A Lot Of Taxpayer Money Fixing The Levy If It Gets Damaged. We Have On Film Someone In A Truck Ramming Through The Gate And Destroying It. We Are Trying To Everyone Safe And The Lake Looking Nice.

Audience Comments:

Kristi Bussler Stated I Am The Director Of The Senior Center Here In Town, The Wit & Wisdom. I Appreciate The City's Support Over The Past Couple Of Years. Our Seniors Feel Valued. As Historically One Of The Most Under Served Populations, I Think That Is Really Important. A Challenge That We Have Is, That I Would Like To Address To The Council So We Could Establish A Dialouge And Come Up With A Solution For Is The Old King Coal Festival. Our Seniors Love The Festival And Support It. However, Where Our Building Is Located When The Festival Comes In It Prohibits Us From Delivering Our Services. I Am Contractually Obligated To Continue To Deliver Those Servies. We Can Get Our Delivery Trucksīvans In And Out. In A Year We Serve Over Eighty Thousand Meals Out Of That Facility. Two Hundred And Eighty-Five Per Day Goes All Over The County On Our Meals On Wheels Route, And An Average Of Fifty-Five Inside The Center Everyday. We Do Not Have Any Parking During The Old King Coal Festival, The Seniors Are Having To Park A Block Or More A Day And Walk To The Facility. Some Of Them Have Mobility Issues. Last Year We Had A Ninety Two-Year-Old Fall Because She Had To Park So Far Away. An Idea I Had Was We Need An Established Area /City Parking Lot To Park And Say Its Senior Parking. We Only Need It From 11:00 Am Until About 1:00 Pm. We Also Need Some Sort Of Transportation Back And Forth From That Lot. As An Example, The Lot Where We Have The Christmas Tree We Have Some Parking There. If We Were Able To Have The City Help Us With The Rental Of Two Six Passenger Golf Carts To Be Able To Run The Seniors Back And Forth. I Did Check In 2023 The Price To Rent Was $150.00 A Day For One. For Two Of Them, That Would Be About $1,500.00 For The Week. I Wasn't Sure If The City Would Entertain That Idea For The Future. The Mayor Stated That Is Something We Can Talk About And Figure Something Out For You.

Tina Rose Stated My Questions Involve Something You Voted On This Evening. I Think The City Would Like To Know More Information. Questions About Item Number C: Hiring Locis To Get The Accounting Records Current. Could You Further Explain Why This Is Necessary For Our City? I Do Not Think Our City Is Aware Of The Missing Grants, The Losses, And The Financial Problems That The City Is Facing. I Am Here For A Lot Of Meetings. I Hear You Talk About The Audits, But It Is Always Hush Hush Like Hey We Are Moving Down The Road. That Is Not The Truth. I Think This Is A Good Time, Since You Voted On This To Explain To The City Where We Are At. The Mayor Stated I Do Not Feel Like Anything Has Been Hush Hush, We Have Been Pretty Opened And Honest About The Issues We Are Having With Getting The Audit Done. This Item Here, Is Not Pertaining To The Current Audit. It Is To Make Sure That Future Audits Will Get Done. Ms. Rose Stated To Get It Caught Up, And Get Everything Right I Understand That, And I Am All For It. I Am Against That I Feel Like It Is Not As Transparent As It Could Be. What Measures Are Being Taken Currently To Hold The Auditing Firm Accountable For The Delays That We Have As A City? Have We Filed A Lawsuit Against Them? The City Attorney Stated No, I Can Try To Address Your Question. I Do Represent Other Municipalities And Issues With Audits Are Common, And They Do Come Up From Time To Time. Because Their Audits That Are Taking Longer Than Usual Does Not Necessarily Mean Funds Are Misappropriated, It Is Just That You Have To Document Transactions Certain Ways. Each City Has A Lot Of Different Accounts. Sometimes Money Was Used From Online Account But Should Have Been Used From Another Account That Needs To Be Swapped Back And Forth. Until An Auditor Says, Everything Is In Order The Government Can Say We Are Not Going To Approve Any Grants. West Frankfort Is Not The Only City Dealing With This Right Now As Far As I Am Concerned. This Is Something That The City Is Working Through, And Sounds To Me Like Moving In The Right Direction. Am I Sure Everyone Wants It To Be Moving More Quickly. Another Thing To Keep In Mind Is That A Lot Of CPA Firms Are Now Refusing To Do Government Audits Because The Work Is Difficult, And Very Tedious. A Lot Of Cities Are Having A Hard Time Finding Licensed Auditors To Do This. The Mayor Stated That Is The Primary Issue We Had For The Audit. They Are Not Delaying Us; We Were Not Able To Get Them Contracted As Fast As We Would Like To. We Searched For An Audit Firm. The Audit Firm That The City Used Previously Couldn't Handle The Load, And That Is Why The Audits Have Been Delayed. The Action Was Taken To Find Another Firm That Can Do It. That Took Some Time And Was Difficult To Do. We Finally Found One, And Now They Are Trying To Play Catch Up To Get Us Where We Need To Be. The City Attorney Stated, When A New Auditor Comes In, They Are Usually More Careful Because They Do Not Want To Be Held Responsible For Something The Prior Auditors Did. There Is Always A Period Of Delay When A New Auditing Firms Comes In, And A Period Of Difficulty If You Will. Ms. Rose Stated In May 2023, On The Day You Were Sworn In, One Of The Auditors Was In The Audience And Spoke About Eight And A Half Billion Dollars That Was Out Of Sorts From Our General Fund. I Have Read The City Meeting Minutes For The Past Six Years Everyone That Is Online. From That Date Forward I Do Not See A Single Announcement That, That Money Was Found. Can Anybody Explain? The Mayor Stated He Was The Deputy Treasurer What He Said Was When He Was Hired Which Would Have Been Before 2023 That Their Was Eight And Half Million Dollars That Was Not Reconciled. No One Verified Or Fact Checked Him To See If That Was Even The Case. He Was Saying That Was The Condition When Before Came. Ms. Rose Stated I Get That Was Dumped On Your Lap. What I Am Trying To Say Is We Have To Be More Public About Because Finding Out About The Grants Other Ways Instead Of From A Regular Meeting From You. The Mayor Stated I Did Address The Reconciliation Issue A Previous Meeting That You Were Not At. To Clarify Reconciliation As In When You Write A Check And You Put It In Your Check Register And Get The Statement From The Bank You Have To Reconcile With That Bank Statement. Ms. Rose Stated Outside Of This Locis Thing And The New Treasurer What Plans Do We Have To Go Forward To Get The Grants Again? The Mayor Stated By This Firm Locis Is The Company That Provides Our Software For Payroll, Bill Paying, Etc. The Gentleman That Is Apart Of This Organization Is A CPA. He Is Going To Come In And Help Us Get The Books Back In Order. We Want To Make Sure We Have Everything For Our Next Audit. As You Know They Should Be Starting On The Next One But We Are Still Dealing With The Previous One. The City Attorney Stated Just To Be Clear, Someone Saying Eight And A Half Millon Dollars Worth Of Transactions Needing To Be Reconciled Does Not Mean Eight And Half Million Dollars Is Missing, And It Could Mean Zero Dollars Is Missing. Ms. Rose Stated It Could Be But No One Made An Announcement That It Was Found Or Reconciled. With All Of This Causing Grant Money To Be Lost To The City, Do You Have A Total Dollar Amount Of How Much Of The Grants Where We Lost This Year? The Mayor Stated No We Don't. Ms. Rose Stated What Steps Are You Taking To Involve Residents To Address These Challenges, Like Are You Going To Hold Any Public Forums Or Citizen Advisory Committees? The Mayor Stated I Am Not Sure What Advantage That Could Have, Except Just Informing The Public. Ms. Rose Stated I Think It Will Be Important To Have A Special Forum To Invite The Public In To Give Their Ideas. I Understand The City Council Meeting Is Supposed To Be For That, But You See Our Attendance. The Mayor Stated Options On Financial Matters I Would Defer To Experts Who Have Degrees, That Have Expertise In That Field. Ms. Rose Stated I Have Heard A Lot Of Ideas From Our Citizens About Things Like Businesses That Are Trying To Say Hey We Would Like To Have This, Things That Would Probably Benefit What You Are Working On. I Think They Have A Wealth Of Ideas, I Do Not Expect Them To Do The Books. But To Have Them Contribute Ideas On How To Raise Money For Grants We Have Lost. The Mayor Stated That Is Something To Consider. Ms. Rose Stated You Had Made This Post And I Was Pretty Upset About It Because You Said I Was Suing You Because I Was Angry You Did Not Give Me A Job. Have You Ever Got A Job Application From Me? The Mayor Stated No. Ms. Rose Stated I Have Only Offered To Volunteer, But I Just Wanted To Clarify I Have Never Applied For A Job. The Mayor Stated I Do Not Recall Saying You Had Applied For A Job.

16. 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 (11). Mayor Stated Which Would Be Personnel, Buying/Selling Property, And Litigation. They Will Not Be Making Any Decisions During Or Afterwards. At 6:40 P.M. Commissioner Harkins 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 Approval Of A Motion To Return To Open Session At 7:38 P.M. Where No Action Was Taken. Commissioner Harkins Made A Motion To Approve, Seconded By Commissioner Howard. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Arview Voted To Approve. Motion Carried.

18. With No Further Business To Be Discussed, The Meeting Was Adjourned On A Motion By Commissioner Harkins At 7:39 P.M.

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