North Egypt News

City of West Frankfort City Council met March 11.

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. Mayor Arview Asked For Approval Of The Agenda. We Do Not Have Any Changes To Be Made. Commissioner Harkins Made A Motion To Approve, Seconded By Commissioner Howard. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Arview Voted To Approve. Motion Carried.

3. The Next Item Was Approval Of The Minutes From The February 25, 2025 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.

4. The Next Item Was Approval To Accept Bids For Demolition At 505 South Brown Street. The Mayor Stated We Have One Bid From Joplin Salvage For $3,500.00, Since That Is The Only Bid, I Entertain A Motion To Approve That Bid. 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 To Open Bids And Potentially Approve Ordinances Selling Real Estate At 406 N. Bryan, 411 N. Parkhill, 702 W. St. Louis, 1202 W. Oak And 2309 E. Elm. The Mayor Stated We Do Have Four Sealed Bids, Not All Of Them Are Labeled So We Will Open Them One At A Time.

2309 E. Elm- Bid From Jim & Kelly Griffith For $800.00, They Included The $80.00 Deposit

2309 E. Elm- Bid From Matthew Nicklin For $2,800.00, They Included $280.00 Deposit.

1202 W. Oak-Bid From Megan Hughes For $500.00, They Included The $50.00 Deposit. 

702 W. Oak-Bid From Nathaniel Jones With HCB Properties For $1,000.00, They Included The $100.00 Deposit.

We Have No Bids For 411 N. Parkhill, And 406 N. Bryan.

I Would Entertain A Motion To Accept The Bid For $1,000.00 At 702 W. St. Louis, The Bid For $2,800.00 For 2309 E. Elm, And The Bid For $500.00 For 1202 W. Oak, And I Will Have The City Attorney Read The Wording Of The Ordinance. The City Attorney Stated I Would Invite A Motion To Approve An Ordinance To Approve The Sell At 702 W St. Louis To The Only Bidder. Commissioner Howard Made The Motion To Approve, Seconded By Commissioner Stanley. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Arview Voted To Approve. Motion Carried.

The Next Item Was We Need A Motion To Approve An Ordinance Selling The Property At 2309 E. Elm To The High Bidder Of Matthew Nicklin For The Amount Of $2,800.00. 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 We Need A Motion To Approve An Ordinance Selling The Property At 1202 W Oak To The Only Bidder Megan Hughes For The Amount Of $500.00.

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

The City Attorney Asked Are Any Of Those Bidders Present By Chance? - None Of Them Were Present.

7. The Next Item Was Approval To Advertise For Bids For Demolition At 210 S. Parkhill, 404 E. Clark, And 1216 E. Oak. The Codes Officer Stated We Do Not Have 1216 E. Oak Yet; I Would Advise Not To Advertise That Address. The Mayor Stated We Will Remove That Address Then. I Entertain A Motion To Advertise For Bids For Demolition At 210 S. Parkhill, And 404 E. Clark. 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 Approval Of A Resolution Authorizing The Hiring Of A Dispatcher For The City Of West Frankfort Police Department. Deputy Chief Police Stated We Lost A Long Time Dispatcher, For Medical Reasons She Resigned. That Left Us With A Fulltime Position Open. We Had A Parttime Dispatcher That Has Been Working With Us, Now That She Is Back, She Has Been A Great Asset. The Mayor Stated This Will Be Moving A Parttime Dispatcher Into A Fulltime? Deputy Willis Stated Yes. Her Name Is Kristina Epperson. Commissioner Harkins 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 Discussion, With Possible Action, Regarding The Purchase Of A 2024 Case Backhoe And 2024 Ram 1 Ton Dump Truck Utilizing MFT Funds For The Street Department. The Mayor Stated The Way This Works Is, We Are Purchasing Both Of These Vehicles, And Then We Are Renting Them To Ourselves For A Certain Amount That We Then Can Pay Ourselves Through The MFT Funds. Mike Roberts Stated That Is Correct, You Can Not Use MFT Funds To Purchase Equipment. But It Is Allowable If The City Owns The Equipment To Rent It To Yourselves. Those Rates Are Set By IDOT. The Mayor Stated This Allows To Us Reimburse Ourselves For The Purchase Of It By Renting It To Ourselves. Mr. Roberts Stated You Are Not Making The Purchase With MFT Funds. Commissioner Stanley Made A Motion To Approve, Seconded By Commissioner Warren. Commissioner Howard Stated I Want To Make A Comment, What I Would Like To Do Is Call The Bank And See If We Finance This Over The Same Five-Year Period What Our Payments Would Be. Maybe Get The Payment Close To What The MFT Rent Will Be. That Way We Won't Have To Be Out Up Front The Whole $236,819.00. Try To Work It Out That We Are Never Out Of Our Own Pocket. The Mayor Stated Is That Oaky? Mr. Roberts Stated It Is However You Want To Do It. What Will Happen Is You All Will Keep The Log Of The Hours You Will Use It And That Is What You Get Reimbursed Back. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Arview Voted To Approve. Motion Carried.

10. The Next Item Was Discussion, With Possible Action, Regarding Changing Provider Service From I Worq To Govwell For Subscription Programs For The Codes And Fire Department. The Mayor Stated We Spoke With Govwell, They Gave Us A Presentation, They Are Going To Be Providing More Services For Us. The Codes Officer Stated We Use Iworq Currently To Do All Of My Codes Cases, Permitting, Licensing, Contractor Registration, Etc. It Is A Jumbled Mess With Dealing With Our Lake Lot Stuff As Well As Our Rental Registrations Kind Of Combined. Govwell Separates All Of That Into Its Own Data Bases And Tracking. It Is More Functional. It Would Help The Deputy City Clerk As Well. With Codes They Way I Work With Iworq, It Doesn't Benefit Me A Ton. But As A Whole Unit As Of Government It Will Be Better For Us. It Also Give The Fire Chief The Opportunity To Track His Inspections For Fire And As Well As Ada Stuff. It Will Also Have Remote Payment, For Our Residents. Instead Of Them Having To Come In To Pay, They Can Do It All Online. The Way Things Work Now Is, They Have To Call Here To Explain Things. This Company Has A Remote Answering Feature, Where They Learn How We Do Things In The Office. They Will Be Able To Give The Customer An Answer By The Chat In Real Time. Functionality Will Improve For The City Dramaticaly. The Mayor Stated Even Though It Is Going To Cost More Than What We Had Gotten Proposed By Iworq And Certainly More Than What We Are Paying Iworq Now. We Did Negotiate The Price Down To The $15,000.00. They Wanted More Than That, We Were About To Get It Down To Justify By What They Are Providing. If You Divide It By The Number Of Services They Are Providing, And Look At What We Are Paying I Worq It Is Comparable. The Codes Officer Stated The Price With Iworq Now Does Not Include The Fire Department Stuff. We Did Have Iworq Give Us A Quote To Add His Stuff And It Was Close To Govwell. The Mayor Stated I Did Get Reviews From Other City's That Switched From Iworq To Govwell, All Had Good Things To Say. Year One Cost With Set Up Would Be $23,000.00, After That Would Be $15,000.00 A Year. This Will Be A Five-Year Contract, And Will Not Increase. It Shows An Annual Uplift Of Five Percent, But We Negotiated That Where They Took That Out Of The Initial Five-Year Contract. We Can Re- Negotiate It When The Time Is Up. Commissioner Howard Asked The Fire Chief If It Will Work Good For Him, He 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.

11. The Next Item Was Discussion, With Possible Action, Regarding Adding Haas Alert Service In The Amount Of $1,499.00 For The West Frankfort Fire Department. Chief Saillez Stated This Is A Safety Feature That Is Going To Promote Responder And On Scene Safety Of Vehicle Accidents, And Fires On The Interstate, And Us Responding As Well. We Will Have Transponders In Three Of The Ambulances, And My Vehicle. Anytime The Emergency Lights Are On It Will Transpond The Radio Frequency Back Through The Screen In Your Car Or The Navigation Through Your Phone. Depends On What You Have Going At The Time. It Will Pop Up An Alert On The Screen, Saying Emergency Vehicle Approaching Slow Down And Move Over. If You Are On The Interstate, And We Are Parked At An Emergency Scene It Will Say Emergency Scene Ahead Slow Down And Move Over. It Is Based On Real Time And GPS Where You Are At. It Goes Thirty Seconds Before And After You. That Is About A Mile On The Interstate. They Are Having Really Good Reviews With It. If This Saves One Collision, We Are Way Ahead Of $1,500.00. Commissioner Howard Stated If I Am Understanding This Correctly, This Will Notify Me In My Vehicle? Chief Saillez Stated Yes, But Not All Vehicles. If You Have The Updated Software, It Will Or If You Have Your Cell Phone With Waze, Google Maps, Or Apple Maps Running In The Background Or Running With Your Navigation It Will Pop Up Through Those As Well. It Will Be $1,499.00 For The Four Vehicles Per Year. Initially She Proposed Me $699.00 Per Vehicle Per Year. I Negotiated That Way Down. This Is For One Year, There Is No Binding Language After That If We Don't Like It After A Year. We Are Not Held To Renew. We Are Held For The Four Units For This Price After The Year, If We Want To Continue It. Or We Can Upgrade If We Like It, And It Is Helping, If The Police Wants To Get Involved To Add Their Units. The Codes Officer Asked What Is The Radius On Where It Works? Chief Saillez Stated Anytime The Lights Are On, We Set The Paramoters For How Far Away From Each Transponder It Sends Those Signals. Commissioner Harkins 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 Approval To Pay Invoice From Vernell's Interstate Service In The Amount Of $7,795.62 Regarding Engine 3 For Replacement Of Power Steering Gear Box For The West Frankfort Fire Department. Commissioner Harkins Asked Is It Doing Well Chief? Chief Saillez Stated Yes, It Is Back On The Road It Had To Be Tweaked A little Bit There Was Some Adjustments They Didn't Know About. 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 Construction Engineering Agreement For The Downtown Streetscape Project, Section 18-00060-00-Sw. Mike Roberts Stated This Is With The Local Agency Agreement The Plans Have Been With IDOT For A While. Commissioner Howard Stated What Is The Funding For This? Mr. Roberts Stated Twenty Percent Local And Eighty Percent Federal. 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 Approval Of Contractor's Pay Estimate

#4 To Haier Plumbing & Heating, Inc. For The West Frankfort - STP Effluent Disinfection. The Mayor Stated The Amount Is $396,513.00, It Says Keep With The DCEO Requirements The "City Funds" Share Will Be $278,618.77 And The Balance Of $117,894.23 Will Be Requested From IEPA. Commissioner Howard Stated How Close Are We Being At The End Of This Project? Mr. Roberts Stated Seventy Five Percent. Commissioner Howard Made A Motion To Approve, Seconded By Commissioner Stanley. Roll Call Vote: All

Commissioners And Mayor Arview Voted To Approve. Motion Carried.

15. The Next Item Was Approval Of Construction Engineering

Bill #4 From Brown & Roberts, Inc. In The Amount Of $9,184.59 For The West Frankfort - STP Effluent Disinfection. 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 The Consent Agenda:

A. Approval To Pay Bills In The Amount Of $447,703.63. B. Approval To Pay An Invoice From Complete Equity Markets, Inc. In The Amount Of $14,021.17 For

Unemployment Compensation Insurance Program For January 1, 2025 January 1, 2026.

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

Motion Carried

17. Building And Sign Permits ~ Code Officer Snell Stated The First One Is A Fence Permit For Ricardo Guzman At 506 E. Lindell St. This Is Approximate, He Has Permitted To Build A Fence At A Certain Length He Doesn't Know If He Is Going To Build It That Entire Length Yet. He Is Going To Be Building Pieces And See What He Likes. He Has Already Paid The Minimum Permit Fee, So He Is Good To Go. I Recommend We Approve 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.

The Next Permit Was A Fence Permit For Scott Bain And Dylan Reed At 1103 E Clark Street. It Will Be A Wooden Privacy Fence Towards The Rear Of Their Property. Codes Officer Snell Stated Zoning Is Good, This Is Good To Go.

This Will Be Self Construction. I Recommend We Approve That. Commissioner Warren Made A Motion To Approve, Seconded By Commissioner Howard. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Arview Voted To Approve. Motion Carried.

The Next Permit Was A Building Permit For Keith And Connie Howard At 306 East 8th Street They Are Building A Deck. Codes Officer Snell Stated They Will Be Adjoining Two Properties, The Second One Is Not A Home Anymore It Is Just A Sunroom. This Way They Will Not Have Problems Going Between The Two Properties. Everything Is Good To Go, Just Waiting On Contractor To Finish Registration Other Than That The Permit Is Good To Go. I Recommend We Go Ahead And Approve That. Commissioner Stanley Made A Motion To Approve, Seconded By Commissioner Warren. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners (Except Commissioner Howard Abstained) And Mayor Arview Voted To Approve. Motion Carried.

The Last Permit Was For A Steel Framed Garage For A Stewart Bozarth Who Lives At 208 North Jefferson Street. Codes Officer Snell Stated Set Backs Look Good, Plans And Zoning Are Good, Once Again I Am Waiting On That Contractor To Finish Registration So It Will Not Start Until That Is Finished. Everything Else On The Permit Is Good And I Recommend We Go Ahead And Approve This 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.

18. Officer's Report ~

Fire Report For The Month Of February 2025. Chief Sailliez Reported That They Had 186-Ambulance Calls, 7- Rubbish/Illegal Fires, 1-Brush/Field Fires, 5-Fire Alarms, 14 - Fire Emergencies; (Gas Leaks, Power Lines Down, Etc.), 2- Structure Fires, 2-Mutual Aid Fire Calls, 3-Ambulance Calls Turned Over To Mutual Aid. For A Total Of 220 Calls During The Month. The Department Used Approximately 5,000 Gallons Of Water. The Department Collected $35,915.45 For

February Ambulance Calls.

Police Report For The Month Of February 2025. Deputy Chief Willis Reported Officers Answered A Total Of 1,171 Calls For Service. Of Those Calls 15 Were Traffic Accidents, 0 With Injuries. Officers Responded To 28 Domestic Disputes, 5 Fights In Progress, 16 Alarms, 1 Intoxicated Persons, 7 Burglaries, 10 Reports Of Criminal Damage To Property, 19 Complaints Of Juvenile Problems, 24 Reported Thefts, And 33 Complaints Of Disorderly Conduct/Disturbances. And Officers Made 14 Street Contacts. Officers Conducted 205 Traffic Stops, Where They Issued 47 Citations, 158 Warnings, And 8 Lw-27's. There Were 56 Adult Arrests Made And 5 Juvenile Arrest, Resulting In 87 Criminal Charges Filed.

Dispatchers Answered 1,555 Calls.

Of Those, 471 Were 9-1-1 Calls, 106 Were Walk In Requests. 1,171 Were For Police, 220 Were For West Frankfort Fire, 5 Were For Abbott Ems, And 1 For United Ambulance. For The Month Of February, We Collected $2,965.00 In Fines And Fees.

Codes Report For The Month Of February 2025. Codes Officer Snell Reported Permit: 1-Building Permits, 0~Sign Permits. Rental Properties: 6~Rental Inspections Performed 1~ Contractor Registration. Case Activity Report ~ 25 Which Includes Doors Tagged Verbal Warnings, Vehicles Tagged, Inspections Of Violations, Inspections, Citations Issued, Letters Sent, Etc.

19. Mayors Report ~ The Mayor Stated He Really Does Not Have A Lot To Discuss One Thing He Did Want To Address I Know Over The Weekend There Was A Facebook Post Made Regarding Our Fire Department Specifically The EMTS And How They Handled A Call. Mayor Arview Stated He Addressed That Pretty Quickly, Neutrally. He Addressed The Individual Involved He Sent His Phone Number But The Mayor Has Not Been Able To Call Him Yet. He Wanted To Make It Public That Our Process For Things Like That Even If, He Is The Commissioner Of Public Affairs So It Is His Responsibility To Respond To Things Like That. However, I Do Not Speak For That Department, So If Someone Has A Complaint About A Specific Department, Please Go To That Department Head Whether It's The Fire Chief, Police Chief, Or Whomever It Might Be And Speak To Them Directly About That. You Can File A Report, We Have Them Here At City Hall That You Can Fill Out. That Is The Proper Channel To Go Through. Facebook Posts In The Moment When Something Happens You Might Post Something. You Can See How That Might Get Picked Up, Then Suddenly There Are A Lot Of Posts About One Side Of The Story And Nobody Really Knows Exactly What Happened. And Not Really Giving Us As The City A Chance To Check Into It. The Mayor Wanted To Say For The Record, He Has Full Faith And Confidence In Our Police, Fire All Of Our City Employees To Do Their Jobs The Way They Are Supposed To. If Not; We Will Address It. Mayor Arview Just Wants To Clarify That Because Maybe Some People Do Not Understand The Process. You Go To The Department Head Of Whatever Employee You Have A Problem With And If You Don't Get Any Satisfaction From That, Then Go To A Commissioner Or Myself And We Can Take It From There.

Commissioner Reports- 

Commissioner Harkins Stated Police And Fire Department Are Doing Ok. I’m Glad We Finally Got A Steady Dispatcher. Everything Else Seems To Be Going Ok, Of Course We Had One Retire, Deputy Chief Willis Stated No We Lost Two Chief Prudent And Rich Bernadini. Now We Are Down Five (5) Makes Things A Little Rough.

Commissioner Howard Stated He Did Not Have A Whole Lot To Report. The Gentleman We Hired To Help With The Audit Has Been Here. He Has Been Working On Getting Our Books Balanced And There Has Been A Lot Of Progress Made. I Just Have To Say That For The Last Two Weeks I’ve Spent More Time In Barnes Hospital Than I Have Here So I’m Not Really Sure What Progress Has Been Made In Those Two Weeks. So, I Wont Be Painting Some Rosy Picture When I Don't Really Know. That Should All Be Behind Me Now So We Will Find Out What’s Going On And Get That Straightened Out The Best We Can. I’m Going To Contact The Bank Or Have A City Employee Contact Them To See If We Can Get Those Street Purchases Payments Somewhat Close To The Rent, We Are Expected To Be Reimbursement So We Aren't Out Really Any Money.

Commissioner Stanley Asked Water Superintendent Jim White What They Had Been Working On He Stated They Were Doing Some Repairs On Some Lines In Town. They Have Also Replaced 6-7 Meters Mostly On 2" Lines. Street Superintendent Michael Bonner Stated The Guys Have Been Working On Patching Pot Holes Throughout Town. Running The Street Sweeper As Often As We Can Getting The Leave And Gum Balls Out Of The Culverts, Did Some Jetting, Did Some Work On Gardner And Poplar Streets To Try To Help The Drainage. We Are Also Getting Ready To Pour Some More Concrete Road Patches.

Commissioner Warren Stated Out At The VF Mall We Have Had A Sprinkler Head Problem So Starting Thursday, They Will Be Replacing All New Sprinkler Heads On The One Side Of The Building That Needs Replaced. So That Will Be Fixed. We Also Had A Fire Out At The New Lake Today, Hope And Pray Everyone Out There Is Ok.

Audience Comments: 

The First Person To Speak Is Tonya Frehner Of Birth To Five Illinois. She Also Had With Her Nancy Gulley And Pam Thrash Both With Birth To Five Illinois. Mrs. Frehner Is The Regional Counselor Manager For Birth To Five We Are A Program That Is Funded Through The Department Of Illinois Human Services. We Serve Franklin, Johnson, Williamson, And Massac Counties. Our Purpose For Being Here Today Is To Just Make The Connection And Let You Guys The Work We Are Doing In The Communities. Our Office Is Located In Johnson County So We Are Aligned With The Roe Serving All Four Counties. We Are A Statewide Program That Has Thirty-Nine (39) Offices Aligned With The Roe All Of Our Offices Has Three Staff. All Our Initiatives Are Led By Community Members Via Inaction And Family Council. So, These People Are People That Are Living In And Using Our Systems Daily, So Pam And Nancy Both Serve On Our Action Council. Our Primary Focus Is On Early Childhood Education. But We Work Collectively With Organizations And Agencies To Break The Gaps For Families Who Are Accessing Services In Our Region. We Are Part Of Read Si, And Are Working Or Helped Work To Bring Dolly Parton Imagination Library To Our Communities, We Have An Online Resource Directory That Covers Four Counties. It Has All The Pre-K Screening Days, Times, Locations And Events. Resources For Families, Where Kids Eat Free, What Activities Are Going On In All Of Our Counties. To Telling You What Dental Providers Take Medicaid, Mental And Behavioral Health And Health Care Events To All Those Things. So Over Our 2.5 Years We Have Reviewed And Analyzed Data, Published Reports And Analyzing Gaps In Services And Developed A Local Action Plan To Address These Needs. The Few Examples That I Wanted To Share With You, I Have Some Publications To Leave With You. We Have Our Early Childhood Regional Needs Assessment That Tells You How Many Kids We Have From Birth To Three, How Many Kids From 3 To 5, How Many Kid We Have Accessing Pre-K Services, How Many Are In Childcare, How Many Are We Don't Know Where. We Have These Reports That I Would Like To Leave With You All.

In Addition To That We Have Our Work Childcare Assistance Program. This Is A Publicly Funded Program To Assist Families With Childcare Costs. We Have Some Fliers We Would Like To Leave Here With You For Families To Pick Up. Anybody That Has A Child Under Certain Ages, Family Sizes, Maximum Family Income Also Factors In. There Is A List Here That You Could Be Eligible For Childcare So Please Pick One Up And Check It Out.

We Also Have Developed This Part Of Our Work An Electronic Tool Kit That We Have Been Getting With Employers That We Would Love To Send To The City Clerk. You Could Get It To Your Employers And Basically You Can On Board It As Part Of Your Hiring Process. When You Hire People, You May Be Eligible For Childcare. It Could Be A Real Big Benefit For Hiring New People.

We Are Really Just Here To Make The Connection Let You Know Who We Are. To Be Able To Put Names With Faces And We Will Be Looking For New Counsel Members Starting In May, Family Counsel Members, Parents Who Have Children Under The Age Of Eight (8) As Well As Professionals In All Four (4) Counties That Will Serve On Our Council To Help Analyze The Data And Guide The Work Because This Work Is Work Truly Of The Community So We Are Really Working To Identify What Needs Are In Franklin County. We Then Flow That Information Up To The Department Of Human Services To Our Legislature So That When We Are Making Funding Decisions Those Priorities Are Being Met.

Nancy Giulley Stated Pam And Her Are The Only Two (2) From Franklin County On This Action Council Board. So What We Felt It Was Really Important To Come Tonight So We Could Share Our Views With You, Share The Work That They Have Done, Most Noticeably The Work They Have Been Doing On Mental Behavioral Issues As You All Know That's Been An Increase In Schools, Communities, And Trying To Get Some Resources Together For Children To Our Communities So That We Can Help Offset Some Of Those Ongoing Issues Later On In Life. I Was Listening To The Police Report And That's A Lot Of Police Intervention For Juveniles. If We Can Get These Services To Children Of Young Ages That Number Might Come Down Over Time. We Just Want To Spread Awareness And Have Everyone Check Out Our Facebook Pages, Check Out Our Resources, Because There Are Resources Available.

The Next Person To Speak Was Jeff Clark. He Wanted To Talk About Two (2) Things. The First One In February He Made A Comment About The West Frankfort Park Restocking The City Pond. He Just Wanted To Announce That He Had Thirteen (13) Donations Made Throughout The Community And Collected $1,160.00 And Will Be Restocking The City Park Pond On March 29, 2025. It Will Be Good For The Community. I Know A Lot Of Kids Like To Go Out There To Fish. We Do Have The City Lakes But They Are Not Convenient For Our Youth. Most Kids Can Walk There To Fish, I've Taken My Kids There Three (3) Times Last Year And They Did Not Get A Bite. So, I Wanted To Invest A Little Bit In The Community. It Was Nice To See That People Were Stepping Up To Make Enough Donations To Make An Impact. In 2017 Or 2018 I Did Something Similar, I Had Talked To Mayor Jordan At That Time And We Actually Restocked Some Large Mouth Bass At The West Frankfort Lakes. Next Year I Plan On Doing Another Fundraiser To Restock Those Lakes Again. Both Lakes Do Show A Stunted Bluegill, Panfish Population And That Will Be Remedied. Also, This Fall I Would Like To Set Up A Christmas Tree Donation So That Way We Could Get Some Off Shore Structures Put Out At The Lakes. I Just Want To Plant The Seed Today. I Know This Is Not The Lake Committee Meeting. Whenever I Spoke With Jordan, He Had Me Speak To Both The Council And The Lake Committee To Lay The Ground Work For That.

The Other Reason He Is Here Is He Wants To Talk About Allowing Chickens In The City Limits. He Is Hoping He Can Get An Amendment Done So That Residents In Town Can Get A Small Flock Of Hens. He Looked At Other Communities Around Us Not Necessarily In Our Area But Nation Wide How They Do It. There Needs To Be Limits In Place Obviously I Don't Want People Out There Trying To Start A Chicken Farm. I’m Hoping We Can Get Something Started Soon Because With The Construction Time Frame, Chicks Are Only Really Readily Available In The Spring Time. It Is Kind Of A Time Issue Otherwise You Will Have To Wait Until Next Year For Them To Start Producing. Who Would Be In Charge Of Making That Ordinance Change? He Has Some Information If Anyone Has Any Questions Or Concerns. The Mayor Stated Yes, This Is Something We Can Look Into. He Stated Some Of The Limitations He Would Suggest, There Is No Comparison Between A Farm Fresh Egg And Store Bought, They Are Much Healthier For You. This Will Teach Responsibility In Children They Will Learn About Agriculture And How It Works. He Stated Even People Who Live In Town Should Have The Privilege To Raise Small Livestock In Town However Small Scale That Should Be They Are No Noisier Than The Common Pet Such A Dog Or A Cat. A Chicken Will Not Attack A Child, A Runner Or A Jogger. Some Of The Basic Guidelines He Would Suggest A Small Household I Would Recommend Two (2) Hens Per Person With A Maximum Of 10-12 Hens. They Do Not Make Much Noise. I Would Recommend For Single Family Homes Only Were You Must Own The Home, Not For Rental Properties. I Appreciate The Councils Time. At This Time There Were No Other Audience Comments Questions.

20. The Next Item Was Approval To Go Into Executive Session To Discuss Contract Negotiations, Personnel, And /Or Pending Litigation. At 7:02 P.M. Commissioner Harkins Made A Motion To Approve, Seconded By Commissioner Warren. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Arview Voted To Approve. Motion Carried.

21. The Next Item Was Approval Of A Motion To Return To Open Session At 8:02 P.M. Commissioner Harkins Made A Motion To Approve, Seconded By Commissioner Warren. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Arview Voted To Approve. Motion Carried.

22. The Next Item Was Approval Of A Proposed New Wage Reopener Agreement Between The City And Laborers Local 773/ Dispatchers To Cover The Period Of March 1,2025 Through February 26, 2026. Commissioner Howard 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 A Proposed New Wage Reopener Agreement Between The City And City Hall Employees To Cover The Period Of March 1, 2025 Through February 28, 2026. Commissioner Warren Made A Motion To Approve, Seconded By Commissioner Howard. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Arview Voted To Approve. Motion Carried.

24. The Next Item Was Approval Of A Proposed New Wage Reopener Agreement Between The City And International Association Of Fire Fighters Local 2402 To Cover The Period Of March 1, 2025 Through February 28, 2026. Commissioner Harkins Made A Motion To Approve, Seconded By

Commissioner Stanley. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Arview Voted To Approve. Motion Carried.

25. The Next Item Was Approval Of A Proposed New Wage

Reopener Agreement Between The City And The Teamster's Local Union No 50 To Cover The Period Of March 1, 2025 Through February 28, 2026. Commissioner Howard Made A Motion To Approve, Seconded By Commissioner Warren. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Arview Voted To Approve. Motion Carried.

26. With No Further Business To Be Discussed, The Meeting Was Adjourned On A Motion By Commissioner Harkins At 8:10 P.M. 

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