North Egypt News

City of West Frankfort City Council met April 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. Mayor Arview Asked For Approval Of The Agenda. The Mayor Stated We Have One Typo Mistake On Item Number Eighteen, It Should Be Police Department Instead Of Fire Department. We Need A Motion To Reflect That Change. 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 March 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.

5. The Next Item Was Approval To Open Bids And Potentially Approve Ordinances Selling Real Estate At 301-303-306 East 4th Street, 1907 East Garland Street, 715 And 717 North Horn Street. The Mayor Stated We Did Not Receive Any Bids On These Properties.

6. The Next Item Was Approval Of A Proposed Wage Reopener Regarding The Collective Bargaining Agreement Between The City And The Illinois Fraternal Order Of Police Labor Council - Patrolmen's Contract To Cover The Period Of March 1, 2025 Through February 28, 2026. The Mayor Stated I Had Both Of Our Union Attorney's Look This Over, They Both Agree That This Is Sufficent It Reflects The Ninty Cent Per Hour Increase We Had Agreed To For Other Bargaining Units And No Other Changes. Commissioner Harkins 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 Opioid Litigation Update.

The Mayor Stated By Attorney Client Privilege The Council Can Not Speak To This To Much. The Commissioners Has A Letter From Our City Attorney In Front Of Them, And It Has The Wording For A Motion. Commissioner Howard Stated I Make The Motion To Withdraw From The Pending Motion For Leave To Amend The Complaint In The Opioid Litigation Per Our Attorney's Recommendation, Seconded By Commissioner Stanley. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Arview Voted To Approve. Motion Carried.

8. The Next Item Was Approval Of An Ordinance Amending Chapter 5.88 Of The West Frankfort Municipal Code To Establish A "Do Not Solicit" Registry For The City Of West Frankfort. The Mayor Stated This Will Allow Us To Keep A List At City Hall For Anyone Who Does Not Want Solicitor's Coming To Their Door. We Will Have A Registry For Those People. When Anyone Comes And Gets A Solicitor's Permit Will Have To Abide By That List, And Will Not Be Able To Solicit To Those Individuals. Commissioner Stanley Made A Motion To Approve, Seconded By Commissioner Warren. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Arview Voted To Approve. Motion Carried.

**Anyone Who Would Like To Be Added To The Registry, We Will Have A List At City Hall. You Can Ask To Be Added To The List, And We Will Do That For You. **

9. The Next Item Was Approval Of West Frankfort Works: A Comprehensive Plan For The City Of West Frankfort. The Mayor Stated This Is Something That Moran Had Asked If We Had One, I Couldn't Find One. I Put Together Some Numbers, And Given The Council Some Time To Review It. It Outlines What We Plan To Do As Far As Development Of Our Property, With The New Development Coming In, With The Interstate Project Is Going To Add Some Land. I Worked With Thad On The Projected Or Planned Zoning We Would Like To Do. It Talks About What We Want To Do With Economic Infrastructure, That Sort Of Thing. I Would Like A Motion To Adopt It As Our Comprehensive Plan For The City Of West Frankfort. 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 An Adoption Of An Ordinance Of The City Of West Frankfort, Illinois Authorizing The Establishment Of Tax Increment Financing "Interested Parties" Registries And Adopting Registration Rules For These Registries. The Mayor Stated Correct Me If I Am Wrong, This Is To Allow Any Interested Parties Like The School Disrict, Or Township To Be Added To A Registry. A Person From Moran Was In Attendance And Stated. Per The Tif Act All Of Those Items As We Go Through The Schedule Will Be Sent To All Of The Taxing Districts. The School And The Township Will Get That Information Automatically. That Is A Requirement That We Provide That To Them. What The Interested Parties Registry Does Is Allow Any Member Of The Public That Also Wishes To Get The Same Information To Sign Up. Whenever We Do Those Required Mailings Or Notices In Addition To All Of The Taxing Districts We Send To Them As Well. Commissioner Warren 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 Presentation Of A Tif Feasibility Study/Draft Plan By Moran Economic Development. A Person From Moran Development Stated This Is A Requirement From The Tif Act. What The Feasibility Study Does Is It Informs You Of What Area Is Qualified For Tif And Is Tif An Appropriate Tool For The Economic Development Within That Area. The Conculsion Was If This Area Would Quailify For Tif. We Are Talking About The Qualifications Per The Illinois Tif Act, We Have To Follow All Of The Rules The State Provides. Things We Are Looking For Is That There Is A Certain Criteria You Have To Meet For Both Developed And Undeveloped Properties. We Have Found That Both Of Those Sections Of This Would Exceed The Minimum Qualifications. For The Developed Properties It Would Qualify To A Conservation Area Meaning That Is Not Technically What The Act Defines As Blighted Yet. But Since You Have Over Fifty Percent Of Your Structures That Are Age Thirty-Five Or Older. If You Meet Three Criteria It Allows You To Establish A Tif For The Conservation Of That Area. Some Of The Qualifications That We Are Talking About Are Deterioration Both In Structures And Surface Conditions. In Structures We Are Talking About Some Of The Older Portions Of Town, Aged Structures And Aged Residences. With Those Structures Over Time, You Get Things Like Fascia, Windows, Roofs, Signs Of Lack Of Up Keep In Some Areas. Surface Deterioration Includes Streets, Sidewalks, Things Like That Over Time Can Show Signs Of Their Age. Another Thing Is Inadequate Utilities We Consulted Some Of The Information About The Infrastructure That Exisits In The Area. It Sounded Like The Sewer System Was Over One Hundred- And Ten-Years Old Which Is Very Common With An Area Of This Age. You Can Have Aged Materials In Your Line That Can Contribute To Breakages. Overall To Support The Existing Development Or If You Have New Development, You Are Looking At A Lot Of Infrastructure Improvements. That Is The Primary Use Of Tif Funds For Those Types Of Improvements. We Also Noted Some Things Related To Your Planning Efforts. Some Deleterious Land Use, Which Contributes To Lack Of Community Planning. We Looked At Some Records And The Median Year Of Construction In This Area Was 1951. Looks Like The City's First Planning Efforts Was In 1961, Meaning This Area Developed Before You Had A Plan In Place To Guide Some Of That. Some Evidence Of That Is You Have Some Intermingling Of Your Commerical And Residential Areas. There Is Also Some Development In Your Flood Plain Area. Last We Talked About Some Of The Eav's In Your Area, This Is A Metric Used By The Tif Act That You Use To Analyze Your Tif Boundry Verse The Receiving Municipality. If You Have Your Tif Area That Has Three Or More Years That Is Not Keeping Par With The Receiving Municipality, It Will Qualify With Stagnant Or Declining Property Values. This Area Does Meet That Factor. Moving On To The Undeveloped Portion Of The Area: Diversity Of Ownership Is Where You Have A Lot Of Property Owners For Some Undeveloped Properties That Can Make It Difficult For Redevelopment Of Those Properties. Stand Alone Factors That Apply To The Area, Flood Zones, And Undermining Present. Per The Tif Act Would Qualify That Area. We Prepared A Draft Redevelopment Plan, So We Can Incorporate Feedback. We Have The Tif Feasibility Study Placed On File At The City For Ten Days Before You Can Pass Your Ordinance That Would Set The Public Hearing. After Tonight You Will Have Your Feasibility Study Placed On File At Your Next Meeting, And You Will Pass That Ordinance And Set Public Hearing. Alittle Bit Later We Will Have The Joint Review Board Meeting When The Taxing Districts Are Invited To Come Out And Ask Questions. After That We Will Have The Public Hearing, Mnembers Of The Public Can Come And Ask Questions. Then The City Will Approve The Adoption Ordinance For The Tif. No Voting Was Required.

12. The Next Item Was Approval Of A Motion To Replace The Feasibility Study On File (10 Days) And To Approve Sending It To All Affected Taxing Districts. Commissioner Warren 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 Donation To The Ambassadors Of Music Program That Has Wf Highschool Band/Music Students Traveling Abroad From The Video Gaming Fund. One Of The Students Stated I Am Here To Speak On Behalf Of Some Local Students Going On The Illinois Ambassadors Of Music Trip. We Will Be Going To Five Different Countries: England, France, Germany, Switzerland, And Austria. We Were Oringinally Introduced To This Trip By Our Former Band Director Andrea Fransis, Who Now Teaches In Marion. She Nominated A Handful Of Students To Be Apart Of This Trip. We Got A Letter In The Mail Stating We Were Accepted. From There It Has Been Fundraising And Great Anticipation For What Is Ahead. The Overall Cost For This Trip Per Person Is $7,600.00 Not Including The $200.00 Camp Fee Which We Will Go To Mckendree University For Two Days To Learn The Music And Get An Overal Feel For It. $100.00 Uniform Fee, We All Want To Look Formal And Match. Plus, Various Food Costs. There Are Five Students Total Going, We Are Asking For At Least $1,000.00 For Each Student In Contribution To Our Trip. I Know It May Seem Like A Lot; However This Is A Once In A Life Time Opportunity, We Get To Travel By Plane, And Boat. We Will Get To See Historic Landmarks. We Will Get To Play Various Advanced Patriotic Marches.One Thing I Have Been Doing To Raise Money Is I Have Been Getting Local Sponsors From West Frankfort. They Donate Money And I Will Be Wearing A Shirt With West Frankfort And The List Of Sponsors. I Will Be Promoting West Frankfort Through The Travel Of International. 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 For The Lion's Club To Hold A Roadblock For The Annual Flag Day Fundraiser On May 23, 2025 From 4:00 P.M. To 6:00 P.M. And May 24, 2025 From 8:00 A.M. To 2:00 P.M. At The Intersection Of Route 149 And Highway 37. Commissioner Stanley Made A Motion To Approve, Seconded By Commissioner Warren. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Arview Voted To Approve. Motion Carried.

15. The Next Item Was Approval Of A Resolution For West Frankfort Recreation Association To Sponsor Their Annual Memorial Day Parade On Saturday, May 26, 2025 At 9:00 A.M. Commissioner Warren Made A Motion To Approve, Seconded By Commissioner Stanley. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Arview Voted To Approve. Motion C The Next Item Was

16. The Next Item Was Approval Of A Resolution For The Old King Coal Committee To Sponsor Their Annual Old King Coal Parade On Saturday, May 10, 2025 At 2:00 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 Resolution Appointing The Following Members As An Authorized Agent To The City Of West Frankfort Illinois – The Illinois Funds Account With The Illinois Department Of Treasury. The Mayor Stated The Members Will Be Mayor, Tim Arview - Authorized Signer & Principal Authority, Abra Phillips- City Treasurer, Keith Howard-Finance Commissioner, Andrea Bolen- City Clerk. Commissioner Harkins Made A Motion To Approve, Seconded By Commissioner Warren. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Arview Voted To Approve. Motion Carried.

18. The Next Item Was Approval Of A Donation To The Old King Coal Committee In The Amount Of $10,000.00 From The Tourism Fund. Commissioner Stanley Made A Motion To Approve, Seconded By Commissioner Warren. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Arview Voted To Approve. Motion Carried.

19. The Next Item Was Approval Of Donation To The Wf Aquatic Center Towards The Annual Easter Egg Hunt In The Amount Of $1,000.00 From The Gaming Fund. Commissioner Warren Made A Motion To Approve, Seconded By Commissioner Stanley. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Arview Voted To Approve. Motion Carried.

20. The Next Item Was Approval To Pay An Invoice From Franklin County E9-11 In The Amount Of $2,475.00 For An Annual Subscritption Reporting Service For The West Frankfort Police 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.

21.The Next Item Was Approval To Pay An Invoice From Tabor Appraisal In The Amount Of $3,600.00 For An Appraisal Of The West Frankfort Business Incubator. Commissioner Warren 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 Design Engineering Invoice #10 In The Amount Of $6,885.82 For The Downtown Streetscape Project, Section 18-00060-00 Sw. The Mayor Stated What I Am Gathering This Is All Phase Ii Engineering Costs. A Representative With Brown & Roberts, Matt Tosh Stated It Is Development Of Your Streetscape, The Sidewalk Is What That Amounts To. Commissioner Howard Made A Motion To Approve, Seconded By Commissioner Stanley. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Arview Voted To Approve. Motion Carried.

23. The Next Item Was Approval Of Contractor's Pay Estimate #5 To Haier Plumbing & Heating, Inc. For The West Frankfort - Stp Effluent Disinfection In The Amount Of $20,790.00. Mr. Tosh Stated That Is For Work Completed In The Month Of March. We Are Down To Electric Work, And Scheduling A Start Up. This Is Progress For That Month. I Do Have To Report Their Was A Couple Of Electrical Panels That Were Shipped But Shipped To The Wrong Place. They Had To Reorder Them. They Are Expecting To Be Here Mid May Now. Commissioner Stanley Made A Motion To Approve, Seconded By Commissioner Warrren. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Arview Voted To Approve. Motion Carried.

24. The Next Item Was Approval Of Construction Engineering Bill #5 From Brown & Roberts, Inc For The West Frankfort - Stp Effluent Disinfection In The Amount Of $3,117.10. Commissioner Stanley Made A Motion To Approve, Seconded By Commissioner Howard. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Arview Voted To Approve. Motion Carried.

25. The Next Item Was The Consent Agenda:

A. Approval To Pay Bills.

The Mayor Stated If You Look At The Last Page Of The List Of Bills, You Can See That Some Of That Amount Has Been Paid, And Already Approved. What Actually Needs To Be Paid Is $18,142.26. Even Though The Total Amount Looks Really Big, Some Of It Has Been Taken Care Of. Commissioner Howard Made A Motion To Approve, Seconded By Commissioner Harkins. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Arview Voted To Approve. Motion Carried 

26. Building And Sign Permits ~ Code Officer Snell Stated The First One Is For Vivian Perdue At 205 N. Illinois Ave For A Roof Mount Solar Permit. I Have The Design Calculations, Site Plans And Constructional Plans From Engineers. The Business Is A Registered Contrator. I Recommend Approval. Commissioner Harkins Made A Motion To Approve, Seconded By Commissioner Warren. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Arview Voted To Approve. Motion Carried. \

The Next Permit Was For James And Sarah Vastine At 1720 E. Main St For A Commerical Remodeling Permit. This Is The Old Heights Market Building. They Will Be Redoing The Floors, Painting, And Electrical Work. They Are Starting A Bbq Resturant There. I Recommend Approval. Commissioner Howard Made A Motion To Approve, Seconded By Commissioner Stanley. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Arview Voted To Approve. Motion Carried.

The Next Permit Was For Robert Gass At 906 E. Oak St. For A Fence Permit. It Is Self Construction. The Fence Will Be A Picket Style Fence. It Meets All Of Our Requirements For Our Fence Code. I Recommend Approval. Commissioner Warren Made A Motion To Approve, Seconded By Commissioner Harkins. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Arview Voted To Approve. Motion Carried.

The Last Permit Was For A New Commercial Construction At 11782 Country Club Rd For Special Mine Serivces, Llc. They Are Adding Some New Buildings And Adding On To A Couple Of Buildings. I Have Calculations, Registered Contractor, And New Site Plans. I Recommend Approval. Commissioner Howard Made A Motion To Approve, Seconded By Commissioner Warren. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Arview Voted To Approve. Motion Carried.

27. Officer's Report ~ Fire Report For The Month Of March 2025. Commissioner Harkins Reported That They Had 203-Ambulance Calls, 23- Rubbish/Illegal Fires, 10-Brush/Field Fires, 2-Fire Alarms, 2- Vehicle Fires, 7 - Fire Emergencies; (Gas Leaks, Power Lines Down, Etc.), 5- Structure Fires, 6-Mutual Aid Fire Responses, 9-Ambulance Calls Turned Over To Mutual Aid. For A Total Of 267 Calls During The Month. The Department Used Approximately 60,000 Gallons Of Water. 120,000 If The New Lake Fire Is Counted. The Department Collected $75,029.64 For March Ambulance Calls.

Police Report For The Month Of March 2025. Deputy Chief

Willis Reported Officers Answered A Total Of 1,201 Calls For Service. Of Those Calls 19 Were Traffic Accidents, 1 With Injuries. Officers Responded To 30 Domestic Disputes, 7 Fights In Progress, 18 Alarms, 2 Intoxicated Persons, 4 Burglaries, 11 Reports Of Criminal Damage To Property, 23 Complaints Of Juvenile Problems, 23 Reported Thefts, And 20 Complaints Of Disorderly Conduct/Disturbances. And Officers Made 19 Street Contacts. Officers Conducted 189 Traffic Stops, Where They Issued 32 Citiations, 183 Warnings, And 9 Lw-27's. There Were 62 Adult Arrests Made And 5 Juvenile Arrest, Resulting In 82 Criminal Charges Filed.

Dispatchers Answered 1,680 Calls.

Of Those, 573 Were 9-1-1 Calls, 136 Were Walk In Requests. 1,201 Were For Police, 267 Were For West Frankfort Fire, 5 Were For Abbott Ems, And 0 For United Ambulance. For The Month Of March, We Collected $2,540.00 In Fines And Fees. Codes Report For The Month Of March 2025.Codes Officer Snell Reported Permit: 9~Building Permits, 1~Sign Permits.

3~ Solar Permits. Rental Properties: 3~Rental Inspections Performed. Case Activity Report~ 44 Which Includes Doors Tagged Verbal Warnings, Vehicles Tagged, Inspections Of Violations, Inspections, Citations Issued, Letters Sent, Etc.

28. Mayors Report~

The Mayor Stated The Main Thing I Want To Talk About Is Appreciation For All Of Our City Workers During That Storm. I Believe The Preperation And Quick Response Preservered Life And Property Because There Were Streets Flooded And They Responded Quickly To Those. They Worked Together Like We Are Supposed To As A City.

Because Of That We Did Not Have A Lot Of Problems That We Could Have Had. I Just Want To Say Thank You To All Of The City Workers.

Commissioner Reports~ 

Commissioner Harkins Stated Fire And The Police Departments Are Staying Busy And Doing A Great Job.

Commissioner Howard Stated We Have Someone From An Outside Service That Has Been Working On Getting Our Books Straightened Out. From What I Hear She Is Doing A Really Good Job. I Just Want To Say Thank You To Our Mayor, I Was Off With Some Medical Problems And The Mayor Has Stepped Up And Done Things That I Should Have Been Doing. But Since I Wasn't Here And Able He Did It. I Really Appreciate It.

Commissioner Stanley Stated The Street Department Did Great Keeping The Water Out And Barricading The Roads. They Put In A Lot Of Overtime, And Had No Problems With No Body Helping. We Had Other People Standing By Ready To Go If We Needed Them.

Commissioner Warren Stated The Lakes Are Full, The Docks Are Almost Covered. There Was No Major Incidents At The Lakes. A Couple Buildings We Have Had Some Leaks; The Wind Was Blowing So Hard We Now Have Some Roof Issues To Take Care Of. We Had The Final Lake Board Meeting A Couple Of Weeks Ago. That Was A Committee Of A Group Of People That Had Been Meeting For Years. On April 15, 2025 We Will Have A Lake Board Meeting. We Have Five To Six People On That Board. If We Have Problems At The Lake, This Committee Will Help Solve It. We Are Going To Try To Do Some Things At The Lake And Take Care Of It Out There And Not Ignore It. It Will Be A Public Meeting, We Will Put An Agenda Out.

Audience Comments:

Jennifer Raymond Murray Stated I Am A Life Long Member Of West Frafnkfort, I Have Moved Away For About Twenty Years. I Am In Recovery From Opioids For Eight Years. As I Came Back To Town, I Have Noticed An Increase Of Over Doses And Needles. When I Lived In Evansville, I Was Apart Of Evansville Recovery Alliance. We Would Meet People Where They Are At And Give Them Harm Reduction Supplies, Not Drugs. I Would Like To See Something Like That In West Frankfort. I Know There Will Be Some Resistance. I Am Sick Of Seeing My Friends Die, And I Almost Died. I Would Like To See The Community Members Come Together And Try To Combat This Problem. I Want To Apologize For The Colorful Words I Said To You On Facebook. I Am Passionate About This. The Mayor Stated Thank You, I Am Proud Of You I Can Tell You Are Nervous And You Know The Back Lash You Are Probably Going To Get From Some People By Standing Up. We Have Been In Communication On What We Are Working Towards. This Is A National Problem, Not Just West Frankfort. I Am Committed To Do What I Can To Help Out. If You Get Ahold Of Mike From Take Action Today, He Is Good At Doing This.

Loren Collins Stated I Live Here In Town. A Few Of You Know Where I Live, The Big Ditch Runs Right Behind. The Only Two Lots Is My Lot And My Neighbors Lot. The Big Ditch Is Severly Washed Away. I Have Pictures From Five Months Ago, And Four To Five Feet Of Ditch That Has Been Lost Behind Their Property Which Is Actually An Old Alley Way That Is Washing Out Badly. I Also Have Recent Pictures From This Flood That Took Out About Another Foot That Is Right Up The Edge That Is Against My Fence. There Is A Crack Running Right Down The Back Of My Fence That Is About Six To Eight Feet Long. I Have A Video That Shows We Have A Water Line, Or Something That Is Coming Up Underneath Of Our Property And Coming Out At The Big Ditch. It Was Bubbling And Pouring Yesterday Morning. I See Alittle Bit Of Green Piping, It Could Be Trash But I Didn't Get In There To Look. Mike Said You Already Spent The Budget For This Year. I Told Mike I Have All Of The Concrete From Wedny's When They Were Digging That Out. I Told You At The Last Meeting I Attended Was To Try To Pack Those Across The Ditch And Pile Them Up On My Side. It Didn't Quite Work Out; I Got Your Side Some What Packed In. Mike Said You Guys Do Not Have An Excavator Big Enough To Get Down There And Do That. Whatever I Need To Do, If I Need To Get Ahold Of Jack Joplin To See If He Could Come Out With His Equipment. If We Could Get That Packed In With Rock Some How Repacked With Some Dirt. I Just Bought A Huge Roll Of Mine Belting. I Know We Do Not Have Anything Like That Along The Ditch. It Would Be Something New. Out At Logan Mr. Thomas Has Construction Starting, His Whole Retaining Wall From All Of The Water Has Busted Out. If You Want Any More Concrete, He Told Me I Can Have Everything They Are Taking Out. Street Superintendent Bonner, Stated I Discussed That With Thad Today, I Am Getting You In The Plans. I Would Like To Request If We Are Going To Come In And Do This, We Need To Be Able To Get Up To The Ditch And Do Our Work. The Whole Field Will Need To Be Cleared Out So We Can Get In There. Mr. Collins Stated You Guys Don't Have To Mow It; I Have Been. Mr. Bonner Stated I Know You Do, But We Will Still Come And Mow It. Mr. Collins Stated For The Record I Mowed This For The Last Four And A Half Years And Average Of Three To Four Times A Year It Was Bush Hogged. I Have Took Care Of It The Last Four Years On All Of The Lots, Grew A Garden The Last Three Years, And Planted A Few Trees. There Is Somebody Here Making It Look Even Better Than What The City Has Been Able To Do And Spend Time On. I Would Like That To Continue. I Will Move All Of That Stuff Except The Two Planted Trees That Is Further Down The Ditch. I Will Maintain That, For As Long As I Am Breathing. Last Year I Pushed Mowed All Of Those Lots Once A Week, Took Me A Couple Hours. Please Do Not Take That Pride Away From Me. Commissioner Stanley Stated Anytime You Do Anything On It Like Plant Trees, And Things Make Sure To Let Mike Know To Make Sure It Is Not In The Way Of Our Bush Hogs. Mr. Bonner Stated Our Main Concern Is Our Ditch Mower. The Guy Who Runs The Big Boom Arm, Complains That It Is Alittle Tight In That Area. Mr. Collins Stated I Think He Is Thinking Of The Wrong Place Because You Can Bring A Semi Through It If You Wanted To. Mr. Bonner Stated I Am Talking About Where You Have Your Garden. Mr. Collins Stated I Can Do That.

29. The Next Item Was Approval To Go Into Executive Session For Discussions Pursuant To 5 Ilcs 120/2 © (1), 5 Ilcs 120/2 © (5), 5 Ilcs 120/2 © (6), 5 Ilcs 120/2 © (11). The Mayor Stated We Will Not Be Making Any Decisions During Or Afterwards. At 6:55 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.

30. The Next Item Was Approval Of A Motion To Return To Open Session At 8:02 P.M. Where No Action Was Taken.

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

31. With No Further Business To Be Discussed, The Meeting Was Adjourned On A Motion By Commissioner Harkins At 8:05 P.M.

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