Macon Reporter

City of Maroa City Council met Oct. 28.

Here is the minutes provided by the council:

Meeting called to order by Clerk Edwards at 6:30 pm. Roll call taken by Clerk Edwards. Alderwoman Estep & Bogle, Alderman Grider, Jackson, West, Wilkey, Administrator Ted Agee and Mayor Meador are present. Clerk Edwards and Treasurer Modro-Peters are present,

Clerk Edwards leads the meeting in the Pledge of Allegiance.

Previous Meeting Minutes Clerk Edwards presents the meeting minutes, Mayor Meador asks if everyone had a chance to look at the

Estep makes a motion to accept the September meeting minutes, seconded by Bogle. West, Grider, Bogle, Estep voted aye, Wilkey & Jackson abstained, motion carried.

Police Report Chief Gaddy is not present. Sergeant Koonce presents the monthly report to the council and updated ordinance violations list.

Attorney Report Attorney Jankowicz is present,

Jankowicz updated the council on the status of the old Coastal building. Will set up a meeting to discuss the building.

Jankowicz updated the status of the trailer park. Received back many of the notifications but still some that are not back yet. Will move forward when all are back.

Jankowicz discusses the Tombaugh property, there are summons out for service. Communication with Ms. Junkert. The home is locked but is it not the city lock on the home, so she is able to make entry into

the home but to be sure it is secured when she leaves. DeWitt County Sheriff is unable to locate Sean

Tombaugh to give service. Ms. Junkert would also like to locate him to have his sign a qui that she may handle what needs to be done with the home. If anyone knows his address, please let us know.

Jankowicz discussed the cannabis law that goes into effect 1/1/2020 and options that the city has. Suggested update to the personnel handbook.

Citizen Comments Rick Barnes discussed the health issue from the neighbor's house, showed pictures to the council of how bad it is. States that the homeowner wants to move back in, and the home is no livable.

Doris Molt also discussed the same home. She states that she had a call into Jay Scott to see if he would help to do anything, he called her, and she missed his call so is waiting on him to call her back. She is concerned about the home and the rodents living there.

Meador states that currently we do not have a building inspector. He appoints Mike Hoffman as the city building inspector and see what may legally be done. Council gives consent. Edwards states that she will get with him to get the proper protection before entering the home. Mr. Barnes states that he discussed with Pugsley and for 24 hours it is $310 for a container, he would like to get everything out of that house and then get it gone as soon as possible.

Dennis Hamilton discussed streetlights in his neighborhood that have been out for a while, there are 3 out. He notified the police department about 2 weeks ago. Edwards asks where they are at and she will let them know tonight. Sergeant Koonce states that they go twice a year and make a list to turn in, Meador states that should turn them in as they are found. Edwards states that they can let her know and she will email them to get fixed. Turnaround time is 24 hours in most cases.

Meador ask council to move the Citizens Comments to the beginning of the meeting permanently, council gives consent.

Engineer's Report Ron Legner, Engineer is present.

Administrator Report Ted Agee, Administrator is present, and he presents and discusses his report.

Leaf pick up has started, Hoffman states that it was about 5 hours collecting, Remind people to not put sticks in the leaves. Diane will post to let know if have leaves to pick up, Hoffman said that regardless they will go all over town anyway. Meador asks about trash can for pick up, Hoffınan states that is not a good idea, just put them in piles in the yard.

Agee discussed the old waterworks plant status, it is almost all down. Ran into some issues but getting it down.

Discussed the upcoming projects for waterworks and the Ordinance to get things started to try to get some grants and EPA loans. Wilkey made a motion to accept Ordinance 2019/10/28-1, seconded by Bogle. All council members present vote aye, motion carried.

Agee & Wilkey discussed the stop sign request at Ash & Jackson Streets. Wilkey asks what is the consensus of the police department, Koonce states that it is a 3 way intersection so therefore all traffic traveling north on Ash should stop at Jackson and with the giant pine tree there, you have to slow down anyway or risk getting hit. Wilkey will discuss at the next meeting,

Zoning/Public Works Mike Hoffman, Superintendent, is present.

Old Business  

New Business Wilkey discussed the audit report. No issues. Jankowicz states that we should put on the next agenda to receive and file the audit at the next meeting. Edwards will put on the next agenda.

Edwards states that Marcia Clifford with General Code is here to discuss new code books. 2001 was the last update of the code books. Bogle makes a motion to accept General Code proposal to update code books for $10,9995 to be paid over 2 fiscal years, seconded by Grider. All council members present vote aye, motion carried.

Edwards discussed the machine to detect counterfeit money, it is $229. Council consent to purchase the machine.

Edwards discusses talking to Credit Collection Partners at the IML conference. CCP fees are 30% and currently we pay up to 50% with MCCI. Council consent to switch collection agencies.

Edwards discussed the Greater Decatur Chainber of Commerce meeting and that if we join, we can get into the Coop for energy. Currently with the bills that have been submitted, we can save $3,000 so that will pay for the chamber fee to join. We can join for $585 and that allows us to also join the energy

Coop, West makes a motion to join the GDCC Silver plan for $585 annually for one year and join the energy Coop plan for one year, seconded by Wilkey, All council member present vote aye, motion carried.

Edwards presents the Abatement Ordinance. Attorney Jankowicz discussed why we must do this. Wilkey makes a motion to accept Ordinance 2019/10/28-2, seconded by Bogle, all council members present vote aye, motion carried,

Meador appoints Jason Edwards to the Zoning Board, council gives consent.

Ordinance pertaining to the Veteran Memorial Park is tabled at this time.

Committee reports West discussed painting the bathrooms at Spencer Park and that locks need to be changed and partitions in bathroom taken down as they are in disrepair.

Edwards discusses the envelopes from Texas Roadhouse and tells the council that they are to sell gift cards. This is a fund raiser and monies go back to the Veterans Memorial. There is also a Dine to donate night at Texas Roadhouse on December 1, 2019 from 11 am - 10 pin. 10% of cards amounts go to the Veterans Memorial, If use them on 12/1/2019 then another 10% goes to Veterans Memorial so potentially 20% from the sell of one card. Edwards asks all council members to please sell them.

Wilkey asks for comments regarding the Fall Festival, Koonce states that he heard a lot of people state they enjoyed it and it was really nice.

Bills Edwards presents the bills to the council. Mayor Meador asks if everyone has looked at the bills. Edwards states that she has one addition, it is for Doak Backhoe, LLC for $19,000. Per Wilkey pay from Infrastructure Fund. Estep makes a motion to pay the bills with the additions, seconded by Bogle. All council members present vote aye, motion carried.

Meador states that our IML insurance went down from $65 to $39 thousand from letting IML know that we are shopping for insurance.

Closed Session Wilkey makes a motion to move to closed session for Land Acquisition at 8:12 pm, seconded by Jackson. All council members present vote aye, motion carried, moved to closed session at 8:12 pm.

Adjourn Mayor Meador asks if there is a motion to adjourn, Bogle makes a motion to adjourn at 8:54 pm, seconded by Estep. All council member's present vote aye, motion carried. Meeting adjourned at 8:54 pm.

https://maroaillinois.gov/file/664/10.28.2019%20meeting%20minutes.pdf