Macon Reporter

Village of Mt. Zion Board of Trustees met Oct. 8.

Here is the minutes provided by the board:

The regular board meeting was called to order at 7:00 pm by President Jon Book. The following Trustees were present; Dave Doty, Jeannie Ruppert, Mike Jennings, Greg McLain, Raven Russell, and Brian Gill.

A motion was made by Trustee Doty to approve the minutes from the September 9, 2020 special meeting, seconded by Trustee Ruppert. Roll call taken, all ayes, motion carried.

A motion was made by Trustee Ruppert to approve the minutes from the September 10, 2020 regular meeting, seconded by Trustee Doty. Roll call taken, all ayes, motion carried.

A motion was made by Trustee Gill to approve the “Statement of Income and Expenses” seconded by Trustee Doty. Roll call taken, all ayes, motion carried.

A motion was made by Trustee McLain to approve the “Banks and Checks Journal” seconded by Trustee Gill. Roll call taken, all ayes, motion carried.

Public - BILL MCDANIEL - wanted to make the Board aware of a garage about to fall down at 219 S St. John Street. He showed the board some pictures of the building. Board will look into this and address it.

PHILLIP GLOSSER - not able to attend

MATT FLOOD - observed someone walking a dog (pit) without a lease; asked about everyone being an Independent on the ballot; asked how one person, on or off the Board, could get rid of the Police Dept.; asked about when minutes are posted to the website; asked about updated ordinances on the website; asked about appropriations for the TIF fund for 2020-2021; asked about property acquisition tonight, but nothing on the agenda; asked about the newer police car that was purchased, Trustee McLain explained how appropriations work.

TOM JENNINGS - asking about a discount/prorate on the golf cart license. Officer Nichols looked this up and Ordinance states this cannot be done.

TIF AGREEMENT WITH LANCE WHITNEY - approved last month just needs an Ordinance. A motion was made by Trustee McLain to approve Ordinance #20-790 TIF agreement with Lance Whitney, seconded by Trustee Ruppert. Roll call taken, all ayes, motion carried.

WATER SYSTEM IMPROVEMENTS - Greg Gustafson passed out copies of the report of the Water Tower inspection/cleanout. Report also included any recommendations on what needs to be done to the water tower. The report showed a total of $674,100 for the improvements

that are needed. This report enables the bidders to refine their bid for this project. Mr. Gustafson will have a new copy of the summary total for the grant for Rural Water Development. Mr. Gustafson handed out a resolution that the village needs to pass to authorize him to sign for the village. This will be on next month’s agenda. Mr. Gustafson also had the Rural Water document that is now underway.

NEW PHONE SERVICE - due to no returned phone calls, this is tabled until next month. HELPING SCHOOL WITH TRANSFORMERS COST - table waiting on invoices for material

SPEED LIMIT & WN WATER - Officer Nichols mentioned a lot of complaints of speeding on the side streets. Ordinances state the limit is 30 mph. Officer Nichols feels that this is too fast for side streets. He suggests that a town wide limit of 25 unless otherwise posted be implemented. Highway will stay 40 mph or 50 mph. A lot of complaints on WN Water Street and there is no speed limit posted out there. The Village Board would like to see “Reduce Speed Ahead” signs posted along with some more speed limit signs, especially on WN Water St by the park. Discussion followed about changing the town wide limit versus posting more signs. A motion was made by Trustee Gill to post a town wide 25 speed limit except otherwise posted, seconded by Trustee Ruppert. Roll call taken: Doty-yes; Ruppert-yes; Jennings-yes; McLain-no; Russell-no; Gill-yes; motion carried.

EMPLOYEE APPREICATION DINNER - Pam at the Diner asked if we could move the dinner to Sat Oct 24th as she has to be at the Diner very early the next morning for regular business. We could keep the 23rd and find a new caterer. After some discussion it was decided to move the dinner to Sat the 24th and have the Diner cater.

BASO - There will be no Halloween event hosted by BASO uptown. They will pass out candy in the bank parking lot. It will be a drive or walk thru.

REZONING DEVITO PROPERTY - information from the Zoning Board was given to the Village Board. They met with Mr. Devito on Oct 6th to rezone his property from residential to commercial. Zoning approved this request. A motion was made by Trustee McLain to rezone property at 04-04-23-301-23 from residential to C1 commercial in accordance with zoning recommendation, seconded by Trustee Ruppert. Roll call taken, all ayes, motion carried.

PURCHASE OF SODA MACHINE - the soda machine at the store in no longer available. President Book thought this would be a community service. No one will come to Bethany for service, Coke or Pepsi. This is still in the planning phase. President Book will continue to look into this.

ANNUAL TAX LEVY - Prior to this meeting, the Finance Committee met to discuss the annual tax levy. They recommend leaving the levy the same as last year. This will be approved at next month’s meeting.

OTHER NEW BUSINESS - none

REPORTS - were given from: Shannon Risley, Zoning Committee, Chief Nichols, and the Finance Committee.

CORRESPONDENCE - None

MEETINGS BEFORE THE NEXT MEETING -

Finance - 6pm Police - 6pm

11/4/2020 10/27/2020

*audit *possible appeal of ordinance violation

A motion was made by Trustee Jennings to enter into executive session to discuss litigation, seconded by Trustee Ruppert. Roll call taken, all ayes, motion carried.

A motion was made by Trustee McLain to enter back into open session, seconded by Trustee Gill. Voice vote taken, all ayes, motion carried. No action will be taken on the executive session.

With no further business to discuss, a motion to adjourn was made by Trustee McLain, seconded by Trustee Russell. Voice vote taken, all ayes, motion carried.

https://www.villageofbethany.com/documents/116/10-08-20_min.pdf