Macon Reporter

Village of Warrensburg Village Board met Feb. 7.

Here are the minutes provided by the board:

CALL TO ORDER: Mayor Riley called the meeting to order at the Warrensburg Village Hall at 5:30 p.m.

THE PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE was recited.

ROLL CALL: Present: Mayor Riley, Trustee Fisher, Trustee Freeman, Trustee Hood, Trustee Netherton & Trustee Oakley. Also present were Chief Wheeler, VAC Hundley & Atty Jankowicz. Trustee Hackl was absent.

MAYOR’S COMMENTS: Mayor Riley welcomed everyone.

He called on Nick Calleja to take the oath of office as a part-time patrol officer for the Village of Warrensburg. He welcomed him to the Village department. Mr. Hawkins invited him to use their driveway anytime for traffic control when on duty.

Mayor Riley thanked the public works department for working on 2 water breaks by the school on consecutive days. There was a 3rd break in Morraine Highlands a few days later. Ameren was working near the construction of the new home and due to a mismarked line, they cut a water line. Burdick Plumbing was contacted to assist with that repair.

He also thanked those who assisted with snow plowing and removal.

PUBLIC COMMENTS: Rusty Simpson was in attendance as requested by the village. He had been given a deadline to clean up his property. He asked the board for leeway or an extension in getting things cleaned up especially now due to the snow and the ground being wet. He doesn’t want to mess up someone’s property. He doesn’t want to get stuck. Atty Jankowicz asked if Mr. Simpson could be specific as to the vehicles still on the property. He listed a Suburban, Van, Mercury Mariner and a flat-bed trailer. Atty Jankowicz asked about the motor home to which Mr. Simpson responded that he will get that insured and registered. Atty Jankowicz reminded him that at his hearing a month ago, he was told then he had to get it registered & insured. Atty Jankowicz asked if there were other things that could be moved without doing damage to any property. There are some items including go-carts which Mr. Simpson intends to retain. Atty Jankowicz asked if he was going to be able to have those items removed prior to the court date on Wednesday, February 9 to which he replied he would. Trustee Oakley asked if there was anything else in the front of the property to which Mr. Simpson replied there is another car trailer which is registered in his name. Trustee Fisher mentioned part of the reason the cosmetic changes need to be taken care of. Mayor Riley reminded that it is also part of a code violation.

Atty Jankowicz asked for direction from the board prior to going to court on Wednesday. One option would be to ask the judge to grant further time due to the inclement weather being an impediment to him complying. Another option would be to ask the judge to put Mr. Simpson in jail. When there is a finding of contempt, which there already has been, what is set is a sentencing hearing and the judge is allowed by state law to incarcerate him up to 179 days to get him to comply.

Trustee Oakley mentioned we have had a number of discussions regarding this property and issue and would appreciate some commitment to have everything removed and licensed by the set date. Mr. Simpson stated he intends to comply if granted an extension.

The consensus of the board was to give him an extension to get everything cleared up by a date to be determined by the court and to get the motor home licensed and insured.

NEW BUSINESS: None.

REVIEW/APPROVAL OF MINUTES: Minutes of the special meeting of January 8, 2022 were presented for review. Trustee Oakley moved and Trustee Netherton seconded to approve the minutes of January 8, 2021. Motion carried. A motion was made by Trustee Oakley and seconded by Trustee Hood to approve the minutes of the January 18, 2022 regular meeting minutes. Motion carried.

VILLAGE ADMINISTRATIVE CLERK: Trustee Fisher moved and Trustee Freeman seconded to approve the Balance Sheet, pay the bills and make the appropriate transfers for February 7, 2022. Since mail has been light, there weren’t too many invoices. She would like to check further on the Aramark invoice as they were showing an outstanding invoice from November. If she can find the documentation, she will lower that invoice by $6.00. She also had questioned Danny Hadley in regards to the 2 invoices for dissolved oxygen from 2 different companies. One had been done due to a need and the other was supposed to be on back-order but it arrived quicker than expected. There will also need to be a transfer made from IL Funds for the General Fund & the Police Fund. Mayor Riley explained the rental of the pump from Sunbelt Rentals. Roll Call vote: Yes – Trustees Netherton, Freeman, Hood, Fisher & Oakley. No – none. Motion carried. VAC Hundley stated she had neglected to mention at the prior meeting that an insurance payment had been received for the damage at the Water Plant. She let Atty Jankowicz know that a check had been received today from Sinclair Broadcasting for the tower lease. VAC Hundley mentioned when she reviewed the last invoice from Frontier, she looked at the cost for the fax line, especially since a potential fraudulent request had been received via fax. She spoke with Trustee Oakley regarding the faxes we receive and that there are only 1 or 2 residents who ask us to fax something for them a couple times a year. It really didn’t justify the approximately $80 a month for those few items. She contacted Frontier to discontinue the line only to discover that our internet service is attached to that line. So, she had to quickly stop the process and get the line reset. Also, because our Frontier service was grandfathered in, the new rates for internet and phone were going to cost more on a month-to-month basis than we currently pay or we could get a lower rate by agreeing to a 1, 2 or 3 year contract which we don’t want to do at this time. Trustee Oakley explained that Decatur Computer will be coming out the next day or two to get our network switched over to ACTS and once everything is working as it should be, we will discontinue service with Frontier as our internet provider.

VILLAGE ATTORNEY: Since Atty Jankowicz has another meeting at 7:00 p.m., he asked to be moved up on the agenda. Prior to the meeting he had handed out Ordinance #772 Authorizing the Sale of Surplus Property. Trustee Oakley moved and Trustee Hood seconded to approve & adopt Ordinance #772. This ordinance would allow the Village to sell the vehicles “as is” and there is a $3,000.00 reserve on the road grader and a $5,000.00 reserve on the Ford F550. Sealed bids are to be received by the Village by 2:00 p.m. on Monday, March 7, 2022 with the bids being opened and reviewed at 5:00 p.m. in order to present to the board at their meeting that evening. Included in the documentation are samples of bills of sale for each of the pieces of equipment. Trustee Oakley asked if there was a plan for advertising of the vehicles. Trustee Hood responded it would be put on the internet and in “Wheels & Deals”. Trustee Fisher asked who had come up with the reserve amounts.

Trustee Hood responded that he & Public Works Crosier did. Chief Wheeler mentioned that the truck had been used for snow removal and it ran very well with the exception of a hydraulic hose breaking. That will be repaired.

Trustee Fisher mentioned he believes the reserve on the truck is low. He also felt the advertising needs to get past the immediate area. Atty Jankowicz also mentioned the reserve bid should be included in the advertisement in order to not waste the time of persons placing a bid.

A motion was made by Trustee Oakley, seconded by Trustee Netherton to amend Section 4 by changing the reserve amount to $10,000.00 and Section 2 to add “attached equipment”. Roll call vote: Yes – Trustees Fisher, Oakley, Hood, Freeman & Netherton. The amendment is adopted.

Roll call vote on the Ordinance as amended: Yes – Trustees Netherton, Fisher, Oakley, Hood & Freeman. No – none. Ordinance #772 as amended is adopted.

Atty Jankowicz also presented Ordinance #773. Trustee Oakley moved & Trustee Freeman seconded to adopt Ordinance #773 which amends sections 332-53; 332-56; 332-64; 332-67; and 338-2C of the Village Code. This ordinance is for housekeeping to correct the purchasing limits in the code. This will not only put everything in line with the purchasing policy which was recently adopted but will also reference the purchasing policy eliminating the need to adopt a new ordinance if amounts change. Chief Wheeler asked why this was being done and wanted to confirm the amounts weren’t being changed. Roll call vote: Yes – Trustees Oakley, Fisher, Netherton, Freeman & Hood. No – none. Ordinance #773 is adopted.

FINANCE: Trustee Oakley had included in the packets a report showing the FY 22 budget; expenditures to date and a blank space to indicate FY23 budget. Budgets are needed for revenues and expenses. Each department’s numbers should be ready to be turned in at the next meeting. If additional information is needed, Cindy would be able to pull that up for you.

Each committee should also consider big projects or amounts in order to make sure it’s included and everyone is aware.

Trustee Oakley brought the board up to date on the internet service. He had contacted Decatur Computer to assist with what needs to be done on the Village end to make this happen. We had been using a school district employee who was able to re-network our systems but since he has a full-time job, it was time to seek out another option. They did come in and do a mini audit and there are several things they are going to present a proposal for.

BUILDING: Trustee Netherton didn’t have anything.

POLICE: Trustee Fisher didn’t have anything.

Chief Wheeler presented his monthly report. There are some changes in procedures with DCFS; training coming up for new officer; there was another stolen vehicle at Dollar General; investigations are ongoing as well as court dates and there may be another new officer.

SEWER: Trustee Hackl was absent. It was on the agenda to replace the hoses on the 4” pump but Kenny said to hold off. Mayor Riley explained that there is an older 4” pump that was designated as a sewer pump. When they attempted to use it during the water main break since they were having issues with the other pump, it was discovered you can’t intermingle the pumps. They thought it would need a new intake hose but it is an actual cracked pump. So most likely, a new one will need to be purchased for the sewer plant. There is a newer 3” pump for the water system but it would not work when needed, which is why one had to be rented. They believe it had an issue with the air intake hose so that is being worked on and then will be tested before deciding on whether to replace it. Trustee Hackl had also asked for new tires to be put on the agenda but since more information wasn’t available, Mayor Riley suggested we wait. Trustee Oakley mentioned that this is a learning curve for the trustees because the tires probably just didn’t suddenly need to be replaced and those are the projects we need to think about and work into the budget.

STREETS: Trustee Hood didn’t have anything.

WATER: Trustee Freeman he has yet to hear back from the water tower companies so he is going to talk to Chastain and see if they can assist.

PUBLIC WORKS: No one was here.

ENGINEER: No one was in attendance.

OTHER AND/OR OLD BUSINESS: Nothing further.

Trustee Fisher moved and Trustee Hood seconded to adjourn. Motion carried.

The meeting adjourned at 6:50 p.m.

The next meeting will be on Tuesday, February 22, 2022.

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