Macon Reporter

Village of Harristown Board of Trustees met Nov. 3.

Here are the minutes provided by the board:

The Board of Trustees of the Village of Harristown held their monthly meeting at 185 N. Kembark St., Harristown, IL. Trustees Teresa Acree, Kevin Vessels, Jeff Eller, Jay Trusner, Les Jenkins, Mayor Evelyn Deverell, Treasurer Julie Rose, Budget Officer Rick Laskowski, and Attorney Andrew Weatherford were in attendance. Trustee Larr Ditty and Clerk Penny Allen were absent. Mayor Deverell called the meeting to order at 6:30 P.M. followed by the Pledge of Allegiance.

Consent Agenda

Motion by Trustee Trusner to approve meeting agenda. Trustee Acree 2nd. Motion passed 4-0 (Trustee Vessels not present; arrived late)

Approve 9/26/22 meeting minutes. Motion by Trustee Acree to approve with no changes. Trustee Jenkins 2nd Motion passed 5-0

Visitors

None. All visitors need to sign log sheet.

Mayor Updates

a) Veterans Dinner to be held on 11/11/22

b) Holiday Bazaar to be held on 11/19/22

c) Three openings for Trustees (April election). Filing deadline is December (Open positions are Jenkins, Eller, Vessels)

d) Lawn & Landscape contest - October winner was Mr./Mrs. Myers.

e) Santa at Village will be 12/2/22

f) Sean Ziemer is Plumbing Inspector.

g) Harristown website is being updated daily.

Treasurers Report

a) An 8-page report was distributed to Board members and reviewed.

b) Included was the financial report listing receipts, total disbursements and bank balances by Fund. Motion by Trustee Vessels to approve, Trustee Eller 2nd, approved 5-0.

c) Also included was Cash requirements of invoices > $1,000. Total amount

$57,914.58. Motion to approve payment made by Trustee Trusner. Trustee Jenkins 2nd. Motion passed 5-0.

d) Other reports for information only included a breakdown of IL Funds accounts, daily interest rate history of IL Funds, state revenue summary, Water Reserve balance, ARPA Fund spending, Community Center rental income, Veterans Memorial donations, and MFT Rebuild Illinois funds.

e) Approved Vendor payment list distributed and reviewed. Motion made by Trustee Vessels to add URWC, no amount restriction. Trustee Trusner 2nd. Motion passed 5-0.

Budget Officers Report

a) Monthly budget report for September 2022 reviewed. Also included was a list of individual accounts within the General, TIF and Water Funds that are over budget. Motion by Trustee Acree to accept the Budget report. Trustee Vessels 2nd. Motion passed 5-0.

Engineering Report

a) Chastain - Engineer Ron Legner presented the monthly Engineer's report.

Project 6899 - Water Improvements/Tower/IEPA Loan

Operation & Maintenance manuals from Caldwell are needed.

Pay request from Burdick and Caldwell were presented.

Motion by Trustee Jenkins to pay $57,994.79 to Caldwell (Item #10); Trustee Trusner 2nd, Approved 5-0.

Motion by Trustee Trusner to pay $61,427.00 to Burdick (Items #13 & #14F); Trustee Eller 2nd, Approved 5-0.

Suburban Street Jurisdictional Transfer

No new information.

Other

Decommissioning of Water Wells is planned for Spring 2023.

Zoning/Planning

a) Notes from 11/1/22 meeting was distributed and reviewed.

b) Solar Energy - Solar panel installation; Attorney to review legal issues.

c) Wind Energy - consider modelling Forsyth policies/ordinances.

d) Fireworks - ordinance proposed.

e) Annexation Ordinance – consider changing to align with other ordinances.

f) Plat approval for Indus Commercial Park - Need to approve plat. Lot 1 (Growery) address will be 5005 Indus Dr; Lot 2 (Dispensary) address will be 5045 Indus Dr. This will be a minor subdivision. Location (Western/Harristown Blvd) will comply with zoning requirements. Motion by Trustee Jenkins to approve plat; Trustee Trusner 2nd; Approved 5-0.

Public Works

a) Report from Jonathon Closs was distributed listing activities during the month. b) Activities include Water leak repairs and cleanup with skid steer. Water operator license has been obtained by Superintendent Closs; EJ Water no longer needed. c) Ditch work is needed at Joynt/Union School Road. 2022-23 budget contains funding approval (Street Maintenance $50K, Storm Drainage $30K). Motion by Trustee Jenkins approving up to $10K to fix dangerous ditches, Trustee Acree 2nd, Approved 5-0.

d) Current credit card limit is $2K. Motion by Trustee Vessels to increase to $10K, Trustee Eller 2nd; Approved 5-0.

Old Business

a) Indus 365 – TIF Discussion (Table for future discussion)

New Business

a) Liquor and Gaming License request - Del Carmen Pizza 4350 W. Main. Motion by Trustee Jenkins to authorize Gaming License, Trustee Vessels 2nd; Roll Call: Vessel-Yes, Acree-No, Eller-Yes, Trusner-No, Jenkins-Yes; Approved 3-2. b) Need for Deputy Clerk - purpose is to execute documents when Village Clerk is not available. An alternate is needed for all Village Clerk activities. Village Clerk will need to approve. This will be an agenda item at the next regular Board meeting.

Personnel

a) Closed Personnel Meeting notes distributed. Motion by Trustee Vessels to review and discuss in Closed session, Trustee Trusner 2nd; Approved 5-0.

Streets and Alley

a) No report

Finance

a) No report

Ordinance

a) No report

Water and Sewer

a) Water System Fees - Report distributed with current ordinance policies; also included were nearby community information for comparison. Residents are responsible for turning off water for internal leaks. It was suggested that an article be published in the Newsletter asking residents with leaks to phone village employees instead of asking for a house call to turn off water - internal leak will be a $50 charge. Track activity for 2 months; discuss and review in January 2023. b) URWC Water - Rate increase from $3.94 to $5.74 announced. There is no choice to the village, annual rate adjustments are included in the contract, URWC Board decides. Harristown Mayor is a Board member. The driver for the increase is high electric prices. The URWC is trying to add other communities to the Coop. System capacity is 1M gallons, only 300K is being purchased by existing members. The cost increase appears to be related to low volume. Board members are disturbed by the large increase after only 2 months of operation. The next Coop meeting is 11/12/22; there will be an open house from 10 AM - 2 PM. The next Coop Board meeting will be 3rd Thursday of January 2023 at Illiopolis Water Plant. Harristown Mayor will make inquiries with the URWC Board regarding Harristown Village Board concerns and suggestions.

Economic Development/Community

a) Mural at Wyckles and Main -- painting will be in Spring 2023.

b) Veterans Memorial - $20K goal has been met. Additional $4K has been received.

Memorial cost was $23K

c) Use for 210 Kembark St. - Local residents in neighborhood do not want park.

Board feels small children park would be nice. Need to determine what kind of park and layout/activities. Motion made by Trustee Vessels to build Park, Trustee Trusner 2nd; Approved 5-0. What grants are available? A plan is needed - Name, design, etc. Economic Development Committee will review and develop recommended plan.

Attorney

a) Wells - Need opinion on Wells, Attorney will draft a document. There is no active Lease for Well #2; do we need a full year notice, if yes then need to give it now. There are active Leases for Wells #1 & #3, they are on the same parcel. b) Monetary Donations and Gifts - Gift cards for mowing were given to residents; this should not have been done. Public funds can't be given to individuals, document distributed by the Attorney. Reclass expense to outside labor for services performed. Need to discontinue practice of gift cards.

Motion by Trustee Jenkins to enter closed session to discuss ordinance violations and Personnel report. Trustee Acree 2nd - Motion passed 5-0. Leave regular session at 9:17 PM.

Returned from Closed session at 9:51 PM

Personnel report Items

a) Motion by Trustee Eller to have conference with Jeremy Embry about

absenteeism and operator license requirements, Trustee Trusner 2nd; Approved 5-

b) Motion by Trustee Acree to have conference on 11/7/22 with Misty Pettyjohn Peters to increase hourly rate to $20.00 (effective 11/14/22) and proposed plan to make her Deputy Clerk, Trustee Jenkins 2nd; Approved 5-0.

c) Motion by Trustee Trusner to award $500 gross pay Christmas bonus to the 3 full time employees, Trustee Eller 2nd; Approved 5-0.

Motion by Trustee Vessels to adjourn, Trustee Acree 2nd. Motion passed 5-0.

Meeting adjourned at 9:55 PM

https://villageofharristown.com/documents/231/Meeting_Minutes_11-03-22__1_.pdf