Macon Reporter

Village of Warrensburg Village Board met Jan. 17.

Here are the minutes provided by the board:

CALL TO ORDER: Mayor Riley called the meeting to order at the Warrensburg Village Hall on Tuesday, January 17, 2023 at 5:30 p.m., reminding everyone the meeting was being recorded.

THE PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE was recited.

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

MAYOR’S COMMENTS: Mayor Riley reminded everyone about the breakfast on January 28 at the DaBurg to benefit the Corn Festival. He has moved his “Coffee with the Mayor” to that location. Stephanie Brown had contacted the Mayor regarding scheduling a SRTS committee meeting. He will attempt to get one scheduled within the next couple weeks.

PUBLIC COMMENTS: None.

NEW BUSINESS: Rise Broadband had presented an agreement to Mayor Riley to begin installing fiber optic services to the Village and it was passed on to Atty Jankowicz for review. Atty Jankowicz commented on the agreement: change City to Village; the agreement is for a period of 10 years with auto renewal of 4 additional 5 year terms; he would like to see if it could be negotiated to provide free access to the Village offices (Village Hall, Police, Water & Sewer); they want to place a “box” on the property which would be the hub for all services and Atty Jankowicz would like to add a provision that if they cease operations within the Village, they would remove all equipment within 6 months; the Village would need to notify them if there is an annexation; there is a provision they be notified if another competitor files an application for access in the Village; there is a provision to cooperate & consult with the Village in locating new transmission or distribution underground lines; it does have a provision that if after installation, there is a request from the Village to relocate their service lines, there would be cooperation in planning and allocation of expenses; insurance meets requirements; termination rights, etc. Mayor Riley will contact them about these changes and clarifications and hopefully there will be a good copy for the next board meeting. Trustee Oakley asked if there were any provisions in the agreement with ACTS that weren’t included with Rise. Atty Jankowicz mentioned it’s different now with federal regulations in that this agreement is more for Right-of-Way usage, rather than a provider.

ENGINEER: Stephanie Brown reminded the board that the bid letting for the SRTS project will be March 10, 2023 at noon. The committee needs to determine the Qualified Base Selection (QBS) prior to that. That agreement needs to be in place at that time.

REVIEW/APPROVAL OF MINUTES: The minutes of the December 5, 2022 meeting will be held until the next stated meeting as the trustees present at that meeting were not in attendance tonight. A motion was made by Trustee Fisher and seconded by Trustee Netherton to approve the minutes of the January 3, 2023 regular meeting minutes. Motion carried.

VILLAGE ADMINISTRATIVE CLERK: Trustee Oakley moved and Trustee Hood seconded to approve the Balance Sheet, pay the bills and make the appropriate transfers for January 17, 2023. VAC Hundley it was a pretty standard report. The transfer from IL Funds to be deposited into General and Police checking accounts may look a little higher than necessary but it’s due to there being another payroll prior to the next board meeting. VAC Hundley did ask Trustee Fisher if his committee had thought any more about making a regular transfer from the Police checking into the Police vehicle fund. It’s something to think about so that some funds could be set aside prior to the next vehicle purchase. Trustee Oakley asked about the police vehicle payment for February and when the next USDA payments are due. Roll call vote: Yes – Trustees Netherton, Hood, Fisher & Oakley. Motion carried.

VAC Hundley had also included in the packet the State of IL disbursements since it is the end of the FY 3rd quarter.

FINANCE: Trustee Oakley asked VAC Hundley to pull the budget comparison report once these bills have been posted and send it via email to the trustees. He will also attempt to get a finance committee together to start the process. He asked the trustees to also think about any upcoming projects.

Trustee Oakley moved and Trustee Hood seconded to go into closed session at the end of the meeting to discuss the appointment, employment, compensation, discipline, performance or dismissal of an employee pursuant to 5ILCS 120/2 (C)(1). Roll call vote: Yes – Trustees Hood, Fisher, Oakley & Netherton. No – None. Motion carried.

BUILDING: Trustee Netherton didn’t have anything for tonight. VAC Hundley mentioned she was going to be sending a letter to one of the residents regarding lack of waste disposal. This same resident is also renting out portions of his home to other persons, which is against Village Code. The property is zoned Single Family. This will be added to the same letter. Trustee Oakley asked since we have proof of the violation, does it require a letter or could a citation just be issued? Atty Jankowicz confirmed it should have a letter.

POLICE: Trustee Fisher stated the 2010 Tahoe has the decals removed from the car and ready to list it for sale. He stated he must’ve missed the ordinance stating the end date of January 30. Atty Jankowicz mentioned that since nothing was on tonight’s agenda, it will have to wait until the next meeting to change that date.

Trustee Fisher also mentioned they are still trying to determine how to list the vehicle. It can’t be placed on the Facebook marketplace using the Village page and when the other property was sold, VAC Hundley used her own page and got several phone calls and messages in regards to it. She would rather not do that again. Trustee Fisher had mentioned iseecars.com at the prior meeting but when they were contacted, they only list vehicles through dealers, not individuals. Trustee Fisher will continue to try to find a way to advertise it that would reach the most governmental entities. Trustee Netherton mentioned there is also an auction company in Clinton that does auctions annually for government vehicles.

Chief Wheeler didn’t have anything.

SEWER: Trustee Hackl was absent.

STREETS: Trustee Hood had nothing.

WATER: Trustee Freeman was absent. Mayor Riley called on Seth from Milano & Grunloh Engineers to give the Village the next steps to apply for the funding. Their assessment is based on information given to them for the majority of the leaks/breaks in the water mains. This presentation included amounts for construction costs only and does not include engineering, design, legal, administration fees. Those would come out to approximately 15% of the total presented or around $120,000 - $150,000.00. The total loan application would be for around $1M to $1.1M. The median household income (MHI) is around $62,000 a year. That is 92% of the state average, making the Village eligible for 10% principle forgiveness. We would be eligible for the .93 interest rate. We could apply for a 20 or 30-year loan. Seth explained several of the items that could be looked into and removed from the scope of the project. He also confirmed that since the Village would need to bore under the railroad at 2 locations, it would be best to do both at the same time.

Milano & Grunloh will send an engineering agreement and get some numbers close to what they should be for the project. Atty Jankowicz asked what the status was for Chastain & Assoc. Mayor Riley had contacted Stephanie Brown and they completely understand and have many projects in the works at this time. Atty Jankowicz suggested a note be sent to Matt Foster.

PUBLIC WORKS: DPW Allen was in attendance. He didn’t have anything. Mayor Riley asked him to give the board an update as to what happened at the water plant a couple weeks ago with the fire.

VILLAGE ATTORNEY: Atty Jankowicz mentioned to DPW Allen that the board had talked about the installation of an outside siren or alarm at the water or sewer plant. Trustee Netherton asked if an alarm could be included in the call system.

OTHER AND/OR OLD BUSINESS: Nothing.

The board moved into closed session at 6:45 p.m.

The board returned to open session at 7:20 p.m.

Trustee Hood moved and Trustee Netherton seconded to raise Kenny Crosier’s hourly rate to $21.00 per hour, effective with the first payroll in February 2023. Roll Call vote: Yes – Trustees Oakley, Fisher, Hood, & Netherton. No – none. Motion carried.

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

The meeting adjourned at 7:22 p.m.

https://warrensburgil.com/meeting-info/