Macon Reporter

Village of Warrensburg Village Board met March 6.

Here are the minutes provided by the board:

CALL TO ORDER: Mayor Riley called the meeting to order at the Warrensburg Village Hall on Monday, March 6, 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 Freeman, Trustee Hackl, Trustee Hood, Trustee Netherton & Trustee Oakley. Also present were Chief Wheeler, Atty Jankowicz, DPW Allen & VAC Hundley.

MAYOR’S COMMENTS: Mayor Riley mentioned he has been out trying to complete surveys for the grant application. Coffee with the Mayor will be this Saturday, March 6 at the Village Hall.

PUBLIC COMMENTS:

NEW BUSINESS: Nothing.

ENGINEER: Seth Flach from Milano & Grunloh was in attendance to update the board on the grant process. The set of plans were submitted to the EPA last week. It was 35 days from the deadline. Mayor Riley mentioned to Seth he hopes to have the income surveys completed and ready for him by Wednesday. Seth and DPW Allen had driven around town to get some photos of areas where dirty water has been reported. It’s also helpful to have letters from residents in the project area stating their concerns or incidents of yellow or dirty water, water buildup, toilet issues, etc. DPW Allen will be getting a leak map. Mayor Riley said he had had a couple residents mention they had recently installed a water softener to help with the water condition and asked if letters from those persons would be acceptable. They would.

Mayor Riley asked if they will be boring or trenching driveways. They will bore under those that are concrete or blacktop and trench the others, covering them back as they go along. Mr. Hawkins asked about the drains that are above the ditch. The company will keep an eye out for those and taken care of.

The timeframe for this project: we will be notified in the fall; then at the mercy of DCEO for the grant agreement; then usually 2 years to complete the project.

There will need to be a public hearing for the grant and advertising of it needs to be done 7-10 days prior. The hearing will be on April 3, 2023 usually 15 minutes before the board meeting. It would need to be ready to be published on March 17. They will send the notice to the Decatur Tribune.

REVIEW/APPROVAL OF MINUTES: A motion was made by Trustee Hood, seconded by Trustee Netherton to approve the minutes of the February 21, 2023 regular meeting. Motion carried. Trustee Hood moved and Trustee Freeman seconded to approve the minutes of the February 21, 2023 closed session. Roll call vote: Yes – Trustees Oakley, Hood, Netherton, Fisher & Hackl. Trustee Freeman abstained. No – none. Motion carried.

VILLAGE ADMINISTRATIVE CLERK: Trustee Freeman moved and Trustee Oakley seconded to approve the Balance Sheet, pay the bills and make the appropriate transfers for March 6, 2023. VAC Hundley mentioned it was pretty routine. There will need to be a transfer of IL Funds to General and PPF. If there are any questions regarding the Accounts Payable, she’ll be glad to answer them. Roll call vote: Yes – Trustees Netherton, Freeman, Hood, Fisher, Hackl & Oakley. No - none. Motion carried.

FINANCE: Trustee Oakley mentioned we are still in process of preparing the FY24 budget. As soon as all the input is completed, we will send the information to everyone so they can be prepared to discuss at the next meeting.

Trustee Oakley reminded the board of the investment of $1.7M in IL Funds and the rate is right at 4.6%. At that rate, we are earning approximately $80,000 a year in interest across all the funds.

BUILDING: Trustee Netherton let the board know there are 5 properties that have been looked at by the building inspector and he will be getting with VAC Hundley regarding letters to those homeowners.

Trustee Netherton has talked with Jeff Hollon of Hollon Signs about designing “Welcome to Warrensburg” signs. He will also talk with a couple other companies.

Trustee Netherton is looking into doing something with the flooring in the Village Hall as well and will be getting some quotes of different options. He was also made aware of a couple of small issues with the street shed and is checking into those.

Mayor Riley asked Atty Jankowicz about putting those “Welcome” signs on property that might not be Village owned. He suggested contacting IDOT since they will be on a state highway. The property owners should also be contacted and it would be advisable to draft an agreement that would not only be agreeable to the current owner but subsequent owners and would also cover maintenance.

Mayor Riley mentioned to Trustee Netherton that he has had several persons talk to him about conditions of property within the Village.

POLICE: Trustee Fisher didn’t have anything other than the police vehicle has had several looks at it online and one department in person. The bids are due by March 20.

Chief Wheeler presented his monthly report for February.

Atty Jankowicz mentioned there is a bill pending that the State of IL has been concerned that school districts that have contracted with the police departments to issue citations in schools for juveniles that have been breaking certain laws. Warrensburg has already implemented that in the hopes it would be a deterrent to minors. The State is feeling those types of disciplinary issues should be returned to the school.

SEWER: Trustee Hackl didn’t have anything.

STREETS: Trustee Hood mentioned the request for Letters of Intent for the engineering oversight of the SRTS project. Mayor Riley stated we had only received one Letter and it was from Chastain & Assoc. A motion was made by Trustee Oakley, seconded by Trustee Hood to receive and file the Letter of Intent received from Chastain & Assoc. A question was asked if they had included a projected cost and it does not. This was just an expression of interest and their qualifications for the project. There would still be an opportunity to vote on a contract with them once the final determination of the project is received. Roll call vote: Yes – Trustees Hood, Fisher, Hackl, Oakley, Freeman & Netherton. No – none. Motion carried.

WATER: Trustee Freeman didn’t have anything further.

PUBLIC WORKS: DPW Allen mentioned the locates for the Metro Communications fiber installation.

VILLAGE ATTORNEY: Atty Jankowicz discussed the letter the Village had received from Metro Communications regarding fiber internet installation in the Village. The State of IL had created a process by which these companies could submit documents to the State and if approved by the State, would get a State issued authorization that would allow them to come into the communities, without the kind of paperwork that was done with ACTS and Rise Broadband. Communities still have the right to ask them to submit a permit application and get information as to what they are going to do, where they are going to work and when they will be doing so. Atty Jankowicz sent some documents to VAC Hundley which could be submitted to Metro Communications along with a request for a fee. Currently, the Village has an excavation fee of $50.00. Some communities have higher fees. Atty Jankowicz didn’t want the Village to receive pushback from Metro Communications regarding the fee since the Village didn’t require one from ACTS or Rise. However, we did enter into individual agreements with those companies and would not be doing that with MCC, since they have a State issued authorization.

If the Village decides tonight to impose a fee and a request for an agreement, MCC could certainly be contacted tomorrow with that information.

The IML drafted a model ordinance for Right-of-Way use. This ordinance would not be limited to fiber optic lines only.

Trustee Oakley asked what the Village’s options are today in regards to companies like this. Do we have the ability to say no? Atty Jankowicz said we have the ability to ask them to complete the application. Trustee Oakley followed up by asking what happens if we have 3 or 4 companies wanting to install fiber or use our right-of-way at the same time. Atty Jankowicz explained that even without the right-of-way ordinance, in our code we currently have the excavation ordinance which would allow us to say when, how or where things can be done (limited control). Adopting the Right-of Way Use ordinance gives us more authority and control. Trustee Hackl mentioned the ordinance should include both boring and excavation and Atty Jankowicz was sure the 35+ pages of the IML ordinance would contain those words. Atty Jankowicz also explained that once the State of IL issues the State issued authorization, to a large degree, it overrides the municipality control.

The question was raised as to whether we can give them a timeframe for their work, such as they would have to wait until Rise Broadband is done for them to work. Atty Jankowicz stated that under the language in our code, it would be very difficult. He suggested asking MCC to contact Rise in relation to their installation dates.

A motion was made by Trustee Hood, seconded by Trustee Oakley to adopt Ordinance #784 Authorizing, Approving and Adopting the Village of Warrensburg IL Personnel Policy Manual dated March 2023. No further discussion. Roll call vote: Yes – Trustees Hackl, Oakley, Netherton, Freeman & Hood. No – Trustee Fisher. Motion carried.

OTHER AND/OR OLD BUSINESS:

Trustee Hackl moved and Trustee Netherton seconded to adjourn. Motion carried.

The meeting adjourned at 6:53 p.m.

The next meeting will be on Monday, March 20, 2023.

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