Macon Reporter

Village of Warrensburg Village Board met June 5.

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, June 5, 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 Freeman, Trustee Hackl, Trustee K. Hood, & Trustee Netherton. Also present were Chief Wheeler, DPW Allen, Atty Jankowicz & VAC Hundley. Trustee P. Hood arrived after the meeting started. Trustee Fisher was absent.

MAYOR’S COMMENTS: Mayor Riley welcomed all in attendance to the meeting. At the previous meeting, he had asked the trustees about their committee chair preferences. All seemed satisfied with their appointments but he felt he needed to make a couple changes to the members of the committees. In particular, if Trustee Pam Hood was going to be Chair of the Finance Committee, he was sure auditors would frown on Trustee Kerry Hood serving on that committee. So, he did make the following committee assignments:

Building/Land: Brian Netherton, Chair and Trustees Freeman & P. Hood members.

Finance: Pamela Hood, Chair and Trustees Freeman & Netherton members.

Police: Doug Fisher, Chair and Trustees Hackl & K. Hood members.

Sewer: Leland Hackl, Chair and Trustees K. Hood and Fisher members.

Streets: Kerry Hood, Chair and Trustees Hackl and Netherton members.

Water: Shaquill Freeman, Chair and Trustees Fisher and P. Hood members.

PUBLIC COMMENTS: Jeannie Mayfield, who lives at 248 E Hamilton, was in attendance. She would like to have something done about the people burning things other than yard waste, especially since she and others have difficulty breathing. She stated she cannot have her windows open or be outdoors when this is happening.

Randel Muir-Terry of 355 S Main asked if there had been a decision about the tree along the sidewalk. It had been checked out and since the tree is healthy, it will remain and other arrangements will be made for the sidewalk repair.

Dana Daugherty-Dennis of 147 N Lincoln questioned whether the Village had looked into the alleys on both sides of their property. Atty Jankowicz stated he had investigated whether any type of vacate had been filed by the Village or the property owners and could not discover any formal action had been taken. A petition will need to be filed with the Village asking the Village to vacate the alleys. Atty Jankowicz also explained how the alleys will be divided if the request to vacate is granted.

NEW BUSINESS: Mayor Riley presented for consideration an application for TIF assistance from 121 Coffee Run. They have purchased the property at 622 E Main (formerly Cenex) and will be taking down the current building in the near future. After the first of the year or sooner, they will be putting up a new building which will be not only a coffee shop but the baking hub for their other locations. A motion was made by Trustee K. Hood and seconded by Trustee Netherton to approve the application for TIF assistance. Roll call vote: Yes – Trustees Netherton, K. Hood, Hackl & P. Hood. Trustee Freeman abstained. No – none. Motion carried.

ENGINEER: Matt Foster with Chastain & Associates reported the SRTS follow-up work identified by IDOT is completed. He was asked if the “dip” in the sidewalk had been checked into and let the board know that it wasn’t so much a dip as there needed to be additional grading done along the side of the sidewalk near the school. This is being taken care of.

Matt Foster then presented the 2023 MFT Maintenance Program to be approved and submitted to IDOT. A motion was made by Trustee Hood and seconded by Trustee Netherton to approve the 2023 MFT Program in the amount of $110,000.00. Several questions were asked regarding the costs for the Oil/Chip project and if there was an expected date for this project. Since the project will be over $25,000, bids have to be obtained and the earliest for these to be received would be in July. Chastain will move as quickly as possible to get everything to IDOT so the next steps can be taken. Roll call vote: Yes – Trustees K. Hood, Hackl, P. Hood, Freeman & Netherton. No – none. Motion carried.

REVIEW/APPROVAL OF MINUTES: A motion was made by Trustee Freeman, seconded by Trustee K. Hood to approve the minutes of the May 15, 2023 regular meeting. These should have been received via email last week for review. Motion carried.

VILLAGE ADMINISTRATIVE CLERK: Trustee Freeman moved and Trustee K. Hood seconded to approve the Balance Sheet, pay the bills and make the appropriate transfers for June 5, 2023. VAC Hundley reported on the transfers to be made from the 3 Buena Vista accounts to the IL Funds accounts. There will also be a transfer from the IL Funds to Police Protection. There were more invoices this meeting due to the Macon Co Real Estate Tax bills and a couple for the Corn Fest. Mayor Riley asked if anyone had any questions. Roll call vote: Yes – Trustees P. Hood, K. Hood, Freeman, Netherton & Hackl. No – none.

VAC Hundley let the Trustees know the average rate for May on the IL Funds accounts and the interest which had been posted to the accounts. The new account authorizations for the IL Funds had been taken care of last week and the signature cards for Buena Vista accounts should be ready by the next meeting. Since there were going to be new people on those accounts, additional information had to be obtained.

FINANCE: Trustee P. Hood didn’t have anything.

BUILDING: Trustee Netherton didn’t have anything. It was mentioned to Trustee Netherton that the Tyvek wrap on the property located at 224 W Main needed to be addressed as it was getting torn from the weather and a couple of the smaller sheds on the property were not secure. Trustee Netherton would check on that and a couple others on Tuesday to see if they had been rectified and if not, another letter would be sent.

POLICE: Trustee Fisher was absent.

Chief Wheeler presented his report for May.

SEWER: Trustee Hackl turned to DPW Allen regarding a valve replacement at the sewer plant. This was for the motor at the lagoon which was losing its prime. He had obtained 2 quotes for the check valve and recommended going with the lower priced company, which was Vandevanter Engineering. Their price did not include freight. A motion was made by Trustee Hackl to purchase the check valve from them with the cost not to exceed $3,000.00. Several questions were asked and addressed. DPW Allen had attempted to obtain more quotes but did not have a response. The motion failed for lack of a second. Trustee Hackl made it known this was a serious issue and if the plant goes down, it was on the board, not him.

STREETS: Trustee Hood had obtained 3 quotes for the sidewalk work to Dollar General and those were presented to the board. Trustee Hood moved and Trustee Freeman seconded to accept the proposal from Hutchins Excavating for the amount of $12,000.00. Trustee Hackl asked where the funds were coming from to pay for this work. It is part of the MFT program and if that doesn’t work, there are funds in Road & Bridge. Atty Jankowicz is still preparing the easement agreement with the apartment owner. Roll call vote: Yes – Trustees Netherton, P. Hood, K. Hood & Freeman. No – Trustee Hackl. Motion carried.

Since the rock for the Oil/Chip is being purchased from Illini Township, it was asked if there needed to be a formal agreement with them and it was determined an invoice would suffice.

WATER: Trustee Freeman didn’t have anything.

PUBLIC WORKS: DPW Allen had asked for a vacuum pump for a lift station to be included on the agenda. He will need to get informal quotes for this.

VILLAGE ATTORNEY: Atty Jankowicz stated he had been working on the Appropriation information but wasn’t sure how former Trustee Oakley had condensed the information in recent years. Since John Oakley was in attendance, he was asked and stated he had sent all the information to the Clerk and will get with her to explain the spreadsheets. Atty Jankowicz has been reviewing the Rise Fiber proposed lease agreement with the Village and still has several questions as to their language and wants to make sure everything is addressed.

OTHER AND/OR OLD BUSINESS: None.

Trustee K. Hood moved and Trustee Netherton seconded to adjourn. Motion carried.

The meeting adjourned at 6:48 p.m.

The next meeting will be on Tuesday, June 20, 2023 due to the Juneteenth holiday.

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