Macon Reporter

Village of Warrensburg Village Board met Aug. 21.

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 August 21, 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 Hackl, Trustee K. Hood, Trustee P. Hood & Trustee Netherton. Also present were Chief Wheeler, Atty Jankowicz, DPW Allen & VAC Hundley. Trustee Freeman arrived shortly after the meeting started.

MAYOR’S COMMENTS: Mayor Riley read the proclamation designating September 18 – 24, 2023 as National Rail Safety Week.

Mayor Riley reminded everyone of the comments made at the end of the last meeting by our attorney that we all work for the residents of the Village and want to put our best foot forward. One thing that could be improved would be having regular committee meetings. Items come to the board meetings and can be confusing. Part of that could be because not everyone on that particular committee is aware of the situation ahead of time.

Mayor Riley entertained a motion to remove an item from the table. Trustee Hood moved & Trustee Netherton seconded to remove the item from the table. Roll call vote: Yes – Trustees Freeman, K. Hood, Fisher, Hackl, P. Hood, & Netherton. No – none. Motion carried.

Mayor Riley explained the printout in the trustees’ packets showing the overhead view of Mr. Creekmur’s property at 254 S Main. He also had the building plans for the Barclay Public Library showing the property lines. At the previous board meeting, 3 bids had been proposed for the tree removal. The lowest bid at that time was from Xtreme Tree service in the amount of $1,900.00. Since that time, Mr. Creekmur has contacted another tree service which will take the tree down, grind the stump, add dirt & plant grass seed. Since the Village doesn’t normally take out the stumps and Mayor Riley would suggest the board go by the Xtreme Tree Service bid, split that in half, and pay $950.00 towards the cost proposed to Mr. Creekmur. A motion was made by Trustee K. Hood, seconded by Trustee Freeman to amend the approval to accept Xtreme Tree Service and instead pay $950.00 towards the invoice by Thompson Tree Service. Roll call vote: Yes – Trustees Netherton, Fisher, P. Hood, K. Hood & Freeman. Abstain – Trustee Hackl. No – none. The amendment was approved.

A roll call vote was taken on the motion as amended: Yes – Trustees Fisher, P. Hood, Netherton, Freeman & Trustee K. Hood. Abstain – Trustee Hackl. No – none. Motion carried.

PUBLIC COMMENTS: Nothing.

NEW BUSINESS: A motion was made by Trustee Fisher, seconded by Trustee P. Hood to approve Resolution #789 Authorizing an Agreement with Wanda Timmons DBA The Perfect Pair for a redevelopment project utilizing TIF funding. Mayor Riley explained this as the 2nd step in the process. He explained the steps the Perfect Pair will have to follow as far as record keeping and submitting to an audit in order to be reimbursed for the eligible expenses. Roll call vote: Yes – Trustees P. Hood, K. Hood, Freeman, Netherton, Fisher & Hackl. No – none. Motion carried.

ENGINEER: Seth Flach from Milano & Grunloh had been in attendance to conduct the Public Hearing, which was held at 5:00 p.m. He had additional paperwork for the Trustees to explain the options of obtaining financing for the Water Main project or submitting a new application for a grant as a new cycle of grants are available. Applications are due in January and the state (DCEO) is providing areas of the prior application that can be approved. Seth stressed the more input from the residents we can obtain, such as pictures, letters, any documentation, the more likely we are to obtain the grant. The Board will need to make a motion at the next meeting to proceed with seeking the DCEO grant.

REVIEW/APPROVAL OF MINUTES: A motion was made by Trustee Freeman, seconded by Trustee K. Hood to approve the minutes of the August 7, 2023 regular meeting. These should have been received via email last week for review. Motion carried.

VILLAGE ADMINISTRATIVE CLERK: Trustee P. Hood moved and Trustee Netherton seconded to approve the Balance Sheet, pay the bills and make the appropriate transfers for August 21, 2023. VAC Hundley mentioned there were several transfers to be made. Some are the regular monthly transfers from the Water checking account. She would recommend transfers to be made from the 3 water related checking accounts to their corresponding IL Funds accounts. She mentioned a 2nd payment had been received from the Macon Co RE Tax payments. VAC Hundley drew attention to the AP report which shows a new vendor for Direct Energy. This is the company recommended by Nania Energy Advisor and approved by the Board. Currently, there are 10 invoices but she has spoken with the Nania representative to request all of the Direct Energy invoices be combined into one statement similar to what we currently receive from Ameren. It may take some time to get all the invoices combined as they only have 10 out of 14 accounts switched over. Roll call vote: Yes – Trustees K. Hood, Fisher, Hackl, P. Hood, Freeman & Netherton. No – none. Motion carried.

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

BUILDING: Trustee Netherton didn’t have anything.

POLICE: Trustee Fisher didn’t have anything.

Chief Wheeler didn’t have anything. He was asked for an update on the body cameras. They have been ordered and should be here in 2 – 3 weeks.

SEWER: Trustee Hackl had talked with Terry earlier today and would like to talk to the engineers prior to having a committee meeting. He is going to see if Stephanie from Chastain & Associates would begin working on obtaining a grant for the sewer plant. Trustee Hackl feels sure that everything they are working on at this time would continue to be operational even if an update to the plant is feasible. He explained some areas that could be addressed. Atty Jankowicz brought something to the board for consideration. Several years ago, Argenta & Oreana entered into an agreement with the Decatur Sanitary District and that might be an option for Warrensburg.

Mayor Riley mentioned that the wastewater treatment has all the moving parts, with the lift stations, pumping systems, air lines, and in a lot of areas, we are using “band aids” to keep these components operating. We need to look at fixing the systems instead of continuing to throw money into the band aid fixes. He asked the trustees to think about what it’s going to take to get ahead of the issues and get people contacted who can give us expert advice on some solutions.

Trustee Hackl asked DPW Allen about the mower that was listed on the agenda.

Trustee Hackl moved and Trustee Netherton 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 Hackl. P. Hood, Fisher, Netherton, Freeman & K. Hood. No – none. Motion carried.

STREETS: Trustee K. Hood asked Atty Jankowicz to talk about Ordinance #791. Atty Jankowicz presented the Ordinance, which authorizes and approves the receipt of a sidewalk easement from Brito Commercial Investment, Inc along the North Line of 260 N Washington St. A motion was made by Trustee K. Hood, seconded by Trustee Freeman to adopt Ordinance #791. Trustee Hackl asked how people were going to have access to Dollar General. Trustee Hackl asked what would happen if Dollar General would happen to deny access and block the sidewalk. Trustee Hackl asked who was going to clean it, take care of snow removal, etc. After much discussion, Mayor Riley called for a vote. Roll call vote: Yes – Trustees P. Hood, Netherton, Freeman, K. Hood. Trustee Fisher abstained. No – Trustee Hackl. Motion carried.

WATER: Trustee Freeman reported the water tower should be cleaned tomorrow. DPW Allen reported they brought the lift today.

PUBLIC WORKS: DPW Allen had nothing further.

VILLAGE ATTORNEY: A motion was made by Trustee Freeman, seconded by Trustee P. Hood to adopt Ordinance #790, amending section 531-8, paragraphs A and B, and Section 531-9, paragraph A(1) regarding termination procedure for nonpayment of bill and reinstatement of service. Several portions of the current code were confirmed to be removed with this ordinance. Roll call vote: Yes – Trustees K. Hood, Freeman, Netherton, Fisher, Hackl, & P. Hood. No – none. Motion carried.

OTHER AND/OR OLD BUSINESS:

The board moved into closed session at 6:36 p.m.

The board reconvened to open session at 7:12 p.m.

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

The meeting adjourned at 7:13 p.m.

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