Macon Reporter

Village of Lovington Board of Trustees met Aug. 12.

Here are the minutes provided by the board:

Call to order: President Dennis Garmon called the meeting to order at 6:00 p.m.

Pledge of Allegiance: President Garmon led the Pledge of Allegiance.

Roll Call found the following trustees to be present: Mike Young, Todd Hale, April Daily and Brittany Bates. Absent was Keith Stanberry and Andrea Wardrip. President Dennis Garmon and Clerk Alma Fair were also present.

Guests: Teri Hosteler & Connie Fedie – would like to put signs for military to (raise money) on the light poles and Ameren will not allow them to be put on their poles. Daily will find out if and where the Village owns poles and will let them know.

Betsy Miller, Jeanette Suding and Julie Misa of Moultrie Co. PAWS. Betsy Miller is the founder - they want to put on a microchipping event in Lovington. They have veterinarian/veterinarian techs that are willing to come to Lovington and microchip resident’s pets at a reduced rate of $15 compared to $70 if done at a veterinarian office. This would be for both dogs and cats and Sunday 9/15/24 is available if we have a location such as the firehouse. The event would last around 2 hours. They currently have 27 chips available. They are also doing the trap of feral cats and having them spayed/neutered and then ears will be clipped and released back in the community. They would like to have community fund raising for them. Donyell Morgan – regarding garbage service in Lovington. She has had more complaints about the billing of the service. She is willing to do the billing for the garbage service on the water bill as a line item on that bill. (Garmon will contact Dave Schaab to attend the meeting next month.)

The lead service is completed and according to our engineering firm, there now is money available to get the lead pipes replaced. Letters for the customers that are affected will be sent out within 30 days. They are looking into this for us.

Also, Megan Russell, a reporter with News Progress was also a guest but didn’t wish to speak. Minutes and action of Village Clerk

1. Discussion and action on the July 2024 invoices

A Motion was made by Daily and seconded by Hale to accept the July 2024 invoices as presented.

YEA: Daily, Young, Bates, Hale

No: None

Absent: Stanberry, Wardrip

MOTION CARRIED

2. Discussion and action July 07, 2024, Regular Meeting Minutes.

A Motion was made by Daily and seconded by Bates to approve the July 07, 2024, Regular Meeting minutes as corrected.

YEA: Young, Bates, Hale, Daily

No: None

Absent: Stanberry, Wardrip

MOTION CARRIED

Treasurer’s Report

1. Discussion and action July 2024 treasurer’s report

A Motion was made by Daily and seconded by Young to accept the July 2024 treasurer’s report.

YEA: Daily, Young, Bates, Hale

No: None

Absent: Stanberry, Wardrip

MOTION CARRIED

Clerk Fair announced that the following will be running for a 4-year term in 2025:

President Dennis Garmon

Trustees Mike Young, Andrea Wardrip & Keith Stanberry

Clerk Fair and Treasurer Martina are appointed each year.

New Business:

1. Discussion & Action on updating Employee handbooks

A Motion was made by Young and seconded by Daily to approve the updated employee handbook as presented.

YEA: Young, Daily, Hale, Bates

No: None

Absent: Stanberry, Wardrip

MOTION CARRIED

2. A Motion was made by Daily and seconded by Hale to update the ordinance in 11-6-4 Bereavement Pay to read the same as in 11-2-1 (I) Immediate Family definition.

YEA: Young, Daily, Hale, Bates

No: None

Absent: Stanberry, Wardrip

MOTION CARRIED

Clerk Fair will send the information for the update to our attorney.

Old Business:

1. Discussion & Action on if any update from our attorney on abandoned houses Nothing to report

2. Discussion and Action if any regarding Zoning

Daily reported that the county zoning is to put something together for the county and it is to be on the county agenda for August and will let her know. If approved, we might be willing to use it.

Wardrip arrived at 6:53 pm

Department Reports

Water & Sewer Report – Todd Hale

1. Report and action if needed

a.) Doggett has applied for pesticide permit for sewer per IEPA.

b.) Got 4 loads of rock to start on pond per IEPA

c.) Regarding the Mitchell request for water outside of town. (Clerk thought that was taking care of) Hale will meet with Mitchell, Doggett and Mechling regarding this.

d.) Grade School has requested a 1.5” waterline to baseball field for maintaining the field. (The trustees ask what size line was there now? (Hale will find out what and where)

Park and Special Projects – Brittany Bates

1. Report and action if needed

a.) Movie night on 9/20

b.) They introduced pickle ball at park rec, so park rec purchased a pickle ball net for the park.

c.) She also purchased new basketball nets for the basketball court

Police – Keith Stanberry-absent

1. Report and action if needed

Garmon read the text he received from Stanberry – he was unable to attend because he was ill but the following is his report:

a.) Police report was at our desk

b.) July was a busy month, but Chief of police was able to handle it

c.) Part-time officers hours are up which is good

d.) Police Chief contacted server people regarding lawns, most were taken care of and the rest are pending an ordinance violation if not taken care of.

Streets and Alleys – Mike Young

1. Report and action if needed

a.) Streets have been swept

b.) Road oiling will be started soon

c.) Gillis’ truck needs new tires

A Motion was made by Young and seconded by Daily to approve the purchase of tires for Gillis village truck not to exceed $1500.

YEA: Daily, Hale, Bates, Wardrip, Young

No: None

Absent: Stanberry

MOTION CARRIED

d.) Backhoe will need 2 front tires soon. (If under $700 okay to do it)

e.) Street sweeper broke down

Buildings and Grounds – April Daily

1. Report and action if needed

a.) Daily attended the Timm meeting and we received money for 8 trash cans. She will purchase 1 more with the cost within her budget.

b.) Regarding the pipes in front of Zancha’ s to replace the large concrete blocks – The cost will be more like $2000 instead of $1000 that was voted on last month. Zancha has agreed to replacing the blocks and the Village will use the blocks to define a burn area at the sewer plant.

A Motion was made by Daily and seconded by Hale to up the cost of replacing the concrete blocks with bollards from $1000 to $2000 as was approved last month.

YEA: Hale, Bates, Wardrip, Young, Daily

No: None

Absent: Stanberry

MOTION CARRIED

Insurance – Andrea Wardrip

1. Report and action if needed

a.) The insurance company can provide a list of counselors if any employee needs them.

Presidents Report – Dennis Garmon

1. Report and action if needed

a.) McMullin Ct resolution has been proven that it is on their side of the meter with Farnsworth’s help.

b.) Lead pipe status has been completed

c.) Gazebo update there is a group of elders of the church that person that was paid to build our gazebo have taken over helping him get out of his debt and get our gazebo built by a company in Oblong IL - Garmon needs to find out what we need to do to prepare for the Gazebo to be located at the park.

d.) Timm Fund update there was $82,000 available so we need to be prepared next year with our requests

e.) Insurance renewal need? Sage Hale with Loman-Ray wanted to have us prepare a quote from her. If we are to get a quote from another insurance company, we need to start in February instead of in the summer or Fall.

f.) Economic Development Committee? Jamie Franklin was here a few months ago - are we going to do anything about it. Bates has talked to Franklin, and she is still interested.

Adjournment

A Motion was made by Young to adjourn at 7:52 p.m.

YEA: all agreed

No: None

MOTION CARRIED

https://www.lovingtonil.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/08122024.-agenda-mtg.pdf